Chapter 19
After letting herself into her cottage, Ellie slipped her shoes off before pushing open the living room door and sinking onto the sofa, the pile of sketchbooks and her laptop still in her arms and her canvas bag still hanging from her shoulder.
Letting out a huge sigh, she placed the sketchbooks on the cushion next to her and tugged off the strap of her bag, letting it drop to the floorboards. Well, that day had seemed never-ending. She leaned her head back against the sofa cushions and closed her eyes trying to quieten her thoughts.
She shifted to get comfy. She really needed to invest in a new bed.
It was clear Rick wasn’t going to return any of her stuff and sleeping on the sofa wasn’t a long-term solution.
Each morning she awoke from the little sleep she’d managed to a crick in her neck and her legs feeling as though she’d run twelve marathons in the small hours of the morning.
A new bed would solve the comfort issue, but she wasn’t convinced it would stem the tirade of thoughts filling her mind.
Last night’s dinner with Murray had been nice.
She’d loved spending time with him even though their talk had thrown a few unexpected revelations her way.
Ha, maybe she should be thankful today’s wedding planning had thrown yet another curveball in her direction, at least she’d not physically had much brain space to mull over what she and Murray had spoken about last night.
Opening her eyes, she slid off the sofa onto the floor and pulled her bulging canvas bag towards her before gently tipping it upside down and watching as about a million tiny dusky pink and plum fabric flowers and butterflies cascaded into a small pile in front of her.
Today had been busy, frustrating and productive in roughly equal measures.
After confirming Laura and Jackson’s chosen colour theme – dusky pink and plum – she’d spent the morning sitting with Laura scrolling through website after website trying to find outfits for the flower girl, bridesmaid and pageboys.
And although they had succeeded in that task, and the clothes should be arriving within the week, they hadn’t been able to find any company willing and able to create little flower-covered headdresses for the flower girl and bridesmaid in time, which was why Ellie had spent the afternoon traipsing around numerous craft shops and now had the task of making the headdresses herself.
Still, at least it had been the headdresses they hadn’t been able to find and not the dresses or suits.
Her crafting skills most definitely would not stretch to sewing entire outfits.
She’d also missed Murray. He’d been finishing off a job somewhere else this morning and then she’d been gallivanting around the local craft shops picking up supplies this afternoon.
Not that it mattered. Heck, it was probably a good thing, she didn’t think she’d have been able to concentrate with him about after their meal last night.
Which reminded her, she still needed to decide what to do about her mum. Did she ring her and call her out?
Not now. Not this evening. She had things to do, that particular difficult conversation could wait until another day.
Plus, she had other things on her mind too.
Even though she’d tried her best not to feel guilty, she just couldn’t stop reliving the conversation she’d had with Fiona at the wedding dress fair.
She shouldn’t have let slip about Melissa’s husband having the affair with the hotel’s housekeeper.
She really shouldn’t have. However much Melissa had schemed and spread rumours about her, Ellie shouldn’t have drawn Melissa’s personal life into the mess.
That had been low, and it hadn’t been her.
Ellie never spoke ill of others, but she’d been cornered, pushed to her very limit and she hadn’t realised what she was going to say until the words had tumbled from her mouth.
She should apologise. Shouldn’t she? Perhaps if she took the step to begin to build a bridge between them, Melissa would stop spreading the lies. She doubted it, but miracles happened, or so people said. And if it didn’t, then at least the relentless nagging of the guilt may lessen.
Sighing, she twisted around and pulled her laptop from the pile of sketchbooks on the sofa.
There was no time like the present. Lifting the lid, she tapped her fingers against the bare floorboards as she waited for it to wake up.
An email might help, mightn’t it? She and Melissa had been close friends before all this sorry business with the McClouds’ wedding.
Yes, they’d never be friends again. Ellie wouldn’t want that, wouldn’t ever be able to trust Melissa again.
But if she reached out and apologised for what she’d told Fiona, surely it would show willing?
Willing to put the past behind them? To agree to keep out of each other’s way and not to tread on each other’s wedding planning patches? For Melissa to stop badmouthing her?
She doubted it, but it was worth a go, right?
Before she could talk herself out of what was most likely a ridiculous idea, she clicked through to her emails and quickly composed a short message, briefly describing her interaction with Fiona and apologising. After signing off with a plea for a truce, she clicked the Send button.
As the words Email Sent appeared on the screen, she leaned her back heavily against the edge of the sofa, feeling a cloud of dread descend. That had been a mistake. If anything she’d stirred the pot, made things worse.
Shaking her head at herself, she closed her laptop and chucked it back on the sofa cushion behind her. Had the email lessened the gnawing guilt? Nope. And she realised she’d been na?ve to think it might, and even more na?ve to think it would do anything but to stoke the fire.
Ellie squeezed her eyes shut. It was done. She couldn’t unsend it now. She’d just have to try her best to forget about it. After all, she very much doubted Melissa would be feeling an ounce of guilt for the part she’d played in trying to destroy Ellie’s career.
Plus, Ellie had other things to focus on. Things she had more control over. The little headdresses she had to make were top of the list, this evening. Opening her eyes, she took a deep breath. She needed to move on.
Picking up one of the fabric flowers and a butterfly, she looked at them.
She could do this. She’d checked and there were about a thousand YouTube videos with step-by-step instructions.
How hard could it be? And on the bright side, not only would it give Laura perfectly bespoke headdresses for her young entourage, it would be something she could offer to future clients going forward.
If she decided to, or could, stay in the business of wedding planning, of course.
Shaking her head, she pulled out her mobile and opened up the YouTube app.
She didn’t have the time for self-doubt.
No, right now she had teeny-tiny flowers and butterflies to glue onto thin fabric headbands and make them look as though she’d bought them from a posh wedding boutique rather than sticking them on with a glue gun whilst sitting cross-legged on the hard floorboards of her empty home.
After playing with a few designs, she picked up the glue gun and squeezed, wincing as a shot of boiling-hot glue shot out towards her thumb and finger as she held one of the tiny butterflies, drowning both the butterfly and a generous patch of her skin with a fiery torrent of clear glue.
‘Ouch!’ She’d forgotten quite how powerful – and searing hot – these glue guns got.
Just as she began to tentatively pull one of the butterfly wings from the tip of her thumb, the tune of the doorbell filled the room.
‘Drat, drat, drat.’ Pushing herself to standing, being mindful not to rest her sticky fingers against the fabric of the sofa behind her, she walked into the hall and pulled open the front door. ‘Murray.’
‘Hi, I hope you don’t mind me stopping by.’ He glanced back towards his van which was parked on the other side of the garden gate. ‘Laura was worried because you’d left your mobile charger at the inn, so when I mentioned I would be passing, she asked me to drop it by.’
‘Oh thanks.’ She vaguely remembered plugging it in this morning but hadn’t even realised she’d left it. She would have tonight, though, when she’d gone to charge her phone.
Murray held up her charger before pulling his other hand from around his back and brandishing a bottle of red wine. ‘I also wondered if you fancied sharing this with me? My clients from the job I finished this morning gave it to me as a thank you.’
‘Oh, yes, okay. That’d be nice.’ As long as she could steer the conversation away from his ex-wife today. She wasn’t sure she had the bandwidth to be reminded of that particular nugget of new information tonight.
Stepping back, she let him through before closing the door behind him and held her hand out for the charger.
Frowning, Murray tilted his head and stared at her hand as she wrapped her fingers around the charger. ‘What’s going on? You’re suddenly growing wings? From your thumb?’
Glancing down at her hand, she laughed as she picked at the remaining butterfly wing stuck to her skin before holding it up. ‘I was crafting.’
‘Ah, dare I ask where that was supposed to end up? I’m assuming not on your thumb?’ Murray grinned.
Placing the remains of the half-winged butterfly on the windowsill, she looked at him, his grin contagious. ‘I’m supposed to be decorating headdresses for Laura’s bridesmaid and flower girl.’
‘And how’s that going?’
She led the way through to the living room and nodded at the mound of crafting materials on the floor. ‘The headdresses? Not so great.’
‘How about the wedding planning? It’s getting close now, isn’t it?’
Taking a deep breath in, Ellie let out a slow sigh as she picked up her notebook and flicked through to her never-ending to-do list before holding it out to show him. ‘I’ll get there. Hopefully. I’m just thankful I’ve not got any other weddings to plan alongside it.’
Whistling through his teeth, Murray widened his eyes. ‘Wow, that’s quite some list. I don’t know how you do it.’
She shrugged. ‘Just the same as you run your business.’
‘Uh, nope. I go from job to job and only have to think about sourcing materials for the job in hand. I could never even juggle half that amount of workload.’
Closing the notebook again, she dropped it to the sofa. ‘It looks a heck of a lot worse than it is. Most of the items on the list are a work in progress and will get ticked off sooner rather than later. It’s just the damn caterers I’m struggling to source.’
‘You must have a lot of contacts though?’
Biting down on her bottom lip, Ellie could feel her cheeks flush.
She wasn’t sure she was quite ready to tell him the whole sorry affair of why her contacts might not be being quite as cooperative as she’d hoped.
‘Things are a bit tricky at the moment. I’ll probably tell you all about it once I’ve got a glass or two of wine in me, but, for now, I’ll just say I’m basically starting from scratch in regard to contacts.
Plus, of course, the short notice isn’t helping matters either. ’
‘Fair enough.’ Murray gave her a sympathetic smile and she was grateful he didn’t push her to disclose anything else. ‘Oh, how about asking Ruby?’
‘Ruby? The restaurant owner from last night?’ Did she dare to get her hopes up? Their meal had been absolutely delicious and if what they’d eaten last night was anything to go by, she’d be proud to serve Ruby’s food at the wedding. ‘Does she cater for weddings?’
‘I don’t know. I’m pretty sure she caters for events though, so I’m guessing a wedding wouldn’t be much different.’ He grinned again, illuminating his dimple. ‘It’s worth an ask.’
She nodded her head vigorously, feeling a weight lifting. ‘Wow, Murray, you might have just solved all my problems!’
‘Haha, I’d be happy to solve just one.’
‘Honestly, if she could…’ Without thinking, she took a step forward and wrapped her arms around him, feeling his arms reach around her too.
Worrying about finding a caterer had been a huge factor in her sleepless nights.
Suddenly embarrassed, she jumped back and rubbed her arms as though they had taken on a life of their own. ‘I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have…’
‘Shouldn’t have what?’ He tilted his head, his eyes piercing hers. ‘Hugged me? Why not?’
‘Well, I…’ What was she supposed to say? That, no, she shouldn’t have because his touch had brought up a million memories and confusing emotions to the forefront of her mind, feelings she wanted to rekindle their love more and more each time she laid eyes on him? ‘I’ll grab some glasses.’
Giving a slight shake of his head, he almost seamlessly followed her lead in the change of conversation. ‘You have glasses?’
‘Er, I’m not actually sure. Rick took the last bottle of the wine we had in the fridge before he left, so I’ve not reached for the glasses yet.’ She grimaced as she turned to the kitchen, desperate to put as much physical distance between them as she could.
Chuckling, Murray shook his head whilst following her through. ‘I’m sure it’ll taste good whatever we have to drink it from. It looks as though it’s good stuff.’
Pulling open the kitchen cupboard, Ellie scrunched her nose up. ‘One mug and one… umm… egg cup okay?’
‘I’m sure we’ll cope.’ Murray grinned as he picked up the mug from the draining board, waiting until Ellie had placed the blue ceramic hen-shaped egg cup on the work surface next to the mug. ‘I’ll take the egg cup, I can pretend I’m drinking shots and it’ll take me back to my student days.’
‘Haha, fair enough.’ She looked out of the window, the sun was slowly beginning to set, but the air was warm.
Sensing him watching her, Ellie glanced quickly behind her and, sure enough, his eyes were trained on her.
What was he thinking? Had that quick hug taken him back to happier times too, or was that just wishful thinking on her part? ‘Shall we take it outside?’