I’ve already bundled them back into the bag when I notice something else in the bottom drawer. A ten-pound note made of paper and not of polymer, tattered and crumpled. I pick it up and turn it over in my hands and see it’s been scribbled on in black biro. Weird. I can’t decide what is weirder actually – twenty rubber monsters or a scribbled-on bank note. Isn’t scribbling on a bank note technically illegal? Ant should know, I guess, since he works in investment banking. I’m giggling again when I rummage back through the top drawer. I find the key this time, hidden right at the back.
Yep, it’s definitely the right one. It’s quite chunky and locks the mattress room up with a clunk. There is no way Janie will be stumbling in on that room any time soon. She’d need a battering ram.
The drive down into work is glorious. The sun is out and the view is stunning. I’m nice and fresh from my post yoga shower, laughing to myself about my bizarre find this morning in Ant’s bottom drawer. I’m late into the office, but Janie is busy at work with our lovely new client, showing her through the bridal wear.
“Hey!” Janie says, and introduces us.
My handshake feels more confident and steady than it has in years, and so does the smile on my face.
“Hi, Alexandra, I’m Cass. Looking forward to working with you. We’ll do our best to make sure you have the very best day you can.”
Her smile back is so warm.
“I know it will be. Your reputation is amazing. I’ve been checking you out online.”
“Thank you,” I reply, gesturing to the room around us. “We pride ourselves on the work we do at Wedding Bliss, so that’s good to know.”
She shakes her head at that.
“No, no. It’s not Wedding Bliss I’m talking about, It’s you. I’ve come all the way from Hereford this morning, because it’s you I want planning my day. I wanted this branch and not the one in town. I couldn’t resist it.”
Janie gives me a grin from the other side of the room. This is the satisfaction I’ve always loved from trying my best. From doing my best to be the best.
It reinforces just how much I love my career.
I wave Alexandra off with a smile at the end of her consultation and turn straight to Janie.
“Can you believe it? She came all the way from Hereford!”
“I’m not surprised,” Janie says, and beckons me over to the counter.
She has the wedding reviews site up onscreen and there’s us, Wedding Bliss, listed in Malvern. There are a load of five-star reviews stacking up under my name, and the most recent one is even more glowing than the others. It’s one from Claire.
I’m working with Cassandra, and you couldn’t get anyone better. She is so intuitive she reads my mind and helps me feel like a goddess every single minute I’m around her. I’d recommend her to anyone in the world, and I haven’t even had my big day yet! I know it’s going to be the wedding day of my dreams!
“She’s so lovely,” I say to Janie, and a thump of emotion hits me.
I was so scared of leaving the security of my role in Bucklebury, and the range of clients I’d come to know, but it was the right move on all levels. Every single one.
I’m no longer just a local girl helping local townspeople plan their weddings. I’m a woman in a new town and a new branch, making a name for myself as a true professional.
Janie points to a review I haven’t read yet.
Cass has the most contagious laugh I’ve ever heard! She had me giggling along with her from the moment I walked in through the door!
“That’s true as well.” Janie smirks and gives me a nudge. “I’ll be peeing myself laughing so much tonight that I’ll choke on my pizza, I’m sure.”
She’s not wrong on that. We do a dance together as we step into the house – my house – after our drive up onto the hills. She rushes around the downstairs, gasping and grinning at everything she sees.
“It’s even better than you said it was!”
“I know!”
I show her around the kitchen and point out the selection of De Chante bottles in the giant fridge. She spins around on one of the breakfast stools like she’s on a fairground ride, pumping her fists in the air.
“I’m so happy for you, Cass. So, so happy! Please can you find out if Ant’s got any hot friends? I’m sure he must have, right? I’m all in to find my Mr Happy-ever-after on the back of yours.”
I open our first bottle of champagne.
“I’ll scope it out for you when I’m in Berlin. It sounds like he’s got quite a decent team to choose from.”