Chapter 25

I stared at him in utter shock and disbelief. The sound of the fireworks and surrounding bustle of people disappeared. It was as though the world totally froze. No movement, no sound. Just me and Sean existed.

"What?"

Sean took my hand, his grip on me tightening.

"I can't marry her. I made a promise to her, one that I intended to keep. But the moment that I met you, I've been struggling to see a logical reason to stick to the deal."

He cupped my cheek, brushing his thumb over my lips.

"I haven't been able to spend a single day, without you being on my mind. I don't want to lose you. I don't want to spend a year apart from you, and there's no one else that I want, especially not, as my wife."

I couldn't believe that he'd finally said it. That he was actually going to do it. I'd been hoping to hear him say that for so long now that him finally speaking the words, they seemed too impossible to take in.

"Roxy, did you hear me? I want to give us a real shot, I want to be with you."

Sean's voice seemed to snap me out of my daze, and without thinking about anything else, I kissed him. As the sound of the fireworks returned, and the different coloured flashes of light illuminated the area, I gripped hold of him as tight as I could, deepening our kiss as if he was the only thing that gave me life.

With work first thing in the morning for both of us, Sean dropped me home after the fireworks. He told me he would speak to Mel this weekend once he was done with his caseload for the week. I felt both excited and nervous. I wasn't sure how it was going to go between them, but I couldn't wait to not have to sneak around anymore. To be able to go around like a normal couple, to be together and not have to hide anything. I couldn't deny that over these weeks, I had really fallen hard for Sean. I'd tried to ignore it, not wanting to face the pain that would hit me if he went through with the wedding, but now, with him cancelling it, I could finally accept how I was feeling. I went to bed that night, happy and hopeful, looking forward to the following week, when all this drama would be in the past.

I was just clocking off for my lunch break a few days later, walking to the kitchen to grab some lunch when I saw Mel, sitting at reception. A part of me wanted to walk past and pretend I hadn't seen her. But she looked up and I knew that wasn't an option.

"Mel," I walked forwards, holding up my hand to let the receptionist know that I was there, she hung up the phone and went back to her paperwork. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I have a few things to take care of, and I need you to come with me."

There was something even more unpleasant than usual in her face, and I instantly knew it was wedding related. I wished Sean could have ended this last night. It's not for much longer, I kept repeating in my head, trying to keep from snapping at her.

"You realise that I'm at work though right?"

"Good thing that I'm not talking about right now then isn't it."

"When?" I asked, fighting not to roll my eyes.

"Six o'clock, I have a meeting with the wedding planner, we have to choose the cake, and finalise the decorations at the venue, then I need your help to send out all the invitations,"

She continued talking and talking, I began to tune out, I wondered if she'd even notice if I walked off by this point, she was in her element.

"It took so long for them to be done, turns out golden foil embossed invitations have to be specially ordered in advance, but they made an exception." She grinned broadly, and I realised that this was the point where a reaction was needed.

"Yeah, that's great." I mumbled, checking my phone, nearly half my lunch break was already gone just listening to her rambling. "Wait, why do you need me for this stuff?"

"Because the details aren't Sean's specialty, and you're my maid of honour."

Fucking brilliant, I guess I have no choice.

"Fine." I sighed.

"Okay, so I will pick you up at six?"

"What? No," The thought of having to endure a car ride with her was too much. "I mean, my car's here anyway, text me the address and I'll meet you there."

"I suppose that works too." She shrugged, withdrawing her phone and texting me the address of the botanical gardens not far from here.

It was a place I'd planned weddings at many times before, a truly beautiful and romantic setting. I could already picture the winter wonderland theme working beautifully there.

"Okay, I'll see you later, I must get back to work, busy day." Mel said, before practically bouncing out of the building.

I'd like to bounce her somewhere alright, I thought to myself, making my way to the kitchen. She was getting plenty of enjoyment from this situation, and her new insistence of me being involved was irritating me already.

For the rest of the afternoon, I watched the clock tick on, dreading it reaching six. I had tried to call Sean to let him know, but he was in meetings, I decided not to leave him a message, choosing to talk to him tonight instead. When the time came, I left work, heading to the parking lot and jumping into my car, then reluctantly driving to the Botanical Gardens. I saw Mel's cherry red mercedes convertible parked in the bay outside and steered myself into the space next to it.

When I had reached the entrance hall to the gardens, I saw Mel talking to a tall blonde woman in a cream pantsuit. Her hair was styled in a graceful pleat, not a single hair was out of place. She held a clipboard clutched in her perfectly manicured hands, and was talking happily, gesturing around now and again at the surrounding lobby. Upon my approach, Mel turned to introduce us.

"Libby, this is my sister, and maid of honour, Roxanne. Roxy this is Libby my wedding planner."

"Lovely to meet you Roxanne." She smiled as she shook my hand.

"Roxy, please, and same here."

"So, my job as wedding planner is to make sure your sister's day is everything she could ever dream."

"Yeah, I'm aware of the description, actually, I'm a wedding and events planner myself."

She appeared a little taken aback for a moment, but made a fast recovery.

"I see, well I assume it's harder work when it's family, best to stay out of the planning side of it." She seemed nice enough, as she touched my shoulder in a friendly way.

"Anyway, now that you're here Roxy, we can get started. Libby was about to bring out the cake samples."

"Of course, just this way please. We have a little table set up in the sunroom."

The sunroom was a cosy round room with glass walls, it overlooked a beautiful orchard and the sun setting over the trees. Rose plants were positioned around the room, filling it with a sweet floral scent. Ornate metal furniture was situated in the middle of the room, and on a tray next to it, was a selection of sample sized cakes.

"Wow, they all look so yummy." Mel said, sitting at the table, her eyes travelling over the tray.

"Absolutely, Chef Sergio is one of the best." Libby chimed in taking a seat opposite her.

I sat in one on the other side, silently naming each of the cakes in my head. Mel began tasting the little squares, expressing her joy at the flavours and textures of the cakes, occasionally pushing some of them in my direction to taste and asking my opinion on it.

"So currently your favourite is the red velvet, it's a solid choice for a wedding cake, and one of my personal favourites too." Libby said, jotting down some notes on her clipboard.

Mel picked up another square, lifting it to her lips and letting out a little moan of satisfaction.

"That's the lemon and vanilla sample."

"It's exquisite." Mel replied, "I think this is my new favourite, what do you think Roxy?"

She pushed a piece towards me and I tasted it. The lemon and vanilla was the perfect blend of sweet and citrusy, it's moist sponge texture melted in the mouth and the creamy frosting was smooth and decadent.

"It's delicious."

"But is it the choice for our wedding cake?"

"Well do you like it?" I asked, a little unsure at what exactly she expected from me by this point.

"I do," she looked at me, biting her cheek in thought as she continued, "But I want it to be the perfect cake for our wedding, this is the first day of the rest of our lives."

I'd seen all kinds of drama and overreactions from brides in my job, but this was definitely over the top. The cake wasn't usually a big decision, but Mel certainly didn't seem to have got the memo on that.

"It's just the cake Mel, get what you like, and save the theatrics for later."

Libby seemed to sense a little hostility, and kept her head down.

I half expected a snappy retort from Mel, but instead she simply took another bite of the cake, an unnaturally sweet smile on her face.

"I think I will settle with the Lemon Vanilla."

"Perfect, and the design is still the same?"

"Absolutely, five tier with rose and snowflake decorations."

I swallowed down a yawn as boredom began to settle in. I felt my phone vibrate and took it out, noticing Mel giving me a quick glance as I read Evan's message.

EMERGENCY! Where are you? I'm at your place, and you have no beer!!!! X

I rolled my eyes, tapping out a reply.

Stuck in a meeting with Mel and her wedding planner at the Botanical Gardens, it's taken her an hour to pick a fucking cake!! Still have to cover decorations yet... Kill me now!!!!! X

"What do you say Roxy?"

Libby's voice caused me to look up from my phone, her and Mel were looking expectantly at me, waiting for my reply. The one slight problem being, I hadn't heard a word of what they just said.

"Whatever you think is best, I'm fine with." I said, feigning confidence in my answer, whilst hoping it fitted with whatever the question was.

"Brilliant, then let's make our way through, and just go over the final decisions for the ceremony decorations."

We arrived in the large open plan room that I had been tasked with decorating many times before. I lingered back a little whilst they started discussing the layout. My phone vibrated again.

Crap. I'm leaving right now, gonna run to the off license and pick up enough alcohol to blitz this day from your memory! I may have to make some room here first though, it's going to be a lot. Xx

Laughing at the idea of Evan stocking up my house with enough alcohol to stock ten years worth of college parties, I pocketed my phone and continued to suffer with the rest of the meeting. Mel's ideas were typical for the theme she was going with. She took as long as she could, making positioning a big issue and questioning all of her previous ideas. She insisted on my involvement more than I would have thought, and didn't miss a single chance to rub the wedding in my face. By the time we were leaving, I'd heard her explain the importance of every little thing. From the colours being ice white instead of ordinary white, to the exact angle of the pillars at the back of the room. I was tired and irritated, and couldn't wait to get home. That was until I remembered it was now my job to help with the invitations.

Back at my place, Evan was nowhere to be seen, neither was the mountain of alcohol, so I presumed he was still out emptying the stock of every off license this side of the city. Mel walked right past me, into the living room, taking a seat and pulling out a mountain of decorated invitations.

"Let's get going, there's so many needing sending out, and there's not much longer to do it."

"Just how many invitations do you need?" I gasped, throwing myself down on the sofa and staring at the huge stack.

"A lot, practically the entire firm is coming, then there's our family, Sean's family, our friends."

I bit back the retort that I was longing to give. As I watched her beginning to place them into envelopes, I couldn't help but think what a waste it was. In just a couple more days Sean was going to finally be able to tell her it wasn't happening.

"Maybe it could wait, just until next week or something?"

"Not really, people need as much time as possible to make sure they keep the date free, it's already cutting it way too close for me."

She continued to merrily put the invitations into envelopes as she continued.

"We want our day to be perfect," she said again, "We want everyone there to watch us declare our love for each other,"

I saw her look up at me over the top of the envelope in her hand, there was a glint in her eye and a cold smile on her face.

"It's such a special moment, to see two people commit to spending their lives together, to tell each other how much they love each other, in front of everyone important in their lives."

I felt my blood simmering and my fist clenching at my side. She didn't move, her icy gaze locked with my own and a smirk pulling at the side of her mouth. I wanted to scream as it clicked in my head just as I heard the front door open and Evan's shout, before he appeared in the doorway.

"You know."