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Emma ran her finger down the list of appointments scheduled at the bridal salon for the upcoming two weeks before Christmas and the two weeks after that. They only had a last-minute appointment in a week for a couple who had decided to celebrate the New Year with a party where they would also renew their vows after fifty years of marriage.
Fifty years! Emma thought. While there were still people who made it that long, she’d also seen more and more people who after many years of marriage decided to part and go their separate ways. On the bright side, the bridal salon had planned many a marriage for baby boomers willing to give it a second chance.
Brave people, she thought, considering she was afraid to even give it a first chance. Hell, she was even afraid of being able to commit to a relationship with a man with whom she’d just spent the most marvelous week. Well, not quite a week. Three dinners, two nights, two breakfasts, and a lunch, but who was counting?
You are, the little voice in her head chastised. Love is not a formula based on the right amount of dates or lunches, it tacked on with an annoyed huff.
Or nights of mind-blowing sex, she shot back, silencing it. She jotted down the date and time for the meeting with the older couple and walked to the cabinet to pull out the folder with the interview one of the bridal salon owners had done when the couple had come in earlier that week. Emma had been too busy with Connie’s wedding and her boss had helped her out by doing the initial legwork.
She stopped at the coffee machine to make herself a cup before heading to her office to review the interview and other papers her boss Lucy had assembled. Lucy had done a great job in jotting down the couple’s preferences for their dream New Year’s Eve party and renewal of their vows.
Emma’s mind flooded with ideas on how she could bring their dreams to life. She started with a list of viable places where the event could be held based on the number of guests the couple had estimated. Next came photos of possible decorations, centerpieces, and flowers that would bring back the flavor of the Sixties beach wedding the couple had celebrated fifty years earlier. Which had her recalling a wedding dress in the stockroom that would be just perfect.
She rushed out of her office and into the stockroom where Lucy was finishing up the organizing of the dresses that Emma had started last week.
“How’s it going?” she asked her boss as she hurried to the row where she had last seen the gown she had in mind.
“Thankful for at least one wedding over the holidays. It’s always such a tough time of year financially and mentally. I mean, how many times can you redo the stockroom?” Lucy said with a laugh as she moved a dress from one rack to another.
“I totally get it,” Emma said, likewise thankful for the job. It would help take her mind off some things. Hangers skittered across the metal rack as Emma flipped through the wedding dresses until she caught sight of the gown that she thought would be perfect for the vows renewal. She hoped the “bride” would feel the same way.
She pulled it out, draped it over her body, and called out to Lucy. “What do you think?”
Lucy stepped out from between two rows of gowns, peered at her and wrinkled her nose in a way that Emma had learned meant she was either undecided or unconvinced. “What do I think?” her boss repeated and scrutinized the gown again.
“Wedding. Beach. Sixties feel. Floral wreath with just the barest hint of veil trailing down,” she said, hoping to bring to life the idea she’d had after reading the couple’s interview.
The nose wrinkle went away and was replaced by emphatic nodding. Lucy circled a finger around the outfit and said, “I can totally picture that, but just in case . . .”
Emma knew what that meant as well. “I’ll have a number of other gowns available for Mrs. Adler. Have I ever failed you before, Lucy?”
There was no hesitation in her boss now as she shook her head. “Never.”
“Good. Then I’ll get back to work. I’ll have the full proposal ready for the meeting next week and since we won’t have that much time to prepare, I’ll call around and make sure the venues I’m suggesting are available.”
She started to walk away, but Lucy called her name. She stopped and faced her boss. “We don’t say it often enough, but we really appreciate the work you do for us. Evelyn and I have talked about the possibility of you joining us here in a more long-term position. Maybe even a partnership,” Lucy said.
A partnership? Emma mulled. Considering she’d already been there for close to nine years she had thought about the possibility of becoming a partner more than once, except of course if she left for the event planning business that Carlo and she had discussed so many times. Confused, she narrowed her gaze and examined her boss. “I appreciate that, but if you don’t mind me asking, why has this come up all of a sudden?”
Lucy stiffened, pulled her shoulders back, and lifted her chin an inch. “I know you and Carlo are close and with him interested in the convention center . . .”
Emma shook her head and frowned. “I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about, Lucy.”
Lucy did a nervous little shuffle and said, “I had brunch with Mary Sanders on Sunday.”
“The real estate agent?” Emma asked, still puzzled.
“She mentioned the building was for sale and I’d seen Carlo with her last week and so I asked her about it. Mary wouldn’t confirm it, but she didn’t deny it either. I’m so sorry. I thought you knew,” Lucy said apologetically.
She wanted to believe there was a valid reason why Carlo hadn’t told her if in fact he was interested in the property. After all, the convention center would be an ideal place for the business they had talked about so often in the past. But they hadn’t discussed it at all in several months. There had been so much going on with their friends that had spilled over into their lives and made talk of anything like that virtually impossible.
And there had been that kiss that had forever changed the relationship between them and made it awkward to discuss certain things. And last week of course. An amazing and marvelous week on a personal level. One which had made her think forever was maybe possible for them.
There had to be a valid reason why he hadn’t told her, she urged herself as a cold knot of dread formed in her gut much like the one when she’d realized the extent of her father’s duplicity. She didn’t want to think that Carlo hadn’t mentioned it to her because he didn’t want her involved.
“I appreciate that you and Evelyn think of me that highly, Lucy. I’ll certainly consider it and let you know,” Emma replied, her tone calm in a dead sort of way.
A flicker of surprise flitted across Lucy’s face. “Yes, please consider it, Emma. We’d love to have you here as a partner. I feel bad that we haven’t discussed it before now.”
She nodded. “Thanks. If you don’t mind, I have an errand to run this afternoon. I’ll be back tomorrow,” she said, but didn’t wait for her boss to reply.
She intended to get to Carlo and find out just what was up. If what Lucy had said was true, she wanted to know why he hadn’t seen fit to tell her.
***
THE TEXT FROM EMMA had been cryptic and troubling.
Please come as soon as you can. I’m home.
He worried that something bad had happened to either one of her friends or her mother and prayed that it was nothing serious. His van screeched to a halt at an awkward angle in front of her house since her Sebring was already in the driveway.
Racing up the walk, he noticed several lights were on in the house, but as he peered through the front window, he couldn’t see anyone inside. He knocked, but no one answered. Worry increasing, he made a fist and pounded on the door, striking it so hard it rattled in its frame.
“Emma. Open up,” he said roughly and was about to strike the door again when it flew open.
She stood there, arms wrapped herself in a gesture that was achingly defensive. Her skin was pale, almost bloodless. Her eyes were as hard and sharp as the thin slash of her lips.
“Is something wrong? Is someone hurt?” he said and went to cradle her cheek, but she jerked away from his touch.
“You might say that,” she said and walked into her living room, leaving him to follow, not that he sensed he was welcome. Everything about her was stiff and unyielding, from the tight set of her shoulders to her stone face.
She sat in the middle of the couch and he understood he was not invited to sit beside her. Instead, he took a spot on the coffee table in front of her and she looked away, either unwilling or unable to meet his gaze.
“I don’t understand, Emma. What’s wrong?” he said and cradled her cheek which was ice cold despite the warmth in the room from the fire she had started in the fireplace. He applied gentle pressure and urged her to face him, but even then, her gaze was downcast.
“When were you going to tell me that you planned on buying the convention center with Jonathan Pierce and your brothers?”
“How did you find out?” he said, which he realized was not the answer she wanted to hear as her head snapped up and green fire blazed from her gaze.
“How? My boss Lucy saw you with the real estate agent. She also heard the property was for sale and put two and two together. Decided to offer me a partnership in the bridal salon because she was afraid I was jumping ship and joining you,” she said, her voice trembling with anger and pain. She forged on, silencing him with a slash of her hand when he would have spoken. “But then she realized I knew absolutely nothing about it. I was confused. Hurt. Angry. I went to see my best friend Connie. To my surprise, she knew as well. Seems I’m the only one in the dark about your new venture.”
“It’s not what you think, Emma,” he pleaded and reached for her again, but she pulled away from him.
Her words dripped ice as she said, “Then please tell me what to think. I wouldn’t want to over think this after all.”
She was more pissed off than he’d ever seen her, and he understood. He should have told her right away, but he’d been afraid of what that would do to their newfound relationship. He laid his hands on his knees to keep from touching her until he could fully explain. “I heard the property was for sale over a week ago. I didn’t dare dream, but it’s perfect, Emma. Except for the price of course and I didn’t want to say anything until I could figure out if I could buy it. If we could buy it,” he said, gesturing between the two of them.
“But you figured it out apparently. You talked to your brothers. Talked to Jon. Were you ever going to talk to me?” she said, clearly hurt by his failure to reach out to her.
“Of course. I was going to, Emma. We always talked about going into business together and buying the convention center would let us do that. We could use it for weddings and other events. Have a full-time restaurant that my brothers could manage. Jon wants to have conferences at the location. He wants us to plan and run them,” he said.
“You had time to discuss all this with your brothers and Jon, but not me? You made all these plans without even once asking me if I was interested?” she asked, her voice rising with each word.
“I get it, Emma. I was wrong not to talk to your first, but I wasn’t even sure it was possible. My brothers came in when I was reviewing my finances and they were totally in to help me, but I was still short. By a lot. I was going to talk to you then, but . . .” He stopped cold, afraid of where this conversation was going, but knowing it had to go there to clear the air with her.
“I was worried that this thing between us –”
“Thing?” she said with an imperial arch of her brow and ice dripping from her words.
“This relationship. It’s all so new, Emma. And we both always worried that mixing business with the personal would be a problem.”
“It is a problem if my partner doesn’t bother to involve me in discussions,” she said with such determination it chilled him to the bone.
He held his hands up in pleading. “You don’t mean that, Emma. It’s just that you’re upset right now.”
“You think?” she said sarcastically which was totally unlike her.
“Please, Emma. Give me a break. I made a mistake. Please forgive me,” he said.
