Married By Christmas Read Online Free

kind of best friend that Anna always was to her and continue to let Tom treat her like one of the blokes down the pub, even ever so occasionally giving her short dark hair an affectionate ruffle, like she was his kid brother. There really was nothing else for it but to ride it out until the ache in her heart finally faded, only it was now almost a year on and Liv still felt exactly the same.
    ‘But …’ Liv had said heavily last New Year’s Eve. ‘If you take on organising every aspect of your own wedding with the same crazy controlling freakery you do everything else, you
will
literally explode. Take it as read that I’ll help you. You just need to concentrate on the things that really matter. Like getting drunk with your oldest friend in about an hour’s time?’
    ‘It
all
matters!’ Anna had said, distracted. ‘Right, blue for the dress, green for the venue, red for flowers, black for catering, or do you think pink for the dress?’
    ‘Er, we are caterers,’ Liv reminded her. ‘I’ll cater your wedding. I might even give you a discount.’
    ‘But you are the chief bridesmaid!’ Anna had exclaimed. ‘You can’t be cooking in puffed sleeves and an Empire line dress!’
    ‘Firstly,’ Liv had said, ‘thank you for asking me, I’m honoured, and, secondly, over my dead body will there be puffed sleeves and, thirdly, I will plan your menus, I will pay for it, I will prep it and then we can let our loyal staff cook it for you, and come to the evening do. It can be the Simple Pleasures wedding gift to you, after all, without all your hard work I’d still be doing Sunday roasts in a pub.’
    ‘Nonsense,’ Anna said. ‘You are a cooking genius. It’s only a matter of time before the world truly recognises your talent.’
    ‘Which is why you’d be a fool not to let me at least take catering off your hands. Who else in the world knows you like I do?’
    Anna had crawled across the floor and hugged her. ‘Thank you. I’m so happy,’ she’d said, beaming. ‘I’m not used to being this happy. Normally when I’m happy something always goes wrong. Sometimes I think it’s better not to be happy, and then you are never disappointed. Oh God, what if everything goes wrong?’
    ‘Anna! Nothing will go wrong,’ Liv had reassured her. ‘Tom is one of the good guys. And he really loves you, anyone can see that. Now please put away your pens and your lists and let’s go out and have some fun! For one thing I’ve only got twelve months to find a date to your wedding.’
    ‘OK,’ Anna had relented. ‘But re the catering, could you do me a menu by the end of the week, and can we have monthly updates to check on progress?’
    ‘Anna, it’s not even January …’ Liv began, knowing it was pointless to argue.
    ‘I know, but can we?’ Anna asked her.
    ‘Yes, we can. And for God’s sakes, get a florist to do your flowers. What the hell do you know about flower arranging?’
    Famous for being one of the few people in the world that Anna listened to, Liv had made her concede control of the reception flowers to the venue florist, saying she might as well make full use of the services she was paying for. And so this moment of supreme awkwardness was in fact all Liv’s fault.
    ‘So as you can see,’ Anna said, ever so politely, biting her lip, ‘I want roses, deep, dark red roses, fat ones, old-fashioned fat roses, with dark green glossy leaves, a hand-tied natural-looking bunch of those every three seating places and, in between, petals scattered across the table, and candles, exactly the same colour red, alternating with the flowers. So that’s not a problem, is it? To have it like that,
exactly
like that?’
    ‘Give the woman a break,’ Tom said, shaking his head, getting up suddenly and pacing to the full-length window, where he looked out across the grounds. Liv winced as Anna’s head snapped round to watch him, her blue eyes full of concern. That’s what all this nonsense to do with the flowers