by Lisa Hughey
“What can I do to help?” Sherry didn’t hesitate.
Heather put her hand to her forehead. “The bride’s makeup guy is running late. There was an accident and he can’t get here before the ceremony.”
Sherry was pretty good with makeup. It was her armor. She always put on a face to protect herself. Her mother had impressed upon her at an early age to always, always look perfect. Perception was everything. Act the part and people believed you.
“I’ve got a full kit if you need it.”
“Well that’s one item down.” Heather paced around the kitchen.
She’d apologized to Penny yesterday, but it would be great if she could make amends, not just apologize. With that thought came another.
“I’d be happy to do Penny’s makeup.” Sherry fought the urge to back track from the offer. “As long as she’s okay with it.”
Heather grabbed her hands. “Thank you, thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet.” Sherry said, “She may want to do it herself.”
“Let me ask.” Heather ran out of the kitchen. And Sherry tried to suppress her nerves. She didn’t want to upset Penny.
Heather sprinted back into the kitchen a few minutes later. “Drop what you’re doing, grab your makeup kit, and come on upstairs.”
Within ten minutes, Sherry was back at the main house with her kit.
Heather led her up the stairs and into a bedroom with a homey quilt and white Battenberg lace pillows on the bed.
“Oh thank goodness.” Penny grabbed her hands. “Do you mind?”
“I’d be honored to help you get ready.”
“You know, I love that Diego sprang this on me. No time to get stressed, low-key atmosphere with all our friends and his family.”
But?
“But I want to look pretty, and most days I have dirt under my fingernails. I know nothing about putting on makeup!”
Sherry set the large tackle box full of supplies on the dressing table and opened it. “Let me see what I’ve got.”
Penny squeezed Sherry’s fingers. “Thank you.”
Sherry hummed while she set out the moisturizer, base, blush, and eyeshadow in a precise row. The eyeliner and mascara would go on last.
Penny was wearing a long robe.
“Do you already have your dress on?”
“No.”
“Put on your dress and we’ll cover it up. That way you don’t have to worry about getting makeup on the neckline.”
Penny came back in the room dressed in a white sundress with a cotton lace overlay that hugged her athletic figure. The simple tank dress ended at mid-calf. A pair of gold Jack Rogers flats sat on the floor beside the chair. Sherry put her hand over her heart. “Did Diego pick that out?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s perfect.”
“I know, right? I spend my days digging on the farm. A traditional dress would be all sorts of wrong.”
Casual yet feminine. Nothing frou-frou and yet clearly she was a bride. A circlet of pale pink miniature roses and baby’s breath, with organza ribbons that matched the gift bags, rested on the dressing table.
“He thought of everything.”
“I guess Zinnia helped quite a bit.”
Sherry swallowed her resentment, because Zinnia might not like her, but she’d clearly gone all out helping Diego plan this wedding.
Penny laughed. “Which is pretty funny, because when Diego quit the company and decided to move away from Boston, she wasn’t my biggest fan.”
Sherry kept her mouth shut.
“She’s very protective of her brothers,” Penny continued.
“I thought Diego was her cousin.”
“They were raised together. They’re more like siblings than cousins.” Penny laughed. “And she wasn’t crazy about me having my clutches in her big brother.”
Okay. “Not sure I get that. I don’t have siblings.”
“Me either. But I’ve had over a year to learn how they interact, and she can be a bit of a drama queen, but she loves them.”
Great for Penny. But for some reason, Zinnia sure hated Sherry.
“She just needed time to get used to sharing,” Penny confided. “And she did an amazing job with the wedding.”
Was Penny trying to comfort her? Sherry didn’t have the heart to tell her that she and RJ were just…fuck buddies. That term accurately described their relationship, but she couldn’t deny the twist in her stomach when she thought of their situation that way.
Sherry draped a plain bedsheet around Penny’s shoulders, covering up the beautiful dress.
She hummed as she layered moisturizer, then a light base over Penny’s face. “You have beautiful skin.”
“Except for the freckles.”
“They’re natural.” Sherry took a sponge and began to smooth foundation over Penny’s skin. Penny had to close her eyes, which made it easier for Sherry to work on her. “Thank you for letting me do this.”
“Are you kidding? I’m thrilled you have the equipment and supplies.”
“That I do,” Sherry agreed. “Okay, let’s make you the prettiest bride Camp Firefly Falls has ever seen.”
She blended the cosmetics over Penny’s jaw and face with soft even strokes until there were no lines between moisturized skin and the crème foundation.
Sherry fluffed powder over Penny’s face, then picked up the blush palette looking for the perfect peach to complement the auburn red in Penny’s hair.
Then she layered eye shadow on in bronze and gold and cream to accent the natural curves of Penny’s eyes.
Using a bronzed-mahogany liquid eyeliner, she accentuated Penny’s eyes. Then a dark brown mascara to fill out her lashes.
“Take a look before I spray you.”
Penny opened her eyes. “Wow.” They filled.
“No. No. Don’t cry.” Sherry patted Penny’s shoulder, trying not to panic. Her goal had been to help, not upset Penny. “If you don’t like it, I can wipe it off and start over.”
“Diego won’t recognize me.”
Was that good…or bad? Shit. She was terrible at girl stuff. “This is just window dressing,” Sherry said. “He clearly loves you without it. But I can take it off.” She grabbed a sponge, ready to wipe away what she’d done.
Penny blinked rapidly. “He does love me just the way I am. And with him I’m a better version of me.”
She didn’t need all this makeup. Sherry should have known. She wondered for a moment what it was like to have someone who loved you like that. Willing to give you the world and do what would make you happy. She sighed and lifted the sponge to clean off her work.
Penny grabbed her hand. “No. You misunderstood! This is good. You made me beautiful.”
“You’re already beautiful. I just accented your natural features.”
Penny smiled, radiant. “Are we done?”
Sherry spritzed Penny’s makeup with the finish spray. “You are now.”
“Here comes the bride.”
Diego and Penny’s wedding was going to be outside and RJ thought that couldn’t be more perfect for them.
Guests from the city invaded the camp. Diego’s group of billionaire buddies who met once a quarter for breakfast. RJ’s parents. Everyone thought they were attending a surprise engagement party, until they arrived and found out it was a wedding instead.
White folding chairs were set up in a semi-circle around the gazebo, big ribbons tied to the backs, and an aisle split the middle, leading to the steps of the gazebo. Flowers lined the railings and wound up the posts to the entrance.
One of the posts where RJ had nailed Sherry last night, if he wasn’t mistaken.
Bad thought. He didn’t want to have a boner for the wedding.
Diego had asked him to be his best man. A lump crowded his throat as he stood next to his brother—in all but DNA. They wore matching khaki shorts, and white polo shirts with a pale pink rose and greenery pinned to their chests.
They had about fifteen minutes before t
he ceremony was supposed to start.
“I wanted to talk to you about the company.” RJ had reconfigured tomorrow’s meetings but he needed Diego’s input. “Did you read the prospectus I sent to you?”
“The one you sent an hour ago?”
“Uh, yeah.” That jittery unsettled feeling in his stomach wouldn’t go away.
“Been a little busy, bro.”
“I really wanted this retreat to be a success.”
“You can relax for the weekend.” Diego smiled. “I don’t really want to talk business right now.”
“But we need a consensus before we take the next step.”
“Turn off the CEO for a night.” Diego glanced around the gazebo. “I’m getting married.”
Yeah, RJ got that he was too intense sometimes, but he still had responsibilities that weren’t going to go away. “Bear with me for a minute. I believe incorporating will give everyone ease of mind. We can issue shares to the employees as well as their bonuses. I think the latest iteration of the articles and standards for incorporation are the best option for us.”
As if he couldn’t help himself, Diego said, “No IPO.”
“I have no interest in taking the company public.” RJ shook his head. “Sure, short term there would be some financial benefits, but we want to maintain control not be beholden to shareholders.”
“Then I trust your judgement.”
“That’s it? You don’t want to debate, or ponder, or argue about the decision.”
“No. I trust you.”
“Is that why you turned the business over to me?”
“Sort of,” Diego said. “You’re an exceptional leader, RJ.”
“I fucked up with Tanya.”
“Yeah, you did.”
RJ’s stomach churned.
“But that was an aberration. I made plenty of mistakes along the way.” Diego clapped a hand on RJ’s back.
Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. RJ’s parents had influenced them both.
“You’re fair and thoughtful and you went to school to become CEO. You’re fulfilling your destiny. I was an accidental CEO.
“All your hard work was hardly accidental.”
“Not at all, but as long as you keep our family’s core values in play while making decisions, we’re good.”
“You don’t miss it?” He couldn’t help but ask.
Yes, he worried about making sure he was taking care of the employees and that the company grew and expanded under his direction. But he also loved it when something he did created success for everyone.
“Sometimes. But I love my soon-to-be wife. And I love working on cars more than I loved working in an office. You thrive on the mental and emotional challenges of running the company. Turning over the day to day was the third smartest thing I ever did,” Diego said.
RJ settled in to the knowledge that perhaps he had earned his life.
“Only third?”
Diego laughed.
The music started, coming from the iPhone plugged into a speaker dock, and Diego and RJ took their places inside the gazebo.
Brad, Penny’s farm assistant, was the man of honor. He was also dressed in the khakis and polo. Brad’s boyfriend walked Zinnia down the aisle and seated her.
His papi and mami walked in together.
Diego fidgeted next to RJ. “Nervous?”
“Not at all. Impatient.”
“Yeah, clearly, since you threw an impromptu wedding instead of going the traditional route.”
“Penny would hate a big society thing. And we’d have to contend with media and tons of speculation and chatter. This way the ceremony is private and intimate.”
“You forget I know that you hate the schmoozing that goes along with being a public figure,” RJ said.
“True, but if Penny had wanted a big wedding that’s what I would have done.”
“This is all just for Penny?”
Diego said, “When you love someone it’s all about what makes them happy.”
“So everyone else doesn’t matter?”
“Of course they do. But she matters more. And this way I kept it a secret. We’ll announce we’re married after the fact.” Diego smiled, his eyes crinkled around the edges. “It was a small sacrifice for me not to get married in the church. Mami will get over it.”
“You wanted a church wedding?”
“I didn’t give a fuck as long as she married me.”
“How did you know it was love?” Normally he wouldn’t bring up such an intimate subject, but Diego was captive and clearly in an expansive mood as he waited for his bride.
“If you’re willing to sacrifice everything, and accept that your fates are intertwined, then it’s love.” When Penny came into view, Diego said softly, “She is the first best thing I ever did. And I am the luckiest son of a bitch on the planet.”
As RJ identified the pure joy on Diego’s face, he knew that’s what he wanted too. If he could harness that gratitude, figure out what to do to be that lucky, maybe he could find that quality that had been missing from his life too.
And as Penny stood by Diego, their faces wreathed in joy, instinctively RJ sought out Sherry. That’s how he felt around her: grounded, settled, happy.
He glanced at the post where they’d had sex last night. And yeah, horny.
“A toast.” RJ lifted his glass filled with the signature wedding cocktail, a concoction called “Charmed Life” that resembled a pink champagne. “To Diego and Penny. Congratulations.”
The crowd cheered as they all toasted.
A flash from the official wedding photographer hit RJ’s eyes. “Reminder that Diego and Penny requested no cell phones or social media posts until Monday.”
This weekend was for them. And RJ knew that their friends would comply. Even the waitstaff had been required to store their cells in lockers.
D’Andre Smith, one of Diego’s billionaire buddies, stood. Smith, a former NFL wide receiver, and his girlfriend, Elise had been snuggled together all night. He held his girl’s hand as he toasted to Diego. “May your days be filled with laughter and blessings, and your nights filled with love.”
All the guests clapped.
“In all seriousness, congratulations. Elise and I—” D glanced at his white-blonde girlfriend and smiled “—couldn’t be happier for you.”
“Here. Here.” The crowd lifted their glasses, which had definitely been overflowing with champagne or local cider or beer.
Another breakfast friend, Courtney Lee, a purple-haired and pierced gamer girl who had designed a multi-player internet game for women, dinged her spoon against her glass, starting another round of “Kiss, kiss.”
Diego grabbed Penny around the waist and dipped her in her chair and planted a long, passionate kiss on her.
Everyone cheered.
Duke Kalani stood and lifted his glass to the happy couple. “Congratulations, partners.” He and Penny had teamed up for a new community-based philanthropy to address food insecurity in children. “As you all know…assuming you dug into your gift bags, Diego and Penny have requested that you make a donation to one of their favorite charities instead of buying them a gift.”
The crowd clapped wildly.
“So drink up and open your wallets.”
Everyone laughed.
Peter Nguyen, the software engineer who’d developed the app that had driven Ramos CAR to the billion-dollar value mark, stood. “There are eight different charities on the card, which happen to coincide with causes that are near and dear to our hearts. We—” he gestured to the table of Diego’s wealthy friends “—each pledge to match your donations to our favorite charities. So everyone, please, choose mine.”
The crowd laughed again.
Jay Hollingsworth, the only true trust fund boy in Diego’s Billionaire Breakfast Club, had one hand stuck in the pocket of his khakis, his blue blazer unbuttoned, and his usually perfect blond hair mussed. “Not that it’s a competition or anything, but…it’s a competition. So, p
ick mine.”
Tracy Thayer, almost political royalty, stood and raised her glass. “In all seriousness, I knew from the first moment you talked about Penny that you belonged together.”
RJ wondered how she knew. How had she been so sure that Penny was the one for Diego?
“I’m so glad that we convinced you to focus on life and forget about business. Congratulations to Diego and Penny!”
Diego and Penny lifted their glasses to the crowd.
The toasts over, the guests settled down to eat their cake. RJ sat at the wedding party table at the front of the boathouse with Diego, Penny, and man of honor, Brad. The table was raised up so the whole room could see them.
“This wedding has been the perfect blend of us.” Penny sighed.
“The burger bar was my idea,” Diego boasted.
“I can’t believe you even have gift bags.” Penny pawed through the small bags and pulled out the contents. “Matchbox Charger, good call.”
“Whose idea was the condom?” Brad snickered.
Penny and Diego shared a conspiratorial look. “Mine again,” Diego said.
“I love that you did this for us,” Penny said.
Diego gestured to Zinnia. “Zin came up with the donation card idea. I was just going to say something at the reception.”
RJ glanced at his sister. She appeared to be having a very good time. “Let me guess, Tylenol and Alka Seltzer were Zin’s.” She was going to need them tomorrow.
“Yep. She also came up with the matching shirts for the camp employees to wear.”
RJ had tried hard not to spend too much time looking for Sherry. He didn’t want to bring undue attention to her. But he wanted to see her again tonight and he hadn’t been able to corner her without everyone noticing.
Without volition his gaze searched and found her, near the back, quietly clearing the tables. Her blond hair was up in that smooth ponytail that made him want to muss her up.
Diego said quietly to him, “Wish she wasn’t here.”
RJ was starting to get pissed at his relatives. “She didn’t do anything to you or Penny.”
“What’cha whispering about?” Penny leaned over so she was snugged up against Diego’s neck.
“Nothing, querida.”
But she’d noticed their gazes. She clasped her husband’s hand. “It’s all good.”