Chapter 58 Sarah
SARAH
‘Should the female main character go to a wedding where her sister is marrying her ex, or should I make it about her being forced to attend another family member’s wedding?’ I turned to face Ben, who was in bed beside me.
It’d been three weeks since I’d started writing my book outline and the words were still flowing like nobody’s business. But every now and then I’d still get stuck and Ben was always brilliant at helping me to push through my writer’s block.
Ever since that night I’d come over to discuss Office Delight and had ended up writing in bed, I’d stayed over almost every evening.
We’d usually have sex, but that wasn’t always the case. Things had evolved since then and we’d got into a nice routine. Not routine in a boring way. More like an easy, comfortable and natural rhythm.
After work, I’d sneak up to his flat and Ben or I would cook. Then once we’d eaten and chatted about our days, we’d either watch TV or I’d curl up on the sofa with my laptop writing with my legs stretched across his lap, whilst he’d read or massage my feet, which was heavenly.
Ben would bring me snacks and cups of tea, always delivered with a soft forehead kiss or peck on the lips. Then we’d head to bed and fall asleep in each other’s arms.
In the morning, I’d creep out, return to the B&B to change and come to work. Sometimes if I was on a later shift, I’d sit in my room and write some more.
Being a social media manager, obviously I was online a lot.
And whenever I used to see those posts about strangers ‘living their best life’ I’d always roll my eyes.
But now, I was one of those people. Honestly, everything was perfect.
I was getting sex on tap, writing a book like I’d always dreamt and work was going brilliantly too.
We’d had three book challenge bookings in the past week alone, which had brought in nearly a grand of extra revenue—from three minutes! It was amazing how many books a romance fan could cram into a trolley in sixty seconds.
The retreat was finished. We’d had a test overnight stay last weekend with some of our top members who raved about it. The first proper readers’ retreat was this Friday and would be run by me and Jane. I was really looking forward to it.
As for the bar, it was scheduled to be completed within the next month. And with a launch party to plan, it was all go.
But today it was Sunday and I only had three things on the agenda: more writing, planning Jess’s wedding and spending quality time with Ben.
And I needed to secretly reply to an email I’d received yesterday.
I was organising a surprise for Ben which I hoped he’d like. Fingers crossed the cloak-and-dagger stuff would be worth it.
‘A wedding?’ Ben’s gaze dropped to the floor and he started fiddling with the duvet cover. ‘Er, well, I, er…’ He paused. For some reason he’d become flustered.
‘You okay?’
‘Yes. I’m just thinking that, er… if her sister’s marrying her ex, why would the heroine attend? Surely that’s masochistic. You’re already using inspiration from your life and us for the book, so you may as well do the same for that part and make it a sibling or parent’s wedding.’
‘Great idea! Maybe her mum’s getting remarried or something and she adores her mum, so she can’t not go. And the mum can’t not invite the sister even though she’s a bitch, so they’ll both come face to face.’
‘And of course the hero will swoop in, save the day and charm the entire family.’ He flashed a half smile.
‘Of course!’ I smiled. ‘Thanks as always for your help.’
‘I’ll be sure to put my invoice in the post.’
‘Ha! Funny. By the way, Adrian’s sending over the wedding photos soon. He said Debbie has been going over the thousands that the photographer took for weeks and she’s almost narrowed it down to her top two hundred pictures.’
‘Two hundred?’
‘Yep! Anyway, he said there’s some nice ones of us.’
‘Cool.’
‘Speaking of weddings, can you help me plan some stuff for Jess and Theo’s wedding after lunch?
Jess already did the notice of marriage application and gave me the green light weeks ago to start planning it at the library, but I’ve been so busy with work and writing that I haven’t had a chance.
She’s hoping to get hitched next month, once the bar is finished, so I need all the help I can get! ’
Ben’s face fell.
‘Um, no,’ he snapped.
‘What?’ I frowned, then smiled, expecting him to laugh and say ‘only joking,’ but he didn’t. Wait. He was serious. ‘Why not?’
‘Because I said no!’ He ground his jaw. ‘Weddings aren’t my thing.’
‘But Theo’s your brother!’
‘Which is exactly why he’ll know not to expect me to do that.’
‘But why?’ I repeated, my face creasing with complete confusion.
‘Drop it, will you?’ Ben shouted, then jumped off the bed, stormed over to his wardrobe, pulled out some clothes, then started getting dressed. ‘I’m going for a walk.’
After scooping his keys off the coffee table, he strode towards the door, then left.
What the hell was that about?