“Just before Christmas?” I blurt out, almost choking on my tea. “That’s less than four weeks away. I assume you want a big, lavish wedding.”
“Exactly,” she says, as if her request is completely reasonable. “Are you not up to the task?”
“Sheila, you know we’re up to the task. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have had your people reach out to us. But I want to know… why us?”
I give Jamie an apologetic nod. He was supposed to handle the discussion, but she’s just too much for my tirednerves.
“Because while I may dislike you as a person, I do appreciate the skill with which you deliver your services,” Sheila says. “I’ve only heard good things from your previous clients.”
“Is that why you poached four of our existing clients and sent them off to your friend’s agency?” I ask sharply.
She looks surprised, but I’m not buying it. “I don’t take kindly to unfounded accusations.”
“Then you should enlist your friend’s agency to handle this event,” I reply.
It’s a gamble, I know. And judging by the not-so-subtle ankle kick Jamie just gave me as his eyes throw daggers at my face, he knows it too. Yet I find comfort and certainty in the fact that Sheila asked us to come over—fully aware that I’m not the type to bend over so easily. She must’ve seen this coming.
“They’re too busy with their new clients to give us the attention and the dedication we require,” she states, sounding way too satisfied for my own ego. I walked right into this one, didn’t I? “So, are you capable of handling this?”
“You want a wedding before Christmas,” Jamie says. “Four weeks. It means we’ll need to mail the invitations out before the end of next week. It’s a stretch, but doable.”
“Good. Glad to hear that.”
“Do you have a location in mind?” he asks.
“Our winter estate in Thornwood,” Sheila says. “The ballroom holds up to a thousand guests.”
A troubled look passes between Jamie and me. “How many guests will you expect?”
“About a thousand.”
My stomach drops. That’s a large number for a short window of time. “It’ll be close to Christmas, and there’s bound to be heavy snowfall by the second week of December, which might make the Thornwood inaccessible.”
“Oh, they’ll come,” she replies with another confident grin. “It will be the event of the year, and we insist on a luxurious winter theme.”
“Design and visual-wise, what color scheme are you considering?” Jamie tries so hard to be professional while all I want to do is throw this cup filled with hot tea at the woman’s face. “Perhaps white and silver?”
“Precisely,” she says. “With some pale blue or a metallic, deeper blue for accents. Or white and a smidge of gold? Some cream on the side? What would you suggest?”
Jamie thinks about it for a moment. “White, silver, and blue is as distinguished as they come. The Romanoff family’s winter balls had that color scheme, and they smashed it every time.”
“Oh, yes, I remember seeing photos. So bejeweled.” Sheila laughs lightly.
The tearoom door opens. Terrence and Katrina walk in—hand in hand and dressed like an uppity J Crew catalogue couple that’s about to go sailing together.
“Hope we’re not late,” Terrence says as the two of them join us. “We’re just popping by to say hello. Mom will handle all the wedding details.”
“Without any input from the bride?” I quickly pick up on the unspoken tension as I give Katrina awry smile.
“Sheila says I only have to worry about my dress and makeup. She’s got everything else covered,” Katrina replies, trying to sound cool with this arrangement. “It saves me a lot of stress and effort. I couldn’t be more thankful.”
“I’m sure you couldn’t,” I mutter.
“Well, I’m glad we were able to get some cash flowing your way,” Terrence cuts in, looking at me. “I heard you weren’t doing so well, so Kat and I decided to work with you, despite our history.”
Our history.
Oh, now he’s just begging for a kick in the nuts. Was I so blind to this man’s charm that I really didn’t see who he truly was? Or was the fear of never being chosen simply powerful enough to blind me? Either way, it doesn’t matter anymore. It’s a lesson learned, not a mistake meant to define me.
