Page 29 of A French Country Escape
‘Will be delivered on the day.’
‘D’accord,’ Penny said. ‘Now we must discuss the main problem we have. Alcohol. We do have a licence, but we do not currently have a stock of drinks in the cellar as we have not officially opened.’
Stella looked at her aghast. ‘But we must have champagne and wine with the meal and for the party afterwards.’
‘I realise that,’ Penny said, making a mental note to ask about the party. ‘We are happy to buy in a large enough quantity of champagne and wines for the wedding meal and simply charge you for what you use. But I hadn’t realised you were planning on having a party afterwards, and there is no extensive cellar or bar here.’
Stella nodded thoughtfully. ‘So how do we do party drinks?’
‘You could bring all the drinks you want for that and we’d serve them for you.’
‘You have somewhere to store them? And an extra fridge?’
‘Yes,’ Penny replied.
‘I bring them in the week before the wedding,’ Stella said.
‘How long do you expect the party to go on?’
Stella shrugged. ‘Until it finish? Can you do some finger food for that?’
‘Yes, I can do that,’ Penny nodded and made a note. ‘But the party, by law, cannot go on past one o’clock.’
‘That’s fine,’ Stella said. ‘There is an extra something I would like to arrange in addition to the reception. Do you by any chance have a four-poster bed in one of your guest room?’
‘Yes,’ Ingrid said.
‘I hope it is free on the night of the wedding. I like to reserve it.’ And Stella placed a five-hundred-euro note on top of the other notes.
‘Wouldn’t you like to see it first?’
Stella shook her head. ‘Non. It will be a wonderful surprise, I think.’
‘I’ll write you a receipt for the deposit.’ Penny pulled a piece of paper towards her and quickly wrote one and gave it to Stella, who casually thrust it into her jacket pocket. ‘I will send you a quotation when I’ve priced everything. I will need your acceptance in writing,’ Penny said.
‘I accept whatever it is. I know it will be expensive, but…’ Stella shrugged. ‘It’s a very special day and I want the best. Now I must go. I leave the folder with you. My address is there for you to send the quotation. I see you again the week of the wedding with the party drinks.’
Penny followed Stella out to her car and held the door open for her as she got in. ‘Thank you for entrusting us with your daughter’s special day. We will do our best to make it truly special.’
Stella gave a loud hoot of laughter. ‘I don’t have a daughter.C’est moi. I’m the bride. I finally met the love of my life and I’m getting married at the age of seventy-two for the first time.’ And churning up a spray of gravel, Stella drove away, cheerily waving her hand out of the window as she went.
22
‘What a character,’ Ingrid said when Penny rejoined her in the sitting room. ‘What on earth have we agreed to? A wedding reception is one thing, but a party afterwards?’
‘We can still back out,’ Penny said. ‘Tell her we have had to reconsider, it’s too short notice. She might think twice when I send her the quote anyway. It’s not going to be a cheap wedding reception.’
‘I think you could quote Stella a six-figure sum and she’d wave it away as if it were nothing,’ Ingrid said. ‘She must love her daughter very much.’
Penny laughed. ‘She doesn’t have a daughter. It’sherwedding – her first at seventy-two. And she’s very happy and excited about it.’
‘Gosh, I wasn’t expecting that. I look forward to meeting the bridegroom,’ Ingrid said.
Penny gathered together her own paperwork and the folder Stella had left. ‘I’m going to be busy for the next couple of hours trying to work out the cost of everything and also the things we need to buy.’ She glanced at Ingrid. ‘How’s the bank balance currently? I know you sold the cottages to free up some cash, butwe’re going to need a lot of stuff for this wedding. Buying in the champagne and wine is going to be expensive for a start. Then there are tables, chairs, crockery and glasses, to name but four. We could always hire, but that won’t be cheap. I think buying for this and future weddings would make more sense.’
Ingrid nodded. ‘I know you’re right, but we need to find things that fit in with the spirit of the château. I don’t want to buy stuff just because it’s all we can find. I was hoping to eventually source some art deco crockery, but we’re unlikely to find that in a hurry.’
‘True, and we probably wouldn’t be able to hire anything that specific,’ Penny said. ‘How about a compromise on crockery of delicate, plain white porcelain? If we find some art deco vintage later, we can always keep it in reserve.’
