"We actually have another wedding booked for Christmas Eve," I say, holding up my hand like I'm trying to stop a train with my bare palm. "The Burnside wedding. Ben Burnside and Penelope Carter. They're—"
“Excuse us for a second!” Jessica says as she pulls me to the side. I know what she’s going to say.
Then she whispers, ”No one is coming to that wedding. Sharon, literally nobody likes them. Thirty-eight out of forty people said no to their wedding invitation."
I open my mouth to argue, but Jessica is already heading back to Tangle with the kind of enthusiasm that suggests she's suddenly found her true purpose in life.
"We can absolutely make Christmas Eve work," Jessica continues, and I can see her brain working overtime, probably calculating timelines and vendor availability and how she can turn this into the most legendary wedding Pine Hollow has ever seen. "It's going to be tight, but we can do it. What's your vision? Where are you thinking? How many guests?"
Tangle sits back down in the client chair, and there's something about the way she settles into it that makes me understand why people pay to watch her perform in stadiums. She has this presence that makes even sitting look like an art form.
"Small," she says. "Intimate. I'm thinking here in Pine Hollow. There's this beautiful spot just outside of town, where the mountains meet the valley. During the day, it's gorgeous. But on Christmas Eve, with snow, with lights strung through the trees, with the three alphas standing at the altar looking at me like I hung the moon?" She closes her eyes for a moment. "That's the wedding I want."
"That's beautiful," Jessica breathes, and I can tell she's already mentally designing the entire thing.
"It is," Tangle agrees. "And I'm willing to pay whatever it takes. Budget is not a concern. I want flowers that don't exist yet. I want a ceremony that makes people believe in love again. I want my three alphas to look at me like I'm the only thing that matters. And I want it done here, in Pine Hollow, because this town accidentally saved my life."
She stands up again, her leather jacket making soft creaking sounds as she moves. Her scent fills the office, and my omega brain is going absolutely haywire because this woman smells likeconfidence and power and the kind of person who gets what she wants simply because she decides she's going to have it.
"So," Tangle says, looking between Jessica and me. "Can you make it happen? Can you plan the wedding of my dreams in three weeks? Or should I call someone else?"
"We can absolutely do this," Jessica says, and she's already pulling out her planner, her fingers flying across the pages like they're possessed. "We'll need to contact vendors immediately. We'll need to figure out the venue setup. We'll need to—"
I watch Jessica work herself into a frenzy of productivity, and I realize what's happening. This is the moment where my life goes from complicated to absolutely insane. This is the moment where the universe decided it wasn't done messing with me yet.
"Of course," I say slowly, because what else can I say? Tangle Peak is standing in my office. Tangle Peak wants us to plan her wedding. The wedding that, from the sound of it, is going to be everything I've ever wanted to help create. It's going to be beautiful and intimate and full of love, unlike the wedding I've been planning for Ben and Penelope, which has all the emotional warmth of a business transaction.
"Perfect," Tangle says, and she extends her hand. Jessica grabs it immediately, shaking it like she's just been offered a record deal. When she turns to me, I stand up on shaky legs and take her hand.
Her grip is firm. Confident. Her skin is warm, and I can smell her scent even more intensely now that we're touching: vanilla and something like burnt sugar and wildfire.
"I have a meeting with my pack in about an hour," Tangle says, releasing my hand. "But I'll be back tomorrow with all the details. I'm staying at the Pine Inn for now, but once I work things out with the boys, I'll probably move in with them. For now, just start planning. Start thinking. Start making magic happen."
She leaves like she arrived: like she owns the place. The door closes behind her, and the office suddenly feels very small and very quiet.
Jessica is staring at her planner like it just spoke to her in tongues. I'm staring at nothing, my brain trying to process what just happened while simultaneously having a minor breakdown about the wedding I've already been hired to plan.
"Did that just happen?" Jessica asks softly.
"I think so," I say. My scent is all over the place now. Strawberry panic mixed with honey anxiety with an undertone of something like excitement that I'm not sure I'm allowed to feel.
"We just got hired to plan Tangle Peak's wedding," Jessica continues, her voice getting higher with each word. "Tangle Peak. The Tangle Peak. The one who won the Grammy."
"Yes," I say. "On Christmas Eve. The same Christmas Eve that Ben and Penelope are getting married."
Jessica stops mid-celebration. She looks at me slowly, and I watch as her brain catches up with the implications of what she just committed us to.
"Well," Jessica says after a long moment, "that's not actually a problem anymore, is it? Because no one is going to Ben's wedding. Even if you and Penelope are buddies now.”
"You're right," I say quietly. I settle back into my chair and stare at my calendar, at the date circled in red that suddenly means something completely different than it did twenty minutes ago. "No one's going to Ben's wedding."
"Which means," Jessica says, and now she's smiling in a way that suggests she's already won the lottery and is about to win it again, "we are officially free to make Tangle Peak's wedding the most legendary event this town has ever seen."
I nod, but my stomach is doing something complicated. It's doing backflips and somersaults and generally acting like it's been possessed by a very enthusiastic gymnast.
Because the universe has a way of setting you up for disaster when you're not paying attention. It has a way of stacking situations on top of each other until everything collapses under its own weight. And now I'm standing on the edge of what could be the best opportunity of my career, but I'm also watching my previous job implode in real-time.
I pull out my phone and text the group chat that Cassian created last night: "Tangle Peak just walked into my office and booked us to plan her wedding for Christmas Eve."
