Chapter 19
T he afternoon went by very slowly. Due to some miscommunication or other, the set-up team had shown up with an outdoor canopy that was completely the wrong size and shape for the garden.
They drove back to their warehouse to get the right one, but called once they got there to say that it was now too late in the day to return to the venue and finish setting it up.
Julie grudgingly agreed, then passed the message on to Yasmine in a manner carefully formulated to avoid unnecessary panic.
It really was fine, just more annoyances.
Without the tent set up, the lights, chairs, and decorations all had to be put on hold as well, and Julie spent most of the day finding creative ways to store everything in the meantime.
Then she realised that the electrical team was on-site already, also aimless without a tent to wire up, and persuaded them to design an electrical plan that they could set up the next day.
The flowers worked well, at least, but unloading them was delayed by the florist spending an hour filling out insurance paperwork with Zoe.
Still, Julie approved of his work otherwise.
He took care of the dried flower decorations and would come back in two days with some exotic trees.
The flower arch structure was already set up and would be covered in fresh flowers on the day of the wedding.
Julie surveyed the garden that evening, noting with satisfaction that everyone was finally making progress.
Nothing would be finished today, and tomorrow they’d be fighting for space with the catering team, but there was nothing she could do about it.
That was just part of event planning. She headed into the house for dinner.
Zoe and Yasmine had already eaten and disappeared to do some other prep work elsewhere in the house, but a plate of Zoe’s hand-rolled sushi was on the counter.
As Julie approached, she saw a sticky note next to the plate - “POUR JULIE” written in Zoe’s looping hand.
She paused, her heart softening at the gesture, but then wasted no more time inhaling her dinner without even sitting down.
What a day. She looked up and saw that the sun was setting fast. There was just enough light left to take care of her final task of the day.
Julie’s feet sank into the gravel outside as she walked towards her car, tape in hand. She knelt down, being careful not to scrape herself.
“The van really didn’t miss it, eh?” Zoe appeared behind Julie, her arms crossed.
“No! And I was the only car parked on this side. I have no idea how he hit me.” Julie put three layers of tape over the hole, thought again, then added a fourth. “That should do it.”
“That’s a great style. Your car looks brand new.” Zoe joked.
“You’re right. Maybe I could tape other parts of my car so it looks like it’s on purpose?”
“How about the rear-view mirrors?”
“Great idea! I’ll also do the windscreen.”
Zoe laughed. The warmth of it spread through Julie.
There was a small lull filled only with the sound of the small rocks that Zoe was moving with her foot.
“I wanted to ask Yasmine to come and get shears from the garden shed to trim some of the flowers in the kitchen, but her fiancé called and now she’s on the line with him. ” Zoe timidly said. “Do you want to go with me?”
“Trim the flowers? Did the florist hit my car and do a bad job?”
“No! He did very well. I didn’t have the exact measurements for the extra counter the catering team is bringing, so I agreed with the florist that I would just trim some bits of branches if needed when I get that information.”
“I see.” Julie pondered. “There’s a garden shed?” She didn’t remember seeing anything resembling a shed in the vast lush fenced garden at the back of the house.
“Yes, but it’s not technically in the garden. It’s a bit further away, down a small path. This property is huge and I’m a little worried I’ll get lost on my own.”
Julie looked around. The sun had fully set now, and she could barely make out the shapes around her. They were in the middle of the countryside, with nothing around. Was it a good idea for her to be alone with Zoe again?
“Sure, I’d love to.” She said before she could think twice.
“Great. I hope you’re not scared of the dark.” Zoe paused. “And if you are, we can hold hands.”
Oh god. Julie wasn’t sure if she’d survive this wedding.
Probably not if Zoe kept flirting like this.
The two of them walked in silence past the house to the back of the enormous garden, and turned left through a small wooden gate.
Above the treetops, Julie could see stars blinking into view as the twilight deepened around them.
The quietness of the night and the strange tension between Zoe and her made Julie more and more nervous. She spoke. “Thank you for taking care of the insurance with the florist earlier. I’m so bad at these things.”
“No problem. It took some time because the guy had no idea what to do and was asking me everything twice.”
That’s probably because he thought you were cute, Julie thought, but instead she simply nodded.
The forest at the end of the path was only a black blotch in the night. The distant lights from other villas were the only things Julie could see. The rest was vast fields, trees and freshly cut grass.
“Thanks again for the other night.”
“What?”
“Seriously? The night at the castle? With Colin?”
“Ah!” Julie had a hard time focusing. Zoe’s freckles were still visible in the dimmed light and it had her mind going all over the place with other situations where Zoe would be in dimmed light. “You’re welcome. I never liked that guy’s movies anyway.”
“Really? You didn’t like the one where he’s a single father-”
“Oh come on! He’s supposed to be a single father struggling to make ends meet but you see him with his kids for less than three scenes in the movie.
He’s riding a motorcycle in all the others, or he’s shagging the hot woman from the bar.
If that’s what it takes to be a single father, I could be one as well. ”
“Well, when you put it like that… It’s true that it was a silly movie. But his performance was good!”
“I can’t separate the performance from the movie, Zoe,I’m sorry.”
“Fair enough.” She paused. “I just have fond memories of that movie because that’s the first one Tom and I went to see. It was a premiere and I got to meet Colin afterwards.”
Julie’s heart sank, but she didn’t let it show. “Was he just as charming back then?”
“He was… okay.” Zoe thought for a second. “Maybe that was because Tom was there.”
“Yikes.”
Julie could finally see the silhouette of the shed in the night.
A small wooden structure that didn’t match the fanciness of the villa.
They walked without a word and Zoe opened the old creaky door of the cabin when they reached it.
Everything was dark inside, and there was no sign of a light switch.
“Okay, this is spooky.” Julie frowned.
“My offer to hold hands still stands.” Zoe chuckled.
“You’re not scared?”
“A little. But I remembered you liked watching horror movies, so I think your imagination might be running a little wilder than mine.”
It was true. Julie loved watching scary movies but Zoe had never wanted to watch them with her. The one time she had, she’d hid her face in Julie’s sweater the entire time. Julie waved the thought away and dug in her pocket for her phone. She turned the torch on.
“To be fair, this looks exactly like the set of a movie I’ve seen. It’s called ‘Garden Shed Massacre’ and one of the characters gets murdered with garden shears in the shed.”
“Julie, this was not an invitation to try and spook me. Stop it.”
Julie giggled. “Sorry, that was too tempting.”
“Instead of being mean to me, can you shine your light over there?” Zoe pointed at a shelf in the left corner. Julie obliged, illuminating the various gardening tools stored there. Zoe stood on her tiptoes to reach the back of the shelf, then waved the garden shears triumphantly.
“Got them! Now let’s get out of here before your creepy movie murderer shows up.”
As they headed back towards the house, Julie looked at Zoe. She didn’t really want to know the answer, but she asked anyway. “How are your wedding jitters?”
Zoe paused for just a split second before answering. “It’s going okay. Tom has started sending me stuff he’s considering and it all looks pretty good. And I have to say, being here for Yasmine’s wedding makes me a bit excited about it.”
Julie knew she should say something in response, but her mouth was dry and she couldn’t swallow. The narrow dirt path somehow felt darker than before.
A word escaped from Zoe’s mouth but she stopped. She started again. “You really never had any idea that I was into you?”
Julie almost stumbled in surprise.
“Why are you asking?” She asked cautiously.
Zoe stopped walking. She was shifting a little on her feet. “I don’t know. It’s just… Walking at night with you. It just reminded me of that conversation we had on the beach.” She looked at Julie. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
Julie hesitated. This could be the perfect opportunity to have all of her questions finally answered.
Like why had Zoe left the morning after?
Why did they barely talk to each other in the weeks before Zoe left?
At the same time, Julie didn’t know if she could deal with whatever Zoe had to say about this.
Either her heart would be broken, or she would get her hopes up and then her heart would be broken.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make things awkward.” Zoe was giving Julie an uncertain look.