Flynn was sitting behind his desk, papers spread out in front of him, while Julia was leaning against the window sill, her hands wrapped around a steaming mug of tea. ‘Here they are! We were just talking about you. How did the first meeting go? Was it all hearts and flowers, romance and twinkly fairy lights?’ Julia asked.
‘Not quite,’ admitted Libby, screwing up her face before sitting down on the chair opposite Flynn. Guy grabbed another from the far side of the room and parked it next to her.
Julia’s eyes flicked between the two of them. ‘They did turn up, didn’t they?’
‘Yes,’ Libby said, hesitantly.
‘I can feel a “but” coming on,’ Flynn said, folding his arms and leaning on the desk.
‘I’m not sure it’s going to pan out exactly how you’re imagining it.’
‘How can a beautiful romantic winter wedding in the most stunning of settings with everything Christmas and all things festive not be quite how I imagine it?’ he asked, looking puzzled.
‘Because that’s your ideal wedding, and Julia’s too, but unfortunately the winning happy couple don’t quite share your vision.’
‘What do you mean? How can anyone not share that vision? I gave a specific brief to Jenny.’
‘Possibly one that may have got lost in communication. The bottom line is your bride is over six foot tall – I’d say around six-foot-four without heels – and your groom is pushing five-foot-fourwithheels. Not only that, but they also want a colourless wedding.’
Flynn looked confused. ‘What do you mean? What’s a colourless wedding?’
‘Exactly what it says on the tin. No colour. Everything at the wedding is black. Black dress, black cake, black flowers, even black invitations.’
Flynn looked horrified. ‘Black? It wasn’t Halloween or April Fool’s Day last time I looked. You’re winding me up, right?’
‘Of course they’re joking!’ Julia chipped in, looking between Libby and Guy before realising that both of their expressions were serious.
‘Not joking,’ confirmed Libby. ‘I wish I were.’
‘I’ve captured it all on film, if you want to take a look?’ added Guy, holding up his camera.
‘I think I best had,’ replied Flynn.
Julia went and stood behind Flynn’s chair as Guy turned the viewfinder towards them both and the footage began to play.
Libby watched a slow crimson blush crept up Flynn’s cheeks, a look she knew only too well. He wasn’t happy. As soon as the short clip was over, Guy switched off the camera. A look of disbelief was written all over Flynn’s face.
‘What are you thinking?’ Julia asked him.
‘I’m thinking this is a complete disaster. I understand that we all have different ideas about our wedding day and we can’t all be the same, but … black? We can’t use this wedding to promote Starcross Manor and that was the whole point of the competition. This wedding was meant to be the most romantic winter wedding in the world, not a version of theRocky Horror Show. We’ll have to cancel and then take a second look through the applications and see who came a close second.’
Libby opened the file and slid the contract across the table. ‘No can do. You’ve already signed the contract and unless there’s a clause in there that says you can get out of it, you have to honour the promise that clearly states what the bride and groom want, the bride and groom get.’ Libby tapped the form.
‘Damn. Pass me their application form. I need to see what they put on there for Jenny to have chosen them.’
‘I’m afraid there is no application form in the file. It’s missing. I have no information about the winning couple whatsoever except what they’ve told us today. All that was in this file was details of the competition and the closing date for entries.’
‘How is there no information about the winning couple? I need to check with Lisa where she found the file. Their application form has to be somewhere. There was a section where they had to describe their dream wedding and if they described this all-black nightmare there’s no way they should have been chosen. You don’t think…’ he began, suddenly looking panicked. ‘Surely Jenny actuallyreadall the application forms before choosing the winner, right?’
Libby felt bad for her brother. It was clear that Flynn was in disbelief and trying to reason his way out of this disaster.
‘Maybe there’s a way to disqualify them,’ he said, sounding hopeful.
‘You can’t disqualify them,’ Julia replied. ‘I know it’s disappointing that you probably can’t use the footage to promote future weddings but if they have been chosen to win—’
‘By someone who no longer works here,’ interrupted Flynn.
‘Disqualifying them for any reason would create a whole lot of negative publicity that you and Starcross Manor don’t need. There will be uproar. Just think about what that could do to your reputation and the reputation of this place. I hate to say it, but these people won and are entitled to the wedding they want.’
