by Inara Scott
Her tone was escalating toward despair. Zoe touched her shoulder gently. “Um, I hate to say this, but I don’t think Mason really cares where the wedding is or what you serve for dinner. And honestly, I’m not sure I get why you do, either. No offense, Tess, but you never struck me as the sort to worry about things like this.”
“Of course I don’t care,” Tess said. “That’s exactly the problem!”
“What?” Zoe drew back, nonplussed.
“I couldn’t care less,” Tess said. “I’d be happy marrying him in our backyard. Happier, actually.”
Zoe took her wine from the bartender and swirled it in the glass, shooting a quick glance at Cece, who gave her a look that read, You see what I’m dealing with here? “So why all this fuss?”
“Because Mason’s got a ton of family. And they’re all super nice, but they all want to be there. And it has to be perfect for them or I’ll feel terrible. He’s got all this money to throw at it, and I still can’t figure out how to make it right.”
“Hmm.” She glanced at Cece, who shook her head. “And what does Mason think about all this?”
Tess shook her head. “He thinks we should just get married in a park somewhere. I guess there are some things even the sweetest guy in the world doesn’t understand.”
Her expression turned dreamy, and Cece snorted with disgust. “Okay, lover girl, you’re making me sick.” She turned to Zoe with a look of disgust. “The girl is determined to plan a monster wedding. I suggested she get a planner to make all the decisions she couldn’t care less about, but she thinks then the wedding won’t be personal enough and the whole family would know she couldn’t do it herself.”
Tess took a determined drink from her glass. “This family thing is totally new to me, but I’m not going to screw it up. Even if it kills me.”
“Have you talked to his mother about it?” Zoe asked. “Or his sister Gillian? I only met his mom once, but I’ve hung out with Gillian a few times, and she’s great. And he’s got a younger sister, too, right?”
“Alli,” Tess said fondly. “She’s an even bigger screwup than I am.”
“Seriously,” Zoe said. “You should talk to them about the wedding and see what they think about the location and reception. They’ll be honored, and you won’t have to drive yourself crazy making all the decisions.”
Cece poked Tess in the side. “That’s a great idea. Did you hear that? Let someone else help, you idiot.”
“They wouldn’t think I was just being lazy?” Tess asked.
Zoe laughed. “No, they wouldn’t. They’re going to be your family, too, after all. Might as well start leaning on them now. Besides, it’s always best to keep the mother-in-law close on the wedding plans. You don’t want her second-guessing things after you’ve decided on them.”
“Leaning on other people isn’t really my strong suit,” Tess said.
Cece snorted. “That’s the understatement of the year.”
“Do you have any advice about dates?” Tess asked. “What do you think about a December wedding?”
“Holidays are a tough time for families with kids to travel. There’s always so much going on with school events, and the airports are just awful. I don’t know where all of Mason’s family lives, but you might want to check with them about it.”
“You are a genius,” Tess proclaimed as she took a bite of cheese. She had a high flush on her cheeks, and Zoe had the feeling this wasn’t her first glass of wine. “I didn’t even think about the kids. How’d you get so smart about weddings, anyway? Do you have a big family or something?”
Zoe paused. She considered her wineglass for a moment, then gave herself an internal push from behind. It was time to let go of her silence around her past. “No, but I was engaged once. He had a big family.”
The two women turned to her with matching expressions of surprise. “You were engaged?” Cece said, quickly covering her shock.
Zoe found to her surprise that talking about it wasn’t nearly as hard as she’d imagined. She figured she had her conversation with Connor to thank for that. “I was. We were in high school. I broke it off when I realized I wanted to go to college, not get married and have a bunch of kids before I was twenty. But I did plan a sweet little wedding before then.”
“Oh, Zoe, I’m so sorry.” Tess shook off her surprise. She reached out and squeezed Zoe’s hand. “I had no idea. We don’t have to talk about all my wedding issues. I don’t want to bring up old memories.”
Amazingly, for the first time, Zoe could picture the dress and the church without recoiling in pain. “No, it’s fine, really. We were so young, and no one had any money. It wasn’t anything like what you’re planning. Just a ceremony and reception at the church. No honeymoon or anything. But I did have a great dress. It was all frothy and lacy and puffy.” She smiled at the memory. “I must have looked like a little marshmallow in it, though at the time I thought it was absolutely perfect.”
“How did he…ah…” Cece trailed off delicately. “How did he take it?”
“It was hard.” Zoe realized her newfound comfort in talking about her engagement didn’t extend to talking about Daniel. Not yet. “There are a lot of people I don’t talk to anymore because of it.”
“Did you ever consider trying again?” Tess asked.
Zoe tried very, very hard not to think of Connor. But that was a little like telling herself not to think of an elephant.
“I suppose I might if the right guy came along,” she said, trying for lightness. “But I’m realizing I’m not the best at picking out the good ones. Or maybe I am the best, but at picking out the bad ones. Something like that. Dating has been a bit of a nightmare for me lately.”
“A nightmare?” Tess shook her head. “Please don’t crush all my dreams. I like to think that you’re out every weekend making men kiss your feet.”
Zoe wrinkled her forehead in astonishment. “Me? What are you talking about?”
“You’re gorgeous and confident, you’ve got a great job, and you seem like you’d be amazing in bed,” Tess said, as if this was an obvious fact. “I mean, who wouldn’t want to date you?”
“Wait, what?” Zoe said, astonished.
Cece nodded. “Sorry, but she’s right. And we’re not just saying that because we’ve been drinking since ten this morning.” She giggled. “I mean, I probably wouldn’t say that if I hadn’t been drinking since ten, but you really are hot.”
“That is the strangest compliment I have ever received,” Zoe murmured, though she couldn’t help but be a little pleased. “And I’m definitely not sure what to make of the fact that this seems to have come up for you in the past.”
“I was terrified to meet you,” Tess said. “Mason talks about you like you’re some kind of goddess. Great lawyer, fun to be with, super smart, can even shut up Nate, which is next to impossible, blah, blah, blah. I figured you’d be awful. But then you’re nice, too, which makes it even worse.”
Zoe thought about all the Friday nights she’d spent at home with her briefcase, wishing she had a best friend to eat a pint of ice cream with. “First of all, the last guy I dated was such a loser, he ghosted me after three dates. Second, I worry constantly about my job, and third, forget men, I’d give just about anything to have what you two have. Friends like that are hard to find.”
Tess gave Cece a sideways hug. “I do love her. Even if she is ready to kill me the next time I make her taste another wedding cake.”
Cece tucked away a strand of her hair that Tess had knocked loose. “That’s true. I will kill you. Next time you will have to bring Zoe and make her taste test. My hips and I are done.”
“That’s a great idea,” Tess said promptly. “How about next week? There’s a new cupcake place that everyone is raving about.”
“But what about my hips?” Zoe asked, though she couldn’t entirely object to the thought of tasting cupcakes. “They’re probably ten inches bigger than yours already.”
“Forget it,” Cece
said. “Your hips are perfect. You’ve got curves. I’m built like a ten-year-old boy.”
Zoe took another sip of wine and turned to the blonde. “Now, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard all day. Anyway, I’ve spilled my guts about my past, and we’ve established that Tess is definitely going crazy over this wedding. Any chance you have a skeleton you want to drag out of your closet?”
Cece tapped her glass gently against Zoe’s. “You saw a little bit of my crazy the other night. And when it comes to skeletons? Let’s just say men suck and leave it there.”
Tess shook her head in Zoe’s direction. “We don’t talk about Cece and men. Unless you happen to know of a nice, unattached, attractive guy who might be on the market? He needs to be rich, so she doesn’t worry about him dating her for her money. And he can’t be a player. She’s got some issues with players.”
“If I knew a guy like that, don’t you think I’d be dating him?” Zoe asked.
“I suppose.” Tess suddenly sat up straight. “Hey, what about Connor, Cece?” She turned to her friend. “I don’t know why we haven’t thought of it before. He and Mason are practically brothers. We could double date!”
A tiny wave of panic roiled Zoe’s stomach at the thought of Cece setting her sights on Connor. Luckily, the other woman just laughed.
“Nice try,” she said, “but I’m way too high maintenance for Connor. He’d spend one night with me and run screaming the other way.”
Tess tapped her upper lip. “But he cooks. Like, not just makes-hamburger cooks. He made us a soufflé to celebrate our engagement. A soufflé. And Mason told me he did all their laundry in college. Can you even imagine? A guy who does laundry?”
“Yeah, no way. He’s great, but not for me.” Her eyes started to slide in Zoe’s direction.
Zoe did not like the speculative look she saw in Cecilia’s eyes. “Do you know Hugh Wright?” she said hastily. “He’s been playing basketball with the guys, and I just saw him last weekend at an event. He’s new to town, cute, rich, and single. He doesn’t seem like a player, at least not that I can tell, but he’s not a recluse, either. He could be the perfect guy.”
“Then why aren’t you dating him?” Cece asked.
“Luke’s still trying to get him as a client,” she said. “I try to keep work and dating separate.”
She did like to try. Didn’t always succeed, but she did try.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Zoe was saved from further discussion about her own love life by the arrival of Mason and Nate. Mason, of course, made a beeline for his fiancée and gave her a lingering kiss.
“Any chance you two want to get a room and spare the rest of us?” Nate drawled, coming up behind them.
Tess, her flush heightened, grinned up at Mason. “I do have one. But I thought he might like a glass of wine first.”
“Three hours to get here,” Mason said, rubbing his hair with a groan. “I need more than a glass of wine.”
“That can be arranged,” Tess said, giving his hand a squeeze.
Nate rolled his eyes. “I think I’m the one who deserves a glass of wine after putting up with him for the last three hours. Tess, if there’s any chance you could knock out all of the wedding plans this weekend, I’d appreciate it. I had no idea a man could spend quite so much time wondering what style of tuxedo he should wear.”
“I’m sure they’ll make their wedding plans to please you,” Cecilia said with a sniff.
“Well, if it isn’t Cecilia,” Nate said with an exaggerated bow. “How lovely to see you.”
Zoe glanced at the door again, trying not to watch too obviously for Connor. When a few more minutes passed without him arriving, she glanced at her phone, half expecting to see a text from him. But nothing.
Luckily, Tess must have realized they were one person short. “Did you guys forget Connor?” she asked.
“Not coming,” Mason said, shaking his head ruefully. “I should have known he’d find an excuse. A technical issue came up for one of our companies this afternoon, and he’s staying back to work with them on it. I tried to convince him to come anyway, but he was determined.”
“Well, that’s…not unexpected,” Cecilia murmured.
Zoe’s heart dropped. Of course, she’d originally thought it would be better if Connor didn’t come, but now that they were here, surrounded by golden vineyards and talking about weddings, she couldn’t help but be disappointed.
Which was seriously screwed up, and she needed to stop thinking about Connor and weddings in anywhere near the same breath. The fact that he hadn’t bothered to text or call to tell her that he wasn’t coming, or to ask how her meeting with Aims had gone, was a good indication of why she needed to do so.
Don’t you dare get weird about this. Don’t you dare expect something from him that he told you he wasn’t going to give. Yes, last night did seem special, and maybe you did have a little fantasy that things had changed. But they haven’t. And won’t. And don’t you dare forget that.
Though, honestly, a phone call would have been nice.
Nate dropped into a seat next to Zoe. “How was your meeting with Aims?”
“Really good, actually,” Zoe said, deliberately turning her attention away from Connor. She’d always liked the business end of the Livend trio. Though Nate could be aggressive and combative, he’d also always treated her like an equal. He fought with her and argued with her but ultimately respected her. She couldn’t ask for more than that. “I don’t know if I’ll get the work, but at least I made a good showing.”
Nate had the look of a boxer in his broad frame. Something about him reminded Zoe of guys from her old neighborhood. Like just below his polished surface was the heart of a street fighter. “He’d be an idiot not to hire you. And by the way, you should have told me we weren’t keeping you busy.”
“It’s not that, really. I think I just need to go a different direction.” When he raised a curious eyebrow, she added hastily. “It’s not that I don’t want to keep working with Livend. Of course I do. I just like working with smaller clients. You know, the start-ups and crazy kids with big ideas and no idea how to make them happen. And I’d love to work with more businesses like Southcycle that are poised to hit the big-time but aren’t there quite yet.”
Nate grunted. “Makes sense. I’ve got six or seven names to give you. Your partner Luke isn’t shy about asking for referrals, you know. You shouldn’t be, either. You’re better than you give yourself credit for.”
A flush of pleasure replaced some of her disappointment at Connor’s absence. “I appreciate that.”
“It’s business, not a favor. I refer you, you do good work, they like me, they give me more work.” He gave her a toothy grin. “It’s really all about me, you know.”
That was what she liked about him. When Nate paid her a compliment, she knew it was real. When he gave her a referral, he wasn’t doing it to be nice. She wasn’t sure Nate did anything to be nice.
Or if he did, he certainly wasn’t going to admit it.
“Honesty mixed with a healthy dose of selfishness. Has anyone ever told you what a catch you are?”
He rubbed his nails against his shirt. “They don’t have to. I know it already.” Zoe laughed as Nate inclined his head in Mason and Tess’s direction. Tess was holding Mason’s hand, and he was gazing at her like she’d hung the moon. “Speaking of honest, can we agree that those two are insufferable?”
“I think they’re sweet,” Zoe objected. “I can’t wait for the wedding.”
Nate shuddered. “Weddings give me hives. It’s a testament to how unselfish I am that I’m coming at all.”
“You’d be surprised how things can change,” Zoe said.
Nate shook his head in horror. “Let’s not toast to that.”
…
When Zoe woke the next morning, the sun was high and bright. She squinted at the clock with bleary eyes and realized with some surprise that it was close to ten.
With a gro
an, she rolled into a sitting position. Her head throbbing, she dropped back into the pillows a moment later. Whiskey, then wine, then more cocktails apparently led to a decent hangover. Good to know.
She searched her memory for embarrassing incidents that might have resulted from overconsumption of alcohol. She’d flirted with a few guys at the bar they went to after dinner and pocketed a couple of phone numbers. Later that night she’d put together an impromptu game of poker in Mason and Tess’s suite and won a few hundred dollars from her equally tipsy friends. All in all, good clean fun, with nothing she would live to regret.
She and Nate had teamed up early on in the night, and, given his antagonism toward Cece, who’d stuck pretty close to Mason and Tess, they’d mostly stayed that way. But for better or worse, there had never been even a hint of sexual tension between them. Just friendship. Just like it had been for the past three years.
Zoe picked up her phone and held it over her face. A message was waiting from Connor. She braced herself, then opened it.
Sorry not to show. Hopefully Mason filled you in on why. How did things go with Aims?
That was it? Hopefully Mason filled you in? He couldn’t even bother to explain it himself? She’d spent way too much time that night wondering what had happened and why he wasn’t texting and that was all she got?
She groaned and rolled to sitting, still staring at the message, which had been delivered a little after three a.m. What did he think Mason was going to say, anyway, other than “There was some nonemergency that Connor used as an excuse not to come”?
If that was what he meant by filling her in, Connor had even worse people skills than she’d realized.
Zoe stuck her tongue out at the screen. “Things went great. Not that you really care.”
Of course, that wasn’t entirely fair. Connor had told her about the fiasco with her texting and calling when Mason was in his office, and she knew he would be sensitive to not wanting that to happen to her.