A Summer Wedding on Midwinter Lane

One

‘On a good day,’ my best friend, Lucy said, sweeping her arms out wide as we stood in front of our cars in the tarmacked parking area on Midwinter Ridge, ‘you can see for miles. The fire hills, in particular, are breathtaking, although the Gorse blossom is dying back now, so they’re not as stunning as they were. But the rest of the view is incredible, even on a miserable day. On a sunny day, it’s glorious. And the sunrises and sunsets you’ll see from Far Cottage, will take your breath away. Believe me, Erin.’

I did believe her. I knew Lucy wouldn’t lie to me. We’d been best friends forever – well, not quite for ever , but it felt as though we had – and we were more like sisters than best friends in any case. We even looked alike – from a distance. So much so that strangers often thought we were twins. But we weren’t, obviously.

We did look very similar, but my hair was, what I called, Arctic white and longer than Lucy’s which was more of a golden blonde. I was also an inch and a half taller and, possibly, one dress size larger. But I’d been going to the gym a lot more recently, so that was now due to muscle rather than fat. That’s what I liked to think, anyway. My eyes, which in my opinion had always been my best feature, being a striking, emerald green were quite different to Lucy’s lighter green with hints of hazel.

Sometimes, in the past, we had played upon our similarities by wearing identical outfits. Just for our own amusement really. Silly, I know, but we liked nothing more than a good, harmless giggle. We’d get up to all sorts of shenanigans, for a laugh.

Although not so much these days. Now that Lucy lived in Fairlight Bay and I still lived in Kingston upon Thames, we didn’t see one another as often as we had before she moved. We still chatted almost every day and we frequently Facetimed, but it wasn’t quite as good as being in the same room together.

‘I do believe you.’ I nodded and smiled at her. ‘And I’ve seen the hundreds of photos you’ve sent me, don’t forget, so I’ve got a pretty good idea of what to expect, once this sea mist has lifted. It is sea mist, isn’t it? I haven’t stepped into some horror movie or something have I?’

She nudged me with her elbow, and giggled. ‘Of course it is. It’ll clear before this afternoon, you wait and see.’

‘And then I can come back out here and admire the view.’

‘You can. But you can see it from the cottage, so there’s no need to come outside. The best views are from upstairs, obviously.’

‘Obviously,’ I repeated, grinning at her.

Since Lucy had moved, she’d changed somehow. She seemed … more grown up.

At least she did to me. A crazy thing to say, I know, bearing in mind we were both twenty-eight, so quite ‘grown up’ already.

Yet, over the last few months, Lucy had gone from the floundering, slightly insecure woman I loved and understood, into a confident, and somewhat overwhelming force to be reckoned with. All her doubts about her future had disappeared. Now, she knew exactly where she was headed, and precisely who she was headed there with.

And that was Sam Worth. The love of her life.

Sam was the only man Lucy had ever truly loved, despite having only spent one week with him in Fairlight Bay, and then not seeing him for ten years, until this February, when they’d bumped into one another again, and immediately picked up where they’d left off.

Lucy had come here on holiday, to the tiny hamlet of Midwinter that overlooked the seaside town of Fairlight Bay, to spend a week in the very cottage in which I was about to spend two weeks’ holiday, myself.

On her very first day, she’d gone out to lunch at a restaurant called, Freddie’s Fish and Chips, and who should be in the same place? Yep, Sam Worth.

Honestly, you couldn’t make this stuff up. Well, they say Fate works in mysterious ways.

Don’t get me wrong, this was a good thing. A very good thing. And yet … I was starting to feel as if Lucy was charging forward, achieving all her dreams, and I was getting left behind.

That makes me sound as though I envied her, and I didn’t. I was happy for her. And for Sam. If two people were ever meant to be together, it was Lucy and Sam.

I’ll admit, I hadn’t been sure about him at first, but as soon as I met him, when he came up to Kingston upon Thames for a weekend at the end of February, I knew they were made for each other.

And it wasn’t as if my own life wasn’t going well – it was. I’d already achieved some of my own dreams, the main one being when I joined the Metropolitan Police.

Ever since I was a kid, I’d wanted to be a police officer. I saw myself rising rapidly through the ranks until, one day, I’d be head honcho, so becoming a Detective Constable in one of the MITs (Major Investigation Teams) within the Met was a dream come true.

Now, thanks to the Fast Track Programme I’d been selected for two years ago, I’d skipped the rank of sergeant and gone from a D.C. to a D.I., and, in theory, I couldn’t have been happier. I was truly on my way.

In reality, I wasn’t quite so sure.

As the saying goes, we should be careful what we wish for.

Lucy had been over the moon for me when I’d told her, three weeks ago, and she’d come back and spent the weekend with me so that we could celebrate my promotion. Just me and her, like the old days. Which had brought home to me just how much I missed her.

It had also made me think about my own career and life choices.

I loved my job, and as corny as it sounds, I genuinely liked helping the public. Well, most of them. Not the ones who committed crimes. But I didn’t like all the bureaucracy, and the politics involved in modern day policing.

On top of that, the hours were long, and, thanks to a shortage of officers, were getting longer; the pay was good but not that good considering the risks to our safety on a daily basis, and, for me, dealing with murders and other serious crimes had recently begun to lose its appeal.

Especially after I was injured – fortunately not seriously – while carrying out an arrest.

I hadn’t mentioned it to Lucy because I knew she would make a big deal about it, and besides, I’m the sort of person who keeps things close to my chest. Most of the time.

But it did give me pause, I’ll admit.

Which was another reason for this holiday. Apart from wanting to spend fourteen, hopefully sunny, summer days with my best friend, I wanted to take some time out to consider my options.

I wasn’t sure what I might do if I left the police. It wasn’t as if I had a natural talent for anything, unlike Lucy, whose wedding dress designs were exquisite.

She’d wanted to pursue a career in bridal wear design, preferably in a specialist fashion house, or an upmarket bridal boutique in London. Instead, after uni, she’d joined her mum who ran a bridal shop in the Bentall Shopping Centre in Kingston upon Thames. Soon after, they expanded the business online and they were so busy that Lucy had little time to create her own designs.

That was another plus point for her move to Fairlight Bay.

She’d already told me that was what she wanted, but as she helped her mum run the bridal shop, along with the online business, I assumed it would be a while before she actually made a move. How wrong was I?

The day she returned from her holiday in February, she discussed it with her mum, and with her stepdad, Chris, and they’d agreed they would find a way forward.

After Sam’s first visit to Kingston upon Thames, to formally meet Lucy’s parents, a decision had been made. Her mum would continue to run the shop, along with some help from Chris, and, if necessary, employ another sales assistant. Lucy would move in with Sam and run the online side of the business from his surprisingly bijou house (judging by the photos Lucy showed me) in Fairlight Bay, and she would focus more of her time working on her own designs.

The very next day, she’d put her own house on the market.

I wasn’t quite as happy about that, but I made the most of the time we had left together.

Listen to me! I’m sooooo dramatic. Anyone would think she had moved to the Moon. In fact, Fairlight Bay was just over sixty miles away from Kingston on Thames, so hardly the end of the earth. It took me a little under two hours to get here today – and fifteen minutes of that was down to me missing the turn off for Midwinter Lane and having to drive back and forth six times until I finally spotted it. The sea mist had made it very hard to see the signpost, and the lane was extremely narrow.

I actually breathed in as I drove up it, and I think I only breathed out when I saw the turn off for the tarmacked, allocated car parking area, as if that could have made a difference. The rest of the lane was far too narrow for cars and was little more than a cart track.

Lucy was waiting for me when I arrived. We’d agreed this was where we would meet, and Lucy had emailed me precise directions.

It was wonderful to see her again, and fantastic to see her so happy. When I’d pulled up beside her, we’d both leapt from our cars, screamed with delight, and then sobbed for a good ten minutes while we hugged one another as if we’d been apart for years and not merely a few weeks.

It was a shame about the view though because I had been looking forward to seeing the sea. Right now, all I could see through the misty haze, was a couple of metres of tarmac.

The weather had been fine when I’d left my home in Kingston upon Thames, this morning, but as soon as I’d turned off the motorway, at the signpost for Fairlight Bay, I’d driven into this weird fog.

Luckily for me, I’m not superstitious. I’d have seen it as some sort of bad omen, if I were. But Lucy had told me about the mists that swept in from the sea, so I knew it must be that, and that it would clear, eventually. I wasn’t convinced it would do so before the afternoon though.

It had made the last part of my journey rather tiring. Staring through a dense fog, when I wasn’t sure where I was going, had given me a bit of a headache, and my eyes were tired from peering out for the signposts Lucy had told me about. Particularly that last one. Whoever was in charge of signposts should definitely make that one larger. Especially as Lucy had said that these sea mists were a regular thing in Fairlight Bay.

That’s why I’d missed the turn off for Midwinter Lane and if I hadn’t been driving at a snail’s pace, I might still be looking for it now. And, although it was the last week in June, the mist made it feel as if it could still be February.

I’d genuinely meant to visit sooner, but, well, life got in the way and, as Lucy was regularly coming back to Kingston upon Thames to see her mum, both for personal and business reasons, it was easier than me trying to get down to see her. Working shifts didn’t help, and whenever I had some free time, Lucy and Sam had other things on.

They’d both come to Kingston on Thames lots of times since Lucy moved. The sale of her house took a couple of months, but she’d been so keen to start her new life with Sam that the moment she got an offer, her bags were packed and she was gone. That was at the end of April.

They’d told me I was welcome to visit them, in Fairlight Bay, at any time, but the last thing I wanted was to be in their way, or be a third wheel, or something. So I’d waited until I could take some of my annual leave, and I’d booked to stay two weeks in Far Cottage, on Midwinter Lane. The same cottage where Lucy had spent her week in February. This was the first time I’d managed to come down to see them.

When I told Lucy I was coming, she’d said I should stay with them, but as I mentioned, Sam’s house was small, and, as Lucy had frequently told me, they had a very active sex life. I suppose all new lovers did. Anyway, I thought it was best to give them their space.

I told her I wanted to have some time alone, and I joked that, as Far Cottage had brought her good luck in her love life, staying there might do the same for me.

And let’s be honest, my love life could do with some help lately.

Although, unlike Lucy, who had always wanted to have a husband (and in her mind that had preferably meant Sam) kids, and some family pets, I was happy with someone who was reasonably good in bed, had a sense of humour, would take the rubbish out for me from time to time, and would actually phone me when he said he would. Marriage and all that stuff wasn’t high on my list of ‘must-haves’.

‘Oooh!’ Lucy had said, and I could almost see her brain ticking over as she grinned at me via the screen of her laptop that day. ‘Sam’s got some single friends. Elliot, for one. He’s the guy who does Sam’s photoshoots, and he’s gorgeous.’

‘Stop right there.’ I had held up my hand, although as it had a large glass of wine in it at the time, the stop gesture I was going for, didn’t quite work. ‘I know you want me to move down to Fairlight Bay, but I need to work for a living. The only thing I know how to do is policing, and now that I’m a D.I. opportunities to transfer to another force, aren’t as plentiful. So unless Elliot is up for a holiday fling, I think setting me up with one of Sam’s friends, is a no-no.’

I still couldn’t get over the fact that Sam owned a thriving business selling and restoring motorbikes, let alone the fact that he ran advertising campaigns, albeit it in Bikers’ magazines and the local press, not on TV. Elliot did his photoshoots and Sam had models he employed on a regular basis.

Neither Lucy, nor I, had ever been on a motorbike – until recently. Lucy now loved them. Me? Not so much, as it happened.

The last time Lucy and Sam were in Kingston upon Thames, a couple of weeks ago, they’d come up on one of Sam’s expensive, gleaming black, top of the line, motorbikes and Sam took me for a brief ride. It was called a Honda Gold Wing Tour which, Sam told me, had exceptional passenger comfort, heated seats, an air bag in case of accidents (not particularly comforting to hear, surprisingly) and it also a large luggage capacity.

‘Am I the luggage?’ I had joked.

‘No,’ Lucy had quipped. ‘You’re the air bag.’

‘I’m saying nothing,’ Sam had laughed.

Lucy was right about Sam’s smile – it was drop dead gorgeous, as was he, and his laugh was like a melody. If I hadn’t been Lucy’s best friend, I might’ve fallen for Sam Worth myself.

I’ll admit that clinging to Sam on that bike, as if my life depended on it – which it did – was rather thrilling, but I was exceedingly glad to get off the giant machine. I could see what Lucy meant when she’d told me how fit the man was though. Nevertheless, I’d be sticking to dating men who drove cars.

It was that weekend that Lucy had told me her latest news. She’d invited me to her mum and stepdad’s house for Sunday lunch. Fortunately, I’d gone on that bike ride with Sam before I’d eaten lunch. Anyway, it was a gloriously warm day and after lunch we’d all sat out in the garden. Lucy’s stepdad, Chris was showing Sam his prized vegetable plot, and Sam was gallantly pretending to be interested. Lucy’s mum had dozed off in a sun lounger, and was snoring. Although she’d never have believed us if we’d told her she was. Lucy and I were finishing off a bottle of red wine. Well, it would’ve been rude not to, especially as we were the only ones drinking alcohol that day.

‘Do you remember me telling you about that elderly woman who predicted the blizzard?’ Lucy said.

‘The one who told you to make sure you were with someone you liked when you got snowed in? Which you were – and you did.’

Lucy laughed and then let out a wistful sigh as she glanced to the end of the garden where Sam was studying a large marrow, which judging by the size of it already, would be ginormous by harvest time.

‘Yes,’ she said, returning her attention to me. ‘Her name’s Tilly Trotton. And I told you she owned a bridal shop in Fairlight Bay called Fairlight Brides, didn’t I?’

‘You did.’

Lucy beamed at me. ‘Well, Tilly, and her husband, Willy, have decided it’s time for her to retire. Their Dachshund, Billy is getting on in years and they want to spend more quality time with him, apparently.’

We both raised our eyebrows at one another, and grinned.

‘Fair enough,’ I said. And then the penny dropped. But I kept my mouth shut because I didn’t want to spoil her announcement.

‘That’s why we’ve come up this weekend. I wanted to discuss it with Mum and Chris. And to tell you, of course.’

‘Of course. Tell me what, exactly?’

She slapped me on my arm and laughed. ‘Oh, Erin! As if you can’t guess. And you are a detective, after all.’

‘Excuse me. I’m a detective inspector, as of three weeks ago. And yes. I can guess. But I thought you’d want to tell me.’

‘Okay. I’ll tell you. Tilly and Willy have asked me if I’d be interested in taking over Fairlight Brides. They own the building, so it means buying that as well as the business and the shop, but the price they’re asking is less than they could get if they sold it on the open market. We’ve grown close since I met her in February and I often pop in for a cup of tea and a chat. As I told you, she loves my wedding dress designs, and, thanks to her, I’ve already got some commissions for several bridal gowns and one or two bridesmaid dresses for next year.’

‘That’s fantastic news,’ I said. ‘Both about your designs, and taking over the business.’

‘I wasn’t sure it was affordable at first, but with the money I’ve got from the sale of my house, and with some investment from Mum and Chris, I thought it might be possible. As soon as I told Sam about it, he immediately offered to pitch in, if I wanted, as a sleeping partner.’

‘He’s already your sleeping partner,’ I joked, ‘so that makes sense.’

She laughed again, and my heart ached a little with how much I missed her.

‘True. Anyway, when I told Mum and Chris, they also thought it was a fantastic opportunity. So you’re looking at the soon to be owner of Fairlight Brides.’

I put my glass down and leant over and hugged her.

‘Congratulations, Lucy! I couldn’t be happier for you. I know I thought that when you booked that last minute break to that cottage in Midwinter it was a crazy idea, but things couldn’t have turned out better for you if you’d had a fairy Godmother.’

‘I know. Right? It’s unbelievable how much my life has changed and in such a short time. Of course it means I’ll need to employ someone to help out in the shop, because I’ve been concentrating more on my own designs recently and I really want to continue with that. But the shop is gorgeous, Erin. You really must come down and see it. You must come to Fairlight Bay. You still haven’t been there and you don’t know what you’re missing.’

‘I know I’m missing you,’ I blurted out.

She looked me directly in the eye. ‘I miss you too. I really do.’

I was delighted Lucy had been spending more time on her own designs and thrilled she’d been getting more commissions, but I was concerned that, now she was taking over Fairlight Brides, she would, once again, put her wedding dress designs to one side, but when I broached the subject, she promised me she wouldn’t.

‘Sam is as concerned as you are on that score,’ she said. ‘And so are Mum and Chris. So whatever happens, and however busy things get, we’ve all agreed that making time for me to create my own designs is a priority.’

I was very pleased to hear that.

And, if I decided I wanted to change my career, I suppose I could do worse than work as a sales assistant in a bridal shop. Assuming Lucy would hire me.

‘I wish you’d move down to Fairlight Bay,’ Lucy added, and I knew how much she meant it.

I took her hand in mine and squeezed it. ‘Maybe one day. In the meantime, I promise I’ll come for a visit.’

And here I was. Finally. In the last week of June. About to see for myself whether this place was really as great as Lucy thought it was.

I must admit, I couldn’t help wondering if this cottage on Midwinter Lane might have some magic in store for me.