You Say It First--A Small-Town Wedding Romance

by Susan Mallery

  He was so close. She’d been so focused on her worry and panic that she hadn’t noticed he’d taken a seat next to her. Now she was aware of him in the next chair, his body perilously near her own. She could almost feel the heat of him, and his eyes... The way they focused on hers. She wanted to get lost in his gaze, or maybe just his arms. She wondered if she could get him to kiss her again.

  “Pallas?”

  “Huh?” She blinked and realized everyone was looking at her. Hoping she wasn’t blushing she said, as casually as she could, “Um, sorry. Go ahead.”

  He gave her a quizzical look before turning to her friends. “As I was saying, Concord Awaken takes place on a distant planet. Sunlight is precious and only lasts for a few hours. Shapeshifters, called The Yellow, are deadly and can be anything. They’re the bad guys. The population is divided into three segments. All are fighters. At one time they lived on separate continents but there was a violent earthquake and the land masses collided. Now they have to work together to defeat their common enemy.”

  Pallas listened as attentively as everyone else.

  Nick reached for the box and pulled out several rolled posters. He spread them out on the table and pointed at the various images. “The three populations are The Steadfast, The Pureheart and The Cunning. We never have a picture of The Yellow because they’re always changing. The world itself exists in shades of purple, teal and black.”

  “Oooh, I could do a lot with that,” Violet said happily. She tucked a strand of red hair behind her ears. “I’ll have to go through my button collection, but I’m sure I have some amazing things. Do we know what the dresses look like? Not that I’d do anything to the wedding gown, but the bridesmaids’ dresses could be transformed to fit the game theme.”

  Pallas looked through the box and pulled out a folder. She opened it and saw pictures of a bridal gown and bridesmaid dresses. She fanned out the pictures on the table.

  “The bridesmaid dresses are already the colors of CA,” Pallas noted. “But you could jazz them up.”

  Violet nodded. She traced the lace on the wedding gown. The dress itself was a fairly traditional—ivory lace with netting, a mermaid style—fitted to midthigh. The rest of the skirt flared out to form a train. While there was extra fabric in the front of the skirt, it fell straight to the floor. A good choice for Nova, Pallas thought. That way the style wouldn’t overwhelm her petite frame.

  Nick picked up the wedding gown picture. “I could paint this.”

  The four women gasped.

  “What?” he asked.

  “It’s a wedding gown,” Silver breathed. “I’m the least traditional of anyone here, but even I know you don’t mess with that.”

  “I agree.” Pallas looked at the picture of the designer gown. “Still... You’re thinking fabric paints on the lace?”

  “Something like that. Maybe black light paint, as well. Let me think on it.”

  “You’ll have to talk to Nova first. She may not want her dress painted on.”

  Nick’s mouth twitched. “Untwist your panties. I’d have to talk to her to get her to send it to me. Don’t worry. I’ll get her approval first.”

  “Perfect.” Pallas turned to Wynn. “What are your thoughts on the graphics? Could you do posters or something?”

  “I could, but I’d prefer to put them in a frame. Or several. Giant frames.”

  Nick began to sketch on piece of paper. “Like this? I’ve been thinking about different ways to frame huge graphics.”

  “Exactly like that,” Wynn told him.

  Pallas told herself it was wrong to get excited about the thought of someone else paying for the frames Nick had mentioned. “Can you work up a bid?”

  “Sure.” Wynn took notes. “I also want to think about invitations. I’ll bet I could do something on a thumb drive pretty easily. And something fun for the nontechy bunch. I’ll put a few different ideas in my bid.”

  “I’ll do the same,” Violet said. “She’ll want accessories and we have to spice up those bridesmaid dresses. Especially if Nick’s going to paint the wedding gown.”

  “I want to see if I can do something in papier-mâché,” Nick added. “From the world. Things to be scattered around. I’ll get you a bid, too.”

  Silver sighed. “I feel useless. I can do whatever she wants at the regular price.” She looked at the posters. “Okay, a couple hundred for me to buy accessories to match the colors. Catering should be about the same as usual, too. Unless she wants specific plates and serving dishes. The same for the linen rentals.” She paused. “Should you talk to Natalie? What if she came up with a great origami mobile or several for the reception? With all this information, she could make it amazing. Or maybe favors for the table or something.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that,” Pallas admitted. “I’ll speak with her.” She glanced at her lists. “I think that was everything I had. If you could all get me your information by noon tomorrow, I’ll take it to our bride.”

  Violet grinned. “Are we doing it?”

  “If Nova agrees to the bids,” Pallas began, then paused. Was she up for this? She thought about Nova and her dying father. Saying no would just be mean-spirited. And maybe Nick was right. She could use this experience to see what she could do, creatively. Maybe her weddings didn’t have to be so regimented.

  “I’m going to tell her yes,” she said firmly.

  Everyone seemed excited. They took a copy of the game with them and headed out. Nick lingered.

  “You okay?” he asked when they were alone.

  “I’m not sure. It’s exciting and scary. I wouldn’t want to mess this up.”

  “You’re good at planning weddings.”

  “Not alien planet ones.”

  “We talked about this yesterday. The premise is always the same. A couple in love wants to get married. The theme of the wedding might be unique, but everything else is simply a variation on the same theme.”

  He made it sound so easy, she thought wistfully. It must be nice to always be confident like that. She’d been the kid who wasn’t completely sure of her place pretty much anywhere. Except here, she reminded herself. She’d always belonged at Weddings in a Box.

  “I don’t want to let Nova or her father down. And Joel.”

  “Hey, he’s just the groom. It’s her day, right?”

  She smiled. “It shouldn’t be, but sometimes that’s how it works out.”

  Was it just her or had he moved closer? He seemed to be staring really intently into her eyes. That was good, right? It meant he liked her. She wanted Nick to like her. Before she could figure out a way to say that, assuming it wouldn’t come out sounding too dorky, he leaned in and kissed her.

  The soft, warm pressure of his mouth on hers was exactly what she needed in order to forget the swirling thoughts in her mind. The second their lips touched, she could only feel, which was a very good thing. His arms came around to hold her and she found herself leaning into him.

  He was strong and steady, his body hard with plenty of muscle. He smelled good, too. Like soap and man and a hint of wood. When she rested her hands on his shoulders, she felt the solidness of him—as if he were someone she could depend on.

  He moved his mouth against hers. She felt the first tiny sparks popping in the middle of her chest. As he increased the pressure on her lips, the sparks began to fan out through her body. When he touched his tongue to her bottom lip, she parted for him.

  He kissed her deeply, moving slowly, as if he had all the time in the world. She relaxed into their kiss, even as tension filled her body. No, not tension. Desire. Wanting. All those delicious things she hadn’t felt in so long.

  Their tongues stroked and circled. She leaned in more so that they were touching everywhere. She thought briefly about the table next to them. While it wasn’t exactly fluf
fy, it was a horizontal surface and maybe they could—

  He drew back and pressed his forehead to hers. “You’re a bigger temptation than I’d realized.”

  The sweet words were almost enough to make up for the lack of kissing. He thought she was a temptation? Seriously? Her? Did he want to be tempted some more?

  He kissed her lightly once more on the mouth before stepping away. “You have bids to arrange and I have to figure out how to work with papier-mâché.”

  And with that, he was gone. Pallas pressed her oddly trembling fingers to her mouth. She didn’t know exactly what was happening with Nick, but she found she liked it a lot.

  * * *

  “IMPRESSIVE, NICK,” Ronan said as he spun molten glass to create the flat shape he needed.

  “It’s harder than it looks,” Nick grumbled. He spread another strip of gooey newspaper over the inflated balloon. It was harder than it looked, he thought. The YouTube video had made things look so simple. A little secret sauce, a few strips of newspaper and voilà—a masterpiece. Only he wasn’t having much luck with his first attempt.

  For one thing, the balloon wasn’t an easy form to work with. It wasn’t completely spherical and once his fingers were wet, the balloon got both slippery and sticky—a combination he would have said was impossible. For another, he didn’t like how the form was turning out.

  Nick shifted the balloon in his hand, bumped against a jar of sharp pencils and popped the balloon. The paper he’d already applied sank into a soggy mess that draped across his hand.

  Mathias strolled over. “You might need a different form.”

  “Bite me.”

  His brother ignored that. “What are you going for?”

  “I’m not sure. I’ll know it when I see it.” He nodded at the video game sitting on the bench next to him. “Ever play this?”

  “I’m not into games.” He held it up. “Ronan, you ever play Concord Awaken?”

  “Sure. It’s a decent game.”

  “Decent?” Nick tossed the dripping paper into the trash. “With enthusiasm like that, you’re going to get a call from their advertising agency to be a spokesmodel.”

  He walked to the sink and washed up, then returned to Mathias and explained about the CA world.

  “I didn’t have anything specific in mind,” he admitted. “The colors are purple, teal and black. I guess I was planning to do balloon-shaped orbs.” He grimaced. “Not exactly original.”

  “What’s on the planet? Anything interesting? Two-headed frogs? Dragons?”

  “No. It’s not a fantasy based game. There’s the usual stuff. Houses, roads, people. They’re fighting a war, so some weapons. I doubt the bride and groom want those at the wedding.”

  Nick crossed to his drafting table. He had the east side of the huge studio—slightly less than a quarter of the space, but plenty for him. His brothers shared the rest of the open room. There was a large furnace used to generate the heat needed to melt glass. It was a big operation with two ovens, three workstations, shelves, raw material and a venting system that rivaled any at the Center for Disease Control. Ronan also had a studio up at his house but he generally came into town when he was working.

  Both Ronan and Mathias exclusively used glass. Nick was the only outlier, switching to wood and now dabbling with papier-mâché.

  “There is a flower,” he said more to himself than his brother. “It only blooms when the sun is out, which is a handful of hours a day. The leaves cure nearly any injury and the nectar is food.”

  “Don’t you need a bee to make nectar into food? Isn’t that honey?”

  Nick sat in front of his table and started sketching the flowers. “Your knowledge of botany is impressive, but I’m pretty sure you can eat nectar straight from the flower.” He drew the stem and added leaves. “Besides, it’s a game. It can be anything we want it to be.”

  He stared at the drawing. “I swear I could carve forms faster than using a balloon. There’s a place in Mexico making animals out of papier-mâché. How do they do it?” He grabbed his laptop and booted it.

  Ronan strolled over. “You forgot the orbs on the flowers.”

  “Orbs?” Mathias asked with a wink. “Is this a female plant?”

  Ronan ignore him. “The power orbs. They provide light.” He added a couple of circles at the base of the flower. “No way to show light with papier-mâché. You should use glass.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” Nick muttered. He hadn’t worked with glass in years. Ronan was right about the orbs, though. They grew at the base of the plant. Still, if he could come up with a form...

  He logged online and then searched YouTube videos until he found the one he wanted and began to watch. After he’d been through it several times, he figured out the molds he needed to make. He decided three different flowers could be grouped together in several ways. The trick was the mold. He could easily create a clay version of the flowers, if that could be the basis of the mold.

  Fifteen minutes later he was on the phone with a guy in Sacramento. Yes, he could make a mold from a clay rendering. Yes, it could be done in a couple of days. He hung up as Atsuko walked into the studio.

  She walked over to him. “You’re looking happy about something.”

  “Molds for the alien wedding.”

  She pressed her lips together. “Decorative molds?”

  “So I can make papier-mâché flowers.”

  “Why not use the molds to make plastic flowers? Or go to an arts-and-crafts store and buy silk flowers?”

  He winced and pressed his hand to his chest. “You wound me. These are special alien flowers.”

  “Of course they are.” She shook her head and murmured something about boys being boys. “Have you thought about working with metal?”

  “Sheet metal?”

  “Rods, sheet metal, whatever. It’s different than wood or glass, but you might like it. Someone I know is selling all his equipment. I’m going to buy it. You can play around and see if it suits.”

  Metal. He’d never considered the medium. “I’m game for experimenting.”

  “I thought you might be. You know how to weld?”

  He started to point out that working with glass meant working with fire all the time, then reminded himself that welding was completely different. “I took a couple of classes in high school.”

  “You might want to brush up on your skills.” She leaned against his drafting table. “When will you hear on the Dubai commission?”

  “In a couple of months.” He glanced at the drawing of the flower and added a couple of orbs to the base. “I still don’t know if I want to take it or not.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Cart, meet horse.”

  He grinned. “You think I might not get it? Seriously? I’m a Mitchell. Who could be better?”

  “There’s nothing wrong with your ego.”

  The sound of glass shattering interrupted them. They both turned to look at the hot glass on the concrete floor. Atsuko shook her head. “What was I thinking, inviting you three here? I could have nice, quiet painters. But no.”

  “You love us,” Mathias called as she turned to leave. “We’re your favorites.”

  She waved in his general direction, then left. Nick turned his attention back to the drawing. He sketched a second flower, then a third. He wasn’t worried about Atsuko actually being upset about the broken glass. She wasn’t the type—after all, she’d offered him access to a welding torch.

  He stood. “Anyone know where I can get a lot of clay? I need to sculpt the flowers and get them to the mold guy.”

  Mathias’s mouth twitched. “I’m sure he’s a perfectly nice man. Can he have a different name?”

  “Check the supply room.” Ronan jerked his head in that direction. “I sometimes use
clay to work out a piece. There’s about fifty pounds of it. Just tell Natalie to order more.”

  Better and better, Nick thought as he headed for the storeroom. He would create the alien flowers in clay. While the mold was being made, he could figure out how he wanted to use the world’s colors. However he designed the color scheme, he would have to make sure it worked with Nova’s dress.

  Funny how he’d expected his time in Happily Inc to be nothing more than ordinary while he waited to hear on his commission. From the first second Pallas had asked him to take off his shirt and fill in as a Roman soldier, it had been anything but.

  * * *

  PALLAS HAD NEVER attended a video game night, so wasn’t sure what to expect or even serve. She’d borrowed a couple of TVs from friends so three groups could play at a time, then had put out the word to all interested parties. The open invitation meant she had no idea how many people would be stopping by. Nick was coming, of course, along with Wynn and her son. A few of her friends from The Boardroom had said they would come over. Nick had warned her the party could last well into the night, so she had to be prepared to serve breakfast, as well.

  She debated various foods, then decided anything offered would have to be easily picked up and eaten and not be sticky. She ordered mini wraps from the grocery store deli, along with caprese salad she could put in individual bowls. There were cookies, but she’d avoided chips. Too greasy for the controllers.

  She was ready by five, with everyone due to arrive between five thirty and six. She put out bottles of water and cans of soda. There wouldn’t be a specialty sangria tonight—she needed everyone to be alert. Her plan was to observe, rather than play. She wanted to take notes on the various levels and look for ideas for the wedding.

  She’d already spoken to Nova twice. The bride-to-be was excited and so grateful. The latter made Pallas happy she’d accepted the job. So did the huge retainer check. Nova had meant what she said about there being no limit on spending. If the wedding went well, it would go a long way toward filling the business’s sad, empty checking account.

  Pallas also appreciated the chance to figure out if this was a direction she wanted to go. She’d spent so much of her life trying to please her mother—and failing badly at every attempt—that she wasn’t sure about her own hopes and dreams. Was she more comfortable just doing the same type of wedding over and over, or did she want to expand into the great unknown? Did she want to keep Weddings in a Box at all or sell? She had a feeling that by the time Nova walked down the aisle, Pallas would have most of her answers.