A Camden Family Wedding

by Victoria Pade

  This was not turning into an uplifting conversation so Vonni decided to change the subject. “How was your week?”

  Her mother’s expression brightened remarkably. “Oh, Audie and I had a fabulous week! We found a new condo and we’ll be moving the first of the month.”

  Elizabeth and her new man-friend—as she called him—had decided to move in together.

  Vonni’s mother leaned close to the computer camera and whispered, “I think a proposal is on the way—I caught him looking in the jewelry-store window at the mall yesterday. His son Dashell came in for a visit and I think Audie wanted to tell him before he pops the question.”

  “And what would your answer be?” Vonni asked without any real doubt as to the answer.

  “I’d say yes!” Elizabeth gushed, sitting back so Vonni could see more than her nose and mouth on the screen. “Of course, I’ll make sure there’s a prenuptial agreement to protect what money I have—that goes to you and no one else when I die.”

  “I just want you to be happy,” Vonni said, glad that after the kind of marriage her parents had had, and after being left to raise her alone, her mother might have finally found the reward for her lifetime of toil and trouble.

  “I wanted to talk to you about Dashell,” Elizabeth said then, with intrigue in her voice. “He’s single. A lawyer. And he lives in Denver....”

  “Not in the market right now, Mom,” Vonni reminded.

  “I know, but you have to strike while the iron is hot, honey. He’s never been married and he’s about to turn forty. Audie really wants him to settle down and he’s sure if Dashell just met the right girl—”

  “In other words, Dashell isn’t interested himself in settling down, his father just thinks he should. And that makes him like way, way too many of the other guys I’ve dated and tried to be the right girl for—he’s what I’m on hiatus from, Mom. And exactly what I want to avoid wasting any more time with when I do go back to the manhunt.”

  “But you’re perfect for—”

  “It doesn’t matter. I’ve been perfect for a lot of them. A lot of them have been perfect for me. Or so I’ve thought. But when marriage and family aren’t what they want or what they’re ready for, there’s no changing that. And waiting and putting off what I want, and trying to show them the appeal of a wife and family and hoping they’ll come around just doesn’t work. Or when they come around, they come around with someone else. One way or another, I’ve learned my lesson and I’m not doing it again. I swear I’m not. When I get back to dating it’s only going to be with men who are genuinely looking for the same thing I am. And I’m not going back to it until I’ve had some Vonni time and gotten some of the things I’ve been putting off.”

  “You’re just tired,” her mother said, but it sounded as if her only regret was her timing in presenting the latest Mr. Right. She didn’t seem to be taking anything Vonni said seriously.

  “I will never be ready for the kind of guy Dashell sounds like. Never again,” Vonni proclaimed forcefully.

  But she was picturing Dane when she said it and feeling a little sorry that he also fit the bill of the go-nowhere guy. For all she knew, Dane’s grandmother was out in the world saying that she just wanted him to settle down and knew that if he could only meet the right girl he would want to.

  And too many girls who heard it would be hoping they were the right girl and give it a try.

  But Vonni wasn’t one of them. Not anymore. Not when it came to Dane. Not when it came to this Dashell. Not when it came to anyone.

  It was just so much easier to nip it in the bud when her mother was trying to fix her up with someone she’d never met than when she was spending a whole lot of time with someone she found fun and thoughtful and interesting and good-natured and charismatic and personable and oh, so sexy....

  Someone who was exactly the kind of guy she envisioned building a life with.

  Someone she’d already found herself wanting to kiss, then actually kissing, and then wanting to kiss again.

  Maybe she should start therapy during her husband-hunt hiatus and see if outside help could figure out why she always attracted—and was attracted to—these go-nowhere guys....

  “So are you really not seeing anyone?” her mother asked.

  “I’m seeing Charlie this afternoon.”

  “The girl dog with the boy’s name that you’re keeping at the pound until you get a house,” her mother said, proving she did hear some of what Vonni told her.

  “Right.”

  “But you haven’t found a house yet?”

  “I have three to look at today.”

  “With the Realtor you’re not interested in, either....”

  “With the Realtor I’m not interested in, either,” Vonni confirmed. She’d previously dashed her mother’s hopes that the single male Realtor might change Vonni’s mind about avoiding men and dating.

  Vonni heard her mother’s name being called in the background and then she saw Elizabeth’s white-haired companion come into the room. She watched her mother’s youthfully attractive face light up at the sight of him and was glad that Elizabeth had met someone she was compatible and happy with. For her mother’s sake and because it gave her hope for herself.

  “Say hi to Vonni, Audie,” her mother instructed.

  “Hi, Vonni!” he said more loudly than he needed to, waving madly at the computer so that for a moment there was nothing to be seen but a big blurry palm going back and forth.

  “Hi, Audie,” Vonni answered, exchanging pleasantries with him.

  She knew that once he was with her mother that her mother would want to focus on him, so it came as no surprise when Elizabeth said that she’d let Vonni get going on her day and they ended the call.

  Not that Vonni minded.

  She did want to get going on her day.

  Because in spite of knowing better, she couldn’t wait to get the day that she was spending with Dane underway....

  * * *

  “So this is Casual Vonni—sandals, jeans, a couple of T-shirts and the hair down.... Very nice. I like it.”

  Vonni was never comfortable with compliments. She was happy to get them but they just embarrassed her. And Dane’s quick look, traveling from her red-polished toes to her free-falling hair, only made her more self-conscious.

  “It’s my day off...sort of,” she responded, knowing full well that if she weren’t meeting Dane, she wouldn’t have worn the best jeans she owned, the lacy camisole under her most expensive teal-green scoop-neck T-shirt or her strappy flat sandals. It was more like casual-date wear than going-to-the-animal-shelter-to-spend-time-with-her-dog wear.

  But she was also working, so she couldn’t go too casual. Or so she’d reasoned when she bypassed what she would ordinarily have worn in favor of this outfit.

  “I’m glad to see that you didn’t dress up, either—the animal shelter is a little like going to the zoo,” she added then, giving him her own once-over.

  He also had on jeans—faded and aged and broken in but not sloppy at all—and a plain white mock-neck T-shirt with long sleeves that he’d pushed to his elbows.

  He was clean-shaven and smelled of a citrusy cologne. And even wearing nothing fancy, he still managed to look terrific with his broad shoulders and muscular chest filling out the shirt just right, and jeans that hugged his hips and thick thighs to perfection.

  “Jeans on Sunday are a treat—GiGi won’t allow them at her dinners, so even though I get out of a suit, jeans are still off-limits.”

  “And you went to the trouble of parking—I was trying to save you from that,” she added.

  The three-story six-plex she rented an apartment in was just blocks outside of Denver on a street crammed with other apartment buildings. There was only street parking available for visitors and she hadn’t wanted to
inconvenience him with having to search for a spot, so she’d told him she would meet him in front. But when she’d reached the foot of the outdoor stairs that shared an alcove with the other second-floor apartment he was already only a few steps away.

  “No big deal,” he said as if it really wasn’t.

  Had this been part of her husband hunt, he would have become a likelier candidate due to his courtesy and taking the parking situation in stride. She appreciated a man who would go out of his way a little for her, and someone who didn’t make mountains out of molehills also seemed like good husband and father material.

  But she reminded herself that her husband hunt was suspended, and that he was self-proclaimed nonhusband, nonfather material, and told herself not to forget it!

  He pointed out his SUV across the street and down the block, and they headed in that direction.

  “I thought we could shop for the baskets first,” she told him along the way. “Then if you change your mind and want to opt out of the rest of what I need to do today you can just bring me back for my car and have the afternoon free.”

  “I won’t change my mind,” he said as if there was no question about it, unlocking and opening his passenger door for her when they reached the vehicle.

  And as much as Vonni knew it was a bad sign, it pleased her no end to think he really was serious about spending the entire day with her.

  He advised her to buckle up and closed her door, then rounded the rear of the SUV and got behind the wheel.

  “Where to?” he asked as he put the key in the ignition and turned on the engine.

  “One of your stores,” she told him, having decided in advance that that was probably the route she should go despite the fact that she frequented smaller boutiques for other clients. “Camden Superstores sells baskets and everything else we can put in them to welcome and make your out-of-town guests feel more at home. So I guess whichever one you want to go to.”

  “Colorado Boulevard it is,” he proclaimed, heading back toward downtown. “It’ll also give you a chance to take a look around and see all the other things you’d have at your disposal in the stores if you came to work planning weddings for us.”

  Vonni didn’t comment and instead said, “So...is there a special red carpet rolled out when a Camden walks into one of these places?”

  He laughed. “Hmm...maybe we should start doing that.”

  “Lights don’t flash, bells and whistles don’t go off when you walk through the door? There’s no security escort?” Vonni taunted him a little more.

  He laughed again. “I know, it’s disappointing,” he said in mock outrage. “I’m going to have to see what I can do about getting more perks.”

  There were a few perks, though.

  In this area of the city, a smallish, defunct shopping mall had been taken over, remodeled and turned into one giant Camdens. Rather than parking in the enormous—and crowded—lot in front, he pulled around to the rear and parked nose first to the building right beside a metal door that he had a key to.

  Once inside they went to an office area where he greeted security and the day’s manager by their first names, introduced her and said they’d be doing some shopping.

  And after gathering baskets, everything Vonni recommended to fill them, plus cellophane to wrap them in and ribbon to tie the cellophane at the top, the manager took their purchases to check out himself.

  While he did that, Dane told Vonni where he thought the wedding departments should be located in the stores, and how they could be enclosed to isolate them and decorated in the same elegant fashion as her shop.

  “That way your brides will step into a whole different world like they do in your shop. We can have the wedding gowns presented to them there, you can do your food tasting the way we did the other night. They can sit and look at examples or pictures of flower arrangements, decorations, what have you. And even though everything will be coming from Camdens, they won’t be out in the departments shopping off racks or shelves. They’ll still have their special handling and treatment, and feel as if they’re getting their moment in the spotlight.”

  Vonni merely nodded. On one hand, she was happy that was what he envisioned if she did go to work for him. But she knew that if brides could find that kind of environment and treatment through Camdens, it could severely cut into the business of shops like Burke’s Weddings.

  She discovered the final perk of being with a Camden at a Camden Superstore was that their purchases were all loaded into the back of Dane’s SUV for them. So the entire process wasn’t quite like Vonni’s usual shopping experience.

  From there they went to meet Vonni’s Realtor at the first house she was slated to look at and then moved on to the next two.

  The first was a nice Georgian two-story but it was more house than Vonni was looking for. The second was a tri-level that seemed chopped up and had far more stairs than she was willing to deal with, and the third was a small ranch-style that needed a little work.

  As she’d hoped, Dane was helpful in deflecting some of the Realtor’s hard sell. But he was also insightful and observant, pointing out positives and negatives in each place and making it the best time Vonni had had yet looking at potential new homes.

  Despite the work it needed, the third house had the feel of home to her. She could see herself there in a way she hadn’t been able to in anything else. She loved the French doors that led to the back yard that was perfect for her dog, plus the living room was warm and cozy—she envisioned snuggling up on her couch in front of a fire in the fireplace with a good book on a snowy Sunday afternoon.

  That all told her it was the right house for her, and when she decided to make an offer, it was especially nice of Dane to say he’d help her do some of the minor repairs that it needed—which, in her excitement, she told him she’d take him up on.

  They had a fast-food lunch in the car on the way to the pet-supply store. By then things between them had become so relaxed that—at Dane’s request—Vonni fed him French fries as he drove. They bantered back and forth, teasing each other as they went.

  At the pet-supply store Dane was able to lift the largest bag of dog food without help. And while Vonni had never been impressed by the teenage boys who usually did it, today she couldn’t help devouring the sight of Dane’s muscles flexing.

  She was subtle in her ogling, but subtle or not, it was impossible not to admire the display of power and strength, even though he didn’t seem to be aware of it himself.

  Then they headed for the animal shelter.

  It was a privately owned shelter with a no-kill policy—that was why Vonni supported it, and she explained that to Dane along the way.

  “So what happens to the animals who aren’t adopted?” he asked.

  “They just live at the shelter. The staff and foster families will take them home for overnights and weekends sometimes, then bring them back, but one way or another they aren’t put down.”

  What that also meant was that the shelter ended up with a lot of long-term pets with disabilities because the animals with disabilities were the least likely to find homes.

  “That’s why I’m taking Charlie. A fight with a cat cost her one of her eyes,” Vonni told him on the way in.

  “Your dog only has one eye?”

  “It’s not a big deal. She still has the other one.”

  Dane laughed yet again but cast her a glance that seemed to say he was doing a little admiring of his own.

  Charlie was a three-year-old female schnauzer. Despite the fact that she had to stay at the shelter for now, she knew that she belonged to Vonni because the minute Vonni went in the front doors of the shelter’s reception area Charlie started to yip and howl from the back.

  “Charlie always tells us when you’re here,” the shelter worker said as he came through the door behind the count
er.

  “Hi, Mac.” Vonni introduced the shelter worker to Dane.

  The two men exchanged greetings and then Mac held up the mutt he was carrying. “And this is Ralph. Someone found him trying to get into their trash for food. He’s a scrappy little guy. Maybe part terrier with this squarish face and brown-and-black coloring, and part Welsh corgi or dachshund because of the long body and short legs.”

  Ralph took the introduction seriously and lunged out of Mac’s arms toward Dane.

  Acting fast, Dane caught him.

  “He isn’t your dog, is he?” Mac asked, watching as Ralph settled into Dane’s arms as if he belonged there.

  “Maybe he just wants to be,” Vonni said.

  But Dane’s only response was to pet the dog behind the ear and say, “Hi, fella.”

  Which Vonni thought was probably par for the course—the man was anticommitment after all.

  He continued to give Ralph attention, though. He brought the mutt along when Vonni led him to the rear of the shelter to get Charlie and together they took the two dogs into the small grassy courtyard where Vonni played with Charlie every week.

  Dane got down on the lawn with her and the two dogs, and between their lighthearted chatter and playing with the animals, they managed to stay until Mac reappeared to tell them the shelter was closing for the night.

  Vonni gave Charlie a lengthy goodbye and told her she thought she might have found them a place to live so she could come home with her. Then both dogs went with Mac, Vonni took a deep, steeling breath to get her out of there without the dog she’d come to love and she and Dane left.

  “It breaks my heart to see you leave your dog behind,” Dane confided as they got back into his SUV and headed for her shop to drop off the day’s purchases.

  “It breaks my heart, too.”