“Oh no,” Sasha replied immediately, shaking her head. “It took years for me to get a proposal out of Tom. Now that he has, I want to seal the deal ASAP.”
“Seven weeks . . .” Ari breathed deeply. “That’s impossible.”
Next to her, Ari heard Marnie give a satisfied sigh. “Oh dear, never mind. Well, we’ll just get in our usual event planners then. I’m sure they can organise a wedding in the woods in seven weeks.”
Sebastian sat bolt upright, shaking his head emphatically. “They can’t get a De León dress though, can they? No. We can do it.”
Ari stared at him in disbelief. “Sebastian.We just can’t. Stella, maybe, is a possibility, if we call in the world’s biggest favour... but Luis? He has other brides. We can’t just swoop in and disrupt his timetable like that.” She turned to Marnie and Sasha, shaking her head. “Sasha, I’m sorry, but getting a bespoke De León dress in seven weeks is impossible. We couldn’t get one for love nor money, and trust me, Sebastian here can try both.”
“But I want one,” Sasha said sharply. “And I always get what I want.”
Dislike for this woman, hot and intense, slid down Ari’s spine. Taking another deep breath, she opened her mouth to reply, when Sebastian piped up.
“If you want one, my darling, we’ll get you one.”
“Sebastian,” Ari exhaled, shocked. “You can’t promise that.”
“Look, if we fly Luis out here tomorrow, start the fittings right away, get the fabric ordered, it’s not impossible.”
Ari shook her head. “He has other responsibilities, Sebastian.”
Sebastian shrugged. “He can put one of his junior designers to work on the other brides for a few days. So long as he’s there for their final fittings they won’t even know he didn’t work on their gowns personally.”
Ari stared at him through narrowed eyes, hoping against hope he would read between the lines. “No. He hasotherresponsibilities, Sebastian.”
Sebastian, suddenly startled, clearly understanding her, while Marnie frowned.
“I don’t understand,” she said. “What other responsibilities? He’s a wedding dress designer.”
Sebastian smiled at Marnie pleasantly. “Oh, I’m sorry, this is more of a... personal matter. Ari and I, well, we don’t like our personal lives to impact our business. Ever. We have a good work ethic.”
Marnie opened her mouth to reply, but Sasha cut in. “I want a bespoke De León dress.” She sounded dangerously close to stomping her feet. “So I don’t care what personal shit you two have got going on... I want him here, this week, for my first fitting.”
At that, Ari stood. “I’m sorry. On this we’re quite firm. Luis De León has other responsibilities, and if we’re going to plan this wedding, there is no way we can get him here.”
Sebastian also stood, abruptly pulling on Ari’s arm. “One moment, darlings,” he chirped to Sasha and Marnie, before leading Ari to the side.
“Are you fucking insane?” he hissed. “We can’t turn this wedding down.”
“We can’t get Luis here,” Ari insisted. “You know that. And I can’t be here for seven weeks. A few days here and there, yes, but seven whole weeks? I can’t be away from Reine for that long.”
“Yes, I know,” Sebastian said. “Fuck, I wish I could smoke right now.”
“Well, you can’t.”
Ari watched as Sebastian took a deep breath. “Okay. Hear me out.”
Ari shook her head. “No, don’t say what I think you’re about to.”
“Ari,” Sebastian said patiently. “So, Luis brings her with him.”
“No,” Ari’s response was instant. “She has school, she has violin, she has Brownies on Thursday. You should know that, your husband is Tawny Owl.”
“Honey, listen.” Sebastian was using his calmest, most sincere voice, and Ari chewed on her lip, willing to hear him out if nothing else. “Forget Brownies. I know I do. Besides, school doesn’t begin for what... six days? Luis brings her tomorrow, does the first fitting, gets the dress started, and flies back with her. Or you can. We can work a schedule out so one of us is always at home. And the wedding is late October, which is half-term. We can all be here that week with her. This can work, Ari.”
Ari took a deep breath, looking at Sebastian intently. “She’s my baby, Sebastian. Flying all this way... with school about to start...”
“She’s seven years old,” Sebastian replied calmly. “We’ll give her that iPad she’s been banging on about since Christmas. She’ll be fine. It’ll be like a holiday for her.”
