‘Corporate events, some convention stuff, winter weddings, I suppose.’ Patti shrugged.
Minty, who was circulating as unobtrusively as she could manage, overheard this last part, and revealed herself now, holding up a bottle. ‘Top up?’ she asked, and Patti held out her glass. ‘So you do weddings?’ Minty asked.
‘Sometimes. I’m a corporate and celebration events planner. London mainly.’
‘Interesting,’ Minty said, filling her up. ‘You don’t have a card on you, do you? I may wish to pick your brains after, ah… everything that’s happened today.’
Minty looked so crestfallen, Patti immediately found the card in her wallet and said she must call her ‘any time’. As she handed it over she told her truthfully that in spite of it all, this was the best wedding reception she’d been to in a very long time, and Minty had concealed a blushing smile at that.
That evening, after Monty had fed everyone the most delicious freshly cooked seafood and fish dishes they’d ever tasted, and there’d been (short and rather informal) speeches, and Mr Crawley had grinned and sobbed all the way through his toast to his daughter, and the ice cream was devoured and the cake cut to the sound of cheers and applause, all that was left to do was get the donkeys in their stables and the kids in their beds.
Patti carried Radia down the slope to their room at the Siren.
The remaining grown-ups at the reception, beneath the lights spilling down from the Big House windows, slow-danced in pairs dotted all across the parterre and lawns.
Monty let the coals cool and left his station, where he’d kept the food coming all afternoon, and made his way to Joy, waiting patiently under the sycamore.
‘Shall we dance?’ he said, his hand outstretched.
Joy let him lead her to a quiet spot where the music still reached them and he spun her once before pulling her close to his body.
‘I never get to dance,’ she told him.
‘Well, that’s about to change,’ he said, his hand spread across her lower back in a way that made her core soften. She leaned close and let him sway her gently, his cheek against hers.
‘You saved the day,’ she told him, softly, close to his ear. ‘Feeding everyone.’
‘And I loved it,’ he told her, pulling back so she could see him smiling. ‘I want to cook outside every day.’
‘You already told me that.’
‘I know. And you said,Why don’t you?’
‘That’s right. So, why don’t you? You don’t want to be stuck in a pub kitchen. You’re a fisherman who loves to fish and cook his catch in the open air. So do that.’
‘As easy as that?’ he said.
‘Yes. Must everything be hard? Can’t we have what we want sometimes?’
Monty thought for a moment and tipped his head, conceding that maybe it was possible after all.
‘And what do you want?’ he asked.
Joy’s feet wouldn’t move any more, but she kept Monty close, her head on his shoulder. ‘I want to work close to home, with no more planes or hotels or childminders. I want what Radia wants.’ She lifted her head to look at him, a note of fear in her voice. ‘And I want you.’
‘Well then, you can have me,’ he said, his eyes falling to her lips. ‘And you must have all the other things you want and need too. I wouldn’t stop you.’
He waited for her to lift her mouth to his and as their lips touched he closed his eyes like he might swoon away entirely.
They kissed and swayed as the sun set on Jude and Elliot’s showstopper wedding and the stars rose in the early-September sky.
Chapter Thirty-four
They hadn’t talked about it. Not all the way down to the Siren that evening and into Monty’s rooms behind the kitchens. Not while they kissed the whole night away and woke up on the first crisp, dewy morning of the year. Not even when Joy was telling him goodbye and Monty was heading bleary-eyed to the kitchens.
Instead they’d said, ‘We’ll see each other soon, in London, yeah?’ And they’d shrugged like that was the easiest thing in the world to manage. ‘Yeah, it’ll work. Occasional weekends and quiet times at the Siren.’
It had been enough to comfort them for now, even though home was calling and Joy, Patti and Radia were behind the pub, shoving their luggage into the boot of Patti’s car and getting ready to set off, Patti remarking how it was funny how they had never found Radia’s passport.
