by Melissa Hill
Donnybrook,
On Friday, September 25th
and afterwards at the reception in
The Four Seasons Hotel, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4
“Oh, they’re really beautiful!” she exclaimed, putting a hand to her mouth.
She was getting married. She was really getting married. Chloe had been dreaming about her own wedding for most of her twenty-eight years, yet she didn’t think that it had really hit her, not until then – not until she’d seen the words written down.
Of course she’d done all the other things – reserved the Sharon Hoey dress, ordered the flowers, booked the hotel – but the dress was just a design, it wasn’t yet hers, and the flowers were just a ‘concept’ in the florist’s artistic little head. But here now, Chloe was holding in her hand tangible evidence of her forthcoming wedding, and she didn’t think she had ever felt so exhilarated in her entire life.
“Are you alright?” she heard Debbie ask kindly.
Chloe turned to her, blinking back tears.
“You know it’s lovely to see a reaction like yours,” Debbie continued, when Chloe didn’t respond. “I’ve always thought that the wedding invite should be chosen with as much if not more thought as the wedding dress. After all, the invites herald the entire showpiece. Your guests get to see those before they get to see the dress, the flowers and the rest of it.”
“Ah – I’m just being silly,” Chloe said, collecting herself. She really shouldn’t have let Debbie see her react like that. Now the woman would probably charge them a fortune.
“It’s alright, dear,” Debbie said, obviously mistaking Chloe’s change of expression for embarrassment. “You don’t need to explain anything to me. Now do you want a cuppa while you pick the design you want, or will I just leave you to it?”
“I think the design chose me,” Chloe said, unable to let go of the silver-embossed card she grasped in her left hand.
“You’re sure? You don’t need to OK it with Himself or anything?”
“No, it’s my decision and he’ll be happy to go along with my choice. Anyway,” Chloe added dismissively, “you know what men are like.”
How dare the woman undermine her relationship. As if she would have to ‘OK’ it with anyone.
“I do indeed,” Debbie agreed seemingly unaware of her customer’s affronted feelings, “but you’d be surprised. I had a couple in here last weekend and your man was calling all the shots and wouldn’t let the girlfriend get a word in edgeways. I tell you, he was one of the fussiest divils I’ve ever come across, enquiring about the origins of the paper we use, and the environmentally friendliness of the ink and all that. And the same fella was wearing a leather jacket. The misfortunate wife-to-be was mortified by the time they left the place.”
How unprofessional. In Chloe’s eyes, the customer was always right, and she wasn’t too impressed to hear Debbie gossiping merrily about one Amazing Days Design client to another. Idle chitchat was no doubt a way of life down here in the country. Chloe would have preferred to employ a wedding-stationery designer from Dublin, but nothing in the city had come close to Amazing Days. Such unprofessional conduct was obviously the price you had to pay for dealing with a company in the sticks.
She chuckled inwardly. Dan would murder her if she said something like that in front of him. Her fiance had been born and bred in Longford and was proud of it. Still well-educated as he was, his culchie roots didn’t show and to Chloe that was the main thing.
Not that Mr & Mrs Hunt were farmers or anything like that – nothing of the sort actually. Although semi-retired, Dan’s father owned a construction company and Mrs Hunt had ‘supported him’ throughout his working years.
Something Chloe wouldn’t mind doing for Dan once they got married. She hated her job as legal secretary to one of her father’s partners in his solicitor’s practice. Although she supposed there were some perks. Like taking time off on a Friday afternoon to choose wedding invites, for example.
Chloe sighed as she studied the invite. She wouldn’t mind Dan getting just a teeny bit more involved in the wedding plans, but it wasn’t really his thing. Anyway, he was just too busy – especially at this time of the year. Most of the companies on the books of O’Leary & Hunt Chartered Certified Accountants had their accounts year-end in March, which meant that by the middle of April Dan was up to his eyes preparing profit and loss accounts and balance sheets. She could hardly expect him to traipse around after her at the weekends, or take afternoons off just to choose their wedding stationery.
“Embossed Silver Hearts it is then,” Debbie said, writing the details in her order book, which Chloe noted seemed to be full of clients. She wasn’t surprised. The Lakeview company had really created a name for itself, and it wasn’t difficult to see why.
It was a pity though that so many people seemed to have heard of them. Would Amazing Days Design invites be two-a-penny by the time their wedding came around, and would everyone poke fun at Chloe’s lack of originality?
“The wedding is when – September?” Debbie said, a pen in her mouth. “And you said you want matching place-cards and evening invites too?”
Chloe nodded.
“OK,” she said, studying the order book, “I should have them ready for about the first week in July – how does that sound?”
“I’d actually prefer earlier,” Chloe said quickly. “We’ll need them well before then.”
First week in July indeed. That was four months away – how long did it take to run off a few invites?
Debbie looked apologetic. “The card you’ve chosen is one of our newer designs for this year and unfortunately, stock for the full set won’t be available until early June. And I’ll need a few weeks from then to work on the inscriptions.”
“Of course.” Well at least now Chloe knew that her chosen design would be original.
“And because you’re ordering so far ahead,” Debbie went on, “I would always suggest that my customers leave it as close as they can to the wedding itself before deciding on final particulars, just in case anything needs to be changed in the meantime.”
Chloe couldn’t help feeling affronted. “What would I need to change, for goodness sake?”
Debbie spoke kindly. “Well, I’m just speaking from experience, Ms Fallon.You just never know. If anyone is ill, or things don’t go according to plan, or perhaps the date needs changing –”
“Look, can we have them in June or not? If not I’ll have to go somewhere else.” Debbie looked taken aback. “Alright then, I’ll do my best.”
“Fine. Give me a call when they’re ready for collection.”
With a curt goodbye, Chloe lowered her sunglasses and breezed out of the store – her sample invitation clutched in her hand.
The stationery designer raised an eyebrow as the door shut behind her latest client with a flourish.
A madam if ever she saw one.
And in this business Debbie thought with a sigh, she had seen plenty.
End of excerpt
Continue reading THE WEDDING INVITE.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
International #1 bestselling author Melissa Hill lives in Dublin and is one of Ireland's most popular female fiction authors.
Her page-turning contemporary stories are published worldwide and translated into 25 different languages. Her titles are regular chart-toppers in Ireland and internationally and SOMETHING FROM TIFFANY'S (aka A GIFT FROM TIFFANY'S) became one of Italy's Top Ten 2011 bestselling books overall.
One of her recent novels is currently in development with a major Hollywood studio.
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ALSO BY MELISSA HILL
Author Page
Mulberry Bay (New)
Lakeview
The Heartbreak Cafe
&nbs
p; All Because of You
Never Say Never
Wishful Thinking
The Guest List
The Wedding Invite
Christmas at the Heartbreak Café
Escape to Italy
Summer in Sorrento
Autumn in Verona
Winter in Venice
Spring in Sicily
New York
A Gift From Tiffany’s
A Gift To Remember
Before I Forget (Christmas in New York)
Diamonds From Tiffany’s
The Gift of A Charm (The Charm Bracelet)
Others
Something You Should Know
Please Forgive Me
The Last to Know
Short Stories
Fairytale on Fifth Avenue
A New York Christmas
Box Sets
Lakeview – Books 1 - 4
Want to be the first to learn about new Melissa Hill releases?
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Table of Contents
Copyright
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Epilogue
The Wedding Invite
About the Author
Also by Melissa Hill
