Say Hello, Kiss Goodbye - Jacquelyn Middleton Page 0,116
distance. “Leia, don’t do this.”
She cleared her throat. “You see, Tarquin, like you, I’m not fucking around either. But the difference is, I like being single. I don’t want a serious relationship or, god forbid, another wedding.” She lifted her chin, defiant. “Go back to London and forget about us, okay?”
This can’t be happening! A breath-stealing ache squeezed his heart. He edged closer, keeping his hands to himself. “Leia, please.” He gasped, fighting back tears. “Don’t do this! I know you feel something for me. Why won’t you let me in? You deserve to be—”
“I deserve to live my life on my terms—not yours!” She hiked the strap of her purse up her shoulder, her tone all business. “I need to get back to work, and you have a plane to catch. Have a safe flight.” Without pause, she dashed into the crowd of iced coffee-toting office workers heading toward the glass skyscrapers overlooking Hudson Yards.
Eyes stinging, Tarquin stood dizzy and defeated. Leia’s ponytail bobbed farther and farther away until she vanished from view. The day we met, Leia said she was bad at decision-making. Turns out, where I’m concerned, she’s brutally efficient.
Twenty-Three
“Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.”
George Addair
LEIA
London, six weeks later, Friday, October 4, 2019
Wide-eyed guests oohed over elegant finger sandwiches and warm scones as Sarah, sat alone with a second cup of Wedding Breakfast tea in hand, glanced over her shoulder and nudged Leia’s phone across the white linen tablecloth. The sisters’ visit to Fortnum & Mason’s Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon was part of Leia’s ‘return to London bucket list’ and, following their hectic morning at Madame Tussauds, offered a refined respite from waxy royals and pushy tourists.
Leia swooped around Sarah’s chair, fresh from her reconnaissance mission across the sun-filled room. She slid into her seat, breathlessly sharing her discovery. “So, that table over there—they call it a cake carriage! How British is that?” Tucking her hair behind an ear, she weaved subtly to Elton John’s “Your Song” tinkling from the tea salon’s grand piano. “There’s a Battenberg, a flourless chocolate cake, a Victorian sponge, and something pineappley. They all look decadent and delicious. I can’t choose!”
“Try these first.” Sarah swooned over the melt-in-your-mouth mini patisseries on the third (and top) tier of their bone china cake stands. A dark chocolate tart, a mini ginger loaf with a generous swirl of thick icing, a square of raspberry mousse topped with a plump berry, and a tartlet with a green apple crémeux dome competed for taste bud approval. “I thought they were the dessert.” She laughed. “Which one do you want, Ley?”
“Hmm, not sure. You pick.” Leia plucked her linen napkin off the table, noticing her phone’s new location beside the low vase of red roses. “Oh! Did you take a photo of me with the cakes?”
“Ah, I didn’t. Sorry.” Sarah added the tartlet to her plate where it mingled with a half-eaten coronation chicken finger sandwich. “But you did get a text from London Fields Brewery.”
The Arches event space! Leia’s heart skipped.
Sarah licked apple mousse off her thumb and swirled her tea, Fortnum’s special blend created in 2011 to celebrate Will and Kate’s proposal. “I sorta read it. Hope you don’t mind.”
She’s reading my texts again? Leia pursed her lips and yanked her chair closer to the table. Collecting her phone, she tapped the screen and…nothing. “Oh, you’re kidding me. Battery’s dead.” She looked past their second cake stand, home to pots of Somerset clotted cream, strawberry preserve, and lemon curd, and met Sarah’s grin. “So, nosey Parker, what’d they say?” Leia’s grimace morphed into a wary smile.
“It’s yours! Thursday, November 14th. They’ll email the contract this afternoon!”
YES! Leia’s heart skipped beneath her sweater. “Ah, thank god! I didn’t think I’d find a venue this late in the game. It’s just too bad my good fortune was on the back of some poor bride’s wedding cancellation.”
“Hey, all’s fair in love and party planning. So, you nervous?”
Leia pushed out a big breath. “No. Excited and impatient! Six weeks will fly by with so much to do. Get this—Shantelle even wants to take part.”
“Really? She’d fly over for it?”
“She’s already here. Don’t you ever look at my Frill-Seekers Insta?”
“Hello”—Sarah set down her blue and white china teacup—“have we met?”
“Luddite!” Leia scrunched her nose and broke into a grin. “Shan’s in London doing Lost for Breath press.”
“I thought she was lying on a beach somewhere.”
“She’s supposed to be. The studio ordered her and Bastien to fly