A Summer Wedding at Pennycress Inn (The Pennycress Inn #4)

Chapter 1

‘Not tonight. Not tonight.’ Ellie clutched the steering wheel as it vibrated beneath her fingertips.

She could feel her Ford Fiesta pulling towards the grass verge, and she quickly tugged it back.

She knew what was wrong. She had a flat.

The only other time she’d ever encountered a flat tyre had been on one of her first trips out driving after she’d passed her test. She’d driven a friend to Birmingham to go shopping and, lo and behold, as they’d rolled into the car park, she’d got a flat.

She hadn’t had a clue how to change a tyre, so had called out her breakdown cover. After apologising to the burly man who had come to their rescue, he’d told her not to worry and looked her up and down before informing her that she wouldn’t have been strong enough to get the wheel off, anyway.

Of course, Ellie’s response to that burly man, who had looked at her as though she had all the strength of a mouse, had been to sign up for a car maintenance course at the local college.

At the time, she’d been under the illusion that if she didn’t have to rely on anyone to change a tyre or top up her oil, it would be one step in the direction of reaching total independence and she’d be able to do anything she put her mind to.

Now though, right at this moment in time, she’d do practically anything not to have that same independence her younger self had so strived for, not to feel so alone in the world.

Slowing down to a crawl, Ellie searched the side of the narrow country road looking for a lay-by or somewhere she could pull in safely.

Yep, flat tyres she could now deal with, but she sure didn’t fancy changing one in the middle of the narrow country road leading into Meadowfield. And definitely not at this time of the night.

She groaned. She was only ten minutes away from home, and she could literally see the glow of lights from the Cotswold village of Meadowfield up ahead.

Shaking her head, she supposed she should be grateful this had happened now and not on the main road back from Chipping Norton.

Now that wouldn’t have been fun, holding up a long line of traffic as she tried to change the tyre.

Fortunately, the moon was full and illuminated much of the narrow road, but if someone veered around the corner at speed, she wasn’t too sure they’d be able to see her in time. And the way her day had panned out, she was pretty certain she knew how things would end.

She needed somewhere to pull over safely right about now. If she drove for much longer, she’d be driving on the wheel rim.

Spotting a gateway into a field, Ellie dragged the steering wheel to the side and slowed to a stop. This would do. Farmers wouldn’t be working this late into the evening so early in the summer.

Leaving the headlights on to give her some light, Ellie walked around to the back of the car and opened the boot, shooting her hand out to catch a box as it toppled from the stack inside.

With her palm against the top box to stop it from falling, she looked at them all, packed Tetris-style in the small space.

They held everything of hers from the past eight years of her working life.

Notebooks, files and mood boards, as well as personal office knick-knacks she’d accumulated over her time as Melissa’s partner at All Things Love, the wedding planning business she’d worked at.

She picked up the mug threatening to fall from the open box on top – the mug which her very first clients had given her as a thank you for planning their wedding.

Shifting position, she pushed her side against the precarious box and ran the pad of her index finger across the now-cracked and well-worn words emblazoned across the white ceramic.

‘The World’s Best Wedding Planner’ mocked her.

She certainly didn’t feel like the World’s Best Wedding Planner.

Melissa had all but thrown her out of their shared office, threatening to ‘expose Ellie’, as she put it – to tell the world that the wedding of former footballer Steven McCloud had been almost ruined by Ellie’s actions, or, more pointedly, her inaction.

The McClouds, believing every word Melissa had told them, had threatened to sue Ellie and had only relented when Melissa had come sweeping in to save the day by finding an exclusive retreat willing to take on a celebrity wedding at such short notice.

The thing was, it hadn’t been Ellie’s fault at all that the McCloud wedding had been almost ruined.

The fault had lain with Melissa. It had been Melissa whose job had been to book the wedding venue, and Ellie had been assured it was all taken care of.

Still, in the end, she’d had no choice but to walk away from their shared venture.

If she hadn’t, she had no doubt in her mind that Melissa would have carried out her threats of exposing her and placing the fault squarely on Ellie’s shoulders.

These last few weeks, she’d seen a different side to Melissa, a side she’d kept hidden for the past eight years and a side Ellie wouldn’t have felt comfortable working with going forward.

Yes, she’d told Melissa she’d strike out on her own, but could she?

Would she be able to? Was she good enough to do this all by herself?

They’d halved responsibilities, what if she couldn’t juggle everything on her own?

What if the one client Melissa had relinquished to her no longer wanted her services?

She guessed she’d find that out tomorrow when she turned up to their meeting.

Placing the mug carefully back on top of the files in the box, she wrapped her arms around the box and braced herself before picking it up and placing it on the ground next to the car. Straightening her back again, she shifted the next one.

Soon enough, she found herself surrounded by boxes, leaving the boot empty so she could now get to the spare.

Pulling up the carpet covering to reveal the spare wheel, she frowned as a photograph fluttered onto the rim.

It must have slipped down as she’d pulled the covering off.

Picking it up, she slumped her shoulders as the images on a small strip of photographs taken in a photo booth stared back at her.

Her and Rick. Seven years ago. On their second date to the cinema. She’d been so happy to have met him, she’d pulled them both into the photo booth in the cinema’s foyer. The first few images were of them pulling funny faces at each other; the fourth of their first ever kiss.

She sighed. She hadn’t even realised she’d kept the photos.

She’d thought she’d lost them years ago, but they must have been stashed in her desk at the office, waiting for this very moment, this very day, to reveal themselves from between the pages of a notebook or from their cocoon inside a folder, to mock her. To remind her of all she’d lost.

With the strip of photos still gripped in her hand, she turned her back on the spare wheel and perched on the edge of the open boot.

Today was the day she and Rick had drawn the line on their relationship, the day he was moving out of the cottage they’d rented together, their home for the past five years.

She’d lived in that cottage for eight years, the whole time she’d been in Meadowfield, and she’d believed that after she’d asked Rick to move in, it would eventually become their family home. How wrong she’d been.

She traced her finger across the outline of Rick’s face before scrunching up the small photographs.

She’d promised herself she’d celebrate this day – the day he finally moved out – and this memory of happier times wasn’t helping.

Their relationship was worlds away from how it had been all those years ago.

Ever since he’d told her he no longer loved her eight months ago, they’d been tiptoeing around each other.

He had refused to leave the cottage, insisting that he’d signed up to the rental agreement with her and he wouldn’t leave until their term was up.

Well, today was the day. She’d secured a new rental term, thankfully before she and Melissa had parted ways and she found herself being faced with the reality she might actually be out of a job if tomorrow’s meeting didn’t go well, and so he should be out of the cottage by the time she arrived home.

Throwing the ball of scrunched photographs onto the top of one of the boxes, she rolled her shoulders back.

Yes, having to change a wheel on the side of the road in the near-dark wasn’t the best end to a crappy day, but at least she’d be able to walk through the front door and relax for the rest of the evening for the first time in eight months.

And she couldn’t wait. A glass of wine whilst curling up on the sofa and watching some cheesy TV sitcom was the only thing keeping her going.

She needed to look forward. She’d have the peace she’d been craving at home, and if she could pull off the one wedding Melissa had let her walk away with, then she might just be able to afford to honour her rental agreement and rebuild her life.

She needed to be thankful that Melissa, with her head in the clouds, dreaming of being featured in gossip columns and glossy magazines, had at least allowed her to take the Pennycress wedding.

And tomorrow would be her first formal meeting with Jackson and Laura to discuss their visions for their big day.

Ellie had been worried Melissa wouldn’t let her have the Pennycress wedding.

After all, Melissa had known how much it meant to Ellie, given it was taking place in the village she lived in, and Ellie had been concerned Melissa would take it just to spite her.

Having lived in Meadowfield for eight years, Ellie knew the area and had the contacts. She might not have visited Pennycress Inn since the new owners had taken over from Vivienne, but she’d been there plenty of times over the years and she was excited to see what she could achieve.

Turning, with the heavy spare wheel in her hands, Ellie made her way around the side of the car just as a flash of headlights illuminated the small dirt driveway leading to the gate.

Straightening her back, she watched as a figure got out of a car on the other side of the wooden gate and pulled it open.

‘You’re blocking me in.’ A gruff voice filled the quiet lane. ‘Can you not read the Keep Clear notice? There’s a sign for a reason. It’s people like you…’

Ellie slumped her shoulders. This was all she needed.

Some random person berating her. Could he not see she was struggling as it was?

She bit down on her bottom lip, blood pooling in her mouth as she fought the urge to scream or burst into tears.

She shifted position, her arms aching with the weight of the wheel as she turned to face him, a curse word or two ready on her lips.

As the figure stepped forward into the glow from the headlights, Ellie felt a surge of panic roll over her as she lost her grip on the wheel. ‘Murray?’

Pausing mid-rant, the man let the gate close behind him with a creak and a bang. ‘Eleanor?’