A Wedding at Sandy Cove: Part 4

Bella Osborne

• Publisher: Avon
• eBook ISBN:
  9780008464998
• Year: 2022

PART FOUR

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

When she awoke Lucy was wrapped in happiness, along with Eric’s smooth hands and firm torso. She’d slept well. She always did after sex and alcohol. Before they’d left the party Eric had bought her a large orange juice and encouraged her to drink it as well as lots of water – he swore by it to fend off a hangover. It had definitely done the trick because her head was ache free. Eric was smart as well as cute. Memories of the previous night brought a smile to her lips and a quiver to her insides until the recollections moved on to her mother and Auntie Rita and the quiver morphed into queasiness as she flinched at the images marauding her mind.

The reckless pair had refused to put their clothes back on and had scrambled onto a table to stay out of reach. They had continued to dance as the other guests egged them on. Lucy had been mortified. Thanks to Sandy they had managed to coax Terri and Rita safely down from the table and out of harm’s way with pornstar martinis. Although it hadn’t stopped Terri from groping the DJ and insulting Brittany’s mother’s outfit before they had finally managed to escort her to the car. Lucy made a mental note to send Sandy some flowers as a thank you and a formal apology to Brittany’s mum to confirm that she in no way resembled a pantomime dame.

Lucy had always wanted to trade parents with Ella and never more so than last night. Terri was a total and utter embarrassment. Mothers weren’t meant to behave like out of control teenagers. They were meant to cook Sunday lunch, drink tea and go shopping. Instead, Terri liked to pierce unpierceable parts of her body and roll joints but only when she wasn’t rat-arsed on a free bar and gyrating on a tabletop to ‘Sex Bomb’. Tom Jones had a lot to answer for.

It was a huge tick in Eric’s favour that he hadn’t run for the hills. Instead he had been waiting with tequila shots when she had come back outside embarrassed and fuming at her mother’s behaviour. He hadn’t questioned her or offered platitudes or excuses, he had simply handed her a shot glass. There were a number of other things about Eric that were ticking Lucy’s boxes: he was anti-marriage which was a huge plus, he was fun and, so far, had shown no inclination towards any psychotic tendencies. He was also gorgeous, a top-rate kisser and the sex had been exceptional, which also helped. She was pretty sure she had found her next casual man and that made her very happy.

Lucy checked the time, there were still two hours until check-out but they were going to miss breakfast if they didn’t get up soon. It was a tough call: full English or more sex? She rolled over and studied Eric. He was prettier than he was handsome. Perfect skin, delicate cheekbones and those dimples. She kissed his full lips and he responded immediately. Oh well, she wasn’t a huge fan of a cooked breakfast anyway.

***

Ella messaged Lucy again. If she didn’t appear in the next couple of minutes she was going to have to go and bang on her bedroom door or she’d miss Brittany leaving for her honeymoon. The few guests who had stayed overnight had congregated in the hotel lobby. The ushers looked decidedly green as did Auntie Rita who was asking everyone if they’d seen her new M&S balcony bra which had mysteriously vanished in the night. Nobody replied because pretty much everyone had seen it when she had been twirling it around her head, but it was likely no one knew where it was now. Brittany’s mum was already weeping and being comforted by Grant’s mother who looked delighted that her last child was finally leaving home. She had been excitedly sharing a cruise holiday brochure at breakfast.

Todd had been at breakfast too. His hair sticking up how it always did when he was fresh out of the shower but hadn’t got around to adding any product to it yet. Ella hated that they knew so much about each other. It all seemed such a waste that all that information was useless and defunct. They’d found themselves both waiting by the toast machine and he’d opened his mouth to say something but she walked away and abandoned her toast. His words from last night had unsettled her. Made her doubt things and lie awake mulling everything over.

The fact that Todd now seemed to think he was ready for commitment was messing with her head. What if he’d realised this when they’d been together? Would it have been them getting married? Once upon on a time that thought would have made her happy but now it made her think about how uneven the relationship had been and how much worse that would likely have become if they’d married. Ella was annoyed with herself. She’d been passive and Todd had taken advantage of that. He’d definitely steered her thinking when it came to having children. He’d always worded things to make them sound like they were her thoughts and ideas. How she wouldn’t want her life to be ruined by a child. That she wasn’t the sort of woman who needed children to validate her. But all along it had been his view he was forcing onto her. She vowed she’d not let that happen again. She knew what she needed to do. She needed to forget about Todd but that wasn’t going to be easy. Although after today she had no reason to believe she would ever see him again which would definitely help. He could disappear back into the black hole he’d crawled out of.

She didn’t know what to do about Kit. She hated that he’d seen Todd kiss her. Just thinking about the mess of it all brought her out in a sweat. It was all too complicated to explain to him but then she and Kit were just friends so she had no obligation to him and no reason she couldn’t be kissing someone else. But that wasn’t the point. Even if there was no hope for them, she still didn’t want Kit thinking she’d moved on that easily because she hadn’t. She wished she could be more like Lucy. She heard her friend’s giggles before she saw her. Lucy was still buttoning up her shirt as Eric showered her in kisses and they tumbled into reception only seeming to notice the assembled crowd at the last moment.

‘Hey, look at that, bang on time,’ said Lucy, checking her watch. Eric wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her neck. It didn’t take a genius to work out what had delayed them. That looks a lot more fun than my sucky love life, thought Ella.

Brittany and Grant appeared. Brittany was wearing a smart shift dress, juggling a handbag and her bouquet while arguing with someone on her mobile about airport parking. Grant trundled two large cases behind him. The group parted and Grant went to put things in the boot of the car which the ushers had kindly decorated in silly string and inflated condoms – so original.

Brittany put her phone away and her lip wobbled as she reached Lucy and Ella. ‘You guys were the best bridesmaids ever. I love you.’

‘Are you still pissed?’ whispered Lucy in her ear.

‘No, I mean it. Thank you for always being there.’ Brittany dabbed at her eyes.

‘I’m here too,’ said her mum through a sob.

‘Oh, Mum.’ Brittany was enveloped in a hug. ‘I’m going to miss you.’

Lucy gave Ella a wide-eyed look. ‘She’s going on a week’s honeymoon to Marbella not a one-way mission to Mars.’

Brittany extricated herself from her mum. Hugged Lorraine and moved on to Auntie Rita who kissed her cheek. ‘Wonderful day yesterday.’

‘Yes,’ said Brittany. ‘We made memories.’

‘We did. Hopefully some of them were captured on film. If any of the photos show what happened to my balcony bra, let me know.’ Rita held up crossed fingers.

‘I think Grant is waiting,’ said her mum, pulling another packet of tissues from her bag.

‘Throw the flowers and clear off,’ said Lucy.

Brittany wiped away a tear. ‘You are all my favourite people,’ she said, before turning her back and tossing her bouquet in the air.

Whether it was a knee-jerk reaction or a well-aimed throw on Brittany’s part – Ella would never know, but with very little effort she caught the flowers. A cheer went up. Ella felt pleased to have caught them until she looked across the reception area and her eyes met with Todd’s.

Ella needed to clear her head so she made her way down to the cove. All the wedding flowers that had adorned the walkway and the pergola were gone. The chairs where they had sat for the service had been replaced by benches and people drinking coffee. The footprints on the sand where there had been photographs and games of football had all been washed away. It was as if the wedding had never taken place. Everything had gone back to normal. Which was exactly what would happen to Brittany and Grant when they returned from honeymoon. All that planning, stress and cost was for one day and when it was over normality kicked in. For the first time it struck Ella how odd that was. So much effort on making one day perfect. Perhaps if couples applied the same attention to their relationship more would survive.

Catching the bride’s bouquet had been an odd experience. People she didn’t know had congratulated her. Even Lucy had given her a wink. She had been keen to get rid of the bouquet so she’d given it to Brittany’s mum who was over the moon because she was going to send it away to be made into a pressed flower picture. It was a nice idea, at least the flowers would have a longer life expectancy than the bride’s dress which would likely go in a box and not see the light of day ever again. Ella sighed as she watched the waves gently lap the shore.

‘Penny for them?’ said Todd, making her jump.

The last person she needed interrupting her was Todd. She could storm off but what was the point? ‘I was thinking about weddings.’

‘Your wedding?’ he asked.

‘Nope. The whole carnival of it. The months of planning and all the money they cost when what matters is whether those two people are suited – nothing else.’

‘That’s deep for you, Ella.’ He chuckled and it irked her. She was now noticing all the little subtle ways he had undermined her.

‘Did you want something, Todd?’

‘Yes. About last night in the bar and also that look you gave me this morning when you caught the bouquet. I don’t want to give you any false hope.’

Ella spluttered out a laugh which seemed to surprise Todd. ‘You’re unbelievable, Todd. It’s over. We’re over.’

‘That’s exactly what I’m telling you, Ella, and I’m sorry if that’s hard for you to take.’

‘It’s not—’

Todd held up his palms to stop her talking. ‘This is goodbye,’ he said solemnly and he made his way back up to the hotel.

Ella was stunned. She was about to go after him and put him straight when something dawned on her. She didn’t need to justify things to Todd, he could think what he liked, it didn’t matter.

The few days after Brittany’s wedding had given Ella a chance for her thoughts to settle. She had some work to do and she was filling her time with writing and placing adverts in local publications and signing up for wedding fairs in the area. If she was attending wedding fairs she also needed something to show people which was a tad more difficult than someone like a photographer or an invitation maker so she was also researching pop-up stands. She wished she’d taken before and after shots of Brittany’s bridesmaids’ dresses to show the transformation. She’d even done a quick eBay search to see if she could find another one in its original state but it seemed they were unique.

Brittany had posted a lot of happy, sunny photographs on her Facebook page along with pictures of her pets which she was evidently missing, but overall she was enjoying her honeymoon. Paws paddling on the door jolted her from her thoughts and she let Pirate in. She had planned to ban him from the business zone but that was easier said than done. He had taken to paddling on the door followed by plaintive cries and then full-on wails so she had been quickly defeated. An internet trawl had turned up the cutest mini pet sofa. It was actually a dog bed but it was adorable and had dark wooden legs similar to her gran’s wingback chairs. She’d gone for a similar material and it looked quite sweet in her work area underneath her long bench. Pirate hopped over to his couch and settled himself down.

She’d had an awkward text exchange with Kit. He’d apologised for his mother seeing another man while dating her dad which he hadn’t needed to do. Neither of them had mentioned her being kissed by Todd. She wanted to explain what had happened but she also felt that she shouldn’t have to.

Her phone pinged a reminder that an appointment was due to start in five minutes. She had the final fitting for Ashley’s bridesmaids. Ella tidied up and got the dresses ready. She heard the voices before the door chimed. They were all excited and a little of their exuberance rubbed off on her as they each tried on their dresses and she could see first the relief and then the delight as each of the dresses fitted.

The chief bridesmaid kept hugging her. ‘I can’t believe what you’ve done.’

Even Ashley herself seemed impressed. ‘You’d never know they’d been altered.’

‘That’s kind of the idea,’ said Ella.

‘Thanks,’ said Ashley.

‘You’re welcome.’ Ashley might have cajoled her into doing her wedding gown alterations for free but ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Part Four
• Acknowledgements
• Keep Reading …
• About the Author
• Also by Bella Osborne
• About the Publisher