Chapter 8 #2
Laura began folding the leaflet in half and then half again before looking across the table towards Ellie. ‘Will you come with me?’
‘Me? Of course.’ Ellie nodded. She’d accompanied many brides in search for their wedding dresses.
‘Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked, should I? I should be capable of finding my own wedding dress!’
‘I’m more than happy to come.’ Ellie could see Laura’s cheeks pinking.
She was feeling self-conscious about asking, but the truth of the matter was Ellie loved helping her brides find the perfect dress.
Not only was it a nice thing to do, but it also allowed Ellie to really get to know a client and to learn what sort of things they liked, which then made her job of organising their big day all the easier.
‘I would love to come. In fact, it’s one of my favourite parts of my job. ’
‘Is it? I didn’t know if it was something you did or not. You know, whether you’d think it weird I asked you to come.’
‘It’s not weird at all.’ Ellie smiled. ‘It’ll be fun. Let’s go with the sole agenda of finding out what shape and style you feel comfortable in. We won’t pressure ourselves to find the perfect dress.’
‘Okay.’ Laura nodded, her shoulders visibly relaxing.
‘I’ll take a little look on the internet tonight and see what other dress sales or fairs are coming up.
That way, you can be reassured that this isn’t the only chance you have of finding your dress.
’ Ellie picked up her mug. She’d already searched within a two-hour radius of Meadowfield and Saturday’s sale was the only one of its kind taking place in their time frame, but Laura didn’t need to know that.
The last thing either of them needed was to arrive at the sale with Laura thinking this was her only chance.
Besides, Ellie may have missed something in her search.
There was bound to be another option. Hopefully.
And they could always travel further afield if needed too.
‘Thanks.’ Laura shifted position on the bench. ‘Okay, I feel a bit better and less stressed about it now.’
‘We’ll have a good time.’ Lowering her mug, Ellie grinned.
‘Yes, yes, we will. I’ll ask Nicola if she can come too.’ Laura smiled.
‘Good idea.’ Ellie glanced towards the open kitchen door as voices rose from the sitting room, followed by the clatter of footsteps in the hallway.
‘Laura!’ Miss Cooke’s familiar voice wafted through to them before she peered around the door. ‘Might we have a little more coffee?’
‘Yes, of course.’ Standing up, Laura glanced back at Ellie. ‘Sorry, can you give me a moment, please?’
‘Yes, yes. Certainly. I’ve got plenty to be getting on with.’ Ellie nodded before flicking through her notebook.
‘Ah, Ellie Newton. Meadowfield’s own wedding co-ordinator. How’s the lovely Melissa Moore?’ Miss Cooke, Meadowfield’s infamous mayoress, turned her attention to Ellie as Laura hurried from the room to retrieve the coffee mugs from the sitting room.
‘Hello. Melissa’s fine, I think.’ Ellie picked up her pen, hoping to give the impression she was hard at work.
The last thing she needed right now was to get into a conversation about Melissa and All Things Love.
And to Miss Cooke too. Everyone in the village knew how well-connected Miss Cooke was.
If Ellie said too much or implied anything, she was certain it would take less than twenty-four hours to get back to Melissa and she just couldn’t risk that.
‘I hear you’ve gone your separate ways. What a shame. You two made a good team.’ Leaning against the work surface, Miss Cooke crossed her arms. By the looks of things, this wasn’t going to be a quick conversation, and her only option would be to steer the conversation away from Melissa.
‘Well, yes. It was the right time.’ Ellie lowered her pen again.
‘I spoke to her yesterday, actually.’
‘You did?’ Ellie swallowed. She’d known Miss Cooke knew Melissa.
They’d organised Miss Cooke’s nephew’s wedding years ago, but why would Miss Cooke and Melissa have spoken yesterday?
Had Melissa told her why Ellie had left All Things Love?
Was Melissa trying to ruin her chances of setting up her own wedding planning business?
Had she lied to Miss Cooke and made out it was Ellie’s fault the celebrity wedding had almost fallen through?
‘I did.’ Miss Cooke nodded slowly. ‘She was very upset you’d decided to break away from the company.’
Upset? Melissa? It had been her so-called best friend and business partner who had all but forced her out. No, that was a lie. Melissa had forced her out. She’d accused Ellie of something she hadn’t done, tried to pass the blame to Ellie, and now what? What had she said to Miss Cooke?
Looking down, Ellie kept her eyes focused on the first sentence in her notebook. ‘It was a mutual decision.’
‘Was it? That’s not the way I understood it.’ Sighing, Miss Cooke pushed herself away from the work surface and came to stand at the end of the table. Picking up one of Laura and Jackson’s sketchbooks, she began flicking through it. ‘I understood there was a little more to it.’
Ellie swallowed, a lump forming in her throat. She knew it! Melissa had been spreading rumours about her. It wasn’t enough for Melissa to have blamed Ellie for the venue mix-up for the McClouds’ wedding to the McClouds themselves, she was now spreading lies about her to other people too.
She picked up her mug and took a long sip, trying to think of something to say. Lowering it again with a tap against the table, Ellie managed, ‘It wasn’t my fault. What she told you, the mistake, it wasn’t down to me.’
‘Down to you? Mistake? What mistake?’ Lowering the sketchbook, Miss Cooke locked eyes on her just as Laura came rushing back through to the kitchen, a tray stacked with used mugs and plates in her hands.
Ellie watched as Miss Cooke reluctantly turned to look at Laura. Had she just dropped herself in it? From Miss Cooke’s reaction, she hadn’t known as much as Ellie had assumed she had. Why had she mentioned it not being her fault?
She could almost feel the atmosphere in the kitchen change, and she knew if she didn’t make a sharp exit she’d be in the firing line of a hundred more questions.
‘Ellie, did you want another coffee?’ Laura nodded towards the cafetière as she placed the tray on the work surface.
‘No, thanks. Actually, Laura, would you mind if I took another look outside at the garden?’ Ellie stood up.
She needed to get out of here and away from Miss Cooke.
If Melissa had spread her lies to her or if she’d landed herself in it by saying what she had to Miss Cooke, then Ellie didn’t want to be about when she inevitably told Laura.
‘Yes, of course.’ Laura grinned as she slid the tray onto the work surface again.
‘Thank you.’ Hurrying towards the glass doors at the back of the dining area, Ellie pulled one open and stepped through quickly before closing it behind her.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she turned back towards the garden, her gaze falling on Murray’s figure sitting on the steps of the decking. The phrase ‘from the frying pan and into the fire’ came to mind. Frozen to the spot she watched him sitting there. What on earth was he doing here?
Shaking herself, she glanced between Miss Cooke chatting to Laura in the kitchen and Murray out here before he twisted around, his eyes landing on her. Too late.
‘Eleanor.’
‘Hi, sorry, can’t stop. I’ve got to…’ She waved her hand quickly in the general direction of the garden below before taking the steps down from the decking two at a time.
‘Hold up.’
Pausing on the bottom step, Ellie looked out across the garden in front of her, her eyes focused on two birds sitting on the branches of the willow.
She’d come out here to escape interrogation, and now she was in this situation.
Another one she couldn’t control. A situation she was certain could quite easily lead to an awkward conversation at best and a full-on crying session at worst. And she wasn’t about to put herself in that position whilst she had her professional wedding planner hat on and she’d be having to pretend she believed in true love and happy-ever-afters in just a few minutes.
Which she did. She did believe in all that. For some people. For those lucky few whose true love arrived in their lives at the right time. Murray had been her true love. Had always been her true love. But the timing had been wrong. So wrong. For him at least.
She swallowed as a lump formed in her throat.
How, after all this time, could his mere presence affect her in this way?
She’d had a relationship with Rick since she and Murray had split.
A long and serious relationship at that.
They’d lived together. So how could Murray’s turning up here, in Meadowfield, their special place, still cause her heart to beat faster, her words to fail her and a knot to form in the pit of her stomach?
Turning slowly to face him, she gripped the handrail of the decking and watched as he walked towards her.
The knot in her stomach grew tighter, and feelings she’d long ago thought she’d dealt with came rushing to the surface again.
There he was, standing, one hand on the handrail, the other holding a plank of wood, for some reason, and looking at her with those deep brown eyes of his.
The deep brown eyes she’d lost herself in time and time again all those years ago.
What was she supposed to say to him? What did he want to say to her?
How could they possibly untangle years of silence, years of knowing she was second best, she wasn’t worth him staying for?
Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to speak. ‘Sorry, I can’t stop. I need to… check something.’
‘I won’t keep you long.’ Leaning the length of wood against the handrail, he held his hands up, palms forward. ‘I’d just like to clear the air.’
Clear the air? She’d hoped her brush-off yesterday had been enough to demonstrate that dredging up the past wasn’t something she was eager, or willing, to be a part of.
What had happened between them was in the past, and that’s where it belonged.
Besides, she just didn’t have the emotional energy to unbox and discuss what had happened between them.
‘I’ve got to…’ She waved her hands towards the garden again, hoping to convey the message that she was on her way to do something important. But judging by the look of confusion creeping across his face, she’d fallen somewhere flat. ‘Sorry, I…’
With the muscle in his jaw twitching, Murray glanced in the direction she was violently flailing her arms before catching her eye. ‘I think we should talk. Clear the air now that we’re both living in the same village. And presumably working for the same people.’
There, he’d said it again, clear the air? Ellie took a sharp breath in. The time to ‘clear the air’ had long passed them by. Some nine years previously, in fact. And why was he even here in Meadowfield? That was a question she’d love to discuss with him, but not now.
She clenched and unclenched her hands as the words he’d just uttered sank in.
He was working here? The plank of wood… She looked across to a collection of tools, a wooden sawhorse sitting at the bottom of the steps to the side, the grass beneath sprinkled with sawdust and splinters of freshly cut wood.
He was the carpenter Laura and Jackson had met yesterday.
He was the carpenter repairing the decking here at Pennycress Inn, where she was working too.
Movement from inside the kitchen caught her eyes and she was suddenly all too aware of Miss Cooke’s imposing figure making her way towards the French doors.
‘Can you spare a few minutes?’
Turning her attention back to Murray, Ellie shook her head with more vigour than she currently felt. ‘No, sorry, not right now.’
‘But…’ Murray took a step towards her.
Pausing at the bottom of the decking, Ellie glanced back at him just as the French door creaked open and Miss Cooke peered outside.
‘Ah, Ellie, there you are. I’ve been discussing wedding plans with Laura and have a little query.’ Miss Cooke stepped out onto the decking.
Looking from Murray to Miss Cooke and back again, Ellie floundered before pulling her mobile from her pocket, waving it in the air in front of her before holding it to her ear. Covering the mic with her palm, she spoke quietly. ‘So sorry, important call about the wedding.’
‘Later then.’ Miss Cooke turned and disappeared back inside.
Backing away, Ellie gripped the phone to her ear.
What was she even doing? Making up phone calls to extract herself from difficult conversations?
She was thirty-three, for goodness’ sake, not some awkward teenager.
Plus, she’d had her fair share of awkward conversations over the years, so why did today’s offering feel so incredibly difficult?
Because it involved Murray, that’s why. Give her twenty hours alone in a room with Miss Cooke, and she’d gladly take it if it meant she didn’t have to have a five-minute exchange with Murray.
Dipping her chin to her chest, she quickened her pace as she walked across the garden and into the small car park behind the inn. The only way out was to head home.
With any luck, both Miss Cooke and Murray would have left by the time she returned and the coast would be clear.