“No. He’ll want to be with you. Don’t worry about it. Just focus on Ferne. I’ll figure something out.”
Dee apologised again before they ended the call. There were only two of Ellie’s school friends whose mums Beth knew well enough to ask them to look after Ellie for the day. The first had a family day out planned and the second had dance lessons and a visit with grandparents.
As she sat on the couch, Beth leaned onto her knees and pondered what on earth she was going to do. She tried not to dwell on the fact that her mum should be there to take care of Ellie, but it was hard not to go there.
She smiled sadly when a message came from Trystan asking how the rest of her week had been. Slowly, she tapped out a reply saying it had been fine until that afternoon when it had gone downhill quickly.
The phone rang immediately and she felt overwhelmingly emotional as she answered the video call.
“What’s wrong?” Trystan asked, the skin around his eyes crinkled in concern.
She swallowed the lump in her throat and inhaled deeply in an attempt to keep her tears at bay. “Dee can’t look after Ellie tomorrow. I’ve called around a couple of her school friends to see if anyone can look after her, but they’re all doing family stuff. Plus, I guess no one really wants to look after someone else’s child from six o’clock on a Saturday morning.” She’d expected him to be sympathetic but he went silent. “I’ll have to take her with me.”
“You’re going to take her with you?” His brow creased. “To the wedding?”
“I suppose there’s finally something positive about me getting out of the wedding business – I don’t need to be concerned about developing a bad reputation.”
Trystan shook his head. “You can’t take Ellie with you while you photograph a wedding.”
She caught a tear at the corner of her eye. “I’ll tell her she’s my assistant and make a game of it. It’ll be fine. It’s just made me miss Mum.”
The sympathy in his eyes did nothing to calm her emotions. “I could look after Ellie,” he said.
The offer wasn’t a complete surprise, but it also wasn’t a practical solution. “The wedding is tomorrow,” she told him. “And you live in London.”
“I realise that. I can set off now.”
“You wouldn’t get here until midnight, or later.”
“So?”
“I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re not asking – I’m offering.”
The thought of seeing him in a matter of hours made her heart leap, but it would also complicate everything. If she was going to see him it would have been better if she’d come to that conclusion without the childcare dilemma. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “It’s a really long drive for you … and then you’d have the entire day with Ellie. It’s sweet of you to offer but—”
He cut her off. “Let’s not pretend I’m being completely selfless here. I’m using the situation to my advantage so I get to see you both. If you don’t want me to come you’re going to have to stop with your flimsy excuses and tell me you don’t want to see me.”
“I can’t do that,” she said as a tear ran down her cheek.
“Good. I’ll throw a few things in a bag and be there as soon as I can.” His reassuring smile only induced more tears. The mixture of relief at not having to take Ellie to work with her and excitement at the thought of being with Trystan was a lot to deal with. “Go to bed,” he said gently. “Just make sure your phone isn’t on silent; I’ll call when I arrive.”
“Thank you,” she spluttered while swiping tears from her cheeks.
Even though she was sure there was no chance of sleeping before he arrived, Beth got changed into her pyjamas and curled up on the couch to wait for him. Sometime after midnight, she drifted out of a light sleep to check once again that the ringer was turned up on the phone. At the same time, the room was illuminated by headlights on the road and she stumbled off the couch and to the front door.
“Hi,” she whispered loudly at the sight of Trystan getting his phone out as he stepped from the car.
The noise of the car door closing and the subsequent click of the lock sounded incredibly loud on the quiet street. But it was nothing compared to the thudding of Beth’s heart as Trystan walked towards her with his sports bag slung over his shoulder.
He picked up his pace on the front path and held her gaze with quiet intensity until he crashed right into her, lifting her off her feet as he kissed her eagerly. With her body moulded to his, the scent of him filling her nostrils and the taste of him on her lips, she couldn’t think of a single reason why she’d tried to keep him away.
“You’ll freeze,” he muttered, his lips pulling to a radiant smile as he walked her backwards into the house and closed the door behind them.
She kept her arms hooked around his neck and her body pressed against his. “I missed you.”
“Really?” He dropped his bag to the floor before pushing her back against the wall to continue kissing her.