Chapter 11
Ellie grimaced as the thought that it could be her mother flashed through her mind.
Laughing at herself, she stood up. It had barely been ten minutes since she’d spoken to her mum on the phone, and it took her parents at least an hour and a half to get here.
And that’s if they didn’t stop off at the service station to pick up a cup of that coffee they were constantly raving about.
Nope, she was safe from that particular intrusion – for a while at least. But that left Mrs Jedd as the only other possible visitor, wanting to carry on their earlier conversation.
Reaching down, Ellie picked up her phone, sighing as she knocked the stuffed photo wallet back to the floor, images of her and Murray grinning and spending time together spilling back across the wooden floorboards.
She’d have to clear those up after she’d got rid of Mrs Jedd.
As another loud knock vibrated through the cottage, she shrugged and hurried to the door, ready to hold her mobile to her ear and pretend she was having an important conversation. Huh, that particular diversion tactic was becoming quite useful in her new life, wasn’t it?
As she pulled the door open, however, Ellie smiled with relief before feeling her stomach churn as she remembered her conversation with Meadowfield’s mayoress. Had Miss Cooke passed on her concerns? Was Laura here to dismiss her? ‘Laura.’
‘Hi, I hope you don’t mind my popping by? I realised you’d left all this behind.’ Laura nodded to a bundle of notebooks and her own sketchbooks stacked in her arms and Ellie’s canvas bag hanging from her shoulder.
‘Oh, thank you. Sorry, I was going to come back to the inn for them. I was just…’ She bit down on her bottom lip.
What was she supposed to say? She just needed to get away from Miss Cooke’s interrogation and Murray’s insistence on speaking with her?
That didn’t sound very professional. But at least Laura seemed happy, she didn’t appear to have come round to sack her. Yet anyway.
‘You don’t need to explain.’ Laura smiled, immediately putting her at ease.
‘Okay, thanks.’ Placing her mobile on the window ledge, she held her arms open. ‘Shall I take those?’
‘Best not. Knowing my luck, I’ll drop them if I try to pass them over. I’ll come in and pop them down if that’s okay?’ Laura laughed.
‘Thanks.’ Stepping aside, Ellie held the door open whilst Laura walked through. She was right, the stack of books looked precarious at best. After closing the front door, she reached out and grabbed her small notebook as it worked its way out of Laura’s grasp.
‘Oops! That was a close call.’ Laura looked over her shoulder and grinned at Ellie as she walked through into the living room and paused.
Following her inside, Ellie stopped in her tracks, taking in the scene – the box in the middle of the bare floor, Murray’s grey sweatshirt draped over the lid, the photographs lying across the floorboards, the empty room, devoid of everything except the sofa.
She swallowed. How was she going to explain this?
Bending over, Laura creased her forehead as she looked at one of the photos, one where Ellie was draped across Murray at a party. ‘I recognise him, don’t I? That’s not… Murray the carpenter, is it?’
‘Umm, yes,’ Ellie muttered as she shuffled from foot to foot.
Why did it bother her so much that Laura had seen the photographs?
Because it shone a big giant spotlight on the fact she still had feelings for Murray, that’s why.
Or that’s what she assumed would be Laura’s conclusion.
Because it wasn’t the truth. Nope. She and Murray had been over the moment he’d got on that plane to fly to America, the moment he’d chosen the father he’d met a handful of times in his life above her, despite telling her time and time again that he loved her.
A man who hadn’t been part of his upbringing. A man he owed nothing to.
‘Wow, you both look so young!’ Straightening her back again, Laura grimaced. ‘Not that you’re not still young. That’s not what I meant. You know what I meant, right?’
‘Haha, I do. And yes, we were. We were young.’ Dropping her notebook to the sofa, she hurriedly collected up the photos and stacked them on top of the sweatshirt.
How did she explain the box? Or, more importantly, how did she explain the fact it must seem as though she’d spent the hour since she’d left the inn looking through old photographs of her and Murray rather than planning Laura and Jackson’s wedding?
The job they were paying her for and the only wedding for the only clients her fledging business had so far acquired?
‘Sorry, I found this box in here when I got back. My ex…’
‘Oh, you’re like me. I love looking through old pictures.
Jackson’s been in my life… Well, we’ve known each other almost my entire life.
He’s my brother’s best friend and has been since they were kids.
So, I love looking at old photographs we have of us both.
They really take you down memory lane, don’t they? ’
‘They certainly do.’ With the photographs now precariously heaped on top of the box, Ellie refrained from adding that this would be the final time she’d be looking through these particular photographs before she dropped them off at the county tip.
‘Now, where shall I put these? I can feel my arms going to sleep.’ Laura spun slowly on the spot, as if searching for the best place to decant her armful of wedding paraphernalia.
‘Honestly, I can take them.’ Ellie stepped forward again, arms ready to take the books.
‘No, it’s fine. I’ve got this far. Just point me in the direction of your desk or table or whatever you work on.’ Without waiting for a reply, Laura walked the short distance to the kitchen door and pushed it open with her hip.
‘Wait, I…’ Ellie grimaced as Laura stepped into the kitchen before following her.
‘Oh, sorry, I was expecting a table or something. Not that you should have one, just that…’ Laura’s voice trailed off as she took in the empty work surface, the lack of stuff inevitably clear.
‘I…’ Ellie shrugged.
‘It’s okay, I’ll just pop them down here.’ Laura lowered the pile of books to the work surface and straightened the edges into a perfect stack before looking back at Ellie. ‘Are they okay there?’
Ellie nodded as she felt the heat of embarrassment creep across her skin.
She could just imagine what Laura must be thinking, what she’d be thinking if the situation had been reversed.
It wasn’t as though she could fabricate some lie, tell her that she was in the process of decorating or having a clear-out, it was obvious the basic amenities were missing from the cottage.
Keeping her eyes fixed on the pile of notebooks and sketchbooks, Ellie mumbled, ‘Yes, they’ll be fine there. Thanks.’
‘Well, I suppose I should get back to the inn…’ Laura waved her hand in the general direction of the front of the cottage.
‘Yes, well, thank you again. And I’m sorry I came back home to…
’ To what? To search through old memories?
That’s what it must have looked like, mustn’t it?
That she’d been fawning over Murray after seeing him working at the inn or something.
After following Laura through the living room to the hallway, she opened the front door before closing it again and turning back to face her.
‘I’m sorry. I should probably explain. This isn’t what it looks like. ’
‘Honestly, you don’t have to tell me anything.’ Laura held up her hand, palm forward, a kind expression on her face.
‘But I was supposed to be working for you, and I bailed. I walked out of the inn and came home. And although I categorically did not come home to look at old photos of me and Murray, I can understand that must be what it looks like.’ Ellie paused and shook her head.
‘It wasn’t. I came home to find the box in my living room. ’
Laura nodded slowly. ‘Murray brought it over?’
‘No, no. I doubt he even knows I still have those photographs and things.’ A short laugh escaped her lips. ‘I didn’t even know. No, Rick, my ex, dropped them off. He must have let himself in whilst I was at the inn.’
‘He let himself in?’ Laura frowned.
Ellie raked her fingers through her hair.
She wasn’t making any sense. She knew she wasn’t, but she’d said this much, she couldn’t very well back out of telling Laura now.
However unprofessional she would appear.
‘My ex moved out a couple of days ago. He was having an affair, and he and his mistress have just got their new place. They didn’t have anything – furniture, household items, anything.
So he took them. Well, most of them anyway. He left the sofa.’
‘He cleaned you out? They just stole everything?’ Laura widened her eyes.
‘Yes, no. It’s not really stealing. I don’t think.’ Ellie shook her head before continuing. ‘His excuse was that I got to renew the tenancy on this place.’
‘Still. That’s terrible. And he was having an affair behind your back too?’
Ellie nodded. She could understand how the situation must look to Laura.
And maybe it was that bad. Maybe Rick had been as awful as Laura so clearly thought.
Perhaps Ellie just hadn’t had the time to process it.
‘Our relationship broke down months ago, though. We were just living together until the tenancy was up, so, yes, he was technically having an affair, but it might not have started until we’d both known our relationship was on the rocks.
That still sounds terrible, doesn’t it?’
‘Yes, it does. I’m so sorry this is happening to you.’
‘It’s okay. But that’s why those photographs were all over the floor.
I came back to find the box and didn’t realise what was in it until I started to look.
’ Why was she most worried about Laura thinking she still had feelings for Murray?
Laura now knew Ellie’s life was in tatters, surely Ellie should be worrying more whether Laura and Jackson decided it would be safer to find someone else to plan their wedding rather than entrust someone who was clearly going through a complicated time to plan what was supposed to be the best day of their lives.
She shouldn’t have said anything. She shouldn’t have blurted out the whole sorry story about Rick, and she certainly shouldn’t have basically just offered to give up her job.
Her one and only job. She clasped her hands in front of her and kept her eyes fixed on her shoes.
‘I understand if you’d rather find someone else to plan your wedding. ’
‘What? Why would I want to ask someone else?’ Laying her hand on Ellie’s forearm, Laura smiled at her. ‘I can’t imagine trusting anyone else after getting to know you and all the ideas you have.’
‘Oh, I just meant I’m not sure. Well, I am, I just meant that after witnessing my train wreck of a life, I would understand if you couldn’t trust me to plan your big day.’
‘I trust you.’ Laura smiled again.
‘I don’t mean that I can’t do it. I can. I’ve been planning weddings for years now and I’m good at my job, I just mean…’ She faltered. Had Laura already confirmed she trusted her? ‘You do still trust me?’
‘Of course! Why wouldn’t I?’ Laura laughed. ‘Heck, if you saw me behind the scenes at Pennycress some days, you’d wonder how I could continue to run the place. Just because things feel a little off-kilter in our personal lives, it doesn’t mean we can’t do our jobs.’
Ellie nodded, relief flooding through her. ‘Yes, you’re right.’
‘Good. Although, can I make one small suggestion?’ Laura held her thumb and forefinger a few millimetres apart.
‘Yes?’
‘Why don’t you come and do your work at the inn?
We finish serving breakfast by half nine, usually earlier, and then the kitchen is all but free, apart from me, Jackson and Nicola flitting in and out.
You’re more than welcome to take over one of the tables in there.
’ Laura glanced towards the living room behind her.
‘It would save you from working on the sofa or on the floor.’
‘Oh, umm…’
Laura held up a hand, palm forward. ‘No pressure. If you’d rather not, I understand. I just want you to know you’d be more than welcome.’
‘Okay, thank you. I might take you up on that.’ It would make perfect sense.
Not just because she wouldn’t be risking her back every time she spent hours hunching over notebooks but also because both Laura and Jackson would be on hand if she had something to ask them or to run a particular detail past them instead of calling or visiting. And Laura seemed genuine in her offer.
‘Great. Well, I’d better get back.’
‘Yes, sorry to have kept you.’ Ellie grimaced. Poor Laura had probably thought she’d only be gone for a few minutes dropping everything off, it wouldn’t have occurred to her she’d have ended up listening to Ellie’s life story. Or parts of it.
‘Not at all.’ Laura pulled her mobile from her pocket and tapped the screen, the time illuminated beneath her fingertip. ‘In fact, with any luck I may just have missed being accosted by Miss Cooke again.’
Ellie laughed as she opened the front door. It wasn’t just her then. ‘Well, thanks again.’
‘No worries. Take care.’ Stepping outside, Laura walked to the gate before glancing back and holding her hand up in a wave.
Closing the door again, Ellie leaned the back of her head against the cool wood.
That could have gone so very differently.
She needed to focus, and she needed to be more professional.
And that started with her working out of the kitchen of Pennycress Inn, that way she could prove to Laura that she could be professional despite what was going on in her private life.
And she’d just have to get used to the idea of Murray being there. He wouldn’t be at the inn long, anyway. A few more days, perhaps.