Mother of the Bride Read Online Free PDF Page A

a litany of complaints about Simon. Excusing herself, she moved off to open a few more bottles of wine as the crowd swelled and the music began to get louder and louder. There was no sign of Carmel and Eddie Quinn yet. She glanced across the room to see Dan surrounded by Colm and Kev and a load of his mates, who were downing cans at a fierce rate. Dan raised his can to her, and she silently mouthed I LOVE YOU before grabbing the fancy silver corkscrew.
    â€˜Do you want a hand with that?’ Jess slipped in beside her and grasped another opener and a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc.
    â€˜You look great,’ Amy said, noticing that Jess had made an extra special effort to straighten her normally wayward hair and was wearing a short, V-necked dress with tights and a pair of sexy new peep-toe black shoes.
    â€˜Do you think so?’
    â€˜Yes I do,’ Amy said, giving her friend a hug. ‘And if Dan’s friends don’t notice you then they need to go and get laser surgery on their eyes.’
    â€˜Is Liam coming?’
    Amy groaned inwardly. What Jess saw in Liam Flynn was beyond her. He and Dan might be best friends but she wouldn’t wish him on her worst friend, let alone her best one. Liam went through girls like nobody else she knew, charming and winning over each poor sucker before a few months later getting bored and breaking it off, and moving on to some new conquest that he swore to Dan was just the woman he was looking for . . .
    â€˜I think Dan said he was bringing that new girl, Hazel, that he has just started seeing,’ she said softly.
    â€˜Oh.’ Jess couldn’t keep the disappointment from her voice, andAmy secretly cursed Liam and his ability to manipulate women so well. Dan had already asked him to be his best man, and she’d kill Dan if Liam went and upset Jess in any way between now and their wedding. Being best man and chief bridesmaid they were bound to be thrown together, and she was determined to let nothing spoil their wedding – nothing!
    â€˜Amy, when is the big day?’ interrupted her friend Nikki Kelly. ‘What date is the wedding?’
    â€˜Give us a chance!’ Amy pleaded. ‘Dan and I have had barely a minute since we got back from Italy, with all the excitement. We are hoping some time in June, but the venue is totally undecided.’
    â€˜What? You haven’t got somewhere yet?’ Nikki gasped. ‘My sister found it impossible to get a good venue, and she had to book almost two years ahead to get a Saturday in September in Mayfield Manor.’
    Amy remembered that for almost a year Nikki had had all of them demented with almost every tiny detail of her sister Georgina’s extravagant wedding to her much older American boyfriend, Taylor. The wedding had cost a fortune, and had ended with guests being entertained with a performance by some of the Riverdance Irish dance troupe and a magnificent firework display. She’d seen the photos and knew that her parents would collapse with the cost of such a spectacle.
    â€˜Well, Dan and I are going to check out a few places next weekend.’
    â€˜I’ll email you Georgina’s list,’ offered Nikki. ‘She had a massive folder of info which might be useful.’
    â€˜Thanks,’ Amy said, slipping away to check on the food heating in the oven.
    â€˜How’s my beautiful future daughter-in-law?’ asked Eddie Quinn, who had just arrived with Carmel and Dylan, Dan’s eighteen-year-old brother. Dylan was tall and thin like his mum with straggly fairhair and a trace of teenage acne. He was a nice kid and he gave her a big sloppy kiss.
    â€˜I’m fine, Eddie. I’m dying for you to see my mum and dad again and meet my brother and sister.’ Amy smiled. ‘But let me get you all a drink, first.’
    â€˜Two beers, please,’ said Eddie. He picked up a can of Heineken and passed it to Dylan. Eddie was a smaller, shorter version