Chapter Twenty-Eight
Hattie woke before her phone alarm went off, as she knew she would.
She had been aware of Luke sleeping next to her in the bed, breathing deeply and very occasionally giving a little snore.
She wasn’t used to sharing a bed with anyone and thought she’d find it difficult, but in fact she found she liked his silent, comforting presence.
Now, she slipped out of bed, gathered her clothes and got ready in the bathroom.
She’d showered the previous night to make the process of leaving quicker and quieter.
She’d got to her car and put her case in the back before she realised the outfit that she’d pictured so clearly hanging from a hook in the back was missing.
Then she remembered it was still on the back of her bedroom door, all ready to go in the car.
She stood in the dawn wondering what she should do. She was due at her parents’ for breakfast – they were already annoyed with her for not arriving the previous evening. If she went back now she could get to the venue in time to set out the place cards. But her parents wanted her before that.
She was still thinking about what she should do when Luke appeared. He looked very tall and rumpled. ‘I saw you standing here. Is everything all right?’
He shouldn’t have been there; he should have been asleep in bed.
‘Did I wake you? I tried to be quiet.’
‘I woke up and found you gone. You didn’t make a sound as you left. But why are you still here?’
‘I’ve left my outfit at home.’ She regretted telling him the moment the words were out of her mouth.
‘I could get it for you—’
‘No! You can’t. You have things to do here. I’ll just wear what I wore last night. It’ll be fine.’ She spoke very firmly. She didn’t want an argument about this.
Luke didn’t argue, instead a slow smile spread over his face. ‘I just wish I could be there…’
Hattie found herself smiling. She kissed his cheek, lingering for a moment as his rough skin smudged against hers; then she got into her car and drove away, glancing in the mirror at the man she had left.
As she drove she realised her feelings for Luke had shifted slightly.
He was still the always-reliable friend – the friend who offered to drive umpteen miles for her without a second thought – but he was also the very handsome man – a dream date, almost – at her side at a black-tie event.
Could he be both those people to her? Would it create a horrible muddle in her life?
To drag her mind away from Luke, she thought of the challenge the day ahead presented.
What could she wear with the peacock silk dress to make it more suitable for a lunch do?
The linen jacket she was wearing now, with its large pockets she usually used for useful things like a tape measure, notebook, pen and phone, wasn’t nearly smart enough.
Her sister had told her years ago that jacket pockets were not for putting things in, as that would ruin the line of the garment.
But as Hattie considered the jacket was there to be useful, if the pockets became a little baggy, that was too bad.
She did have with her a bag filled with ‘helpful essentials’.
Rose, who had once been a wedding planner, had told her she’d need this and what to put in it.
Among a selection of hair products, including tongs, there was a garment steamer, a sewing kit, safety pins, parcel tape to remove fluff or dog hairs and double-sided tape for hems, which could double as ‘tit tape’ in the unlikely event that it was needed.
It was galling, she thought, that she had remembered all these little items, but not her actual outfit.
And she’d been looking forward to wearing it.
She had brought a cashmere cardigan but it had random daisies embroidered on it, to cover the moth holes. To be fair, it wouldn’t have looked nice with the long silk dress even if the moth hadn’t got to it. And it definitely looked ‘pre-loved’ so her mother wouldn’t approve.
Maybe she could borrow something from Leonie? Her mother wasn’t the sort of person who lent clothes. She might, at a pinch, lend an umbrella or a pair of gloves, but nothing more intimate than that.
Hattie decided she couldn’t think about it any more: she might go mad. She would find a solution. It would be fine.
To her surprise and slight annoyance (she wasn’t sure why), she found that Tom Saye, the man she had gone to such lengths to introduce to her sister, was with Leonie in the kitchen when she arrived. She stopped being annoyed when she saw how giddy Tom’s presence made her sister.
She kissed Hattie (unusual) and ushered her out of the room into the large hallway. Then she whispered, ‘I begged Mummy to let me bring him. She finally agreed when I told her it didn’t mean she had to let you bring some awful old hippy.’
When she was about seventeen, Hattie had been on two dates with a man with dreadlocks and gnarly toenails. Her parents had never forgotten it. She thought about Luke.
‘I haven’t had a relationship since my marriage broke up,’ Leonie went on. ‘It’s so lovely to have a man on my arm again!’
‘He’s not a big fat diamond ring, Lennie!’ said Hattie, laughing now.
‘No – he’s so much better than one of those!’ said Leonie, warming Hattie’s heart. ‘If there’s ever a ring it will be very small, he’s a teacher, but I won’t care. There’s more to life than money.’
As Hattie had tried to tell her sister this many times over the years to no avail, now she could only give her sister a hug. ‘Well, I think he’s super and I hope the parents do too. Where’s Mum?’
‘Getting ready upstairs.’
‘Already? She’ll peak too soon at this rate. I’ll pop up and see how she’s doing.’
Her mother was sitting at her dressing table, looking at herself in the mirror. ‘My hair’s a disaster!’ she said, not bothering to say hello.
‘I think it looks lovely. What’s wrong with it?’
‘It’s far too – floppy. Untidy, even.’
‘I think it just looks softer, which is very flattering.’ She paused. Her mother’s anguished expressed hadn’t changed. ‘But if you like, I could use the curling tongs on it which would define the curls a bit.’
‘Could you, darling?’ said her mother. ‘That would be clever. Have you got any curling tongs?’
‘You haven’t?’
‘Certainly not!’
Hattie quickly fetched her bag with the ‘helpful essentials’.
‘Why did you bring all that?’ asked her mother, watching Hattie find the tongs.
‘It’s for emergencies, Mum,’ she said.
Her mother sighed. ‘I do hope there aren’t going to be any.’
‘There won’t be. I’ve already spoken to the caterers who are really on it.’
‘I just wish Leonie could have done all that for me.’
Hattie tested the temperature of the tongs, ever so slightly tempted to let them be too hot. ‘It’s not easy for her being out of the country.’
‘I blame that young man she insisted on inviting. Who is he? We don’t know anything about him.’
‘I do. He’s a teacher at Xander’s college. Very nice, very well qualified and destined for great things.’ Hattie made up the last part because she knew it would please her mother.
Her mother seemed mollified and was happier with her hair when Hattie had finished. Though she didn’t say any of that out loud, of course.
Although Hattie had arrived at her parents’ house soon after eight, as instructed, the time seemed to melt away.
Her mother wanted Leonie and Tom to travel to the venue with them, so Hattie was going ahead on her own.
By the time she was ready to leave (an hour before the others) she had not only tonged her mother’s hair, but had zipped her into her dress and jacket, done up the pearl necklace (three strings) that her father had given her on the birth of her first child.
She had also taken the clothes brush to her father’s suit and removed a small mark from the jacket.
She’d had no time to think about her own outfit and was relying on being able to steam the creases out of her dress at the venue.
Her parents, aided by Leonie, had chosen a really beautiful hotel for the Golden Wedding and Hattie had visited it to make sure it was as good in real life as it was on the website.
Now, the sun shone on the cream-coloured stone and glinted off the Virginia creeper.
It was very traditional, possibly Jacobean, with tall gables and diamond-paned windows.
There were arches and small parapets and its history oozed from its walls.
The sisters had been delighted with it. Now, Hattie parked and went up to the house with her many bags.
‘Hello!’ she said at reception. ‘I’m Hattie – for the Golden Wedding?’
‘Nice to see you. And what a lovely day you’ve got for it. Follow me,’ said the friendly young woman at the desk.
‘Is there anywhere I can steam my dress?’ asked Hattie.
‘We have a ground-floor bedroom set aside for your party. You’ll be fine in there. Would like some coffee? Biscuits? Pastries?’
‘I’d love some tea! I was up really early this morning but didn’t seem to find time for breakfast.’
‘I’ll send some along to you. And when you’re ready, we can organise the table plans and place cards.’
Hattie began to relax, confident that nothing would go wrong.
She even managed a quick shower before she put on her freshly steamed gown.
The steam had made her hair curl more than ever and her skin glowed, but her dress, although crease-free and clinging to her shape in a very flattering way, was still completely unsuitable.