“That’s correct, yes.”
“As well as a sideline in quirky wedding proposals, apparently,” she added, laughing lightly.
“I’m sorry?”
Vanessa went on to explain about the ring hidden in the bread. “It was such a lovely idea, although a little precarious all the same. I did almost break a tooth.”
“I see.” The guy didn’t seem to know what she was talking about, but that hardly mattered.
“My fiancé was raving about your food, and I must admit what little I tasted was indeed impressive,” she went on. “And since your company has already played such an integral part in our plans, I’d like to get a sample menu and catering quote for our wedding. We don’t have an exact date just yet, but it should be sometime later this summer, possibly August?”
There was a brief pause on the other end. “Of course. Can you give me your details? Terri, our catering manager, isn’t here just at the moment, but if you’d like to leave your number, I’ll get her to call you back.”
“Thank you, that would be wonderful.” Already Vanessa was impressed with this level of professionalism. Living in London, she was expecting it to be difficult to organize the wedding from afar, so good recommendations were everything. And what better recommendation than the establishment that had been directly involved in the proposal? “I’ll be visiting Dublin shortly, so perhaps my fiancé and I could pop in for a chat.”
“We’d be delighted to have you. Can I take your name?”
“Oh yes, of course. It’s Vanessa Fox. And my fiancé is Ethan Greene,” she added before giving him her number. She couldn’t help it; she just adored using the wordfiancé.
She was just about to set down the handset when her internal line buzzed.
“Brian Freeman for you,” her assistant told her. “Line three.”
Vanessa hesitated for a bit, her finger hovering over the connect button, before eventually making a decision. “Tell him I’m in a meeting.”
***
“Someone’s been naughty,” Justin said to Terri. “Or should I say stupid?”
It was late afternoon, and she’d just arrived for the evening shift. “What are you talking about?” she asked, frowning as she tied an apron around her waist.
“I got an interesting call today from a lady who seemed very appreciative of our part in her fiancé’s wedding proposal.”
“What? Did someone pop the question here?” she replied easily.
“No, not here.” Justin put his hands on his hips. “It was the strangest thing. Apparentlysomebodybaked a Tiffany diamond ring into a loaf of our sourdough.”
Terri’s mouth dropped open. “Thefiancéecalled here?” Then realizing she’d unintentionally landed herself in it, she reddened furiously. Finally she met his gaze. “Something had to be done.”
“Oh my God, Terri, what did you think you were doing?” he exclaimed disbelievingly. “You had no right to take—or should I say steal—Rachel’s ring!”
She reddened. “It’s not her ring,” she replied half-heartedly, but the words sounded weak, and she knew it.
“Still, it wasn’t your place to interfere.”
She folded her hands across her chest. “I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t stand by and watch her mooning over that diamond for a minute longer.”
“So you just decided to steal it and give it away to some stranger with a sob story?”
“It wasn’t stealing, and Ethan isn’t a stranger. Look, the guy was just too nice to take it back from Rachel, and since Gary had no intention of coming clean, I had to do something.”
“But you’ve seen Rachel moping around this week. She’s devastated over the missing ring and terrified of telling Gary.”
“I know. But this will surely bring everything out in the wash.”
“Well, something is going to come out in the wash soon, that’s for sure,” Justin said, sighing grimly.
“What do you mean?”
