A Surprise Christmas Wedding - Phillipa Ashley Page 0,3

was.

It was past eleven when she got home. Connor had driven the last few hours and gone straight to bed, saying he was knackered and had an early start. Lottie woke just as he was on his way out of the kitchen the next morning. She immediately noticed the overnight bag at his feet.

‘Not running away, are you?’ she said, putting her arms around him.

‘Running away?’ he said sharply.

‘I was joking.’

‘Oh. No … but I’m afraid I do have to go away to the Edinburgh office.’

‘Edinburgh?’

Disappointed, she let go of him. This business trip was news to her. ‘What? Now?’

‘Unfortunately I’ll probably have to stay for a couple of days.’ He grimaced. ‘I’ve got a big project on. I had a message on the way home from Cornwall saying it was all going tits up. I need to spend the next few days kicking arses up in the Scottish branch.’

Lottie couldn’t hide her dismay. ‘Arghh. I was hoping we could go round to Steph’s to announce our news. I thought we could make a proper thing of it, maybe get a cab so we can take a bottle of champagne.’

‘Can we hang fire until I get back? I’ll probably be stuck in the office until Thursday.’

‘Thursday? You want me to wait until Thursday to tell Steph our news? I’ll burst!’

‘Well …’ He sat down, a serious expression on his face. ‘It might be a good idea to hold on for a while anyway before we start shouting about it. Steph’s hardly had the happiest experiences with men, has she?’

‘No … but that won’t stop her from being happy for us, Connor.’

‘Even so, perhaps we should curb a little of our enthusiasm. Be slightly more tactful?’

She frowned. ‘Tactful?’

He patted her hand. ‘Sensitive, then.’

‘If you really think so …’ Lottie said, slightly hurt that Connor had misjudged Steph, but unwilling to cause a scene when he was about to leave.

Connor smiled and picked up his phone. ‘I’ll see you later in the week.’

‘OK.’ With a quick kiss, he left.

Lottie consoled herself with the reminder that it was only a few days, after all, and she’d rather wait until the weekend when he was able to relax and fully enjoy the moment.

However, she spent the entire drive to work still disappointed he’d rushed off and wondering exactly what he’d meant about being ‘tactful’. Granted Steph had had a few disastrous encounters with guys. The twins’ father was a guy she’d met on holiday in Ibiza and he’d given Steph a fake phone number so she’d never even been able to track him down to tell him about his daughters. Even so, Lottie was certain Steph would have been overjoyed to hear about her engagement.

Lottie had been the first person Steph had called to reveal she was pregnant; the one she shared all her news with, good and bad, big and small. Steph was the rock of Lottie’s life, now their parents lived in New Zealand. She was the woman she wanted to talk to now more than she ever had before: her big sister and her closest friend.

Telling herself Thursday would soon come around, Lottie threw herself into her work, even though her fingers itched to dial Steph’s number. She also couldn’t help planning her wedding in her head. It would probably be at the village church overlooking the lake with the reception at the hotel she worked for. She knew a local designer whose dresses she loved. She smiled to herself, thinking what a thrill it would be to ask the seamstress to make her a bespoke bridal gown.

Now she’d had chance to think about it, it was probably not the worst thing that Connor had persuaded her to delay announcing their engagement by a few days. If she timed it right, they could catch their parents on Zoom before they went to work, and after the twins were in bed, make a proper ‘party’ of it even if not everyone could be there.

Buoyed by making plans for the wedding in her head, Lottie managed to get through the days. Connor was busy in the evenings and they only managed a quick text exchange but by Thursday Lottie was growing as excited as a kid on Christmas Eve. Connor messaged to say he’d be home from Scotland very late, so not to wait up if she was too tired.

But Lottie very much did want to wait up. She put some fizz on ice and sat in the sitting room, in heels and