Susan Mallery - Meant To Be Yours

“WE CAN DO an assortment of different kinds of apples to hold the place cards,” Renee said, scrolling through photos of apples on her computer. “That adds variety. However if you want consistency and to be in line with your color palette, then I would say stick with the Granny Smith apples.”

She paused and glanced at the speakerphone. There was a moment of silence, followed by the sound of breathless female laughter.

“I’ve hit a wall,” Stacey Treadway said. “I can’t make one more decision. I just can’t.”

“Someone has to,” Renee said gently. “And it’s not going to be me.”

“And I thought apples would be easy. Let’s do the Granny Smith apples for the place cards. They’ll go with the glass towers we’ll have around the space and it will look nice.”

“Done and done,” Renee said, studying her list. “Stacey, I don’t want to scare you, but I think we’re finished.”

“Really? So no more decisions?”

“Not today.”

Stacey laughed. “Let me guess. You’re not making any promises.”

“Nope. But we’re really close and your wedding is going to be beautiful. I’m very excited to see everything turn out.”

“Thanks, Renee. You’ve been so wonderful to work with.”

“You’ve been great, too. Just remember, I’m here for you. Call me if you need anything and I’ll do the same. Otherwise, we are good to go.”

“Wow. It’s getting close. I guess I’ll see you soon.”

“You will.”

They hung up. Renee wrote up the notes from their phone call, entering the information on her computer where it would automatically feed to her tablet. A happy wedding day was all about keeping track of the details.

She’d barely hit the save key when Jasper walked into her office.

He looked good, she thought as she felt a bit of tingling low in her belly. Tall and a little rugged. She hadn’t seen him since their night together and wasn’t sure what to say now. Or think. Or how to act. Unexpected nerves tightened her throat and chest and she had the strangest urge to both bolt and throw herself at him. She settled on doing neither.

“Hey,” he said as he paused by the door. “Is this an okay time?”

“It is. What’s up?”

“I was in town and I wondered if we could talk for a second.”

“About?”

He motioned to a chair in front of her desk. She nodded and he sank down, then looked at her.

“I have no idea,” he said.

“You have no idea why you’re in town or you have no idea what you want to talk about?”

“Both.”

“Okay. Do you want to take a minute and collect your thoughts?”

Instead of answering, he glanced around at her office. “You plan weddings, right?”

“I do.”

“What does that entail?”

Not the question she was expecting. She smiled. “Are you asking for yourself?”

“You know I’m not.”

“Just checking. You might have met your one true love in the last few days.”

His gaze turned knowing. “I had someone on my mind, so no. Tell me what you do?”

“When a couple decides to hold their wedding here, I help them with as much of the wedding as they want. We provide a full service venue. We can arrange catering, bar service, flowers, an officiant and anything else they might want. In addition we have the unique ability to create nearly any kind of theme wedding the happy couple is looking for.”

He nodded. “Say I want a movie wedding. American Graffiti . Do you know it?”

“I’ve seen it before. It’s what, the 1960s? I’m kind of picturing the movie Grease , so I’d have to watch American Graffiti again to get the details right. We’d take liberties with the clothing. Some kind of poodle skirt bridesmaid dresses could be cute. We could do food from a diner for sure. Maybe a play on burgers and fries. Silver could come up with some fun cocktails—all variations on classics. You’d want a cutout of that white Thunderbird for guests to take pictures in. 1960s music, for sure. Oh, we could get a bunch of 45 records and use them in lots of different decorations. Maybe around the base of the centerpieces, or hanging from the ceiling. I think themed custom cookies would be terrific, too. If the groom was willing, we could really play on the poodle skirt idea and have poodles made out of flowers. And a soda fountain would be fantastic. Oh, we could do ice cream–based adult beverages. That would be unique and the guests would love it.”

He stared at her. “You came up with all that in a minute.”

“Probably more like five, but yes. Jasper, that’s what I do. I might know what a bride wants before she comes in but often I don’t. I need to be able to think on my feet.” She leaned toward him. “Once we picked a direction, we would discuss who’s providing the vendors and where she is in her process. Oh, we also need to know how long we have. Less time makes things frantic, but more time means decisions get changed again and again and that can be stressful for all of us.”

She paused. “I can keep talking, but I’m not sure what you want to know.”

“Me, either. You’ve given me a lot to think about. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. This is for your book, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Maybe. I don’t know. I’m having some problems with one of the characters.” He frowned. “Why aren’t you married?”

She hadn’t seen that question coming. “Excuse me?”

“Why aren’t you married? You’re smart, you’re sexy and—” He glanced over his shoulder and lowered his voice. “I happen to know you’re dynamite in bed.”

She felt herself flush. “Thank you and that is off-topic.”

“Too personal?”

“A little, but also confusing.”

“I don’t get women,” he admitted. “I have this character and I can’t figure her out. I can’t even make her close to real. Why do women do what they do? What are they thinking?”

He got up and closed her office door, then returned to his seat. “That night at The Boardroom. Why me? Why then? I served for eight years and when I got out of the army I was so screwed up in the head. I’ve made my way back a fair amount but we both know I’ll never be normal. I’m okay with that. But you’re not damaged. So why aren’t you with some great guy, popping out babies and living the American Dream?”

She could see he was genuinely confused, which was kind of appealing. Later she would think about how casually he talked about being damaged. According to Wynn, he wasn’t as broken as he thought, but that was for another day.

As for his question about her single status, she wasn’t sure what to say. There were a lot of reasons and many of them had to do with her mother. No way she was going to talk about that. So maybe something safer. And lucky for her, it was the truth.

“I’ve had two serious relationships,” she began. “In college and then a few years later. My last one lasted almost three years. He was a little older, established. Nice. That’s what I liked most about him. He was just plain nice. A thoughtful man who paid attention to the little things.”

“I hate him already.”

She smiled. “Don’t bother. He’s not worth the energy. Things were going great until they weren’t. We were seeing each other regularly, when we could. He traveled. I thought we were in love and mentioned marriage. He said he needed time. He loved me but didn’t see himself committing to one woman for the rest of his life.” Her mouth twisted as she remembered the long talks. “He said if he was ever going to marry someone, it would be me.”