Page 17 of Stolen Kiss

Instead they had pictures on their phones, half of them drunk ones, blurred with grinning people in them. Not exactly the professional wedding photos they needed.

Opaline had suggested staged photos with fake brides and grooms but Archer wouldn’t hear of tricking people coming to the island before they had done their first professional event.

“Our first wedding is in eight-nine days,” Jason grumbled as he crashed about in the kitchen.

“Is there a date with that, I can’t work out when eighty-nine days is,” Stan said, showing his impatience at the cryptic answer.

“Christmas Eve,” Archer, Erica and Jason said together.

“Wow, okay, we need to get working on this. Has the bride and groom filled out the form?”

“The bride has sent her own form,” Jason muttered.

“She’s not a diva, there’s nothing bizarre or extravagant on this list,” Erica said coming to her friend’s defence.

“Who is the bride?” Stan asked.

“Remi Speckle,” Erica said.

“The actress?” Stan let out a whistle through his teeth. “Go big or go home.”

“Exactly. Why couldn’t we start small?” Jason asked for the millionth time. Truthfully he wasn’t all that worried, his immediate concern was his date that evening.

“Jason, it’s going to be fine. You are a superb chef, what are you worrying about? We’ve got three months to get ready. It will probably be the only time we’re planning for one event at any time. After that, we’ll be handling multi-events and that’s when it will get crazy,” Stan said.

“You’re not filling me with hope and optimism.”

Archer chuckled as he brought Erica into a hug.

“What time are you meeting Heidi?” Archer asked.

“Heidi Shaw?” Stan asked.

“Yep, he’s got a date with her tonight.”

“She’s a lovely lass.”

Jason wanted to agree, but was irritated Archer had let it out the bag. “Can we keep this quiet for now? We’re two people getting a drink, no need to get excited.”

Jason shot a glare to Archer who grimaced and mouthedsorry.

“Did Maggie iron your shirt?” Stan asked.

“Fuck off,” Jason said good-naturedly and didn’t try to hide his grin.

“Don’t forget to wear a pullover and a jacket in case you need to give her your jacket if she gets cold,” Archer said.

“I don’t need dating advice from you, brother.”

Stan rocked back on his heels, laughing with Archer at the sparring match between the two brothers.

“All right then, I’ll get Opaline on to the list and get things moving. I’ll check in if anything looks like we can’t pull it off,” Stan said already on the move to leave Edward Hall kitchens.

“Thanks, Stan.”

“We’re off too, over to Turner Hall. I need to move the final bits out of my old room and then we’re going into town. Bailey has some news for us. Do you want to come?” Archer said once Stan had left.

“Nah, I’ll stay up here. Say hi to Cynthia for me,” Jason said smirking.

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