Chapter 5

My phone rang at nine A.M. the next morning. “Perfect Proposals, this is Pepper, how can I help you?”

“Hi, is this Pepper Pomeroy?”

“Yes,” I said. “How can I help you?”

“Hi, I’m Sherry, Kelli’s friend? She mentioned that you said I should call this morning.”

“Okay,” I said, then sat down and opened my event planning notebook.

“I’m not sure if you remember, but I’m the one who is pregnant and I wanted to propose to my boyfriend, William, and then tell him I’m pregnant.”

I sat back. “Yes, I remember,” I said, and made a note of her name and her boyfriend’s name. “Sherry, can I have your last name?”

“Oh, sure, it’s Burlingham, and my boyfriend is William Herald the Third.”

“How long have you been dating?”

“Oh, gosh, for at least three years.”

“And you’re sure he isn’t planning on asking you to marry him? Have you talked about it?”

“Oh, yes, we’ve talked about it,” she said. “But he joined the Air National Guard and then got called up into active duty. He flies jets. Anyway, I think he was thinking that we’d wait until after his tour of duty is up to get married. But then he came home two months ago on leave and one thing led to another . . .”

“Okay,” I said, with a smile and a nod. “These are just questions I ask right at the start. I need to get a good sense of the couple and their situation. I like to make sure that both parties are happy with where they are in their relationship and ready to take it to the next level.”

“I’m certain we’re ready,” she said. “I think he’ll be ecstatic to know I’m pregnant. He comes home this weekend and I think it would be great to welcome him with a surprise engagement. Don’t you?”

My thoughts went to all the welcome home ceremonies I saw on television. “Yes, I think it will be.” I explained my fees and she reassured me that they could afford it and I was to spare no expense.

“Will didn’t go into the service for the money or the college tuition,” she said. “His father and grandfather are huge supporters of the military and Will wanted to earn their respect. It’s sort of a rite of passage with the Herald men.”

“Great. Do you have an idea or venue in mind?”

“Yes, Will is a big tough guy who is a kid at heart. I thought it would be fun to do it at F.A.O. Schwarz.”

“Oh, the one in Macy’s downtown?”

“Yes,” she said emphatically. “I know the store manager, Eric Moore.”

“That sounds promising. Can we meet with Eric?”

“Yes,” she said. “He’s willing to meet this afternoon, if you are. Can we meet at two P.M.?”

“I can do it,” I said, and wrote down the details. “This will be a lot of fun.”

“That’s my hope,” she said. “I’ll see you downtown.”

I hung up and went online to research the store and what kind of fun things we could do with the engagement. With less than a week to plan it, I might have to skip the engagement party after. I needed to find out more from Sherry about where their families were located and what kind of engagement party she might be interested in. I noted that Macy’s had a tearoom on the top floor. I made a quick phone call to see if it might be available. It was as long as we used them to cater and the party wasn’t more than fifty people.

A quick search of the Herald family told me that the party might be a bit bigger than fifty people. The Heralds had been rubbing elbows with Chicago elite since the Worth family dominated the social scene. I scoured the surrounding area and put in several phone calls for venues. The biggest part of proposal planning was the short amount of time you had to pull the event together. It was a challenge I liked.

My phone rang again at eleven A.M.

“Hi, Pepper, it’s Laura Emmerson. We talked yesterday at your parents’ brunch.”

“Oh, yes, Laura, hi,” I said, and snagged a pen and my event notebook. “How are you?”

“I’m well,” Laura said. “You said to call and make an appointment to talk about what you could do to help me propose to Monica.”

“Yes, of course,” I said. “I have free time this evening. Can you meet?”

“How about five P.M.?” she asked. “I’ll leave work a little early and we can beat the dinner crowds.”

“Great, where do you work?”

“I work in Des Plaines. Can you meet me at Rosa’s? It’s close by and they have booths. Early evening means the lunch crowd should be long gone and the dinner crowd won’t start for at least another hour. We should have plenty of privacy.”

“Sounds perfect,” I said, and made a note in my calendar as she hung up. I started a business file on Laura, with notes about what we had already talked about and possible ideas for her proposal. I did some basic research on Laura and Monica. Monica’s Facebook page showed a happy woman with a genuine smile. There were a couple pictures of the two of them together. They looked very happy.

After a quick glance at the time I knew I had to get going. Researching people and venues and party ideas online always seemed to suck the time away. I ran a brush through my wild curly red hair and piled it in a loose knot on the top of my head. Then I put mascara on my lashes to make it look like I had some and finished off the look with a pop of red lip color. I wore a black turtleneck sweater, a navy miniskirt with black tights, and knee-high boots. I grabbed my navy wool coat, wrapped a long multicolored scarf my mother had knitted me around my neck, grabbed my purse and tablet, and headed out.

Downtown traffic was always interesting, and it would take time to find a place to park.

My phone rang as I drove. I hit the button that connected it to the Bluetooth earpiece I wore. My car was a big old Buick I’d inherited from my grandmother. I loved Old Blue, but it was a bit of a boat. Which meant it was great in winter weather but a bear to park on the street. “Perfect Proposals, this is Pepper. How can I help you?”

“Pepper, Brad Hurst. I gave you my card on Saturday.”

I made a face as I wove through traffic on the Kennedy Expressway. “Hi, Brad. Yes, I remember. I thought I was supposed to call you. How did you get my number?”

“I asked Whitney. Look, I’m sure Jen made an impression on you,” he said with a laugh. “She doesn’t usually drink so much, but she’s had a bit of a tough go lately. Listen, I was wondering if we could set up a meeting tomorrow.”

“Sure,” I said, and grabbed my bag and dug out my notebook and pen as I slowed down in the inevitable bumper-to-bumper traffic that seemed to be perpetually going into or coming out of downtown. “I’m driving, but I have my appointment book open. What time works for you?”

“Jen and I are free to talk at two,” he said.

I wrote with my right hand and drove with my left. I slammed on the brakes when I glanced up and saw I was a bit close to the guy in front of me. “Okay, I’ve got a free spot at two P.M. Wait—you and Jen?”

“Yes, Jen insists on being a part of the planning.”

“But she wants to be surprised,” I said, and managed to weave Old Blue out of my lane and into the express lane. “How can she be surprised if she’s part of the planning?”

Brad chuckled. “That’s what I asked, but she insists you can figure out a way to make this happen.”

Great. “Okay,” I said, wondering why I was doing this. Any sane woman would say no and let them go find someone else. But no, not me. I liked to drive in the crazy lane. “Where would you like to meet?”

“Let’s meet at McGee’s Pub and Grill in Arlington Heights. Do you know where that is?”

“Sure,” I said. I lied, of course, but I could Google it later. “We’ll meet tomorrow at McGee’s in Arlington Heights. So, anything you can share with me about Jen’s likes and dislikes before we meet tomorrow?”

“Um, what do you need to know?”

“I don’t know, things like her favorite book or singer or movie.”

“Oh, well, she sort of likes that old movie Serendipity.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, she likes the idea that things are meant to be. Sort of like how we are meant to be—that is, if I can figure out a way to propose without her knowing. See?”

“Sort of,” I said, and tried not to sigh out loud.

“Great. Bring your ideas for over-the-top, viral video fun.” He hung up. I felt the weight of inevitable failure heavy on my shoulders.

“Crazy people’s money is just as good as non–crazy people’s money,” I muttered to myself. “Just charge them double. It’s clear they can afford it.” I made a final note in my notebook about figuring out where McGee’s was, then exited off the highway to my favorite parking garage. It cost $17 an hour to park there, but they had spaces big enough for Old Blue and I could catch a taxi to Macy’s.

*   *   *

Sherry was a petite woman with thick dark hair that was scooped up into a high ponytail. She wore a red designer dress and six-inch heels, which meant she came up to my shoulder. She spotted me as I crossed in front of the giant stuffed gorilla. “Pepper?”

“Yes, hi, Sherry,” I said, and gave her a hug. She sent me air kisses on each cheek. “Thank you so much for meeting me on such short notice.”

“Short notice is what proposal planning is all about,” I said. “This is an interesting venue. What made you pick it?”

F.A.O. Schwarz occupied two floors in the Macy’s store. We currently stood in the stuffed toy section. It was December and there were kids and harried parents everywhere. It had a kind of playful, frenetic energy.

“They have this great section full of those green army men you see in the Toy Story movies,” she said. “Will loves those little guys.” She took my hand and pulled me through the stuffed toys to the section she had mentioned. There were little boys running and yelling and shooting at each other with green foam guns. “Isn’t it great?”

“It’s interesting,” I said, and looked around. “You know it will be quite original.”

“That’s what I thought,” she said. “Will won’t see it coming. Oh, here’s Eric.” A young man came over dressed in a white dress shirt, Macy’s red tie, and black slacks. He had dirty blond hair that was well-styled and thick, black horn-rimmed glasses. “Eric,” she greeted him with the same enthusiasm and air kisses, then pulled him toward me. “This is Pepper. She’s the proposal planner who is going to put this whole thing together for me.”

“Hi,” I said, and shook Eric’s hand.

“Hi, Pepper. I’m looking forward to your ideas.” At that moment he was hit in the side of the head by a foam puff. “What?” He turned to the boys. “Hey!”

“Sorry, mister,” one of the boys said with a sassy shrug.

Eric shook his head good-naturedly. “We’re going to have to figure out a time where Sherry can propose without getting shot at with a foam bullet.”

“When do you close?” I asked.

“With this being the holiday season, we close at ten P.M.,” Eric said.

“How about when you open?” I asked

“We open at eight A.M.,” Eric said.

I turned to Sherry. “What about a morning proposal? He won’t expect it. You can bring him shopping and stop in here. Eric could close this section for ten minutes while you propose,” I suggested. “Afterward, you can take his hand and run under the gun arch to the baby toys section where you will announce the pregnancy. I can get it all on video.”

“I like it!” Sherry said.

“Eric, will that work? I can get it on the morning news show,” I said, hoping it would be a good incentive.

“I’m pretty sure that would work,” Eric said with a smile.

“Then, Sherry, I usually have an engagement party planned right after the proposal. I’ve got a few venues within walking distance or the tearoom upstairs. We could do a themed morning brunch with diamonds, Green toy soldiers, and storks.”

“Oh, wonderful!” Sherry clapped.

“Let’s go iron out the details,” I suggested, and we went to the snack bar area. Sherry got a table and I bought us all coffees. It didn’t take long to get all the particulars down. It was going to be quick, but it would be something Will and Sherry would always remember.