Ghosted: Wicked Wedding Planners Series

by Alyssa Parsons

  Taking you back was amazing but unfortunately it didn’t work out for us. There are just too many unresolved issues. I am grateful for you coming back after all these years. I finally got the answers to why you had ghosted me

  All this time I know now that I was the strong one. You disappeared out of my life because you were weak and afraid. I see how strong I was to be able to carry on with my life and build a successful business. I need to be on my own to work through everything that has happened over the last few months.

  I need to look after myself for now.

  Wow I didn’t realise I had all these thoughts and feelings buried inside of me. I feel better after writing everything out on paper. For once I feel like I am in control and strong. I am in charge of my life and destiny. I don’t want to look back through my old journals and read through a bunch of whingy entries …… which is essentially all that I have been writing over the last few days.

  Of course I am sad but I need time and space from Caspar. I copy out my diary entry as a letter to Caspar and email it over to him. I feel lighter as I click the send button. A few hours later I get a text back. I have to admit, I was a bit shocked at first but I am okay.

  I am gutted at receiving

  your email today Sammi.

  I never realised that my

  actions caused you that much

  pain and affected you so deeply.

  I am devastated that you have

  decided to end things but I

  will respect your decision.

  I have been offered the chance

  to work in our New York branch

  for 6 months. It’s a great career

  move. I was going to discuss how

  you felt about it but I guess it doesn’t

  matter anymore. I have decided to

  accept the offer.

  Take care Sammi.

  All the best

  Cx

  Wow, I was not expecting that and I feel like all the breath has been knocked out of my body. Now that he is not coming back for a while I feel a bit scared and sad. I struggle to get to sleep and spend the night tossing and turning.

  I ring my therapist the next day and we talk things through. She has helped me get back into a strong and positive head space. I suppose it’s for the best that Caspar won’t be living in the same town or even country for that matter. I am ready to start living my life. I have spent the last 8 years in limbo. I have never allowed myself to fully engage in relationships as I could never seem to properly move forward with anyone else

  For once I am not checking my phone every five seconds to see if Caspar has been in contact. I feel like I have managed to cut off the anxious needy old Sammi. I have booked a girly holiday with Leanna and Gemma in September after the wedding season dies down a bit.

  What will be will be. So they say…….

  To be continued…….

  Coming Soon…….

  Haunted

  The 2nd book by Alyssa Parsons in The Wicked Wedding Planner Series.

  Please read on for an excerpt of my 2nd book Haunted……….

  Alyssa x

  Haunted

  W hat a busy summer getting through all those weddings. Amelie’s wedding to James almost went off without a hitch. Of course Linda, good old bossy Linda just couldn’t help herself. After all the bother she caused Amelie when we started planning her wedding. Yes, she had finally stopped after her family had intervened.

  It became a pleasure to plan Amelie’s wedding, a classic vintage English manor house wedding. Amelie did have her afternoon tea and gourmet buffet at Darlington Manor. It was a beautiful day and the ceremony was lovely.

  But Linda just couldn’t resist First of all, she committed the ultimate fashion no-no when it comes to weddings. She wore a white dress but luckily everyone took the high road and told her she looked lovely.

  Amelie had arranged for a hairdresser to come and do the hair for her bridesmaids and Linda. Of course, Linda became difficult and complained about the style. She insisted that the hairdresser redid her hair. This caused the ceremony to start 20 minutes late.

  Her final shot was aimed at showing her disdain for the evening sit-down buffet which she thought was too common for the wedding guests. So what did she do? She brought in a big cardboard box full of those take-away containers and started telling the guests to make sure they took home left-overs. She literally set the box down next to the buffet station. Her reasoning was that if Amelie and James wanted to go down the buffet route, then she would act accordingly and go along with it.

  Amelie and James coped really well and didn’t react to her behaviour which I think really put Linda’s nose out of joint. I think Linda and Amelie’s relationship will need repairing after this. Amelie is getting more assertive these days and is not so accepting of Linda’s controlling ways.

  So what happened after I sent Caspar the letter telling him I wanted to be single?

  Well not much. I have to admit, I was a little bit disappointed. I managed to deal with the bombshell he had dropped ……that he was going to stay in New York for 6 months for work. I was sort of hoping he would still make some grand gesture to win me back. To be honest, if he had…. it may have worked to get me back. But no, there was no big gesture or any letter begging me to reconsider.

  I continued with a few more therapy sessions with the counsellor my friend Thom, the amazing baker recommended. She was amazing in helping him get over the toxic hold his evil ex Sasha had over him.

  And I am just back from a brilliant girlie holiday with Leanna and Gemma. One glorious hot week on a fabulous Greek Island. There was lots of sunbathing, delicious meals out, drinking, dancing and no boys. Just what I needed.

  Like all good things, the holiday has come to an end. It’s back to work and things are busier than ever. Honey, who I had planned this huge glamourous pineapple-themed wedding for in May had her wedding pictures published in a big spread for Platinum magazine. This is great news for Wedding Boss.

  Her friend Tiffany Dunlop, another rich socialite has hired me as a wedding planner for her upcoming nuptials. But get this - she was so impressed with the Pineapple wedding so she now wants a classy themed wedding too.

  And the theme is…. drumroll please…. Flamingos!!! Yes that’s right, she wants flamingos to be the big feature on her wedding day.

  And I thought pineapples were bad. At least with pineapples, you could base a menu and drinks around it. How am I going to create a classy wedding based on flamingos? I can feel a big headache coming on.

  I decide to go through a few my emails before my first client arrives. I scroll through my inbox which has become rather full while I was away enjoying the wonderful Greek sunshine. I get through a load of them when I notice a certain email.

  Talk about a blast from the past. It’s from Melissa Bellamy or Mel-Bel as she loves to be called. J-Lo has a lot to answer for. It must be about 5 years since I have seen her. She moved away to the Cotswolds to open a jeweller y boutique. We lost touch shortly after so I am surprised to get an email. We were really close at one point but we drifted apart.

  She was an old college friend who I spent a lot of time with after Caspar had gone off to Australia. Leanna had started seeing Nick and she was so wrapped up with him back then. I started hanging out with Mel a lot more and we really clicked. But over time she started getting really demanding and high-maintenance. She didn’t like me spending time with my other friends and got jealous of my friendship with Leanna and Gemma.

  I was always too soft to stand my ground so I was really relieved when she announced she was off to Burford to open a shop. I visited her once or twice when she first moved down but with the distance, we grew apart. Our phone calls and texts dwindled over time and I haven’t heard from her since.

  I am intrigued to see why she has decided to contact me. I open the email.

  Hi Sammi

  It’s been a while. I am getting married – OMG I know. Anyway, I want t
o come back and get married in Roseford. I see you are a wedding planner now. Looks like you’ve done some exclusive weddings- I saw the one you did in Platinum. It was lush. So of course I have to have my old bestie help me plan the most important day of my life.

  I’ll be in touch soon to make an appointment.

  Ciao,

  Mel-Bel X

  I read the email a couple of times. Oh god, I really don’t want to see her again. I was happy that our friendship had gradually seen its course. I can think of nothing worse than having to plan her wedding.

  How am I going to get out of it?

  I pull my phone out and send a quick text out to Leanna.

  You won’t believe it!

  Guess who just emailed me?

  Mel-Bel !!!!!

  I start researching ideas for Tiffany Dunlop’s flamingo wedding. So why flamingos?

  She likes pink. And her fiancé is American and apparently flamingos are big out there. Back in the day, people used to hire pink lawn flamingos to mark milestone events like birthdays and anniversaries. So if you were celebrating your 40th, you would wake up with 40 flamingos in your front garden. It’s a big thing and they both dig flamingos.

  A few minutes later, I hear my phone. Leanna has replied.

  No way!!!

  What does she want?

  I quickly tap my response.

  She’s coming back to

  Roseford to get married.

  And she wants me to

  plan her wedding…

  A few seconds later, I get Leanna’s response. It says it all.

  Good Luck!!!!

  Yes, that pretty much sums up exactly what you need when Mel-Bel comes into your life. I don’t know what to do about Melissa’s request. I need to try and find a way to get out of it. Simply telling her I am too busy with other clients won’t work. I leave her email for now and think on it.

  I look at the time. I need to get over to Thom’s bakery to discuss a cake design for one of my weddings. It’s so convenient that his bakery is only a few shops down from my office.

  ‘Hi Thom,’ I shout out as I enter Bake.

  ‘Hey Sammi, I’ll be out in a minute,’ he calls out.

  I take a seat at one of the tables. Thom shuts his bakery every day from 10:30-11:30 am so he can meet with potential wedding customers.

  ‘How’s it going?’ he smiles when he comes out from the kitchen.

  ‘Not too bad.’

  We have got closer since we have been helping each other deal with end of what were the biggest relationships of our lives.

  I run through a couple of cake designs that one of my brides has asked for and arrange a day to for them to meet for a cake tasting.

  ‘You won’t believe what happened today.’ I tell him when we have got through

  ‘Go on, tell me.’

  ‘I’ve just been emailed by this old friend I lost touch with. She is really full-on and stressful,’ I groan. ‘She is coming back to Roseford for her wedding and she has told me… not asked me, that I am planning her wedding.’

  ‘I take it this is not a good thing?’ he asks me.

  ‘No it really isn’t. She just stresses me out and makes me tense.’

  ‘Tell her you can’t do it.’

  ‘If only it was that easy,’ I say as I rub my temples. ‘You haven’t met Mel-Bel. No is not an option when she wants something.’

  ‘Mel-Bel,’ Thom frowns.

  ‘Her catchy nickname,’ I explain.

  He rolls his eyes. ‘Don’t let her take advantage of your good nature.’

  ‘I’ll try.’

  We arrange to meet up for lunch and Thom packs up a few of his delicious cupcakes for me before I go. He hands me the cake box and suddenly leans over to kiss me. I am so surprised, that I don’t react at first. His lips are still firmly planted on mine. I pull away and look at him awkwardly.

  ‘I’m not ready for this,’ I say.

  ‘Sammi, we are good for each other. You need to stop fighting this.’

  ‘I don’t know, maybe. Listen I have to go, I’ll talk to you later,’ I say as I turn to the door. My heart stops as I look out the windows of Thom’s shop. Surely, my eyes are playing tricks on me. It’s Caspar and he has obviously just seen the kiss between Thom and I. He looks at me and I can see he is not happy. Before I can do anything, he crosses the road and disappears.

  Check out Alyssa Parsons Chick Lit on Facebook for updates on new releases and giveaways.

  Reviews are so important for an author especially as I am a new writer who has just released this first book. I would love for you to leave a review on Amazon or any other platform so I can receive feedback. Thank you for reading my book and I hope you have enjoyed reading about Sammi’s adventures in life as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

  Alyssa x