Page 29 of The Wedding Cake
“I put it down to that assistant of yours,” Merv snarled, thoroughly disgruntled at Freya for continuing to straighten out her wares when she evidently should have been jumping through hoops to apologise. “Such a strange woman, such a bad influence. Why on earth did you hire her? You’d never have entertained the notion of using a computer for the bookings before Hannah came on the scene!”
“What a nerve, Merv…yn,” Freya finally straightened herself up to look the doddery old fool in the eye, adding the last bit once she realised her statement sounded like the title for a children’s book. Plus he had riled her so this was no time for terms of endearment. She’d pick the audacious specimen up and put him on the adult equivalent of the naughty step if she could. “You’re nowhere near as long in the tooth with technology as you make out.” She let out a sarcastic laugh. “What about all the garbled WhatsApp messages you leave me in the run up to our clients’ weddings? Utterly unprofessional and confusing. Every last one of them. But that’s by the by. My point is this. You seem to think you can pick and choose which bits of tech you want to engage with, forgetting we workwithyou, notforyou… It has left us with a wedding disaster big enough to sink both of our companies, and,” Freya stuck her finger in the air, halting Merv’s comeback. “You also seem to think you have the authority to bad-mouth my staff as you see fit. Well, not for a second longer.” Freya put both hands in the air now, blocking Merv’s face. “If you want to continue to work with FOM then it’s my way or the highway. There are plenty of other wedding planners on the Costa del Sol and I am more than happy to work with them.”
Freya then glared at Merv. She should have done this years ago. Any notion of friendship between them was pure fakery. All the man cared about was himself. Merv was just an older version of Sid. But he hid it better by working in the bridal industry.
“Well, well, well,” he chuckled irritatingly. “Your true colours have come out at last, my dear. How ungrateful. I invested time and patience in you when you were nothing. A minnow in a sea full of competition. Now you’ve apparently got so big for your boots you can talk to me as if I’m a turd stuck to the bottom of them. Do you realise there are umpteen wedding cake makers that I could also take my business to? I shall go away and have a jolly good think about doing so.” He tapped his cane on the floor tiles.
“Fine by me. And good luck with that… I’m not sure that anybody else would put up with you falling asleep at the table after pigging your way through the clients’ wedding cake samples.”
“How very dare you. I’ve never been so insulted in my life!”
Oh, Freya!She cursed herself inwardly.He’ll never leave the bloody shop now.Some things are better left unsaid, even if they are true.
Merv seemed to read her mind. He brandished his cane in the air, then hooked it onto the glass cabinet’s handle to their right. It was a move that looked worryingly rehearsed and made Freya question her past stock-taking ability and the sweet treats he’d evidently snuck out of her business before. Next he opened up the case and seized a large triple chocolate tiered ‘off-the-shelf’ wedding cake, hugging it to himself and making for the shop door. Freya could only blink repeatedly, until a fuming Ricky appeared from nowhere, blocking the impertinent wedding planner’s exit. Freya had to do several double takes. What the eff?
“Going somewhere without paying, were we?” Ricky looked Merv up and down, utter disdain etched across his face. Merv morphed from monster to mouse.
“Just let him have it, Ricky. It can be his leaving present.”
“I will not!” Ricky’s tone was insistent. “I’ve never liked the whalloper as much as a cake crumb and he must be oot his nut if he thinks he’s walking out of these premises with that beauty.”
Merv, perplexed at Ricky’s Glaswegian patter, lost his grip on the cake so Ricky took advantage, pulling it firmly into his orbit.
“Merv won’t be taking a euro cent more from this business.” Ricky headed for the counter without seeing Merv toss his cane to the side, rub his hands together and propel himself forward. “Not now that I’ve discovered who his stepson is.”
That stopped Merv in his tracks and tipped him off balance. He flew headlong at Ricky, face-planting himself with a mammoth splat into the cake.
“Don’t you dare tell Freya!” Merv muttered into his just desserts.
ALICE
Alice walked down the aisle, hardly able to believe that her twisty will-they-won’t-they relationship with River had brought her to this precious moment. The many hints she had dropped, the years she had secretly pined for him when they’d both been in separate relationships in the band, all seemed like tiny stitches in the rich tapestry of life now.
Her groom looked dapper in his suit, standing just in front of the eucalyptus and olive leaf archway where their civil ceremony would be conducted. Judging by the twinkle in his eye as he awaited Alice, and the grin plastered across his face, she hadn’t scrubbed up too badly either. Tears pricked at her lids and she silently berated herself, determined not to look at their guests on either side of the aisle as she walked down it. The absence of her parents and her failed attempts to mend that broken relationship meant there was nobody to give her away, but she vowed she wouldn’t get all emosh. The last thing she wanted was anybody’s pity. She was her own person and she was the one granting River permission to marry her. Sod tradition! So Alice thought about her dress, hair and make-up instead. And okay, yes, she did look gorgeous. Zara’s hairstyling skills had created the most breathtaking French plaits, intertwined with orchid blooms that made for a stunning contrast with the gypsophila in her bouquet. It was a bit of an extravagance, and a bit of a hotchpotch of flora and foliage – then again she was wearing that plain Etsy wedding gown she’d snapped up, plus her baseball boots. And then again, you hopefully only walked down the aisle once, so why not do it differently? Besides, River had bucked convention himself by opting not to have a best man.
The ceremony was as moving as Alice knew it would be, and thankfully free of any unwanted interruptions. Well, aside from Hayley whooping when she and River shared their first kiss. Which started everyone off, the laidback officiator included. Plus there were a couple of little hitches when some of the guests had to be asked to remove their giant Mickey Mouse ear headbands, bought fresh from Disneyland Paris, for the ceremony photos.
Once they’d exchanged their vows and pledged to love one another eternally in this lifetime – River whispering in Alice’s ear, “you’re stuck with me eternally in every lifetime,” making goosebumps ricochet all over her body – they turned to face their guests and walk back down the aisle as newlyweds. The sea of happy faces was a moment Alice would cherish forever. It had been her focus in bringing this day to life, and here it was, manifesting perfectly before her.
“We didn’t expect to see you in person, Freya!” Alice made a beeline for their cake maker as soon as etiquette permitted her to tear herself away from the friends and family who were vying to catch her attention and congratulate her in person; making the photographer wait before he whisked her and River to the little tower at the top of the finca for their drone shots. “How did the other couple take the ahem… cake situ?”
Alice couldn’t help but notice that Freya had tears in her eyes, which were already puffy and bloodshot. Enough said.
“Oh, you know… we made it work… just about.”
“In other words you had a complete diva on your hands,” River hazarded a guess as he freed himself from his mother’s hugs and joined in their conversation.
“I couldn’t possibly say.” Freya winked, adding, “anyway, I must be off. I’m heading to the mountains later this afternoon for a hiking retreat, but I’ll be back in four days’ time with the you-know-whats.” No sooner had she said those last three words, than Freya’s face fell. She’d evidently remembered that River hadn’t a clue as to the cake distribution side of the honeymoon, and she made a grab for Alejandro, the cake maker who had helped her with the delivery, scuttling away to her car before Alice could run after her. Alice thought something seemed very off. She didn’t know Freya well enough to call her a friend but she sensed she needed a shoulder to cry on. She’d check in with her tomorrow. But she owed it to herself, River and their guests to fully focus on their special day.
“What’s ayou-know-what, when it’s at home… or in a Spanish finca?” River whispered.
“Oh… well, that would be telling.” Alice thought on her feet… or, in this case, her thigh. “Something borrowed, something blue, you know the old saying? Freya meant she’d be back in four days’ time to pick up the you-know-what she lent me… don’t make me spell it out and ruin tonight’s surprise.” Alice ran her hand down her upper leg and alluded to the garter she was currently wearing, although it had been borrowed from another friend, not Freya. River just looked at her blankly. Evidently his unconventional upbringing with Heather meant he’d never even heard of the tradition of wedding good luck charms.
Just as they were about to trail off with their patient photographer, a medley of guest screams rang out across the lawn, making everyone jump out of their skin. Alice turned to take in the sight of a cocksure male stranger stalking across the lush velvet grass. Even the Spanish guitarist stopped playing his rendition of the Bruno Mars hit ‘Marry You’.
“Where’s the cake?” the man shouted, arms open wide, as if insinuating that one of the guests was hiding it. “I am here on behalf of Miss Piper Moss, soon to be Nutkins, to return it to its rightful owner… and I’m not leaving without it. Every last crumbandfondant rose! We can do this the easy way – which would be advisable – or we can do it the hard way. The choice is yours but I will be taking the other half of the eight-tier showstopper my lady paid for and that is that.”
What the hell?
