Page 56 of Just Say Yes
‘Was that a “yes, please, Lorcan”?’
I glared at him under my lashes.
‘I’ll take that.’
19
Five minutes later, I’d been deposited in a golf buggy with the name of the castle written on the front and Lorcan was driving us around the grounds.
‘How come you didn’t just suggest this to Calum? We could have taken our time and left you to your afternoon snooze and kept everyone happy.’
‘Who said I’m not happy?’
‘Without being rude, you rarely look happy when you’re in my company and it’s no secret you’d rather not have anything to do with this wedding for whatever reason. Calum, on the other hand, is enthusiastic about the plans, as it’s his job. And even if it wasn’t his job I get the feeling he still would be.’ I shifted in my seat. ‘I know Patrick gave you instructions about making choices by proxy, but I have a pretty good idea what they want and this is what I do for a living. I’m good at it. You really don’t need to shadow me around the whole time when it’s obvious you’d rather be anywhere else – and understandably so.’
‘Me being here has nothing to do with questioning how good a planner you are. Just because the last experience of one blew up in our faces doesn’t mean I think you’ll be the same or that I don’t trust you to do a great job for them.’
‘So why are you here?’
‘Maybe I enjoy it.’
‘I think we both know that’s not true.’
He turned briefly, a small smile playing around the corners of his mouth. There was something in that moment, a lowering of shields, even temporarily, that caused me to return the smile, his own widening as I did so.
‘Here we are. The best view is from down near that bench,’ he said as he came around to the side of the buggy. ‘I’d rather you were off that leg entirely but perhaps we can come to a compromise?’ He offered his arm.
The waves were crashing below, out of sight, and Lorcan had to raise his voice a little to make himself heard as the wind off the ocean whipped away some of his words, but I got the idea and nodded, taking his arm as I exited the vehicle, careful to put most of the weight on my good leg and Lorcan’s arm.
‘Ready?’
‘Yes, thank you.’
We headed a little closer to the edge before turning right and coming to three wide stone steps that led into a beautifully tended area of garden, a few late summer blooms still hanging on, surrounded by bursts of early autumn colour. A large oak tree stood sentinel over all of it, and a freshly white painted Lutyens-style bench was placed under it, facing out towards the sea.
‘This is beautiful,’ I said, navigating the steps carefully one at a time. As I lifted my head, I caught Lorcan’s anxious, studious face watching my feet with every step.
‘I’m fine.’
‘I know,’ he said, still watching.
‘You’re dying to do the romantic-hero thing again, aren’t you?’
The smile was wider this time when he looked at me, more on a level now as he was already a couple of steps below me.
‘Is it that obvious?’
‘I think it’s probably the setting. I’m sure you’ll come to your senses in a moment.’
‘I expect you’re right. I’m not sure I’m the romantic-hero type, to be honest.’
Tall, dark and solid as a rock with a face that was made for things most of the people in church this morning were regularly warned against, I was disinclined to agree.
‘I guess we each have our own definition of romance.’
Lorcan led me to the bench and waited while I sat before taking a spot next to me.
‘I guess,’ he said after a while. His eyes focused out on the ocean, but his mind seemed to be somewhere completely different. Part of me wanted to ask him about it but something stopped me. I’d have liked to have said it was my professionalism – don’t get involved, don’t get personal – but sometimes you had to get personal. Marriage was a personal thing, it was full of emotions and sometimes those spilled out and it was up to me to try and contain them in a way that kept things on track. I’d worked for a corporate planning company before setting up on my own and I’d always felt as though there was something missing. One day, an hour before the ceremony, with a bride sobbing on my shoulder that she couldn’t do this because her mum wasn’t there to see her or hold her hand, I threw out the company rule book and the sensible, scripted responses I’d been taught and just talked to her, telling her that her mum would always be with her in her heart. That I understood it wasn’t the same, not even close, to having her here to see how beautiful her daughter looked, how proud she would have been to see this bright, funny, wonderful woman preparing to make a commitment to a man who supported her and believed in her as much as she had. And that, whether she chose to believe it or not, I believed that her mum was with her today. We’d both mopped up our tears, called in the make-up artist for emergency repairs and I’d watched as the woman walked up that aisle, still missing her mum, but with a sense of reassurance she hadn’t had before and that, if I’d stuck to the rule book, she still wouldn’t have. Sometimes rules had to be broken.
