‘Thank you, that is very kind of you. For now, I’d best be off.’
Cynthia stood up and Libby shifted off the blanket. Watching Cynthia walk away Libby couldn’t imagine being in her position, stuck between two children who were fighting over goodness knows what. Even after spending such a short time with Guy, Libby knew that he was a reasonable person. She’d seen the love he had for his daughter and his kind and caring nature. But he must be swamped in hurt and pain because of whatever was going on if he saw no chance to end the feud. As she carried on walking through Primrose Park, she noticed the signposted path towards The Little Blue Boathouse. She followed the trail down to the river, where she hopped onto the water taxi into town with a plan to grab a coffee and a pastry from one of the cafés as soon as she reached the other side of the river.
The boat docked and Libby headed towards a side street off the main road. The last time she was here she’d stumbled across a tiny coffee house that sold cinnamon rolls to die for. Despite the weather the street was busy and there was a small queue outside the coffee house, which she joined. Soon after, she spotted Florrie standing on the street corner a little further up. She was in conversation with a woman and Libby immediately recognised the long, flame-red hair of the woman from the car park outside Buttercup Barn. It was Jenny. She watched as Jenny touched Florrie’s arm before disappearing into the building behind them. If Libby remembered rightly, it was a care home for the elderly. Florrie was now heading her way and Libby called out to her.
‘Florrie!’ She waved.
Florrie looked up and immediately smiled. ‘You’ve got the right idea,’ she said, joining Libby in the queue. ‘I think I’ll grab a coffee before I head back. I was actually going to text you. The flowers have arrived. I have to say it was a bit of a task but I got there in the end. I’ll have a couple of bouquets made up for Friday.’
‘Miranda will be pleased. This wedding is coming together effortlessly after the initial shock of the colour scheme.’
‘And how is everything? I believe things got a little scary last night?’
Libby looked puzzled. ‘Scary? What am I missing?’
‘The ice-skating accident. Jenny was just telling me all about it. It doesn’t sound good.’
‘Jenny was telling you all about it?’
‘Yes, the whole town is talking about it. I heard David nearly lost his fingers on the ice and there’s possibly going to be an investigation into health and safety measures up at Starcross Manor.’
Libby immediately came to Flynn’s defence.
‘None of that is true.’ Annoyed, she didn’t hesitate to put the record straight. ‘I was there. David didn’t nearly lose a finger. He fell over on the ice when he was skating and jarred his shoulder and Miranda drove him to the hospital to get it checked out as a precaution. There was nothing more to it. Where have these rumours come from?’
‘I’m not sure, but everyone was talking about it up at The Heart of the Village when I went to put the heaters on in the shop early this morning, and it was the first thing Jenny said to me just now.’
‘Rumours like this can escalate and cause damage to businesses.’
‘The gossip mill has a lot to answer for,’ replied Florrie.
‘It certainly does,’ Libby said as they reached the front of the queue. After they bought their coffees and pastries they wandered back out onto the street. ‘Do you want a lift back?’ asked Florrie. ‘I’m heading that way.’
‘Thank you but I feel like a walk. Let’s catch up as soon as the samples are made up?’
‘Perfect.’
With their conversation playing very much on her mind, Libby headed in the direction of the care home. There was a low stone wall opposite, on which she perched to drink her coffee. Libby didn’t like the fact that wrong information about last night seemed to be circulating fast; gossip was lethal. Thinking back to her earlier conversation with Flynn, she remembered how he’d said something wasn’t sitting quite right with him about this wedding. It made her wonder: were the untrue rumours circulatingnotcoincidental or was Libby beginning to overthink things too?
Tucking into the cinnamon roll, she looked over at the care home as her thoughts turned to Jenny. Had she resigned from her job because she’d been successful in gaining another position? But given what Florrie had previously said about the Starcross Manor job being Jenny’s dream, it didn’t make sense that she would have been job-hunting elsewhere. Still glancing in the direction of the care home, she saw the door open and Jenny walk out.
She felt compelled to introduce herself and ask Jenny how she had heard about the skating incident—but would that be adding fuel to the fire, which was exactly what she’d advised Flynn against? Maybe she could have a general chat about the wedding and during the conversation mention the missing entry form. Before she could make up her mind a car pulled up beside Jenny and, though Libby couldn’t see who the driver was, she recognised the car as the same one she’d spotted with Jenny in The Heart of the Village.
Jenny climbed into the passenger seat and the car sped off down the street, leaving Libby with no option but to head back without answers.
As Libby walked briskly back towards Starcross Manor, the breeze was bitter but the view was stunning. Heartcross Castle with snow on its turrets and gardens looked peaceful and picturesque. It didn’t take long to walk across the bridge and reach the track on the other side, and soon she was walking through the gates of the manor. The first thing on today’s agenda was checking her emails and logging any RSVPs, followed by planning the layout of the tables in The Grand Hall for the wedding so she could run them past Miranda and David. The third thing on her list was researching wedding cocktails that could be served at the wedding in the secret garden.
With the lodges in sight, she noticed that Guy’s curtains were now open. Of course she wanted to see him again after last night but she felt sick with nervousness about how to handle the situation. She had no reason to be knocking on his door but a couple of seconds later that was exactly what she did. She heard the click of the lock and then the door opened and Guy was beaming back at her, immediately putting her at ease.
‘Hello! I was just thinking about you! Come on in, come and take a look at this.’
Guy led Libby through the lodge to an area that had been set up as a mini office. ‘No Pickle?’ asked Libby, waiting to be jumped on then licked to death.
‘He’s out with Mum and Holly; they’ve gone to explore the town.’
‘That’s exactly where I’ve just been but I didn’t see them. I did bump into your mum earlier on though.’
‘She never said. She’s always been one for an early-morning walk. It’s her favourite time of the day and she says it’s good for the soul, especially when you a have a little human tied to you for most of the day. I really do think Holly would enjoy hanging around people of her own age and she would enjoy school. Anyway…’ he said, steering the conversation in a different direction. ‘What do you think of this so far? Take a seat.’
