Izzy laughed. It felt good to do so. ‘Good point.’ She put her arm around Jess’s shoulders and gave her a squeeze. ‘It’s been fun though, I’m glad we came, even if we did only manage to see a couple of places. Maybe we’ll come back here again someday?’
‘I hope so,’ Jess said miserably.
They turned a corner and only just managed not to crash into Catherine and Philip.
‘So, it’s true then,’ Catherine said, pushing her oversized sunglasses back into place on her nose. ‘You’re going back to Jersey already.’
‘We are,’ Izzy said, not wishing to elaborate.
‘I’m told that you’re going to be doing a wedding reception at the manor.’
Izzy noticed she didn’t look very pleased at the prospect. ‘What of it?’ Jess said.
‘Ed said I owed you both an apology for letting you down.’ She shrugged. ‘I do feel guilty, although I’m aware you probably won’t believe me. I’m sorry I’ve put you both through all this trouble. If I hadn’t eloped, you wouldn’t be in this mess.’
Izzy hauled her rucksack back onto her left shoulder. She wasn’t going to give Catherine the satisfaction of pretending she was sorry they were going home. ‘Yes, but if you hadn’t eloped then we would never have come to France at all. So, if you think about it, you’ve done us a favour in the long run.’
‘Yes,’ Jess said eagerly, picking up on Izzy’s thoughts just as she knew she would. ‘And it’s not as if we’ve lost out completely, is it? We still get to hold the wedding reception we’d imagined at the manor. So, everyone’s happy.’
Izzy smiled at Jess. ‘Exactly.’
Catherine cleared her throat. ‘Um, I’m glad. I didn’t like to think I’d ruined your business, which is what Ed accused me of the other day.’ She took one of both Jess and Izzy’s hands in her own and gave them a sickly sweet smile that didn’t look remotely genuine. ‘I’m pleased that’s settled and we can all be friends again.’
Again? Izzy hadn’t thought they’d ever really been anything more than acquaintances, but nodded anyway.
‘No hard feelings,’ Jess said.
Catherine walked off, linking arms with Philip.
‘He didn’t say very much, did he?’ Izzy said as she checked her watch and began jogging towards the station.
‘Too busy looking at my boobs,’ Jess said. ‘Sleazebag. Oh God, I hope we make the train.’
They ran in silence for a few seconds.
‘I wonder when Ed gave her an earful?’ Jess asked, almost tripping on a loose stone at the edge of the pavement.
‘No idea,’ Izzy said, not really wanting to think about Ed at the moment, although the thought that he had told Catherine off about leaving them both in the lurch did soothe her fury at him a little. ‘Does she have to have someone to fight with all the time?’ she asked as they reached the entrance to the station. She couldn’t help wondering why Catherine, who had everything anyone could ask for, never seemed to be truly content.
‘Seems like it,’ Jess said. ‘Spoilt cow.’
Thankfully the train was on time and they didn’t have to wait very long. They bought their tickets and a couple of cheese baguettes for the journey and sat down to wait.
‘I wonder how much Alex had to pay for our fares,’ Jess asked dreamily. ‘It’s typical of him to take charge.’
Izzy laughed. ‘He’s my brother, Jess. Do you seriously think Mum would let him get away with not organising this, especially as she’s the one who instigated the new booking for us?’
‘Probably not. She’s a bit scary, your mum, isn’t she?’
The girls laughed at the thought of Cherry. Both of them had experienced her wrath as they were growing up and she didn’t differentiate between them if they misbehaved in her home. ‘She is a bit of a tyrant at times.’
‘She is,’ Jess agreed. ‘Now, we have to stop dwelling on what might have been and focus on what we’re going to do with this wedding.’
She was right. Izzy pictured the beautiful landscape at the manor. ‘We shouldn’t have to do too much preparation really,’ she said. ‘It’ll probably be very like Catherine’s wedding.’
‘Yes, but I think this will be a smaller affair. Maybe we need to sort through our stock to have some sort of theme. We can ask the bride what colours she’s using and match the crockery to it.’
‘Good idea.’
‘Poor Francesca and Rick, having a fire at their hotel,’ Jess said. ‘Your mum was saying that Rick would rather spend his time entertaining at night than running the business properly, and Fran’s not much better.’
Chapter Eleven
‘It’s weird to be waking up here in the cottage and not on the boat, don’t you think?’ Jess asked, landing heavily on Izzy’s bed the next morning. ‘I suppose we need to get up to the Encore and find out more about this couple.’
Izzy rubbed her eyes, looked at her watch, and groaned. ‘We should get a move on, I suppose. Mum has given me their contact details, but I want to chat to Francesca at the hotel to see what they had planned to have when,’ she struggled to remember the bride’s name, ‘Lacey was holding the reception there. We’ll need to get the linens and crockery back out and must check on final numbers. They were hoping for seventy-five, but there could be a few more or less by now.’
Jess walked over to the window and pulled open the curtains. ‘The weather’s holding, thankfully, and I’ve checked the forecast and it’s giving twenty-four degrees and clear skies for Saturday, so that’s a plus.’
‘You’re excited, aren’t you?’ Izzy asked, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. It cheered her to see Jess raring to go once again.
‘Relief, more than anything, although I am a little sad I couldn’t spend more time with Roman. I was getting to like him quite a bit.’
Izzy brushed her hair and clipped it up. ‘More than my brother?’ she teased, used to Jess changing her mind every few minutes. She walked out of the room and made for the kitchen. She needed her first coffee of the day if she was to get her brain working at a decent level and there was no time to waste if they were to pull this last-minute wedding reception off successfully.
Jess came in and leaned against the work surface next to her. ‘I’m not sure. They’re so different.’ She held up her hands, palms upwards as if weighing out the differences in the men. ‘Roman, a dark French count, and Alex, a blond surfer dude. Both fun, both bloody sexy, but only one of them has ever kissed me or shown much interest in me.’
‘So, Roman then,’ Izzy teased, pushing away the vision of Roman’s younger brother. She sighed and pressed the switch on the kettle.
Jess nudged her. ‘Maybe. I’m not sure yet.’
Instead of bothering to cook a breakfast, they treated themselves to bacon rolls on Rozel Pier, before driving out to the Encore. Izzy drove the van slowly up the steep hotel drive, marvelling at the thirties splendour of the white Art Deco hotel.
‘This is like something out of Poirot,’ Jess said staring open mouthed out of the side window. ‘Oh my God, I want my house to be like this when I make my fortune.’
‘We’ll have to rake in a few more bookings then,’ Izzy laughed, silently agreeing with her friend’s assessment of the landscape.
‘Yeah, I guess so,’ Jess said. She pointed to the side of the building. ‘Better park out of the way there, I don’t think this van fits into the style of this place.’
‘Darlings,’ Francesca shouted, arms outstretched as she floated out to greet them in a long velvety ensemble that fitted well with her surroundings.
‘I didn’t know you knew her that well,’ Jess whispered out of the side of her mouth.
‘I don’t,’ Izzy giggled. ‘Come on, let’s go and say hi, Mum said she’s lovely, if a little eccentric.’
‘The words kettle, pot, and black spring to my mind.’
‘Shut up and get out,’ Izzy said, trying not to look too amused. ‘Hi, I’m Isabelle and this is my business partner and friend,
Jess.’
Francesca took one of their hands in each of hers and squeezed. ‘Lovely to meet you both. Cherry said you were beauties and she wasn’t joking.’ She glanced over her shoulder and lowered her voice. ‘The bride and groom are in the bar area waiting. They’re very young and I can’t tell you how grateful I was when your mum said you could take over their wedding reception for me. I would have hated to let them down.’
‘We’re happy to have the opportunity to help them,’ Izzy said honestly. ‘I was sorry to hear about your fire.’ She looked up at the magnificent building, imagining the loss to the heritage of the island if something this magnificent had burnt down.
Francesca shivered theatrically. ‘We were very lucky, it was in the orangery at the back. It was an eighties add-on, so not part of the original building, which is good, but we still don’t really know what happened.’
‘Something to do with the electrics,’ a handsome older man said, coming to stand next to Francesca and resting his arm around her shoulders. ‘But we’re not fretting about that now, are we, Frankie?’
She smiled at him and rested her head on his chest momentarily. Izzy realized how frightening it must have been for them to potentially lose their home and business.
‘I’m Rick,’ he said, shaking their hands when Francesca let go of them. ‘Frankie’s husband. We’re very grateful to you girls for cutting short your holiday to come back here and rescue us.’
‘It wasn’t completely selfless,’ Izzy admitted. ‘We were also glad of the business.’
‘Cherry said about that spoilt little brat, Catherine de St Croix.’
‘It’s fine now,’ Izzy said, not wishing to get into a bitch-fest about Catherine.
‘Come, let’s go and meet Lacey and Jack,’ Rick said, taking Francesca by the hand and leading the way inside.
Izzy leaned into the car and took out her notepad and biro and followed them in with Jess.
‘We’ve done this many times before,’ Jess assured the bride and groom who sat opposite them looking anxious. ‘You leave everything to us.’
‘So, your caterers are aware that the food now needs to be delivered to the manor?’
‘Yes,’ Lacey said. ‘We spoke to them as soon as Francesca told us that you’d be taking over our reception.’
‘We’ve worked with them before,’ Jess said. ‘We’ll give them a call and talk everything through to make sure everything works smoothly.’
The bride confirmed the numbers and told them she wanted as much pink as possible.
‘I’m not sure what we’re going to do about the floral arrangements though,’ Lacey said. ‘Francesca and Rick are going to give us cuttings from the garden here.’
‘That’s great, but in case they’re unable to supply us with as much as we’d like, we’ll need to find another source to ensure we have enough for the wedding,’ Izzy said. ‘Maybe we can ask the Seigneur if we can take a few cuttings from his gardens?
‘We want the arrangements to look as rustic as possible; I can’t bear ones that look too contrived.’ Lacey turned to her fiancé looking close to tears. ‘I can’t have my wedding without the flowers being perfect, Jack,’ she said.
He hugged her. ‘I’m sure it’ll be fine, babe. Isabelle and Jess know what to do.’
‘Yes, we do,’ Izzy said, wondering if she could ask Ed to cut some from the manor and picture how many she could cut from the cottage and her mum’s place before the tiny gardens were bare. ‘Don’t worry about a thing. Leave the planning to us.’
Izzy gave the couple her most comforting smile. ‘Your wedding day is going to be perfect.’ She looked at her pad and the few notes she’d made. ‘Our linens are basically all white, although some have colourful embroidery,’ she explained. ‘The crockery is all different colours though and we’ll ensure that the main colour being accented is pink. The bunting in the marquee will be floral, mixed with stripes and spots. It’s retro, it’s fun, and most of all I think it’s going to work very well with the rest of your plans. You’ll see, your day is going to be perfect.’
They waved goodbye to the couple who looked much happier than they had when Jess and Izzy had arrived. Relieved to be back doing what she enjoyed most, Izzy’s nerves began to subside as they drove back to the cottage to start rearranging their stock.
‘This really does have to be perfect,’ Izzy said a couple of hours later. ‘We can’t leave any chance for error here.’
Jess handed her several napkins to place on top of one of their piles. ‘Did she say her dad worked for the local gazette?’
Izzy nodded. ‘She did, and that they’ve invited a journalist and photographer from The Jersey Scene to cover the reception.’
‘Wow,’ Jess gasped. ‘They only cover the top weddings each year. This is either going to be the best publicity we’ve ever had, or the worst, if anything goes wrong.’
Izzy sighed heavily. ‘Yes, Jess, and that’s why we absolutely have to make sure that we double check everything.’
Jess nodded. ‘Thank heavens Catherine is going to be away for another two weeks; she’d love to mess this up for us.’
Izzy had been thinking the same thing. Despite Catherine’s protestations that she wanted them to be friends, she was sure it was only because they were near the yacht and others could possibly be within earshot. ‘Yes, well, she can’t do anything from the Mediterranean, can she?’
‘Ha, no she can’t.’
Izzy didn’t dare let Jess know how relieved she was. Catherine might be dizzy and flippant about most things, but one thing had dawned on her, which was that Catherine would do anything to get what she wanted. Seeing her go for Ed in the cabin that night made her realize he was the one thing Catherine didn’t have, which was probably why she was so determined to get him.
She suppressed a shudder. She never really fought with other people, but Izzy wasn’t about to let this nasty woman get in her way when it came to her business – and, yes, if she decided she wanted to be with Ed, then she wasn’t about to let Catherine ruin things for her with him either.
Ed. She sighed. Whatever she’d been telling herself about having too many things to focus on in her life to waste time thinking about him, Izzy still couldn’t help imagining what might have been between the two of them. He was an amazing rider, and even if he was a bit too upper-class for her tastes, he was also tall, rugged, and outdoorsy, as well as kind and supportive. She gritted her teeth together.
‘What’s the matter?’ Jess asked. ‘We haven’t forgotten anything, have we?’
Izzy shook her head. ‘No. I was wondering why Ed did what he did with Catherine.’
Jess put an arm around her. ‘I know; it stinks. She is gorgeous, though, and they did have some sort of history together, so maybe he didn’t think it was as slimy as it looked.’
Izzy nodded. ‘I just wish I hadn’t seen her undoing his shorts. Bloody man.’
Jess went to argue, but Izzy held up her hand. ‘It’s no use, I know what I saw.’ She’d seen how girls had thrown themselves at Alex and how he’d responded, and as much as she liked to think that Ed had slightly better morals than her brother, realistically she didn’t hold out much hope.
Taking a deep breath, she pushed aside her thoughts of Ed and picked up her pencil. ‘Enough wallowing,’ she said. ‘Time to get on with this wedding.’
‘It’s a shame the marquee is a bit too large for their numbers,’ Jess said. ‘I suppose they were lucky to get one at all this late.’
Izzy agreed. ‘I’ve been thinking about that and maybe we could extend the dance floor and put in an extra table for drinks.’
‘And perhaps we could put together an extra arrangement for that table. Smaller, because we’ll need to incorporate it into our budget.’
Izzy nodded. ‘I was thinking about asking Ed, but he’ll still be away. We’re going to have to ransack our families’ gardens and do our best.’
They worked on their plans until they were interrupted by Iz
zy’s phone vibrating on the desk. ‘It’s Mum,’ she said, answering. ‘Hiya.’
Before she’d even finished asking that question, Cherry was screeching down the phone. ‘Please tell me you’re on your way?’
Confused, Izzy asked. ‘Where to?’
‘The manor, of course. Where do you think?’
‘We’re not due there until later this afternoon.’ She glanced at her watch. It was only one thirty and she was sure her mother had said three o’clock for them to meet the Seigneur.
‘You were supposed to meet Toby de St Croix at one o’clock, I told you this the other day. He’s just rung to ask where you’ve got to.’
Izzy shrugged when Jess mouthed what was wrong.
‘Isabel, I distinctly remember telling you one o’clock.’
Izzy suppressed a sigh. ‘Mum are you getting your twenty-four-hour clock muddled again?’
She could hear Cherry mumbling to herself. ‘Oh hell, what did I tell you?’
‘You said three o’clock.’
‘Shit. He told me thirteen hundred hours and I must have thought that was three. He’s just been bellowing at me about another appointment he can’t miss in town. How soon can you be there?’
Bearing in mind their cottage was at one end of the island and the manor house was practically on the opposite side, Izzy figured out it would take about twenty minutes, and said so. ‘But we’ll leave straight away. Call him back, please Mum. Tell him there was a mix-up with the times and we’re on our way.’
She waved for Jess to follow her and grabbing her notepad, pen, and car keys ran outside explaining as they hurried up the lane towards the hill where their car was parked. ‘Bloody Mum,’ Izzy said. ‘She’s hopeless with any sort of timing. Typical artist, my dad used to say.’
They arrived in a shorter time than they’d expected thanks to the roads being fairly clear for once. Drawing up through the impressive crested entrance with its tiny cottages on each side, the girls stopped talking as they slowed down, seeing the Seigneur standing, arms crossed, on the edge of the large lawn area near to the parking space.
The Jersey Scene series box set Page 76
