She was shaking her head. “It’s time to let go. We were kids. Now it’s time to move on with our lives. You’ve got big dreams and so do I.”
I stepped toward her again, grabbing her hands. “Cherie, I want you. You are my dream. I have no other dreams except to be with you.”
“It’s not what I want,” she whispered.
My heart felt like it was crumbling in my chest. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “But last night, I told you I loved you. I told you we could be together. I told you I wasn’t going into the Air Force.”
“I’m sorry, but I’m leaving soon. It’s better to end this before it gets even harder. Goodbye, Evan.”
“Cherie! Don’t do this!”
She kept walking, climbing in her little car and leaving without another word. I didn’t know for sure how long I stood there after she left me, but it was long enough for me to have gotten a nice sunburn on the back of my neck.
I loved her. I knew I had loved her with all my heart. I had thought she loved me. She acted like she loved me. She had said the words, but clearly, she had been lying to me. She had lied to my face. Lied when my body was joined with hers. She faked it all.
I climbed into my truck and drove straight to the recruiter’s office. I wanted to move up my date for basic. I thought to wait until after she and I could spend a last summer being carefree teens together, but that wasn’t going to happen. Two weeks after she broke my heart, I was on my way to basic training.
I rubbed a hand over my face, wiping away the memory of that warm summer morning. It still had a huge effect on me. That moment when I had literally felt my heart breaking still caused me pain. I rubbed a hand over my chest.
After all she had done to me, I still wanted her. I was obviously a glutton for punishment. No man in his right mind would ever want anything to do with a woman like that. I wondered how many other men lied in her wake. Whenever she walked into a room, sashaying those full hips and her eyes that captivated the very soul of a man, it was bound to be bad for some poor sap.
I didn’t get the chance to torture myself with more memories of her. My phone rang. It was Amber’s ringtone. The ringtone she had programmed into my phone. It was the song Perfect, by Ed Sheeran. She was convinced I felt that way about her. I didn’t tell her otherwise.
“Hello,” I answered.
“Hello, my love,” she answered in a dramatic French accent that was really, really bad.
“Hey there,” I answered, trying to sound normal.
“How did it go? Did she get the idea of what I wanted?”
It was a tricky question. I had to answer yes. Otherwise, she would throw a tantrum about no one understanding her. But if I said yes and didn’t ask questions that might actually give Cherie a real idea about what Amber wanted, I was in deep shit. Evade. Always evade.
“She’s putting together some ideas and we’ll meet again soon. She says we really need to find a venue.”
Amber scoffed. “Oh my god, isn’t that her job?” she shrieked.
“She will be getting a list together on what is available for that date,” I said, trying to smooth things over.
“I don’t want what’s available,” Amber snapped, her true diva coming out. “I want what I want. I’m not taking any of the scraps leftover. Our wedding is going to be the wedding of the decade. It has to be perfect.”
“I’ll pass that along,” I said to appease her.
“I miss you,” she cooed.
“I miss you too,” I automatically said without really meaning the words.
“I have to run. We’re headed out to dinner and then drinks.”
“Be safe,” I cautioned.
“I love you,” she said in a sing-song voice.
“You too,” I murmured, not able to bring myself to say the words.
I quickly ended the call before it got into the same old fight we always got into when I didn’t specifically say the three little words she wanted to hear. I couldn’t say them because I didn’t feel that way—yet. I was sure I would love her one day. I cared about her, but the love thing was a hard one for me.
I would get there. I hoped.
Chapter 6
Cherie
I pulled the scrunchie from my desk and pulled my hair up into a messy half-pony, half-bun thing on the top of my head. I felt like I was going to evaporate. I had been downing the water to try and stay hydrated, but it was doing little good. I was sweating as fast as I was drinking.
“This is so vague,” Tara whined.
“No kidding. That south beach wedding is a cakewalk compared to this.”
“Luxury Love,” she repeated the words for at least the hundredth time that morning. “Where do we go with that? It’s so vague and open to interpretation.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, and he didn’t know. I think they want us to come up with some ideas.”
She tapped the end of her pen on the notepad in her lap. “It’s Valentine’s Day, so are we going with a red color scheme?”
I sighed. “I don’t know. I was given nada, zero, zip. I think we should come up with a red scheme and the classic black and white.”
“Together or separate?”
“Both. Then maybe a pink one.”
She groaned. “I hate the pink weddings. It’s so eighties and so pink.”
I smiled. “But brides dream of being fairytale princesses. Pink is part of the fantasy.”
“Not mine,” she said with her lip curled. “No way.”
“Okay, so let’s start with red. Red roses, red accents, and lots of white.”
“Velvet. I think we should have velvet couches for seats and big fluffy shag carpets. We’ll have gold leaf everything.”
I cringed. “Oh god.”
“Lots of hearts,” she said, nodding as she got into the idea.
“Red velvet cake,” I said.
She laughed. “Yes!”
“We’ll put them in thrones covered in red velvet and fur,” I blurted out.
“And a huge chocolate fountain,” she added.
I rolled my eyes. “Hideous.”
“Ostentatious,” she shot back. “Do you think that’s what they really want?”
I shook my head. “I have no idea. I can’t imagine him wanting anything like that, but I can’t say for sure.”
“Was he eccentric?”
“No.”
“Come on,” she said. “What was he like? I don’t think I’ve ever met a real live billionaire. Was he an asshole? Like someone feeding him grapes and stuff? Did he make you bow?”
I laughed. “No, not even close. I wouldn’t bow to anyone.”
“What was he like?”
“He was handsome, charming, and very nice.”
She propped her chin in her palm. “That’s boring. What was he really like?”
“He really is a decent guy,” I insisted. “He wasn’t stuck-up or obnoxious or anything like I would have expected a man in his position to be.”
She looked interested. “Are you just being nice because he is a high-dollar client?”
“No, I know him,” I confessed.
“What do you mean, you know him?”
I couldn’t help but smile. “He was my high school boyfriend.”
Her eyes widened, flashing with excitement. “You’re shitting me.”
“Nope. Evan Daniels. My first love.”
“Oh my god! No way! You dated a billionaire!”
I nodded. “Yes way, but he wasn’t a billionaire back then. Not even close.”
“What the hell? You could be Mrs. Billionaire. How did you let that one get away?”
I sighed. “Life had other plans for us. Sometimes, you have to make the hard choices to find true success.”
She made a raspberry face, blowing spit all over the desk. “That is the biggest load of bullshit I’ve heard in a long time. Hard choices my ass. What happened? Did he cheat on you? You cheat on him?”
“No! Sheesh, why do y
ou always have to jump to the worst conclusion? Neither of us cheated.”
“What happened between you guys?”
“It just wasn’t meant to be.”
She slapped her hand on the desk. “Dammit, give me the juicy details.”
I smiled, letting myself go down memory lane. “Fine. We were perfect together. We loved each other. Hell, we were inseparable. We were that couple everyone hated. We never fought. We knew what each other was thinking and could finish each other’s sentences. He was the boy I was going to grow old with. We were going to have four kids, live in a little house with a fenced yard for the kids, and live happily ever after. If you could make the perfect man, he was it. Handsome, kind, considerate, and really good at all the things that make a man a real man.”
“Oh, you dirty, dirty girl!”
I shrugged. “I wasn’t always the saint I am now.”
She rolled her eyes. “You are pretty close to nun status, but you are definitely not near sainthood.”
I had to laugh. “Something you will never reach.”
“Young love,” she said with a sigh. “Why did you break up?”
I blew out a breath. “He dreamed of going into the Air Force. He lived and breathed planes and jets and wanted to be a pilot. Our families didn’t have a lot of money and the Air Force was his chance to get out. We knew what it meant for us. We would be apart. Neither of us liked the idea, but we accepted it. We talked about getting married and then I could live on base with him. He wanted to be a pilot, which meant he was going to be in for a while. I had looked into some online schools, but none really offered what I wanted. I was willing to compromise.”
“That is so sweet. I can’t believe you guys had an entire life planned.”
I smiled, slowly nodding. “We did. It was going to be difficult, but we didn’t care. I think we romanticized the difficult lifestyle. It was silly. Then it all changed. One night, he told me he wasn’t going into the Air Force. He said he didn’t want to leave me. He was going to get some dead-end job and we were going to live hand-to-mouth like our parents.”
“That is awesome,” she said with a smile, tears flashing in her eyes. “He gave it up for you.”
I slowly shook my head. “I couldn’t let him do that. I broke up with him the next day. I told him I didn’t want to be with him and that I was going to Miami to go to school.”
Her jaw dropped. “Why would you do that?”
“Because I loved him, and I couldn’t let him give that up. It was all he talked about. He would have ended up hating me. I had to let him go.”
“Wow,” she said, shaking her head. “Did you actually love him or was it one of those high school things?”
“It was real,” I answered.
“Did he check all the boxes?”
“What boxes?”
She winked. “Your boxes, and that is supposed to sound dirty.”
I laughed. “He’s the one that set the standards. That’s the problem. I can’t find another one that measures up to him.”
“How are you going to plan his wedding to another woman?”
“I’m a professional,” I answered.
“Cherie, this is big. I’ve never seen you with a man. I think I’ve heard you talk about one or two dates. Do you still hold a torch for this guy?”
I scoffed, waving a hand. “It was fifteen years ago. It’s over.”
“Is it?”
“It is.”
She sat back. “Liar.”
“Tara, I’m serious. I can do this. I have to do this.”
“No, you don’t.”
I waved my hands around the room. “Look at this place. Feel this place. It’s hotter than hell in here. We have no room to store anything. Our waiting area is two chairs in a space that is smaller than my closet. We need this account. We have to make this wedding so good, it sets a new bar for luxury weddings.”
“But what if it hurts you?”
I forced a smile. “I’m a big girl and I have lots of band-aids. I’ll be okay. It was a long time ago. Fifteen years has given me plenty of perspective.”
“I could handle the hands-on stuff and you could run the show from behind the scenes. That way, you don’t have to see him.”
“I’m fine. I promise you. I’m excited to do this wedding. Evan is old news. I want this wedding and I want to build our brand. This is our big break. You said it yourself, this is our chance to show off. It’s an unlimited budget. The sky is the limit. I know we’ve been making fun of their chosen theme, but we have to get serious. We can’t afford to screw this up or offend them in any way.”
She wrinkled her nose. “But it’s so fun.”
“Yes, it is. I didn’t tell you how much he’s going to pay us.”
“You negotiated a higher fee?”
I laughed. “Not on purpose, but I did tell him it was probably better for him to find another wedding planner. He decided he wants it to be me.”
“Do you think it’s some kind of revenge?”
“No,” I said and then thought about it. “I don’t think so. I don’t think he’s like that.”
She shrugged. “It sounds like you broke his heart.”
“He broke my heart,” I insisted.
“How do you figure that? You told me you broke up with him.”
“Because he was going to give up his dream. I was okay with our plan for me to follow him or see him on leave. He went and screwed everything up.”
“Shame on him, being all romantic and loving,” she teased.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let’s focus on this wedding. The sooner we get paid, the sooner we get out of this shithole and into a building that has working AC.”
She fanned her face with her hand. “I’m so on board for that. And my own office. I hate sitting out there where everyone that walks in stares at me.”
“You’re the face of the company and it is such a pretty face.”
“Flattery will get you everywhere.”
“All right, let’s go back to the black and white theme,” I said, steering the conversation back to something that could actually help us. “I’m thinking something icy.”
“Icy is December. This is February. Red is going to be the thing.”
I cringed. “But it’s so cliché.”
“They chose Valentine’s Day for a reason. I’m guessing they like cliché.”
“Fine. We’ll go with super cliché. Super over the top and then something that is very subdued but classy. I’m thinking champagne tones with splashes of pink.”
She made a loud, audible sigh to express her disgust. “I’ll pull some images.”
“Thank you. I need to work on narrowing down the venues, which shouldn’t be hard because there aren’t any.”
She got to her feet. “All right, I’ll get busy. I’ll do just about anything to get out of this place.”
I laughed. “Me too.”
Including sending the man I loved off to meet another woman.
I couldn’t be sad about it. It was a choice I made a long time ago. I knew another woman would snatch him up the moment he was available. He was an attractive man and, now, a very successful man. I wanted to take some credit for his success, but I really couldn’t. He did it all on his own.
I knew he was destined for great things. He didn’t need me holding him back. Seeing him as the successful man he was confirmed my belief I had done the right thing. Even if it had broken both our hearts, it was the right decision. Hearts healed. At least some did.
Mine never had.
Chapter 7
Evan
I tapped my pen against the desk. The steady tapping was doing nothing to relieve the anxiousness I was dealing with. I wanted to see Cherie again. We had an appointment next week, but I didn’t want to wait that long. I wanted to see her sooner, rather than later. I didn’t give a shit if she had wedding stuff ready. I just wanted to be in her presence. I wanted to look at her, talk to her, and absorb the essence of her.
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br /> Ever since I had seen her, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. A little piece of my soul had awoken at the sight of her and it would not rest. It was agonizing not being able to pick up the phone and call her. It had been a long time, but she was still a huge part of my life. I had so many questions for her. I wanted to know everything about her life. I wanted to talk to her about my own. Not the wedding part, but all the rest.
There was so much we had missed out on and I was anxious to catch up with her. After the initial shock of seeing her, it felt like no time had passed at all. I didn’t know how to move forward, but I wanted her in my life. I needed her in my life in some form.
“Bonnie,” I said, giving in to the need and pushing the button on my intercom.
“Yes, Evan?” my assistant’s voice floated through the air.
“Call the wedding planner and see if I can get an appointment tonight or tomorrow night please.”
“Will do,” she answered.
With that out of the way, I was able to finally sit down at my desk and focus on work. My mind had been stuck in the past ever since she had walked through my door. As I scanned over a new investment, I wondered what it would have been like if we had stayed together. Would I have still found a way to make myself a wealthy man? Would I have children? There were so many what-ifs and so few answers.
It was almost two hours later when my assistant finally informed me I had a dinner meeting with Cherie tonight. I let out the breath I didn’t realize I had been holding. I was going to see her again. A nice dinner would provide the chance for us to catch up and chat a little about the good days. I hoped. I knew she said we had to keep things professional, but a little reminiscing couldn’t hurt.
Time dragged, with every minute feeling like an hour. I had managed to make it through the day, and now, it was time to go to my dinner. I had dressed in one of my Armani suits, taking a little extra time getting ready. I had left the office early to shower before seeing her. I wasn’t sure why I was trying to impress her, but I wanted to look good.
I settled into the back of my luxury car with the driver at the helm. “The restaurant, sir?” he asked, meeting my eyes in the mirror.
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