Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 76136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
“Not from that dating app?” she huffs.
“Is nothing a secret?” I throw up my hands.
Harlow tosses her head back and laughs. “If you wanted to keep things a secret, why the hell would you let my sisters-in-law help you?”
“Good point,” I concede, laughing. “Well, by tonight we are going to know if it’s a good plan or a bad plan. But before then, I have a flower appointment in thirty minutes.”
“Oh, this should be good,” Harlow says, getting up.
“So good.” I put my hands up in fists and shake them side to side sarcastically. Harlow bends to kiss my shoulder as she walks out of the conference room. I get up and take the pictures with me to the space we were in before.
The three tables are set up with the same plates as Helena chose at the last meeting and asked that I add more bling. I grab the flowers as I arrange them on the table the way I have them in the pictures.
I hear the bell ring, letting me know they are here. I look down at my watch and see they are five minutes early. I walk over to the door, opening it to the waiting room, and again he’s alone. He’s standing there in track pants and a matching track jacket. His baseball hat is backward, and I have this sudden vision in my head of him walking in and kissing me. It’s so vivid that I’m stuck in mid step, making him look up at me.
“Hey,” he says softly, his eyes look like he hasn’t slept in a while and his face looks troubled. “Sorry, I came right after practice.” He looks down at his outfit.
“No worries,” I say to him, walking into the room, wringing my hands in front of me nervously.
“Would you like something to drink?” I ask at the same time I turn to walk to the kitchen.
“Water would be good,” he replies to me as I walk over to the fridge behind the counter.
“Is it okay that it’s in the fridge?” I ask and he nods his head at me.
I grab a bottle of water and bring it over to him. “Here you are,” I offer, holding the bottle out to him. His fingers graze mine, and my body tingles. My eyes fly up to his to see if he felt the same thing I felt and, sure enough, he’s looking at me.
“Thank you,” he says softly as I let the bottle go. All I can do is nod at him because my heart has moved from the middle of my chest to my throat. I shake my hand, trying to erase the heat of his hand when the door opens.
Helena comes in, and I have to say that we could not be more different. It’s a night and day sort of thing. She has light hair, whereas I have dark hair. Her eyes are also light, whereas mine are darker. Her skin is like a porcelain doll where I have a golden sun-kissed look.
“Sorry I’m late again,” she mentions as she goes to Matthew, who smiles at her. “Hi,” she greets him, tilting her head back and he bends to kiss her lips, but I turn away before I see it. I’m a glutton for punishment but I’m not a psychopath.
“Shall we?” I look over at them as I walk back to the room where the flowers are. I hold the door open for them. “To give a better picture of the flowers,” I explain when they step in, “I had it set up with the place setting you chose.” We walk over to the table.
“Oh, look at how pretty these are,” Helena says of the chandelier candle vases she said she wanted. “This is exactly like I thought it would look.”
“As you can see from this flower arrangement, I went with mostly all white flowers,” I tell her of the bouquet of white roses that is tied together with a couple of black roses intertwined in them. The black roses have a diamond in the middle. I look over at Matthew to see what he thinks, but I don’t even think he’s listening. I mean, let’s be honest, the bride usually has all the ideas and vision. The groom is just around for the ride. I would say one out of five grooms actually has an opinion. “The next one,” I continue, “I added green in there to give it a more earthy feeling.”
Helena hems and haws through the flower centerpieces. I’m very hands-on, so I’m right there creating the perfect piece for her. “That’s it,” she finally declares after what seems like twenty-five different changes she had me make.
“It’s going to look stunning.” I smile at her and take out my phone to take a picture of it, and it beeps in my hand.