Chapter 21
“The opera singer canceled on us.” Rebecca ground her palms into her forehead.
Jay came around her desk and kneeled next to her, taking her hands off her face. “This is for Winnie’s wedding?”
“Yes, you know, the disaster happening in four days?”
Jay tugged her closer and she smiled, knowing exactly what he would do once he had her in his arms. “We promised to be professional in the office.”
“Mmm hmm.” He kissed along her jawline. “I’m getting pretty professional at distracting you from your stress. Does that count?”
It counted for a lot of things. She didn’t think she could love someone as wholly and completely as she loved him. She’d been afraid working together would be weird while they dated, but it was just as natural as spending time with him away from work. The last month had been the best of her life.
She kissed him soundly on the mouth and then pulled away. “What do we do? Winnie has her heart set on this woman singing during her wedding ceremony. And now she has laryngitis.”
Jay shrugged. “I think Ian and ninety percent of the guests will be relieved.”
“Yes, but who is going to tell Winnie and listen to her shrieking?”
“I’ll tell Winnie.” Jay stood and moved to the window. “We can have a nice long chat while I work on invoices. But, I need you to go to these last three appointments Clarissa had scheduled today. Do you want to see if Felicity can go with you?”
“Will do.” She picked up her purse and headed to the door, but turned around at the last second, ran, and threw her arms around Jay. He laughed, hugging her back.
“What’s this for?”
“I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hugging you. That’s all.”
“I sure hope not.”
She stared into his hazel eyes. “I hope the weather’s good.”
He pressed his forehead to hers. “Sunny and seventy degrees.”
Reluctantly, she pulled away and went across to Felicity’s office. By now, everyone had probably figured out their stupid code for telling each other ‘I love you,’ but they did it anyway because it was fun.
Felicity was on the phone, so Rebecca waited in the doorway, staring at Clarissa’s empty desk. Despite all of Jay’s worry about trying to get her fired, Clarissa had quit on her own, surprising everyone. The non-compete she’d signed upon hire wouldn’t allow her to plan weddings in Los Angeles, but apparently, she’d been planning to leave for a while, selling her condo and buying a place in San Diego.
Felicity put down her phone and smiled. “What’s the adventure for today?”
“Picking out a cake, hot air balloon guy, and meeting with a taco food truck vendor.”
“Sweet. Let’s go.”
Rebecca hadn’t thought it was possible to be friends with her boyfriend’s ex, but then, Felicity wasn’t like most people. Marlise was grooming her to take over all of Clarissa’s responsibilities, and she totally deserved it.
***
Jay fingered the ring box burning a hole in his pocket as he turned off all the lights and locked up the office. He’d been holding onto it for weeks, ever since the day they’d had an appointment at a jewelers and he’d noticed the way Rebecca stared at a certain ring she’d tried on. He went back and bought it, with no set plan in mind.
He wanted to marry Rebecca, and the sooner the better, but maybe she wasn’t there yet. Her love for him was a gift, one he’d never thought he’d receive. It seemed greedy to immediately demand more.
And then there was her brother’s impending nuptials. Rebecca’s mind seemed to be consumed with Ian and Winnie’s hasty jump into marriage and what a bad idea it was. Unfortunately, the better Jay got to know Ian and Winnie, the more he agreed with her. On Monday, it wouldn’t matter what they thought. Her brother would be married, for better or for worse.
“Hey, stranger.”
He looked behind him and smiled. Rebecca was idling at the curb. Shannon sat next to her in the passenger seat, and Bridger waved to him from the back. The sight made him laugh. Who knew two introverts would take to each other like Rebecca and Shannon had?
“What are you guys doing?”
