by Lexi Blake
“Well, I’m supposed to meet with someone. My name’s Seraphina Guidry. I have a dress fitting for the Beaumont wedding.” At least she was pretty sure it was for the actual wedding. She still had to find something to wear to the brunch coming up, and it had to be approved by Celeste. She was hoping Sylvie had something she could borrow. Sylvie had a very mayoral wardrobe.
“I’ll see if you’re on our schedule. Please stay here.” The woman turned and walked toward the back of the store.
“Hello.” The businessman seemed to have ended his call. He slid his cell phone into the pocket of his slacks as he approached her. “You are not the usual type at this place. It’s all uptight socialites. What’s your name, honey?”
“It’s Nonya.” She knew the type. No man called a woman he’d just met honey without having creepy intentions. Every middle-aged woman in the South called anyone she met honey or hun and meant nothing by it, but it was different when a man used the term while he let his eyes slide over a woman’s body. “Last name Bidness.”
She started to move down the steps. She could sit and wait patiently. Hopefully Celeste was somewhere in the back and they could get this over with as quickly as possible. She would love to study this place and maybe get some design ideas for the house, but she knew when she wasn’t wanted. If she could get in and out with the least amount of humiliation possible, she would call it a win. Unfortunately, before she could get far, the man in the suit blocked her way.
“Now, that was rude,” he said. “You don’t look like a young lady who wants to be rude to a man who knows the owner of this place.”
A sinking feeling hit the pit of her stomach. Celeste knew the owner, too. This man could twist the story any way he wanted to, and she would look like the one causing trouble. “I don’t mean to be rude. I’m only trying to wait for my boyfriend’s aunt. She should be here any minute. This place is doing the dresses for her daughter’s wedding. Angela Beaumont. She’s my boyfriend’s cousin.”
She would say the word boyfriend as many times as possible.
“That’s funny since I know the Beaumont family and I’ve never met this nephew,” the man said, looking her over from head to toe. “So I think you’re here to con someone. I don’t have a problem with it. Little things like you are always looking for a meal ticket. My wife is in the fitting room with our daughter. Her wedding’s coming up. They’re going to be back there for at least an hour or so. Why don’t I take you across the street and buy you a cup of coffee and we can talk about whatever you want?”
There wasn’t a coffee shop across the street, but there was a hotel. She turned and started to walk back up the steps. She would wait for Celeste outside. It would be infinitely easier not to haul off and slap this jerk if she wasn’t in the same building as him.
She started to go and felt a hand on her arm.
“Hey, I was asking you politely,” he said.
“Is there a problem?” A uniformed guard stepped away from his place at the front of the store.
“Yes, this man won’t take no for an answer,” Sera said, grateful someone was here. She pulled her arm away with a hard tug.
“Is this woman bothering you, Mr. Brewer?” The guard frowned her way.
Mr. Brewer smoothed down his suit. “I think she’s here to cause trouble. She was asking me for money.”
Sera felt her jaw drop. “I certainly did not.”
The saleslady returned and sighed. “You’re not on the list, whoever you are. Hank, could you please show this young woman the door?”
It was rapidly becoming clear that the whole situation was going to get out of hand. She wasn’t sure what she’d done except walk into the place. “We have an appointment.”
Had Celeste set her up? Was this all being done to show her she didn’t belong in the Beaumont world? She wished Harry had been able to come with her. Somehow she doubted Harry would get tossed out like the trash.
“And I told you you’re not on my list,” the saleslady insisted. “Even if you somehow magically got an appointment, I would still ask you to leave. We don’t cater to your kind.”
“I have a kind? What kind is that?” Humiliation swept over her, mingling with the anger that boiled inside. How many times had she been treated like a piece of trash? How many times had she left, not wanting to cause a scene?
She really wanted to cause one now, but it could hurt Harry.
What the hell would she tell Celeste? If Celeste hadn’t set this up herself, how would she feel about her nephew’s girlfriend getting kicked to the curb? She would probably shake her head like she’d known all along this was how things would end.
“Seraphina, what have you gotten yourself into now?” Celeste stood at the top of the steps, looking totally intimidating in her all-white suit, a wretchedly expensive bag tucked against her arm.
Sera wasn’t at fault here. She needed to remember that.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Beaumont.” The saleslady rushed to greet her. “We’re having trouble with some unwanted guests. Come with me and I’ll get you set up in one of the private rooms. Hank is going to take care of our issue and we can get back to business. I have your favorite champagne waiting for you.”
The guard put a hand on Sera’s arm.
“Did you not hear me call her by her name?” Celeste really could bring out the death stare, but thankfully it wasn’t directed at her. Celeste was staring right at the saleslady. “Do you believe I pull names out of thin air? That I go about guessing the names of people I do not know?”
The saleslady’s eyes had gone wide and her jaw dropped slightly.
Celeste nodded. “Yes, make the right connections. I know you can do it.”
“She’s your guest,” the saleslady stammered.
“Yes, and I’m disappointed in her,” Celeste said, turning her way with a frown. “Seraphina, that man has a hand on you. Shouldn’t you karate chop him, or whatever it is your brother learned in the Navy? Surely he taught you some self-defense. Don’t you have a gun or something you can threaten him with? And you’re crying. That’s going to mess up your mascara and we won’t be able to tell how you’ll truly look in that dress.”
“I don’t have a gun.” Sera pulled away from the guard. An odd relief had rushed over her the minute she’d realized Celeste hadn’t set her up and seemed to be on her side. In a very Celeste way, of course. “But I do have a foot and I’m thinking about kicking a few of these people. That man hit on me and then told everyone I was begging him for money.”
“You should have been begging him for some hair care products,” Celeste said with a shake of her head.
Sera shrugged. She was getting used to Celeste commenting on her appearance. She did it to everyone in her life. In a weird way it almost felt affectionate since if Celeste didn’t like a person, she simply did not speak to them. “I came from yoga.”
“Then you should be well warmed up and ready to defend yourself.” Celeste pulled out her phone. “Also, you’re not actually wearing any pants, so that should have made it easy to do that kicking thing.”
“I have on leggings.” She attempted to defend the most comfortable of pants.
“Leggings are not pants. They are the cellophane of the clothing world.” Celeste glanced over at Mr. Brewer. “She was talking about kicking your masculine parts, you know, Brian.”
“Mrs. Beaumont, you’re telling me you know this person?” Brewer asked, staring at Celeste like he’d never seen her before.
“I told you.” Sera moved to join Celeste because it appeared she wasn’t getting in trouble the way she thought she would. Celeste seemed almost disappointed she hadn’t caused a physical fight. “She’s my boyfriend’s aunt and she won’t let me go to the wedding in a perfectly nice jumpsuit that is both comfortable and flattering.”
“We have two different versions of flattering, Seraphina,”
Celeste said, her fingers moving across her phone.
“Mrs. Beaumont, I had no idea you were coming today. Patrice was taken ill and couldn’t come in,” the saleslady was saying. “I’m going to help you, and please accept my apologies for the mistake. If your friend had properly identified herself, we wouldn’t have had the confusion.”
“I told you exactly who I was,” Sera replied. “And I told him who I was waiting for and he got all creepy and pervy, and I already had to deal with Kenny White trying to take pictures of me.” She stopped because she really did have to think about Harry. “Is this one of those things where I’m supposed to be a lady and pretend like he didn’t hit on me while his wife and daughter are in the other room? And pretend that saleslady didn’t take one look at me and decide I’m trash?”
Celeste seemed to think about it for a moment. “My mother-in-law would say yes. This design house is one of the best in New Orleans. She would tell you every woman in the world has a Brian Brewer who behaves like an animal, and you should learn how to keep your mouth shut and deal with it. She had to. I had to. Why shouldn’t you?”
“That doesn’t seem like a nice thing to say. I wouldn’t want my daughter to have to put up with it.” If she ever had a daughter. She would teach Luc never to treat a woman like something he was entitled to, like she didn’t exist unless some man wanted her.
“As it happens, my mother-in-law was a terrible person and I don’t want any woman to have to deal with it, period. Brian, if you ever so much as look at a young lady under my charge, I will ensure that no one in your family can show their face in society again. Don’t think I can’t do it, and you should simply expect that every young lady you meet is in my charge. I’m taking on charity work, you see.”
“Hey,” Sera started and then decided to go with it. Besides, she’d learned that when Celeste got on one of her lectures, anything could happen.
“As for taking a load of humiliation in order to keep in good standing with the House of Hanover, I believe we shall forgo that as well.” Celeste slid her phone back into her bag. “I just canceled my order for twenty dresses. I also let your boss know why. I believe until she changes her policy of allowing young ladies to be molested in her place of business, I will no longer be a client. I understand that she is dressed like she should be drinking it up on Bourbon Street, but that’s the way most young women dress these days, and at least she’s got a bra on. Seraphina, come. The car will pick us up and we’ll find a dress somewhere else.”
“Oh, I’ve got my car. I can drive us.” She was parked in the garage down the street.
Celeste stared.
“Or we can go in yours.” She knew when Celeste couldn’t be moved. And honestly, the idea of Celeste in her broken-down Chevy was pretty humorous.
“Excellent. Say good-bye, Seraphina. You won’t have to see these people again,” Celeste said. “Likely because they’ll be fired or trying to save their marriages.”
Sera gave them a jaunty wave and raced to keep up with Celeste. For a woman in five-inch heels, she could move.
And maybe Celeste had something to teach her.
* * *
***
“And then she took me to an even better store and the sales guy there was wonderful,” Seraphina said as she practically bounced up the steps.
All in all, it was not the way Harry had expected her day to go. When he’d been forced to let her go meet his aunt alone, he’d worried it would all go to hell. It had run through his head that this might be what Angie had warned him about, that Celeste would use the time alone to scare off Sera, but she’d been all smiles when she’d driven up five minutes ago.
He hadn’t even told her the good news yet, but she was bubbly and happy and bright. It hadn’t taken long before he’d started judging his day by how big Seraphina’s smile was at the end of it.
“She was nice to you?” He’d been thinking a lot about what Angie had said. He wasn’t used to this world. He lived in a world where people said what they thought. Sure, a lot of it was dumb, but you could trust that most of the people he knew didn’t have plans and machinations going on behind all their words.
“Absolutely not,” Sera said with a grin. “After the first saleslady kicked me out and Celeste then canceled all her orders and threatened everyone like a boss, she complained about my leggings, my hair, thinks I need a sturdier brassiere, made fun of me because I didn’t know that meant bra, and then she wouldn’t let me walk back into the first store with all my shopping bags and yell ‘Big mistake,’ like in Pretty Woman, because I shouldn’t idolize prostitution. I kind of like her.”
He was confused again. “She was mean to you? Wait, why did the first saleslady kick you out?”
“Because some jerk-faced business guy hit on me and then said I was panhandling because I wouldn’t go to a hotel with him.”
“Excuse me?’
She waved him off. “It happens all the time, but now I know how to handle it. I threaten him with confidence. See, that’s what Celeste told me I was doing wrong. She said I was saying all the right things, but I need more confidence. Also, she told me I have to follow through on threats or people will know I’m a whining doormat with no hope of being anything more. So if I ever see that man again, I have to actually kick him in the balls. But it’s cool because Celeste bought me these shoes with spikes on them.”
“Who the hell asked you to go to a hotel room with him?”
She put her hands on his chest and tipped her head up. “It’s not a big deal. It might have been, but your aunt handled it. It’s okay. It’s nothing I haven’t had to deal with before. It’s kind of the way a certain class of men treats women like me.”
“Women like you?”
“Younger, considered pretty, obviously not wealthy.”
It wasn’t merely Papillon that had the problem. He knew he was often treated differently because he was a guy. Some of the best woodworkers he knew were women, but getting jobs in construction could be difficult because it was still a man’s world. “It’s not right.”
“I know, but I still have to deal with it. A lot of people tell me to go along with it and ease my way out of the situation so I don’t cause trouble.”
A little of the story she’d told was starting to seep in. “But my aunt didn’t tell you that, did she?”
Sera shook her head. “We had lunch in the café at the store and she told me about the rules her mother-in-law put on her. She said she’d been thinking about it a lot and didn’t like the idea of Angie having to follow the same ones. Or her granddaughter someday.” Sera moved away, pacing across the porch. “She was different than what I thought she’d be. I guess I never considered that it would be hard to be Celeste Beaumont.”
“She’s lost a lot.”
“I wasn’t talking about that. No one gets out of life without loss. I was talking about the daily stuff. I have to put up with people thinking I’m less than I am, but she did, too. I think her mother-in-law was pretty hard on her.”
“She didn’t grow up wealthy. She grew up like my mom,” he explained. “She grew up in a house where they lived paycheck to paycheck, and sometimes that paycheck wasn’t quite enough. I think living in this world has been rough on her.”
Sera was quiet for a moment. “It was rough on Wes, but I know how much he loved his mom.”
“I’m sure Wes loved his whole family,” he replied quietly. She almost never talked about Wes. The one time he’d asked about her relationship with him, she’d found a way to turn the conversation.
She stopped pacing and faced him. “He had a tough relationship with his father. When it was obvious Wes was highly gifted, his dad decided he should be the heir to the company, and Wes always said the only thing worse than his father ignoring him was his father paying attention to him.” She shook her head. “But I don’t want to talk about that now. I had a good day
. And I have a nice outfit for Saturday’s brunch. Do you want to see it? I’ve got about an hour before I need to get home. Zep’s got a shift at Guidry’s and it’s Momma’s book club night. Let me tell you, those ladies love their books, and by ‘books,’ I mean wine.”
He let it go because he did want her happy. He’d worked damn hard to be able to give her this surprise. “First, come inside. I need to show you something.”
He held out a hand and she took it, though she winced. “Did something fall apart? I was worried about the mirror in the guest bathroom. Was it too heavy?”
“It’s perfect. I checked the work myself,” he assured her as he led her inside. They were only a couple of weeks into the project, but the house was coming along nicely. Once they’d gotten rid of many of the old pieces of furniture, they’d discovered the place wasn’t as bad as it seemed. The structure itself was solid. The roof needed some shingles replaced, but overall he felt pretty good about the budget Sera had and the timeline. She wouldn’t get everything she wanted, but the house would be livable at the end of ninety days.
“I thought you had to spend the day on the gazebo.” She let him lead her to the kitchen.
The kitchen was in the middle of renovation. It was a holy mess, but one thing about it was perfect and the proof was sitting right on the plywood bar that would soon be replaced with a pretty granite Sera had selected earlier in the week. “I lied about that.”
She frowned his way and dropped his hand. “You lied.”
He suspected more than one man in Sera’s life had lied to her, but in this case, he’d done it for a good reason. “It was the only time this week Darnell could come out and inspect the plumbing.” He picked up the paperwork and offered it to her. “I’m sorry. I know you wanted me to go to New Orleans with you, but I needed to bring Darnell out without you here. I didn’t want to worry you if something went wrong.”
She took the papers, glancing down at them. “We passed?”
This was what he’d wanted to give to her. Ever since she’d realized the inspector could shove roadblocks in her way, she’d been nervous. He needed her to understand they could handle this. “We passed. The whole house.”