Chapter 4

We exchanged texts and emails until the big day, but we did not actually speak. The big day was a great success Debbie looked gorgeous and Derek look handsome. I made sure I did a good job with the pictures.

Everyone at the wedding agreed that the happy couple looked incredible, and the day was well-planned and a complete and utter success. The food was great, the venue was great, and the DJ was on point.

It was around midnight when I put the cameras in the boot of the car and decided to call it a day.

It had been hard work seeing the object of my desire wedding another man. I went back into the bar and ordered a beer, my first drop of alcohol apart from a glass of fizz when we toasted the bride and groom.

I was facing the optics sipping on my pint when a tap on the shoulder brought me out of my daydream.

I turned to see it was Debbie and Derek.

“We just wanted to say thank you, you have been working so hard all day,” Debbie said and kissed me on the cheek.

“Yes mate, top job,” Derek said, not a man to waste words and he shook my hand.

Debbie was about to say something when a quartet of elderly uncles and aunts interrupted her

The happy couple turned away to say their goodbyes and I took the chance to drain my glass and leave without any more fuss.

I drove home, parked the car on the drive next to the for-sale sign and headed into the house,

The kitchen was full of boxes, I had enough kit left out to make a coffee, I fired up my laptop and started to transfer the pictures from the memory cards to the hard drive. As each card was transferred, I did some pruning, deleting the crap images.

I took three hours and two more coffees before I had the images catalogued and ready to transfer onto a portable hard drive.

I went to bed and slept until midday. I woke showered and made some tea and toast before I looked at my mobile phone.

I had two missed calls and two text messages from Debbie, the first text was asking me if I was okay, and the second an hour later told me that she would call me when she got back from Greece, I had been told that her sister had paid for them to have a two-week honeymoon in Greece, which was nice of her.

I fired up the laptop and transferred the photos to a hard drive. I took my old phone out and snapped the sim card in two and put it in the rubbish bin, I had almost completed the switch from my old life to my new life. The new house was bought, the removal men were booked, and I was off to start a new life in Cornwall. I closed down all of my social media accounts and deleted my old email accounts, I would be off the grid from now on. I had decided to leave on the day that Debbie asked me to photograph the wedding

I put the hard drive in a padded envelope ready to post through her door.

I loaded the stuff I needed into the back of my car, and then looked at my old house with the for-sale sign with a sold sticker on it.

I got into the car and drove away...

I stopped outside Debbie’s house and stood by the front door for a few seconds, I could hear music from inside, so I knew that at least one of the girls was at home, I posted the envelope through the door and walked, briskly, back to my car.