Two
Friday afternoon, Liv wasn’t even fully seated when the door opened and a couple around her age walked inside.
Talk about good timing.
Standing, Liv walked out from behind her desk. She’d spent the earlier part of the day making phone calls and then ensuring that all the food would be ready for the retirement party Ocean View was catering later that day. Once done with that, she’d prepared for her afternoon meeting and then took care of a few errands—ones that shouldn’t have taken her long. Unfortunately, thanks to some overtalkative acquaintances and traffic, she’d barely gotten back in time to unlock the door for her potential clients.
“Good afternoon. You must be Gina.” Liv extended her hand toward the dark-haired woman.
Smiling, Gina shook her hand. “It’s great to meet you finally. Once again, I’m sorry we had to reschedule so many times.”
“I understand.” As long as the couple booked Ocean View Catering, Liv didn’t care how often they’d canceled their initial meeting.
“This is my fiancé, Blake.” Gina gestured toward her companion, a well-dressed man who appeared to spend more time on his appearance in the morning than Liv did, which, in all honesty, wouldn’t be that difficult.
“It’s nice to meet you both. If you want to have a seat, we can get started.” Liv gestured toward the small conference table. Although they could use her desk, she preferred the table because, at least to her, it made meetings like this feel more like a get-together with your friends rather than a business transaction.
Based on their previous conversations, Liv knew the couple was from Cambridge and that they’d decided to get married in Orchard Harbor after visiting a friend who had a home on the water. Although Liv wasn’t sure “home” was the correct term for the ten-thousand-square-foot mansion Raymond Thatcher owned. Regardless, they’d fallen in love with the area and planned to get married at Raymond’s estate. It just so happened that Ocean View catered the party Raymond and his wife hosted during Gina and Blake’s visit. According to Gina, they’d enjoyed the food so much they’d asked Raymond’s wife for the name of the catering company so they could hire them for the wedding reception. Of course, it helped that they were the only catering company in town.
She watched in awe as Blake pulled out a chair and waited for Gina to sit before doing the same. Granted, she’d seen men do that for women at the restaurant, but they were usually much older. She’d genuinely assumed only people from earlier generations still did it. Clearly, she’d been wrong, or Blake was simply a throwback to an earlier time. Either way, she wouldn’t mind if a man did that for her every once in a while. Of course, she’d need to have a date first. Unfortunately, her dating life was almost nonexistent. But that was something she could think about later when she was alone.
“The last time we spoke, you had two possible dates in mind. Have you settled on one?”
Across the table, Gina retrieved her phone from her purse, and sunlight bounced off her engagement ring, all but blinding Liv. The thing had undoubtedly cost a small fortune, but she found it downright gaudy.
“We have. We’re going with the twentieth.”
As she spoke, Liv opened her calendar. Currently, they had nothing scheduled for September. Considering the news her dad and grandfather received earlier in the week, perhaps they shouldn’t book anything, because the likelihood of them being able to buy the building was slim. However, even if Rick Desmond were to purchase the property, it would take time for the details to be finalized. And while she didn’t know anything about real estate law, she hoped it prohibited Desmond from kicking them out the moment his company signed the purchase and sales agreement.
“That’s a Thursday,” Liv supplied. There was no rule stating people couldn’t get married on a Thursday, but most people she knew preferred to do so on the weekend.
“No, it’s a Friday,” Gina answered, looking up from her phone.
Her father always said not to argue with a customer, but she had the calendar in front of her. And September 20 was a Thursday.
“Are you sure? On my calendar, the twentieth is a Thursday.” Liv turned the calendar around and slid it closer to the couple.
Gina checked her phone and then the calendar on the table. “You’re looking at the wrong month. We decided to get married in July instead of September.”
Some people preferred short engagements. Her brother was an excellent example of that. Eight months and three days had passed between Owen proposing and when he and Jenny said “I do.” What Gina was suggesting wasn’t a short engagement but an almost nonexistent one. Even with eight months to plan, it hadn’t been easy. Less than two months to prepare potentially tripled the difficulty.
“I realize it is rather short notice. But my uncle, who’s conducting the ceremony, will be in Europe in September. I hope you’re still available.”
Liv flipped to the appropriate month. At the moment, they were catering a high school graduation party on July 1, the Garden Club Tea on the second Saturday of the month, and the Maine Writers’ Guild retreat on July 28, but July 20 was open. “We can do the twentieth.”
“Excellent.” Smiling, Gina clapped her hands together.
They were there to discuss food options, not whether Gina and Blake had reserved the services of a photographer and florist. However, if the bride-to-be couldn’t book those on such short notice, the couple might have to reschedule with Liv. With the sale of the building looming over her head, she’d rather not have that happen.
“Have you already found a florist?”
“Finding one is next on my list,” Gina answered.
You’re in luck, my friend.
While getting the catering side of the restaurant up and going had been her immediate goal, it wasn’t Liv’s ultimate one. She not only wanted Ocean View Catering to be successful, but she also wanted to develop a one-stop shopping event-planning business. A place where someone like Gina could come and hire everyone they needed to make sure their wedding or special event was perfect. She’d already approached Emma and Phoebe. Both were willing to jump on board when the time was right. Until then, they recommended each other to customers at times like this.
“I recommend you try Exquisite Flowers across the street. They do amazing work.”
