Chapter 45
45
‘I think it’s a great idea about your dad doing the narration,’ Harriet told Libby as she fixed a silver hair clip decorated with snowflakes into her long hair.
‘He recorded it yesterday and he and Maggie have chosen the right length of musical interludes as well,’ said Libby before looking at herself in the mirror and nodding. ‘That’s lovely,’ she said, admiring the half-up, half-down hairstyle that they had decided on for the wedding.
‘And you didn’t need to apologise about needing us here tonight,’ said Flora, zipping up the back of Katy’s purple jumpsuit. ‘It’s your wedding.’
Katy turned around and looked at her reflection. ‘These are lovely,’ she said. ‘The perfect shade of lavender.’
‘Of course,’ said Harriet, beaming. ‘Right, let’s have a look at you all.’
Libby lined up along with Flora and Katy in front of the bride-to-be.
‘My three bridesmaids,’ said Harriet, looking tearful. ‘You all look so beautiful.’
‘Team bride looking awesome,’ agreed Libby.
‘So our outfits are sorted,’ said Katy, going across to draw a tick on the worryingly large notepad that she had brought with her.
Harriet’s work at the lavender spa was full time and she had begun to panic as to the sheer amount of administration involved in organising a wedding. Thankfully, despite Katy’s work also being full time that hadn’t stopped her offering to be Harriet’s wedding co-ordinator.
‘Shoes?’ asked Katy, running her pen down the long list.
‘On their way,’ replied Harriet.
‘Ring bearer?’ said Katy, looking over at Paddington the dog who was sprawled on the floor nearby.
‘His purple bow tie has arrived and he’s booked into the dog groomers the day before,’ Harriet told her.
‘So the church is booked, invites sent out and I just need you and Joe to finalise the menu for the food you want for the meal,’ said Katy.
Harriet frowned. ‘We still don’t want Ryan cooking on our wedding day though,’ she said. ‘After all, he’s one of the best men.’
Libby rolled his eyes. ‘He said he wants to cook for you both!’ she said.
Katy nodded. ‘She’s right. He’s a chef and his present to you will be loads of delicious Italian food.’ She carefully slipped the snowflake clip out of her dark hair and placed it back in its box. ‘I promise you that he won’t spend the whole time in the kitchen. He says most of it can be prepared the day before.’
‘Okay,’ replied Harriet. ‘Well, at least we know the food will be delicious.’
‘It’s going to be wonderful,’ Flora told her. ‘You wanted a simple wedding reception with just your favourite family and friends and good food. So you’ll have the perfect day for you both.’
‘I want to show you all the decorations that I’ve ordered for the reception in the station,’ said Harriet.
She picked up her phone and they oohed and aahed at the dainty snowflakes and pale silver bunting and candles that she had bought.
‘Of course, the wedding is easy compared to the long list of decorations that arrived this morning for the Christmas train,’ said Flora. ‘Thank goodness the campsite is shut, otherwise I’d never have time to help Ethan set everything up.’
‘With help from your glamorous assistant – me,’ added Libby, with a grin.
‘Well, I can handle the ideas you had for the station,’ said Katy, with a nod. ‘That just needs to be full-on Christmas, so a massive tree, lots of holly and wreaths and twinkly lights absolutely everywhere.’
‘Sounds perfect,’ said Libby. ‘And with time marching on too, it’s a good job I’m around to help.’
‘Still no sign of a job?’ asked Katy.
Libby shook her head. ‘No but…’
As her voice trailed off, her three friends looked at her expectantly.
‘But…?’ prompted Flora.
‘Well, Dad and I were talking and he thinks that I should try to make a business out of the chocolate-making full-time,’ she said. ‘But that’s crazy, isn’t it?’
‘Of course not!’ Harriet told her. ‘And your dad would never suggest something if he didn’t think it would work. He’s far too sensible for that.’
‘I guess,’ replied Libby. ‘But how would I even go about starting from scratch?’
‘Website,’ said Katy, nodding thoughtfully. ‘Getting the word out will definitely help. But the feedback from the hotel for your boxes of chocolates has already got loads of people interested and asking for more details. Anyway, this all works out perfectly for my master plan!’
Libby, Flora and Harriet tried and failed to stifle their groans.
‘Here she goes again,’ murmured Flora.
Katy’s business ideas had caused all of them extra work over the past year, but they had to concede that they normally turned out for the best.
‘How about a stall at the station when the Christmas train is up and running?’ said Katy, with a large smile. ‘The footfall from all those passengers will really up your chance of paying customers. Then the word of mouth spreads.’
Libby nodded. ‘That sounds like a great idea,’ she said. ‘But it’ll have to wait until the Christmas train is ready. That has to take priority. For Eddie’s sake.’
They all agreed.
She certainly couldn’t wait to start up her chocolate making once more. But that would mean probably using Ethan’s kitchen again.
He was still her other half, she thought. The part of her that went missing whenever he went away. It would happen again in the new year, of course. But the fact that they were growing closer once more gave her hope that maybe they might just be friends at last.
Despite her wanting to be so much more.