Summer Seaside Wedding Read Free Page B

bed. He hoped that Harry and Phoebe would take up where he’d left off and make her feel welcome.
    For his own day he’d arranged to spend time on the tennis courts later in the morning with Naomi, an aspiring fashion model. On Saturday afternoons he always drove into town, and tonight was joining Georgina, the attractive owner of the local boutique, and her friends for a meal. So his day was planned.
     
    Amelie hadn’t gone back to bed. She’d considered it, but knew that alone in the stillness of the bedroom the thoughts she was trying to keep in check would come sweeping over her and she would be lost.
    Instead, she was going to explore the shops in the main street of the village, then walk as far as she could see on the road that ran along the top of the cliffs. And somewhere in the midst of her exploring she would eat.
    The ‘Angel Gabriel’ hadn’t seemed too cheerful when he’d found her already in the sea at just gone six o’clock in the morning, but she was afraid he would have to get used to that because she loved to swim; and if life at the village practice was as demanding as the job she’d just left, it might be her only chance at that early hour.
    So far she hadn’t met the senior partner but there was plenty of time for that. She’d met Leo, that was enough to be going on with, and for the rest of the weekend she wasn’t going to butt into his life again.
    The shops were to her liking. They reminded her of those in the French village where she’d lived as a child. Amongst them was a grocer’s selling butter straight from the tub, a fishmonger’s with the morning’s fresh catch on display, and a combined village store and post office where people were good-humouredly passing the time of day without seeming to be in any hurry.
    There was the feeling of life lived at a slower pace, she thought as she set off in the direction of the cliffs and the road that ran along the top of them. As she breathed in the fresh sea air and felt the sun on her face Amelie knew she’d done the right thing in accepting Ethan’s suggestion that she come to Bluebell Cove and she was here today of all days.
    She could see the sea in the distance as she walked along. The tide had gone out and there were more people down on the sand now than there had been earlier. She was in love with the place already, she thought wonderingly. What must it be like to live here all the time?
    When she looked over her shoulder she was surprised to see how far she’d walked. The village was almost out of sight and having no wish to make her arrival in Bluebell Cove brought to the notice of others by getting lost, she began to retrace her steps.
    Eventually she came to tennis courts that had been empty when she’d passed earlier but were now occupied by an attractive blonde with long legs. Partnering her, resplendent in tennis shorts and a short-sleeved white shirt, was the man she’d been hoping to avoid for the rest of the weekend.
    Fortunately he was serving with his back to her andwith a few fast steps she was past before he’d had the chance to see her.
    She was smiling as she neared the edge of the village. It made sense that a man like him would want someone as attractive as himself to have around him, she was thinking when suddenly the church bells began to ring out and as she drew nearer the reason was revealed.
    A June bride, resplendent in a beautiful white dress and train, was being helped out of a wedding car that had stopped at the lychgate of the church, and Amelie felt as if a cloud had covered the sun.
    So much for upbeat thinking and keeping occupied on this particular day. Who was she kidding? The hurt hadn’t gone away. She’d learned to live with it, but it was still there.
    Turning away blindly, she hurried past the shops until she came to a café and seated herself at a table farthest from the window.

CHAPTER TWO
    T HE tennis had been good, his companion pleasant to be with, and as the two of them walked