‘I’ll get you something nice and cold.’ Edith headed back into the hotel for the second time that morning.
Weddings could be happy occasions, but they also came with problems most people didn’t consider until the planning began. Edith knew a capable wedding planner was worth their weight in gold — someone who could ease the stress and find solutions when challenges arose. Problem-solving was one of Edith’s strengths.
Funny, then, that when it came to her own life, she couldn’t seem to solve her problems with quite the same aplomb.
13
WYATT
The following week, Wyatt was on his way to the café to meet Titus and Finn. Pearl, the café owner, and her granddaughter, Ellie, were going to make the wedding cake, and they had samples for them to try. Wyatt had the day off, and when Titus asked about his plans, he was delighted to accept the invitation to join them for cake tasting.
He walked from his rental cottage in the village up to the café, breathing in the sweet morning air, fragrant with wildflowers that lined the path, and the faint, salty scent of the sea. He paused several times to gaze out at the beach and the water beyond, shimmering in the sunlight — a blue-green expanse that looked incredibly inviting.
When he reached the café gardens, he admired the entranceway framed with rambling honeysuckle and roses. Through the gate, a rainbow of colour greeted him as flowers bloomed everywhere: in pots, borders, climbing trellises, and window boxes. Along with the scent of flowers came the aromas of baking and coffee, and his stomach grumbled, reminding him he hadn’t eaten breakfast.
He spotted Titus and Finn sitting near the window, laughing about something as Pearl set down trays of pastel-frosted samples on the table in front of them.
‘Wyatt!’ Titus called as he entered the café. ‘Come and join us.’
Wyatt went over and pulled out a chair, then sat opposite the grooms. ‘Well, this all looks delicious.’ He licked his lips as he eyed the variety of cake samples on the table.
‘Ellie is going to talk us through it all,’ Finn said.
‘Excellent.’ Wyatt nodded.
‘And there’s our wedding planner! Right on time, Edith!’ Finn waved.
Wyatt turned to see Edith walking towards them, the smile on her lips disappearing as she spotted Wyatt. But as quickly as it had dropped, she forced it back in place.
In a purple jersey dress that skimmed her knees, grey wedge sandals, and her chestnut hair falling over her shoulders in natural waves, she was stunning. Effortlessly so. Her bright green eyes scanned the scene, and then she seemed to make a decision as she pulled out the chair next to Wyatt.
His heart stuttered.
He’d thought she might squeeze onto the leather sofa with Finn and Titus, but she sat next to him, and he was grateful. Sensing someone watching him, he glanced away from Edith to find Titus raising his eyebrows knowingly.
Heat climbed his neck, and he forced himself to focus. This wouldn’t do; he had to behave as if he barely knew Edith orawkward questions would be asked, and that was the last thing he wanted. He was pretty certain Edith would feel the same.
‘Drinks?’ he asked, getting up and moving around the table. ‘What would everyone like?’
He took their orders then went to the counter and leant against it, glad to have a few moments to compose himself.
After he’d ordered a round of coffees, he went back to the table and found Edith and the men talking about the merits of sponge versus fruit cake. Finn was in favour of a fruit cake, but Titus was shaking his head, saying they were for dinosaurs. Edith was laughing, and he admired the tilt of her head and the way she looked so lovely when she relaxed with her friends.
Wyatt set the tray of drinks down on the table and slid Edith’s cappuccino towards her first, before handing the men theirs. She smiled her thanks, and he smiled back, feeling some of the tension in his body ease. Perhaps this would all be OK.
He’d have to get used to seeing her around as she was the wedding planner and he was the best man, so there was no way they could avoid each other over the next few months. Not that he wanted to avoid her because the thought of not seeing her now was completely unappealing.
Ellie joined them and stood next to the table with another tray of cake. She set the small plates down and then handed out some forks. ‘OK then…’ She smiled at them all, but she looked somewhat anxious. ‘We have a variety here for you to try, but if you don’t like any of them, that’s no problem as I have some other ideas too.’
‘I’m sure there’s one here that will be perfect for us,’ Titus said. ‘There are fifteen kinds of cake here. How fussy can we be?’
Finn turned to his fiancé. ‘Quite fussy at times, my darling.’
‘Finn!’ Titus shook his head. ‘I am not fussy.’
‘With some things, you are.’ Finn winked at Titus, and they laughed, sharing some private joke.
It made Wyatt’s heart ping like it had just received a calendar reminder, because he’d once shared similar jokes with Edith, things that would have seemed unimportant to outsiders but things that mattered to them. It was the wonderful thing about intimacy — the way two people could know each other better than anyone else in the world. His chest squeezed, and he realised he missed it, had been missing it for years but had been trying to ignore how empty he felt without it.
