I don’t need to worry too much about what I’m shouting from the chalkboard menu either, because I’m only doing this for two minutes while Jess grabs some more mint sprigs and whooshes some potential husbands-to-be upstairs for a quick look at the Groom Room. My real allocated job here is much more my thing – taking Polaroid pictures of happy couples on the loveseat that’s nestled in the corner by the fitting room. This is so when the customers sober up tomorrow, they’ve got something to remind them to shop at Brides by the Sea when the time comes. And so when they write their names and emails on the back of the pictures we keep, the shop gets to grow the customer contacts list.
This is how it always is with Phoebe and our wedding fairs too. She’s our queenly front-of-house figurehead, like the swan gliding above the water. Meanwhile, I’m the frantic swan feet, rushing around out of sight making things work. But, as Phoebe’s fond of saying, that way we both play to our strengths.
Poppy’s swishing her blonde ponytail, ramming cherries onto sticks like there’s no tomorrow. ‘Blame Jess for the cocktails, she got a bit carried away. Any other day, it’s Prosecco all the way, so the spills don’t show.’ As Poppy’s been the shop’s wedding cake maker for ten years, the whole town knows how delicious her baking is. It’s no surprise there’s a scramble for her cupcake towers with their mouthwatering swirls of pastel buttercream and heart-shaped sprinkles.
I nod at her as I brush the cupcake crumbs off my boob shelf. ‘You can spill anything you like on me. These sequins are very forgiving – I’ll just wipe them clean.’
Poppy laughs. ‘You make a very cute cherub, even though I say it myself.’
I’m smoothing down the pale apricot mini-jumpsuit I borrowed from the bridesmaids’ sale rail this afternoon. Dressing me as a cherub was Poppy’s attempt to cheer me up, and as the baby news hadn’t hit then, I was happy to go along with it. As for the rest of what I’m wearing, it goes downhill from the all-over sequins. Looking back, it was one of those times when going wild got the better of us. I’ve got an oversized cupid’s bow wedged across my boobs. I also have wings, a sling full of arrows, and laurel leaves stuck in my hair. Truly, don’t ask me where the laurel comes in.
I pick up another two jugs and wave them at the sea of padded jackets in front of us. ‘Anyone for a Screw on the Drive or a Heart Attack? And the cupcakes are lavender, white chocolate, and vanilla buttercream.’ I grab another two for myself and mumble at Poppy as I pop one in my mouth. ‘Bite-sized cakes are so practical when you’re serving.’
As she leans towards me, she’s waving a tissue. ‘Two things – first, there’s lipstick in your ear.’
I let out a groan as she wipes it off. ‘How the hell did that get there?’
‘We both know the answer to that.’ She lets her grin go. ‘And second – on the same subject – the guy fromSnow Goosejust walked in.’
‘WHAT?!’ My gulp is big enough to suck in the whole cupcake I’m holding. Then the paper case hits the back of my throat and next thing I know I’m choking then sneezing the whole lot into Poppy’s well-placed tissue. She hands me a second one so I can wipe the last of the crumbs off my eyebrows. On Phoebe’s scale of misdemeanours, this would get a similar score to vomming on my feet. I swear, I only did that twice, and never in front of our bridal customers.
The good bit tonight is that at the crucial moment I managed to drop to my knees so the worst has been hidden behind the bar table. But it leaves me looking up at Poppy.
She’s talking down to me through clenched teeth. ‘Don’t look now …’ which is completely unnecessary as I’ve no chance of a view ‘… but he’s flying this way …’ her eyes are as big as flower buckets ‘… and the eagle – er, goose – has landed …’
I can keep quiet and let Poppy do her worst up above, or I can stand up and do this for myself. I shake my fingers through the dangly bits of my hair in the hope of a bit of volume to hide behind and pop my head up over the table edge.
‘Hey! I thought you were going elsewhere?’ Listen to me! I sound as up-myself as Phoebe.
The guy pulls a face. ‘Luckily for you, I met two men who wouldn’t take no for an answer.’ In the light he’s even more beautiful than in the dark, in a lived-in kind of a way. His face is lean with the sort of bone structure and stubble shadows you mainly see on Vogue models. And somehow I just know that there’s a body to match underneath the effortlessly stylish denim jeans and dark hand-knitted sweater.
I shoot Poppy a sideways glance as I finally stagger to my feet. ‘Just checking stock levels down there.’
As he moves forward, his eyes lock with mine. ‘And I came to say how much I enjoyed the fireworks.’
As the words sink in, I’m staring at his lips. Thinking about catching my fingers in those tawny-brown tousled waves. Remembering how I slid my tongue over his teeth. Thinking of the explosions in my gut, and how he must have felt them too. My mouth is dropping open but nothing’s coming out.
Poppy stands on my toe. ‘Weren’t the rockets amazing?’
Rockets?Thosefireworks … Of course, that’s what he’s talking about. ‘Yay to the amazing bangs – and those hearts floating down the sky!’ I’m frantically wiping my hands on my backside, moving this on before I make any more of a tool of myself. ‘What can I pour you? Anything on the chalkboard, we’ve got it all.’
There’s a definite spark in his eye. ‘I was wondering what would have happened earlier if I’d passed over a full resident’s parking permit rather than a visitor’s one.’ His lips are twisting as he scans the handwriting. ‘If this is what’s on offer, I think I got my answer.’
I don’t flinch. Instead, I fix my eyes on the Diesel logo on the front of his coat. ‘So what’s it to be, an Unleash Your Libido or a Lovebite?’
‘What do you recommend?’ As his sooty lashes lift there’s a flash of dark grey iris softened by the glint of a tease.
‘Er …’ As our eyes lock again, my heart thuds to a halt and a shiver zips down my spine as I remember the rush as our mouths collided. I catch a waft of his scent across the table and I’m thanking my lucky stars for the sequin shield covering my boobs. However thick the padding on my T-shirt bra is, it’s no match for a dark gaze like that. And I’m only opening and closing my mouth because no one’s asked me that yet.
Poppy comes to my rescue. ‘We’re drinking non-alcoholic Rhubarb and Rose.’
‘But that’s for wimps.’ My voice jumps into action, spurred on by the spark in his eye and the need to get this over fast. ‘I reckon you should try the Love Potion No. 9.’
Poppy turns on me. ‘Is that even a thing?’
I hitch my cupid bow back into place on my shoulder, fill up a jam jar, toss in a cucumber slice and a spoonful of berries, push in a striped paper straw and push it towards him. ‘It is now. There you go! Enjoy!’Then get the hell out of here.
This time his lips curve all the way to a smile. And of course the teeth are going to match the rest of the package. Why wouldn’t they? In the same way that dark chocolate voice of his sounds exactly as he tasted. ‘So is this the bit where I give you my heart?’
