“Listen, I’m just as surprised as you are,” he says. “She didn’t tell me your name. She just said she found a wedding planner.”
“How are we going to do this?” I ask.
“I understand if you don’t want the job,” he says.
“No, no,” I shake my head. “I want the job. Ineedthe job. I mean no offense, but where did you two get an unlimited budget? Are you loaded? Issheloaded?”
“My dad is,” he says, shoving his hands in his pockets.
His dad. That’s right. I think it was mentioned somewhere in my emails with Holly that the groom’s father was footing the bill. Dots connect so rapidly, it’s actually giving me motion sickness.
“She likes you,” Ben says, and I snort.
“She wouldn’t if she knew who I am,” I say.
“I’ve never said anything bad about you, Charlie. Charlotte,” Ben says, and the worst part is, I believe him. Ben might have been a jerk the way he ended things, but he’s not a liar. I’m sure most people would believe that with how fast he moved on that he was cheating on me, but I also don’t believe that. Ben truly is that whimsical.
“I just mean, she really wants you to plan our wedding,” he goes on. “And honestly, I do too. I mean, shit, if anyone can do it, it’s you,” he chuckles, but the statement hurts a little. It’s not meant to be a jab, but it still stings.
You’re not the girl he’d want to date, but you are the girl he’d choose to plan out his happily ever after.
I shake the words loose from my head like screws and bolts. I don’t need to function properly. Spare thoughts in a spotlessly organized brain.
“Alright. But she can’t know,” I tell him.
“Oh, trust me, I couldn’t agree more.”
“Which means you have to call me Charlotte. If you say Charlie?—”
“I know, I know,” he nods.
We approach the office that I assume belongs to the owner, and Ben salutes me. “Good luck,” he says. “He’s a more charming version of me.”
I give him an odd look, but Ben walks off. I’m still confused about what or who he is talking about as I push the door open. Istop, and suddenly it hits me. It’s like an entire overhead shelf of things giving out and burying me alive.
“Gavin,” I say.
He smirks from behind the desk.Hisdesk. Not only is Gavin Ben’s dad, and Ben’s wedding is the wedding I am planning, but Gavin is the owner of the resort the wedding is being held at.
Excuse my language, but fuck my life.
Chapter 10
Gavin
“We haveto stop meeting like this,” I say to Charlotte with a grin. She is trying to scrape her surprised expression off the floor. I shouldn’t be smiling. It’s not nice, but it is kind of funny.
“I think we have to stop meeting all together,” she says, closing the door behind her.
“Ouch,” I say, leaning back in my chair. Charlotte is wound as tight as the mechanisms in a pocket watch, and she’s about to spring loose. I offer her a chair. It’s the least I can do.
“Sit, please,” I gesture.
“I’m fine standing, thanks,” she says. I watch her face twist into different emotions as she pieces the puzzle together. “So you’re Gavin Lacey,” she says and I nod. “And you’re the owner of this resort.”
“Yep,” I answer with steepled hands.
“And you’re the father…” she stops to swallow. I don’t know if she’s going to cry or throw-up, but either reaction would kind of hurt. “Of the groom…”
