at the dinner table.
Gloria
‘So you completely missed the deadline for finishing the courtyard garden at the clock house,’ she told Jake, once they all had their starters in front of them.
As the first thing that came out of her mouth it could have been ruder.
Or not.
Emma looked at her, shock on her face.
Jake looked at her, a frown on his face.
Seth looked at her, a massive grin spreading across his face.
If this was an outer-body experience she’d literally be looking down at the scene from between her fingers.
Poor Emma had probably spent a restless couple of nights worrying exactly how to tell her she was no longer part of the bridal party and it felt like even the walls were on tenterhooks waiting for her to kick-off.
Working hard to make it a little easier on them all she tried a self-deprecating, ‘It’s hard to believe I don’t get those After Dinner Speaker gigs, right?’
‘Jury’s still out on that one considering we haven’t even had dinner yet,’ Seth said.
Gloria pursed her lips. She thought Seth was supposed to be putting in a good word for her, not highlighting how rubbish she was at all this. ‘I’m sorry, Jake. What I meant was—’
‘I know what you meant,’ Jake said with a grim smile. ‘And yes it’s annoying to be so late with the project but the ironwork had to be specially welded and took longer than anyone anticipated. I’ll be working extra to keep the delay to a minimum.’
‘Great.’ She picked up her knife and fork, promptly dropped her knife, swore, and after a furtive sweep of her hand under the table, during which she may or may not have patted down Seth’s leg, she reappeared, saying, ‘It’s going to look spectacular when it’s finished.’
‘Thank you. Red or white,’ Jake asked, holding up a bottle of each wine.
‘Definitely,’ she answered, swearing under her breath again as she saw Seth’s grin stretch wider so that his dimples made an appearance too.
Those bloody dimples.
And the cleft chin.
I mean, who had a cleft in their chin these days? Hadn’t men metrosexualised that right on out of their DNA? How typical of the Knightley brood to remain old school, walking around like Disney princes, all four of them. Even their two sisters looked amazing, having the same colour hair as Seth’s and the same brandy-coloured shade of iris.
Finally, the man with said brandy-coloured eyes, took it upon himself to start acting the princely hero, grabbing Gloria’s wineglass and filling it to the brim with red wine, then saved her again by attempting to get some conversation flowing.
For the next half an hour Gloria tried to be grateful that four adults well under retirement age could converse in any way about cabbage roses because it meant that at least they weren’t talking about weddings but as Emma cleared away the starters and brought in the lamb – which looked decidedly sacrificial – Gloria could stand it no more.
‘So am I sacked or what?’ she asked as Jake began carving.
‘What?’ The terrine of vegetables Emma had picked up landed heavily back on the table. ‘Why on earth would you think that? Cocktails & Chai is doing really well.’
‘Not from The Clock House,’ Gloria said. ‘Sacked from your wedding?’
Emma looked stunned. ‘Again—what?’
‘It’s why you asked me here tonight, isn’t it?’ Damn. She was meant to be being conciliatory, not adversarial. ‘I want you to know I get it,’ she tried. ‘I mean, after the whole Wedding Date-Gate debacle, it would be irresponsible of you not to.’
She waited for Emma to take her opening but when she merely continued staring like a stunned mullet, the direct approach won out. ‘Only if any of us are to enjoy this lamb, I’m going to need you to actually say it so it’s done and we can go back to talking about compost and crap.’
Seth chuckled. ‘Aren’t those two sort of the same thing?’
Gloria bestowed a ‘Not helping’ look upon him and Seth chuckled some more.
Emma and Jake looked at each other and then back at her.
‘All right,’ Jake said, putting down the carving knife and fork. ‘Since you brought it up …’
Here it came.
Namaste, Namaste, Namaste.
Breathe in …
‘Yes, the date blunder was a bit of a shock,’ Jake continued. ‘But you’ve actually done us a massive favour.’
… And breathe out.
‘We’d never have come up with the date ourselves,’ Emma explained. ‘It’s like you said, we were stuck trying to please other people and totally forgetting we need to please ourselves.’
‘We needed a good kick up the arse,’ Jake added. ‘So you providing a date and then telling the whole of Whispers Wood … genius. Thank you.’
‘Did you just say genius?’ Seth asked.
Never mind genius. Gloria didn’t get it. They were saying, ‘Thank you and you’re fired?’ Maybe it was from the say-something-positive-before-you-say-something-negative school of management.
‘Credit where it’s due, Seth,’ Jake replied. ‘In one evening not only did Gloria come up with a perfect date – by announcing it publically we probably don’t even need to send out invites now.’
Emma laid her hand over Jake’s. ‘We’re definitely sending out invites. It may be short notice but that doesn’t mean I want anyone thinking no thought or planning has gone into our big day.’
Perfect date?
Invites?
Gloria wished she’d brought those nifty little stress balls she’d taken from Fortuna’s office with her. ‘Can I just clarify … you think it’s perfectly fine to get married on my—’ For God’s sake don’t mention it’s your wedding anniversary. ‘On a random date? Chosen, um … randomly? By some random?’
Emma and Jake both nodded and then Jake looked a tad embarrassed as he added, ‘You’re not some random but we have to be honest. It does present us with a problem.’
‘Only
