Mrs Conway nodded. ‘I will. But I think it’s a yes.’
Hattie almost hugged her. Mrs Conway, although a bit of a dreamer, was a lovely woman. Hattie would be delighted if she had finally found somewhere she liked.
‘Let me know. And safe journey home!’
As Hattie headed for Mary’s house and another pile of paperwork her mother called.
It turned out that Hattie would have to go with her mother to visit the venue, which meant staying with her parents overnight. She told Mary all this when she got back, not happy with the thought of leaving her on her own, even for one night.
It took Mary quite a long time to convince her that she would be fine, for, she pointed out, until very recently she’d spent every night on her own. This didn’t stop Hattie alerting Rose and Luke of the situation, andmaking Mary absolutely promise to ring either one of them should a problem arise.
‘It’s very kind of you, Harriet, to take the time to come and help us with our little celebration,’ said her mother when Hattie arrived at lunchtime the following day. She sounded anything but grateful.
Hattie managed not to tell her mother how many appointments she’d had to rearrange to make the visit possible at the last minute.
‘That’s OK, Mum!’ she said breezily. ‘I’m happy to help out.’
This took a small puff of wind out of her mother’s sails. Hattie was expected to be apologetic for not dropping everything so she could have arrived in the morning, but Hattie didn’t bother to explain. Her parents found the concept of her job tricky. ‘So, are we tasting today?’
Her mother nodded. ‘Yes. If you can drive us to the restaurant owned by the catering company, they’re going to take us through everything.’
Hattie nodded. ‘What time are we expected? Do I have time to freshen up?’
Her mother winced at this Americanism, as Hattie knew she would. ‘We need to leave in half an hour. I asked Mrs Simpson to make up the bed in your old bedroom. She only comes on Tuesdays now.’
Hattie was expected to commiserate with her mother for only having a cleaner once a week, but she didn’t indulge her. ‘Great! I’ll be down shortly.’
Although it gave Hattie satisfaction to annoy her mother, she knew it wasn’t helpful, so she changed into clean jeans, top and jacket. She didn’t look as smartas her mother would have liked, but she didn’t look scruffy either.
‘I’ll just go and say hello to Dad,’ said Hattie when she came downstairs. ‘Is he looking forward to the party?’
Her mother pursed her lips. ‘There are some old friends he’s invited that he’s keen to see. They haven’t said if they’re coming yet.’
‘I’ll make sure Leonie contacts everyone who hasn’t replied to ask if there’s anything they can’t eat. It’ll inspire them to make a decision. I’ll get her to say that Dad is really hoping they’ll come.’
Her mother nodded. ‘That would be useful, I suppose.’
‘I’ll go through the invitation list when we get back from the tasting. Everything is going to be fine.’
‘How long can you stay, dear?’
‘I do have to leave first thing tomorrow, but that’s probably long enough for us to sort everything out.’ Hattie wasn’t entirely sure about this but wanted to be reassuring.
‘If you think that’s time enough—’
‘I can always come again, Mum. It’s only a couple of hours’ drive.’
‘At my age, that seems a lot. Can we travel in my car? I don’t find yours very comfortable.’
‘Is Dad coming?’
Her mother shook her head. ‘Catering is a pink job. He’s chosen the wine.’
Hattie sighed. This sounded like par for the course.
The young woman in charge of the tasting was very patient, Hattie thought, and really wanted her client to be happy.
‘The thing about family boards, where people share,’ she said, ‘is that it encourages people who don’t know each other to chat.’
