Bliss, Inc. (Indigo Love Spectrum)

by Chamein Canton

  “Were you expecting someone else?”

  “Oh, don’t be silly,” she laughed. “We’ve showered together before.”

  “I know, but we’ve never showered together at your house.”

  “That’s true. Max was here so it was out of the question.”

  He rubbed her back. “He’s safe and sound in college.”

  “True.”

  “So that means we can christen this shower.” He kissed her neck.

  “Matthew, I have to go to the office today.”

  “I know.” He kept kissing her neck and shoulders.

  “I wanted to get in a little early.”

  “Early. I understand.” He put his arms around her.

  Paige began to falter. “Matthew.”

  “Yes, sweetie.” He gently sucked on her neck.

  She closed her eyes. “I was…” She lost her train of thought.

  “You were what, sweetheart?”

  “I don’t remember.”

  “I see.” He turned her around and kissed her. All of her defenses were lost. Paige would get to work, only she wouldn’t be in as early as she planned.

  * * *

  Paige stopped at Dunkin Donuts on the way to the office to pick up some Munchkins. Despite her sexy derailment, she still managed to be the first person there. Once she was in she went about making coffee using the Starbucks beans she had tucked in the deli drawer of the refrigerator.

  “That smells like quality beans brewing,” Adriana said as she put her pocketbook down.

  “It’s Starbucks breakfast blend.”

  She took another whiff. “It smells really good.” She paused. “So how are you today?”

  “I’m good.” Paige looked at her ring finger.

  “It must be strange.”

  “Yes, it was a little weird not having to make breakfast for him this morning.”

  “I can only imagine. I don’t know what I’m going to do when my girls are ready for the halls of higher education.”

  “You’ll deal with it. That’s all you can do.”

  “You’re right about that.”

  “Did you talk to Stuart? How did the McCoy engagement party go?”

  “It must have gone well, I didn’t hear from him.”

  “No news is good news.”

  “Right.” She looked around. “So what’s the big announcement?”

  “What makes you think I’m making a big announcement?”

  “Come on, Paige, I’ve known you since junior high. You don’t bring sweets like this in unless you’ve got something big brewing.”

  Paige looked down at her ring, then turned around. “You know I hate when you’re right.”

  “I know.”

  She put her ring finger out. “Matthew proposed this weekend.”

  Adriana’s mouth was on the floor. She took Paige’s hand. “Oh, my God!” She stood up and grabbed Paige. “I’m so happy for you! Look at that ring!”

  “I know.” She smiled.

  “Oh, my God, Paige. This is wonderful news. So what did Siobhan and your parents think?”

  “They’re okay with it. Siobhan was so over the moon you would have thought it was her getting engaged again.”

  “You can’t blame her. It’s been a long time for you.”

  “I know.”

  “Does your favorite client know?”

  “She knew about it before I did. Now I have to tell her parents about Matthew and me. I just hope that goes well.”

  “Why shouldn’t it? They hired you to plan Jennifer’s wedding, which you are doing a bang-up job on. There is no reason for them to feel anything but happy for you.” Adriana poured a cup of coffee.

  “All I can say is from your lips to God’s ears.”

  Just then Stuart walked in. “Good morning, ladies.”

  “Hey, Stuart. How are you?” Paige asked.

  “Not bad, but I’ll be better once I have a cup of that heavenly smelling coffee.”

  “Help yourself. I think its done brewing.”

  “Good.” He grabbed his mug and poured a cup. He took a whiff and sipped. “That’s good coffee.”

  “So how did the McCoy engagement party go?” Paige asked.

  “Not bad. I will say I’ve never seen so much caviar and steak tartar washed down with copious amounts of liquor before.”

  “That’s how those parties go,” Adriana added.

  “When you’re dealing with WASPS it’s at least two hours before dinner is served and if you’re not crazy about steak tartar, you’re in trouble.” Paige spoke from experience.

  “I packed a couple of small sandwiches to nibble on until the real food was served.” Stuart fixed his coffee.

  Adriana laughed. “You didn’t want to partake of the caviar?”

  “I know it’s high-end and all, but there’s something about fish eggs that just doesn’t sit well with me. And the idea of mad cow disease keeps me from eating anything that looks like it’s still mooing.”

  “Well, as long as you cut the crusts off the sandwich you took, you were good,” Paige joked.

  “Of course. I didn’t want to appear déclassé.” Stuart caught sight of Paige’s ring and his eyes widened.

  “What’s the matter with you, Stuart?” Adriana asked.

  “I just saw something shining on our fearless leader’s hand.”

  Paige put her hand out. “That would be my engagement ring.”

  “Engagement ring? Hallelujah!” He got up and bear hugged Paige. “I’m happy for you, woman.”

  Paige beamed. “Thank you.”

  “I smell coffee!” Eve yelled as she, Daisy, and Deidre walked in.

  “Hold the phone!” Daisy stopped short. “I just caught a glimpse of something shiny and new.”

  “Our Ms. Paige is engaged,” Adriana announced.

  A chorus of oohs and aahs and squealing followed.

  “Oh, my God, Paige.” Deidre hugged her. “You deserve to have your happily ever after. Lord knows you’ve planned your share of weddings.”

  “I know.”

  “This is so exciting. I can’t wait to do your wedding. We are doing your wedding, right?”

  “Sure. It might wind up being a small wedding.”

  Everything came to a halt.

  Daisy her hands on her hips. “Oh no, honey, we’re not buying that. You’re going to have the biggest and best wedding.”

  “We haven’t set a date. We haven’t talked about it at all. I’ve been engaged for less than forty-eight hours.”

  “It’s never too early to think about it. Isn’t that your motto?” Eve said.

  “I love it when I’m done in by my own words. Okay, folks, I’m engaged and you will handle my wedding. However, we have an event business to run, ladies and gentleman. It’s a happy day but we need to move on to business as usual.”

  “You’re right, Paige, but make no mistake. We’ve all got our thinking caps on,” Adriana said.

  “Duly noted. Now let’s get to work.”

  The staff went to their offices while Adriana hung back. “You didn’t have the talk with him, did you?”

  “Not really. I tried,” Paige sighed.

  “How hard?” Adriana asked skeptically.

  “Hard enough, okay?”

  “Okay. You’re already engaged, so I think you should do it before you set a date.”

  “I know, Adriana.” Paige was a little impatient.

  “I’m just saying, that’s all. You know I’m happy for you.”

  “I know you are, and I appreciate that your concern. I promise Matthew and I will have that talk.” Paige softened her tone.

  “Good. How about an Arabian night themed wedding?” Adriana asked playfully.

  Paige looked at her cross-eyed. “Have you been hitting the hookah or something?”

  “I thought you’d like that.” She laughed.

  “Don’t you have some work to do?”

  “I’m going, boss lady,” she said as she l
eft the room.

  Paige knew she was right. She should have had the talk with Matthew about what they expected from this relationship before he proposed. Now with the stakes changed it was going to be harder, not easier to bring it up. Paige, who had impeccable timing when it came to everything else in her life, was way off her mark here and she had to get back on track.

  * * *

  Matthew had just hung up the phone when Larry knocked on the door.

  “Hey, Larry. Come on in.”

  “Thanks, man.” He looked around as he entered. “This is a nice place Paige has here.”

  “It is pretty nice.”

  “Now that you’re officially engaged I guess you’re going to have to think about where exactly you’re going to live.”

  “I know, but to be honest with you I don’t care where I live as long as Paige is with me.”

  Larry pretended to gag. “You newly engaged people are total saps.”

  “Oh, man, you don’t want to go there with me. I seem to remember someone crying the night he got engaged,” Matthew said pointedly.

  “All right, you got me. I’m just messing with you anyway.”

  “Okay.” Matthew looked at the clock. “Are you hungry?”

  “I could eat.”

  “Me, too. Let’s head to the kitchen.”

  Larry walked into Paige’s gourmet kitchen. “Wow. This is some kitchen.”

  “Paige loves to cook, and she’s a really good gourmet cook.” He went to the fridge. “Do you want a Coke or a Diet Coke?”

  “Coke is fine with me.”

  Matthew took two sodas out and handed one to Larry.

  “Thanks.”

  Matthew opened the freezer. “How does shrimp and scallop alfredo sound to you?”

  “It sounds really good.”

  Matthew took a freezer bag out and then got a sauce pan. “Paige freezes dinners ahead of time, so all I have to do is heat it in the pan and lunch is served.”

  “I’m impressed.” Larry smiled.

  Ten minutes later Matthew and Larry were feasting on Paige’s shrimp and scallop alfredo.

  Larry savored the flavors. “Matt, if you weren’t already with Paige I would seriously leave Helen just for the food alone.”

  Matthew laughed. “Helen still operating the kitchen museum?”

  “Oh, yes. She told me early on that it wouldn’t be a museum once we had children. Yeah, right. Kevin is four years old, and he gets kid’s meals from the nanny. As for Helen and me we are keeping our girlish figures with the Daily Gourmet.”

  Matthew chuckled.

  “You go ahead and laugh. It seems you found a woman who actually uses all her kitchen gadgets and appliances.”

  “Believe me, I know I’m lucky.”

  “So how did Mom and Dad take the news?”

  “They were cool about it. It didn’t faze them one bit.”

  “Of course it didn’t. Your family’s seal has the words ‘total liberals’ on it somewhere.”

  “Amen to that.”

  “The real test is going to be in the country club circles. When you showed up at the Platinum Ball the wheels of matrimony started spinning.”

  “Is that right?”

  “Oh, yes. Helen told me it was a hot topic of conversation at the last high tea committee meeting.”

  “Which committee?”

  “I don’t know. I can never keep up with it.” Larry scratched his head.

  “I didn’t tell you, but my mother found out about the engagement ring from one of her friends.”

  “Oh, boy, how did that happen?”

  “It turns out that someone saw Michael and I go into the jewelry store.”

  “So what, you went to the jewelry store. Michael could have been buying a present for Jennifer.”

  “Under normal circumstances I’d buy that, but we are talking about society matriarchs.”

  “In other words, she made it her business to find out who was buying what.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Well then I guess you’ll know what happens sooner rather than later, and now that they know you’re off the market for good heaven only knows what will happen.”

  “I hope they won’t boycott my brother’s wedding.”

  “Oh, no. They would never do that. Your family is far too important to go that route. They’ll do something else to make a statement.”

  Matthew put his fork down. “That’s the last thing we need.”

  “On the other hand, they might just let it go. There are other fish in the sea.”

  “Let’s hope they take that approach.”

  Larry finished his plate. “Is there any more?”

  “Sure,” Matthew got up and put the pan on the table. “Help yourself.”

  Larry’s eyes widened as he piled his plate. “It’s been so long since I had a good alfredo sauce like this. The Daily Gourmet makes this light, low calorie version and I’m pretty sure the container it comes in tastes better.”

  Matthew laughed. “Paige has at least a dozen meals in here. I’ll give you a couple to take home.”

  “Thank you.” Larry said gratefully.

  * * *

  Paige walked out of her office to the reception area.

  “Deidre, I’m expecting the Kleins’ secretary to fax over the final wedding guest list with the addresses. She might e-mail it to me, but either way we need to have a lot of paper in the fax. So if you would keep an eye on the fax for me I’d appreciate it.”

  “Not a problem, Paige. Are we mailing the invitations out?”

  “No. Now that Michael and Jennifer picked the invitation out I’ve made arrangements for the stationery store to mail them out.”

  “They’re going to have something like 500 guests right?”

  “Yes. That’s why we’re doing it ahead of schedule. The store needs time to personalize each invitation and mail them out on time.”

  “That’s going to be some event.”

  “I know.” Paige started to walk back to her office and then stopped. “I’m also expecting a sample of the shower invitation from Callie’s Stationery sometime this afternoon.”

  “Is it being messengered over?”

  “I think so.”

  “I’ll keep an eye out for it.”

  “Thank you.”

  Paige was headed back to her office when Daisy stopped her.

  “Paige, we have a problem.”

  Whenever Paige heard those words together, she thought of Tom Hanks in Apollo 13. She backed up. “What’s going on?”

  “The officiant who was supposed to perform Dean and Reginald’s commitment ceremony was just rushed to the hospital with appendicitis, and nearly every backup I have is either booked or out of town.”

  “You have some choices to consider. If they don’t mind a close friend or family member can get ordained online and officiate the ceremony. Wait, aren’t they members of the First Episcopal church?”

  “Yes.”

  “I think Bishop McKennon has performed ceremonies before. Is there a reason they didn’t ask him?”

  “To be honest with you, I’m not sure.”

  “Give them a call and tell them what their options are. Then they can make the decision.”

  “Good idea. Thanks, Paige.”

  “Not a problem.”

  Paige went back to her office. With August nearly over it was just four months to the Klein wedding. Both the mother of the bride and groom were getting their dresses from Siobhan’s salon and the men had ordered new tuxedos from Brooks Brothers. Things were right on track.

  Paige checked her e-mail and found an attachment from Samantha. She opened it and began to print the guest list. Once it finished Paige buzzed Adriana.

  “Adriana?”

  “Yes?”

  “Are you going to Quintessential Quills today?”

  “Yes. I’m meeting Cecily Evans and her mother to go through invitations.”

  “Great. I need you to take the guest li
st over to Adam. He’s putting the invitations together for the Klein wedding.”

  “Sure. I’ll be there in a second.”

  “Thanks.”

  A minute later Adriana was in the doorway. “So, does it rival War and Peace?”

  “Almost.” Paige got up and handed her the file.

  “How many pages is this?”

  “It’s about twenty-plus pages.”

  “Adam is going to earn his money on this one.”

  “Truer words have never been said.”

  “What’s on your agenda for the afternoon?”

  “I’m meeting Joshua for a late lunch.”

  “That’s right, he was overseas when you got engaged.”

  “Right, and I asked Max not to tell him because I wanted to tell him myself.”

  “That’s big of you considering the fact Max told you about Joshua’s engagement to Tara.”

  “I know, but two wrongs don’t make a right.”

  “You’re right.” Adriana looked at her watch. “I’d better get going if I want to meet the Evans in time. I’ll see you later.” She turned on her heel and left.

  Once Adriana left Paige called and made an appointment to see the Kleins the next morning. She was less apprehensive about telling Joshua than the Kleins, but Paige wasn’t one for procrastination. She knew the longer she waited the harder it would get. It was easier to just get it over with.

  CHAPTER 26

  Even though Paige was on time, Joshua was already at the bar in Vittorio’s restaurant.

  Drink in hand, Joshua walked over. “Hello, Paige.” He kissed her cheek.

  “Hello, Joshua.”

  “If you’re ready I can seat you,” the hostess said.

  “Terrific.” Paige smiled.

  The hostess escorted them to their table.

  “Your server will be with you shortly.”

  “Thank you,” Joshua replied.

  Paige looked at the menu. “So how was your business trip?”

  “Not bad. The weather actually held up.”

  “You were in London, right?”

  “Yes.”

  Paige watched as he sipped his drink.

  He knew the look. “Don’t worry, it’s soda.”

  “I didn’t say anything.”

  “You didn’t have to. I was married to you, I know the look by now.”

  “Okay.”

  “So how did Max make out?”

  “Really well. He adapted immediately.”

  “Good. I’m going up there this weekend.”