‘You OK?’ Charlotte had moved next to her in her bridal bunny costume. ‘I know this probably isn’t your cup of tea, but...’
‘Don’t be silly. It’s a laugh,’ Gabby managed and adjusted her bunny ears with an enthusiasm she hoped came across as genuine.
Time to douse her inner cringe. Irritation threshed at her nerves—why couldn’t she take this in the right spirit and have fun? It wouldn’t be that bad; she was in a group of eight, all dressed the same—she could just fade into the background. After all, that was one of her best skills.
‘OK, ladies. Gather round!’ Lorna called as she produced her next exhibit—a pink top hat. ‘This hat contains eight challenges. Each of us will take one and then off we’ll go to attempt the challenges. We’ll pretty much stick together, but I do require photographic proof that the challenges have been completed!’
Fabulous. Even her fade-into-the-background skills would struggle to provide invisibility in this situation. And what sort of challenge?
Panic began to twist in her tummy. Gabby might chafe against her introvert nature, but she accepted it as a cast-iron personality trait. Acknowledged that it had helped keep her invisible and under the radar when she’d most needed to, and had kept her safe amidst the chaos of her mother’s lifestyle. Then later, after the horror of her mum’s death—the result of an overdose—Gabby’s quietness, her ‘invisibility’, had meant she had been allowed to live with her grandparents despite her social worker’s concerns about their ages.
‘Read it! Read it! Read it!’
The chant pulled Gabby back to the here and now and she realised that someone had pulled the first challenge from the hat.
‘“Exchange an item of clothing with a man you don’t know.”’
Gabby looked on as everyone laughed, and felt anxiety tornado as Lorna held the hat out to her.
Breathe. In twenty-four hours this will be over. Her dignity would be in tatters, but it would be over.
Inwardly praying, she pulled out a slip of paper and looked down at it. Someone, somewhere had to be kidding.
‘Read it! Read it! Read it!’
Stomach hollow, she did just that. ‘“Find a hot stranger and get a kiss on camera.”’
This caused much merriment and Gabby forced herself to join in, etching a smile on her face in a gallant attempt to join in the spirit of the occasion. Time to channel personality trait number two—the art of faking it. Throughout childhood she’d made sure she’d played a part—whatever part she’d needed to play to survive.
A couple of hours later, as afternoon segued into the beginning of evening, her cheek muscles ached and her panic had escalated to the point of a need for a paper bag to breathe into. All around her Kate, Charlotte, Lorna, et al. had danced and spun through their challenges, and soon it would be only Gabby left. She would be the focus of attention.
Moisture sheened her neck, even as she maintained the smile and her brain raced.
At that moment Lorna moved over to her, a friendly smile on her face. ‘Gabby, it’s just you now. How can we help? Or if you want to give it a miss, it’s no big deal. I should have known that this wouldn’t be everyone’s thing. If you want to skip it, then it’s not a problem. We can head straight to the cocktail place.’
For a moment Gabby nearly collapsed in relief at the opt-out clause—but then sheer annoyance at herself surfaced. Did she want to be the one person on this hen do who didn’t complete her challenge? The one person who didn’t provide a photograph for the album Lorna would be putting together for Charlotte to look back on? Dammit—she had to try.
Keeping her lips upturned and her body relaxed, she even managed a laugh that hopefully held insouciance.
‘Actually, would it be OK if I slip off by myself and give it a go? I could meet you at the cocktail place after.’
‘Sure. That works.’
So, challenge in her hand, tugging at the ridiculous bunny suit, Gabby Johnson ventured forth into the dusk.
* * *
Zander Grosvenor looked around the table and reminded himself that he was an ultrasuccessful multimillionaire, not a scrubby schoolboy any more. Yet, as he surveyed the faces of his mother and two elder sisters, it was hard to hold on to that fact.