Chapter 5 #2
After taking a careful look through the sketchbooks, Ellie twisted in her chair and glanced towards the glass doors leading out onto the decking. ‘Would you mind if I have a quick look around? I just want to get a bit of an idea of the inn and how we can incorporate some of your ideas into it.’
‘Of course.’ Standing up, Laura led the way to the French doors at the back of the dining area, with Jackson just behind. ‘What do you think of the ideas in the sketchbooks?’
Turning to her, Ellie smiled. She should have reassured her that she liked Laura and Jackson’s visions – which she did, they’d come up with some beautiful and meaningful ideas and usually Ellie would have been gushing over sketchbooks as carefully thought out and displayed as Laura and Jackson’s were – but with thoughts of Rick’s game of clearing out the cottage, her business split from Melissa and her encounter with Murray all running through the back of her mind, it was all she could do not to walk away from this job and go and curl up on her squishy sofa back home.
‘I think they’re amazing. It’s obvious you’ve both put a lot of work into them, and I love the ideas. So creative and personal too.’
‘You do?’ Laura held open one of the glass doors as Ellie and Jackson slipped through onto the decking.
‘I really do.’ Placing her hand on Laura’s forearm, Ellie grinned.
‘I’ve worked with so many couples who are unsure of what they want, some who literally don’t have the first idea and others who have an inkling but no clue how to bring it all together, but what you’ve got in your sketchbooks already is so thought out and achievable too.
You’re not asking for the Red Arrows to perform a flyby during the ceremony or for the king and queen to join you at the head table, for example. ’
Jackson chuckled. ‘I bet you’ve heard some strange requests.’
‘I definitely have.’ Ellie laughed. She couldn’t remember the number of times she’d had to try to think of the words to let down a couple gently and explain why it wasn’t such a good idea to let off a hundred fireworks at noon or break the news that the most popular hotel in the county was already booked up with weddings for the next three years.
‘I know there’s a lot there in the sketchbooks, and I know we can’t have it all.
We wouldn’t want, or couldn’t even afford, to have it all.
’ Having closed the door quietly behind them, Laura wrung her hands in front of her.
‘But, as long as we actually get married and we have the inn at the heart of the wedding, we’ll both be delighted, won’t we, Jackson? ’
Wrapping his arm around Laura’s middle, Jackson pulled her close and planted a kiss on the top of her head. ‘We sure will.’
Ellie glanced behind her as the dainty tune of a doorbell rang from inside.
‘Oh, that’ll be the carpenter.’ Laura bit down on her bottom lip.
‘I’ll go and show him what needs doing.’ Jackson dropped his arm from Laura’s waist.
‘Okay, remember to mention the problem we had with the banister last year, just in case it’s related.’ Laura gripped Jackson’s hand, making him pause before she spoke again. ‘Oh, and can you check in the diary, make sure the dates he offers don’t clash with anything.’
‘You can both go if you need to. I’m happy to take a wander around the grounds on my own.’ Ellie looked back out across the vast garden.
‘Okay, if you’re sure? It’s just that this is his first visit, and we have to let him know what we need doing.
’ Laura pulled the door open again. ‘He was supposed to come an hour ago but got held up. We were going to tell him we were busy, since you were coming, but he’s the only one locally with availability, and he said if we didn’t fit him in today, then he had another client on his waiting list.’
‘Oh, that’s rubbish. Yep, you two go. It’ll give me a chance to really get a feel of the place.
’ Ellie watched as they returned to the kitchen before spinning on her heels and walking down the steps leading from the decking to the garden below.
As she made her way down the slabbed pathway, Ellie took a deep breath.
The sun was shining, and she could hear birds singing, even if she couldn’t see them.
She glanced across towards the large willow tree, they’d likely be hiding in the branches somewhere.
Once she reached the end of the garden, she spun around again and looked across towards the inn.
The building was stunningly beautiful. Built with the same famous yellow Cotswold stone as her small cottage was, it held all the charm of a fairy-tale setting.
On top of the thatched roof was a straw cat, positioned as though it were about to pounce along the ridge of the roof.
Pennycress would be as gorgeous a location for Laura and Jackson’s wedding as any of the high-end hotels where her clients so often insisted on holding their receptions.
She grinned. She was looking forward to planning this one.
It would be something different. Something personal to both Laura and Jackson, as well as to herself, being as she lived in the village too.
She and Murray had wanted to stay at Pennycress when they’d visited all those years ago, but money had been tight, and besides, the inn had been full the weekend she and Murray had planned their getaway for, so they’d ended up staying in a room above the pub in the centre of the village.
Which had been nice, but Pennycress was where they’d wanted to stay, and she still associated the inn with memories of him.
Sighing, Ellie walked across to the bench beneath the willow tree and perched on the cool wood before opening her notebook and sketching a quick diagram of the garden, being sure to include the decking and pathways.
It would help her to visualise the space when she got home, and begin to truly think about what she could do to help Laura and Jackson with the planning.