She paused for a minute. “Are you embarrassed that I didn’t and you weren’t that nice to me?”
He laughed. At least she thought it was a laugh. Maybe not. More like an annoyed sound. “I treated you the same as I would have anyone. I was in a hurry.”
“And what about now? Are you in a hurry again or just being rude on purpose?”
His jaw dropped. As if he hadn’t expected her to call him out on it.
“Hello. Is anyone here?”
“In here,” she said. “You must be Corrine and Michael?”
“That’s us,” Corrine said. “This place is beautiful. Oh, Michael, look at the views out those enormous doors.”
She wanted to finish this conversation with Clay, but it wasn’t the time.
A smile filled her face. “Isn’t it stunning? Please, come in. I need to run and get my binders out of the car. I came in so quickly. This is Clay Ridgeway. I’m not sure where my manners are. I lost them for a moment.” She turned to wrinkle her nose at Clay while Corrine was tugging on her fiancé’s arm in excitement. “I’m Meredith Banks.”
“It’s nice to meet you both,” Michael said. “Corrine is super excited to get married here. She’s had dreams of this country garden wedding idea in the spring. Me, I’m just letting her do her thing.”
“I’m going to let you in on a secret. It’s best to let the bride do it. It’s really all about her on that day.”
Clay snorted next to her.
“I’ve been told that too,” Michael said. “All I care about is that she’s happy and the bar is open.”
“Clay can talk to you about that,” she said, putting him on the spot. He wanted to be here while she did this, he could be part of it. “I’ll be right back.”
“Sure,” Clay said. “Come this way.”
When Meredith returned with her binders, she moved to the side with Corrine. “Why don’t we take a seat? Let me know what you’re looking for on your day. How big or the number of guests do you plan? You said you were looking to be married in May?”
“Before Memorial Day. If you’ve got any dates open? I know it’s only nine months away or less, but I don’t want to wait another full year.”
“We have two dates open. The wedding venue part of the business is new and you’ve lucked out. The summer is filling up fast, along with next fall.”
Clay had downplayed so much of it, but he had twelve dates booked for next summer and fall already. Thankfully, it was only a deposit and dates secured. She’d had her work cut out for her last week contacting everyone and trying to find out if they were interested in her services. Five took her up on it already for the summer and three for the fall.
“Wonderful,” Corrine said. “I thought being the spring, I’d love to do the rustic part of your theme. I wish there was more on the website.”
“We are working on it,” she said. She needed to get a lot of pictures for that to happen or put together ideas, but Reenie handled that and together they’d get it done.
For now, it only said their themes and what it entailed. Her binders had samples.
While she and Corrine went through all the details, Clay was talking with Michael. She saw they both had a glass of cider in their hands and she tried not to laugh that if he drank too much it upset his stomach.
Ford had to be busting on his brother’s butt to say that.
Forty minutes later, the couple had left after securing their date with a deposit. She’d be in contact with them next week to get started and contracts signed.
“That went well,” he said.
“It did. This is going to be my first from start to finish.” She was jumping in place. His eyes were wide.
“Are you okay?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m excited. Don’t you ever get excited about anything?”
“Not like that,” he said. He finished his glass.
