“Partners, huh?” Carlo asked, liking the idea of working with a man like Jonathan. An honorable, smart, and loyal man. A true friend as unexpected as it was considering how different their backgrounds were.
“In exchange for my contributing a share of the funds, I expect to have use of the spaces for conferences and meetings. We’ll coordinate to avoid conflicts. You and Emma can use the property for events,” Jonathan clarified.
“And a restaurant. My brothers and I would like to have a restaurant in one of the smaller ballroom spaces so that there’s regular income for our workers. Also help employ more people in the area,” Carlo said, holding his breath and hoping Jonathan wouldn’t be opposed to that part of the bargain.
Jonathan held out his hand to seal the deal. “I like that idea, Carlo. There’s always room for another restaurant and more jobs in the area.”
Carlo wrapped his hand around Jonathan’s. The other man’s hand was calloused and strong. The hand of a man who had worked hard for everything he had, just like Carlo had labored to build his life so in some ways they maybe weren’t all that different. “Deal, Jon.”
“Good. I’m going to reach out to my corporate counsel about setting up a new LLC for this project. We’ll need the names of all the partners from you and then we can sit down and discuss the finances. I’d like to get moving on this quickly.”
Quickly, Carlo thought and a scintilla of fear curled through his gut. Quick was not what he had in mind when it came to Emma and the business they had talked about so many times. But they also couldn’t risk losing a once in a lifetime opportunity.
“I’ll talk to my brothers and Emma and give you a rundown on what we can contribute to the purchase,” he said, burying his worry about Emma’s reaction.
“Awesome. This is going to be an epic project,” Jonathan said and enthusiastically shook his hand, his blue eyes bright with excitement which alleviated some of Carlo’s misgivings.
“Epic,” Carlo repeated, praying that Emma would think so as well.
Chapter 24
Emma ran her finger down the list of appointments scheduled at the bridal salon for the upcoming two weeks before Christmas and the two weeks after that. They only had a last-minute appointment in a week for a couple who had decided to celebrate the New Year with a party where they would also renew their vows after fifty years of marriage.
Fifty years! Emma thought. While there were still people who made it that long, she’d also seen more and more people who after many years of marriage decided to part and go their separate ways. On the bright side, the bridal salon had planned many a marriage for baby boomers willing to give it a second chance.
Brave people, she thought, considering she was afraid to even give it a first chance. Hell, she was even afraid of being able to commit to a relationship with a man with whom she’d just spent the most marvelous week. Well, not quite a week. Three dinners, two nights, two breakfasts, and a lunch, but who was counting?
You are, the little voice in her head chastised. Love is not a formula based on the right amount of dates or lunches, it tacked on with an annoyed huff.
Or nights of mind-blowing sex, she shot back, silencing it. She jotted down the date and time for the meeting with the older couple and walked to the cabinet to pull out the folder with the interview one of the bridal salon owners had done when the couple had come in earlier that week. Emma had been too busy with Connie’s wedding and her boss had helped her out by doing the initial legwork.
She stopped at the coffee machine to make herself a cup before heading to her office to review the interview and other papers her boss Lucy had assembled. Lucy had done a great job in jotting down the couple’s preferences for their dream New Year’s Eve party and renewal of their vows.
Emma’s mind flooded with ideas on how she could bring their dreams to life. She started with a list of viable places where the event could be held based on the number of guests the couple had estimated. Next came photos of possible decorations, centerpieces, and flowers that would bring back the flavor of the Sixties beach wedding the couple had celebrated fifty years earlier. Which had her recalling a wedding dress in the stockroom that would be just perfect.
She rushed out of her office and into the stockroom where Lucy was finishing up the organizing of the dresses that Emma had started last week.
“How’s it going?” she asked her boss as she hurried to the row where she had last seen the gown she had in mind.
“Thankful for at least one wedding over the holidays. It’s always such a tough time of year financially and mentally. I mean, how many times can you redo the stockroom?” Lucy said with a laugh as she moved a dress from one rack to another.
“I totally get it,” Emma said, likewise thankful for the job. It would help take her mind off some things. Hangers skittered across the metal rack as Emma flipped through the wedding dresses until she caught sight of the gown that she thought would be perfect for the vows renewal. She hoped the “bride” would feel the same way.
She pulled it out, draped it over her body, and called out to Lucy. “What do you think?”
Lucy stepped out from between two rows of gowns, peered at her and wrinkled her nose in a way that Emma had learned meant she was either undecided or unconvinced. “What do I think?” her boss repeated and scrutinized the gown again.
“Wedding. Beach. Sixties feel. Floral wreath with just the barest hint of veil trailing down,” she said, hoping to bring to life the idea she’d had after reading the couple’s interview.
The nose wrinkle went away and was replaced by emphatic nodding. Lucy circled a finger around the outfit and said, “I can totally picture that, but just in case . . .”
Emma knew what that meant as well. “I’ll have a number of other gowns available for Mrs. Adler. Have I ever failed you before, Lucy?”
There was no hesitation in her boss now as she shook her head. “Never.”
“Good. Then I’ll get back to work. I’ll have the full proposal ready for the meeting next week and since we won’t have that much time to prepare, I’ll call around and make sure the venues I’m suggesting are available.”
She started to walk away, but Lucy called her name. She stopped and faced her boss. “We don’t say it often enough, but we really appreciate the work you do for us. Evelyn and I have talked about the possibility of you joining us here in a more long-term position. Maybe even a partnership,” Lucy said.
A partnership? Emma mulled. Considering she’d already been there for close to nine years she had thought about the possibility of becoming a partner more than once, except of course if she left for the event planning business that Carlo and she had discussed so many times. Confused, she narrowed her gaze and examined her boss. “I appreciate that, but if you don’t mind me asking, why has this come up all of a sudden?”
Lucy stiffened, pulled her shoulders back, and lifted her chin an inch. “I know you and Carlo are close and with him interested in the convention center . . .”
Emma shook her head and frowned. “I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about, Lucy.”
Lucy did a nervous little shuffle and said, “I had brunch with Mary Sanders on Sunday.”
“The real estate agent?” Emma asked, still puzzled.
“She mentioned the building was for sale and I’d seen Carlo with her last week and so I asked her about it. Mary wouldn’t confirm it, but she didn’t deny it either. I’m so sorry. I thought you knew,” Lucy said apologetically.
She wanted to believe there was a valid reason why Carlo hadn’t told her if in fact he was interested in the property. After all, the convention center would be an ideal place for the business they had talked about so often in the past. But they hadn’t discussed it at all in several months. There had been so much going on with their friends that had spilled over into their lives and made talk of anything like that virtually impossible.
And there had been that kiss that had forever changed the relationship between
them and made it awkward to discuss certain things. And last week of course. An amazing and marvelous week on a personal level. One which had made her think forever was maybe possible for them.
There had to be a valid reason why he hadn’t told her, she urged herself as a cold knot of dread formed in her gut much like the one when she’d realized the extent of her father’s duplicity. She didn’t want to think that Carlo hadn’t mentioned it to her because he didn’t want her involved.
“I appreciate that you and Evelyn think of me that highly, Lucy. I’ll certainly consider it and let you know,” Emma replied, her tone calm in a dead sort of way.
A flicker of surprise flitted across Lucy’s face. “Yes, please consider it, Emma. We’d love to have you here as a partner. I feel bad that we haven’t discussed it before now.”
She nodded. “Thanks. If you don’t mind, I have an errand to run this afternoon. I’ll be back tomorrow,” she said, but didn’t wait for her boss to reply.
She intended to get to Carlo and find out just what was up. If what Lucy had said was true, she wanted to know why he hadn’t seen fit to tell her.
THE TEXT FROM EMMA had been cryptic and troubling.
Please come as soon as you can. I’m home.
He worried that something bad had happened to either one of her friends or her mother and prayed that it was nothing serious. His van screeched to a halt at an awkward angle in front of her house since her Sebring was already in the driveway.
Racing up the walk, he noticed several lights were on in the house, but as he peered through the front window, he couldn’t see anyone inside. He knocked, but no one answered. Worry increasing, he made a fist and pounded on the door, striking it so hard it rattled in its frame.
“Emma. Open up,” he said roughly and was about to strike the door again when it flew open.
She stood there, arms wrapped herself in a gesture that was achingly defensive. Her skin was pale, almost bloodless. Her eyes were as hard and sharp as the thin slash of her lips.
“Is something wrong? Is someone hurt?” he said and went to cradle her cheek, but she jerked away from his touch.
“You might say that,” she said and walked into her living room, leaving him to follow, not that he sensed he was welcome. Everything about her was stiff and unyielding, from the tight set of her shoulders to her stone face.
She sat in the middle of the couch and he understood he was not invited to sit beside her. Instead, he took a spot on the coffee table in front of her and she looked away, either unwilling or unable to meet his gaze.
“I don’t understand, Emma. What’s wrong?” he said and cradled her cheek which was ice cold despite the warmth in the room from the fire she had started in the fireplace. He applied gentle pressure and urged her to face him, but even then, her gaze was downcast.
“When were you going to tell me that you planned on buying the convention center with Jonathan Pierce and your brothers?”
“How did you find out?” he said, which he realized was not the answer she wanted to hear as her head snapped up and green fire blazed from her gaze.
“How? My boss Lucy saw you with the real estate agent. She also heard the property was for sale and put two and two together. Decided to offer me a partnership in the bridal salon because she was afraid I was jumping ship and joining you,” she said, her voice trembling with anger and pain. She forged on, silencing him with a slash of her hand when he would have spoken. “But then she realized I knew absolutely nothing about it. I was confused. Hurt. Angry. I went to see my best friend Connie. To my surprise, she knew as well. Seems I’m the only one in the dark about your new venture.”
“It’s not what you think, Emma,” he pleaded and reached for her again, but she pulled away from him.
Her words dripped ice as she said, “Then please tell me what to think. I wouldn’t want to over think this after all.”
She was more pissed off than he’d ever seen her, and he understood. He should have told her right away, but he’d been afraid of what that would do to their newfound relationship. He laid his hands on his knees to keep from touching her until he could fully explain. “I heard the property was for sale over a week ago. I didn’t dare dream, but it’s perfect, Emma. Except for the price of course and I didn’t want to say anything until I could figure out if I could buy it. If we could buy it,” he said, gesturing between the two of them.
“But you figured it out apparently. You talked to your brothers. Talked to Jon. Were you ever going to talk to me?” she said, clearly hurt by his failure to reach out to her.
“Of course. I was going to, Emma. We always talked about going into business together and buying the convention center would let us do that. We could use it for weddings and other events. Have a full-time restaurant that my brothers could manage. Jon wants to have conferences at the location. He wants us to plan and run them,” he said.
“You had time to discuss all this with your brothers and Jon, but not me? You made all these plans without even once asking me if I was interested?” she asked, her voice rising with each word.
“I get it, Emma. I was wrong not to talk to your first, but I wasn’t even sure it was possible. My brothers came in when I was reviewing my finances and they were totally in to help me, but I was still short. By a lot. I was going to talk to you then, but . . .” He stopped cold, afraid of where this conversation was going, but knowing it had to go there to clear the air with her.
“I was worried that this thing between us –”
“Thing?” she said with an imperial arch of her brow and ice dripping from her words.
“This relationship. It’s all so new, Emma. And we both always worried that mixing business with the personal would be a problem.”
“It is a problem if my partner doesn’t bother to involve me in discussions,” she said with such determination it chilled him to the bone.
He held his hands up in pleading. “You don’t mean that, Emma. It’s just that you’re upset right now.”
“You think?” she said sarcastically which was totally unlike her.
“Please, Emma. Give me a break. I made a mistake. Please forgive me,” he said.
Chapter 25
Forgive him? Emma thought and dragged a hand through her hair, pulling the strands away from her face. She stared at him and tried not to see the caring on his face. The upset that she was upset. His confusion at her response which she was finding impossible to control.
“You should have told me, Carlo. I shouldn’t have heard it from other people. You can’t imagine what that was like for me.” Like finding out from others that all her family’s money was gone.
“I’m trying to understand, Emma. I can see how upset you are, but I had my reasons,” he said.
“My father had his reasons for keeping things from my mother and me as well,” she said and the color fled from Carlo’s face.
“I’m not your father. I could never do to you –”
“He stole my college fund. And all the money that my parents had in the business they used to own together. And everything single penny in their personal accounts as well,” she said and shock registered on his face.
“I didn’t know,” he said, his voice soft and filled with concern.
She tightened her arms around herself and rocked back and forth. “It’s not the kind of thing you tell people, Carlo. Shit, it was hard enough to tell you about everything else.”
“I’m not your dad, Emma. You can trust me,” he urged and laid his hands on her knees, trying to reassure her.
“It’s not easy for me to trust,” she said and the hurt was apparent on his face.
“If you can’t believe in me after everything we’ve been to each other . . .” He shook his head, slapped his hands on his thighs and rose. He stared at her, his eyes blazing fire. His face as hard as granite. “I think I should go and I think you’re right. You can’t mix business and pleasure. If you decide you want in on the convention center, reach out to J
on. He’s the one who’s going to handle the legal end of things.”
He didn’t wait to hear what else she might have to say. With only a few long strides he ate up the ground to the door and slammed it behind him so hard it rattled the windows and some trinkets on a nearby bookcase. One that had been close to the edge fell off and shattered on the hardwood floor, just like her heart was breaking into thousands of pieces.
Worse yet, she only had herself to blame. She could have set aside her fear and listened to what he’d said. Forgiven him for putting things in the wrong order in his eagerness to start the business they’d both wanted for so long. It had been easy to imagine that business years earlier when it had only been a dream. When she hadn’t become involved with him as she had and it had become so much more than she could have imagined. Become so much more for her to risk and maybe lose.
He'd hurt her, but she suddenly realized she’d hurt him also. Badly. The pain had been etched on his face as he’d stood and stormed out the door. Much like Sasha hadn’t believed in him years earlier, she’d failed to believe him as well. Her heart ached that she’d done that, but it was better to end it all now before they hurt each other even more.
As she settled into the soft cushions of her couch, it was impossible not to remember the kisses they had shared there and the man who had been so important in her life for so long. The man she’d just let walk out the door maybe to never return.
It was for the better, she told herself. That didn’t help the chill in her heart that not even the heat from the fireplace could dispel. Or the overwhelming sense of emptiness that settled inside her, making her feel more alone than she ever had in her entire life.
“THIS IS BAD,” PAOLO muttered beneath his breath as Tomás placed a glass with whiskey in front of Carlo. It was the third one he’d had but so far it hadn’t dulled the pain in his heart.
Never a Bride Page 20