Not Quite Sheer Happiness (Event to Remember Series Book 3)

by Melissa Baldwin

  She nods. “Yep.”

  She lingers in the door and I get the feeling she wants to talk to me.

  “Is there something you want to talk about?” I ask curiously.

  She hesitates. “Um, I just wanted to thank you for giving me this chance. I really like it here,” she says excitedly.

  “I’m happy to hear that,” I reply. “You’re doing a great job. I’m just sorry it always seems like everything is out of control around here. I promise it’s not always like this.”

  She gives me a thoughtful look. “Isn’t that part of the business?” She stops. “I hope I’m not overstepping here, but I hope you realize what a great thing you do for people. I watched how hard you all worked to make that girl’s wedding dreams come true. The time and energy you put in for the most important day of her life. That’s something to be proud of.”

  I give her a grateful smile. I really needed to hear that, especially when I’m faced with difficult decisions.

  “Thanks, Tracy. Now you should go home, you’re here way too late.”

  After she leaves, I walk around my small office. I run my hand along the wall that says Sheer Happiness Events. This is what I always wanted to do, bring happiness to my clients. Tracy’s right, I should be proud and I should be happy, too.

  *~*~*

  There’s nothing worse than waking up with a feeling of impending dread. Unfortunately, in my experience, it usually turns out to be accurate. I debate whether I should call in sick to work. I don’t remember ever calling in sick to a job in my life. I guess there’s a first time for everything. Seriously, what am I saying? I can’t call in sick. Instead, I drive extra cautiously to work and not once do I pick up my phone.

  As soon as I get there, my feelings are validated. When I walk in, I find Lisa sitting with her arms folded tightly and she’s tapping the heel of her gorgeous Jimmy Choo stilettos. Damn, those are nice shoes, I think to myself. Anyway, I haven’t seen or heard from Lisa since the night of her event when I ran out in paranoid hysteria. I’m not sure why she’s here today, but whatever it is, she doesn’t look happy. Tracy and Nicole are giving each other looks but neither says a word.

  “Good morning, Lisa,” I say, trying to sound as sincere as I can. “Are you waiting on Craig?” I ask.

  She sneers at me. “No, I’m here to see you.”

  Oh, this is going to be fun.

  “Um, okay. Follow me.” I lead the way into my office and she follows me.

  I shut the door behind her and head to my chair. As soon as I sit down, Lisa completely unloads on me.

  “You have a hell of a lot of nerve,” she snaps. “Why can’t you mind your own business?”

  I’m completely lost. What is she talking about?

  “I’m sorry, but I’m not following,” I say defensively.

  She gives me a dirty look. “I know you were the one who told her.”

  Told what? Who? “I’m not sure who or what you’re referring to,” I reply.

  “I figured you’d say that,” she snaps. “I know you told Mike’s fiancée about what happened between us.”

  Oh crap. I can’t help but feel a twinge of relief even though my heart breaks for Kami.

  I lean back in my chair. “I didn’t tell her anything, but I have to admit that I’m glad she knows the truth.”

  Lisa stands up and she’s absolutely fuming. “You’re going to regret this.”

  “Lisa, it wasn’t me,” I exclaim. She ignores me and quickly storms out of the office.

  Oh man, this sucks. I better do some damage control.

  “Is Craig here yet?” I call to the girls. They reply with a collective no.

  Hmm . . . maybe I should call Kami. Is that too coincidental? I did tell her I would call today. She doesn’t have to know about Lisa’s accusation and threat.

  I wonder why Lisa thinks that I’m the one who told? I really hope Craig didn’t let something slip. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. I hope this doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass. It probably wouldn’t have come to this if I had told what I know. Here I go . . . second-guessing myself again.

  I search for Kami’s number in my phone and my heart starts to beat faster. Part of me is hoping she doesn’t answer so I can leave just leave a message.

  “Hello.”

  Crap.

  “Hi, Kami, this is Sienna Harris. I’m sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you.”

  There are a few seconds of silence.

  “Oh, hey, Sienna,” she says sadly. “Thanks for calling back, but I may not be needing your services after all.”

  This is absolute torture. I feel so bad she’s going through this.

  “Oh, okay.” I hesitate.

  “Please don’t think it’s because of you. I’ve heard about how fantastic your events are.” She adds, “I’m . . . just not sure what’s happening with wedding plans right now.” Her voice starts to shake. Oh, why did I call her? I might as well twist the knife further into her back. I have to get off the phone.

  “Um, please don’t worry about it,” I tell her. “Just keep me posted if you need anything.”

  I can hear her crying. I totally understand the pain she’s feeling. Granted, I was never engaged, but I was in love and the man I loved betrayed me. That pain and confusion is real and you wonder if it will ever go away.

  “I should let you go now,” I tell her.

  “I’m”—sniff—“sorry”—sniff.

  I have to get off this phone.

  “Please don’t apologize,” I tell her. “Take care of yourself.”

  After I hang up, I put my hands on my forehead and rub my temples. Wow. As sad as I feel for Kami, I’m so glad I wasn’t the one to have to break this news to her. Speaking of which . . . I jump out of my chair and into the lobby. Craig is showing Tracy something on his phone.

  “Craig, can I borrow you for a second?” I ask. He looks up and nods.

  “What’s up?” he asks when he comes in my office.

  I’m trying to figure out the best way to ask him about Lisa without making it sound like I’m accusing him of something.

  “Did you hear that Lisa was here this morning?”

  He shakes his head. “No, what did she want?”

  I explain what happened with Lisa and wait for him to spill his guts. But he doesn’t.

  “I didn’t say anything about Mike’s fiancée wanting us to plan the wedding,” he tells me. “She did tell me that Ace knew about her and Mike. Do you think that’s why she accused you?”

  I shake my head. “I have no idea. She’s convinced that I’m the one who told. I don’t know, maybe she’s just looking for something to use against me.”

  Craig looks down at the floor. “Man, this sucks. I feel stuck in the middle because I’m friends with her,” he explains.

  I can’t tell Craig who he can or can’t be friends with; I just hope that he’s loyal to me in the end.

  “It’s not your fault,” I tell him. “It’s just a messy situation all around.”

  Our conversation is interrupted by my phone buzzing; Ace is calling, so I ask Craig to excuse me.

  “Hey, babe,” I say cheerfully. I really need to hear his voice to distract me from all this drama.

  “Hi, love. Are you all right?”

  My body tenses up. “Yes, why?”

  “I just received a strange message from Lisa,” he says worriedly.

  My heart sinks. I can’t believe she actually reached out to Ace; he has nothing to do with this. I explain to him what happened with her visit this morning.

  “What did she say?” I ask.

  I can hear the hesitation. “Now don’t overreact.”

  That’s absolutely the worst thing you can say to someone because automatically they’re going to overreact, me especially.

  “All she said was that she would show me your true colors.”

  Shit. It’s obvious this woman is totally out to get me.

  “Ace, I swear I nev
er told Abby or Kami that I knew about her relationship with Mike. I admit it’s been eating away at me, but I didn’t tell them.”

  “I know. Just ignore her,” he says nonchalantly. Yeah right, easy for him to say.

  “I’m glad you’re okay, just don’t pay any attention to her. I will be home in a few days. I’m sure she will calm down before then, and then it will all be over.”

  Hmm . . . I may be overreacting but I disagree. I think this is just beginning.

  Chapter 20

  “I don’t understand, how have you not had any time to contact the Calamigos Ranch?”

  I’m sitting on Madison’s back patio getting a lecture from her. I understand her point, though. Ace and I finally decide on a venue for the wedding and our wedding planner isn’t doing her job. The wedding planner being me. I should fire myself but of course that’s not possible. It’s been on my to-do list, but with all of our recent unexpected issues popping up, I’m not exactly following my lists these days.

  “I know,” I agree. “Maybe we should just run off to Vegas or Fiji and get married on the beach. I already have my dress, that’s all we really need.”

  Madison burst out laughing. “Hah, like that would ever happen. You sound like Cole. Do you remember how he kept talking about cancelling our wedding and going to Hawaii? That would really piss me off.”

  Looking back now, that may not have been such a bad idea, I think to myself.

  “I remember, but would it have been so bad?” I ask curiously.

  Madison gives me a suspicious look. “I guess not.” She pauses. “Are you feeling okay?”

  I force a smile. “Yes, I’m fine. I’m just really stressed out with work right now but it’s normal stuff.”

  “Knock, knock,” Abby calls. “I got the goodies.”

  Abby offered to pick up takeout. Tonight is her mommy’s night out, and I can see how excited she is. She’s talking nonstop about the kids and all the cute things they’re doing. I think that’s so funny—she takes a night off from her mommy duties and all she talks about is the kids.

  Madison changes the subject by telling a story about a crazy client she had at her salon. She has us all laughing hysterically.

  “Oh, that reminds me, Sienna,” Abby exclaims. “It turns out you were right. Kami’s fiancé was cheating on her.”

  I don’t respond.

  “Are you okay?” Madison asks.

  “Yeah,” I reply, taking a long sip of water. I hate lying about this. “Abby, I have to tell you something. I knew about the affair between Mike and Lisa.”

  Abby stares blankly at me. “What do you mean you knew?”

  I nod. “Well, I didn’t know at first. I did know Lisa was hooking up with someone at her firm, but I didn’t know it was Kami’s man until later that night when I called you. That’s why I’ve been avoiding Kami’s calls about working with her on the wedding.”

  Madison looks back and forth between Abby and me. Crap, I promised her I was going to tell Abby a while ago.

  “I know I should have said something, but I didn’t think it was my place to break that kind of news. Especially because I don’t know her that well,” I explain.

  Abby looks upset. “I understand that, but maybe you could have at least given Kami a heads up that something wasn’t right. Maybe she could have confronted Mike, instead she was blindsided by finding emails. Can you believe she was searching plans for her wedding on the computer when she saw an email that was left open? She was devastated.”

  Oh, so that’s how she found it, I think to myself.

  “I feel horrible,” I tell her. “I just didn’t know how to handle it, so I chose to avoid it. And now, interestingly enough, Lisa came to my office the other day accusing me of being the one who told Kami.”

  Abby looks away and then back at me. “Sienna, you really have to stop sticking your head in the sand and face things head on.”

  I open my mouth to respond, but she’s right.

  “You avoided your feelings for Ace for how long? Now you’re avoiding your wedding plans? Not to mention you could have helped someone else with a situation that you know all about.”

  Madison looks uncomfortable. I’m sure she agrees with her.

  “What can I say? You’re right about everything,” I snap. I have to get out of here.

  “I think I better go.” I gather my things. I have to clear my head.

  “Sienna, wait,” Madison says.

  “See, there you go again,” Abby adds. “You’re running away.”

  I stand there facing my two best friends, the two people who probably know me better than anyone else in the world.

  “I wasn’t running away. I was just going to clear my head,” I say defensively.

  They give each other a look.

  “I don’t need you guys ganging up on me right now,” I whine. “I have so much stress in my life that I’m barely keeping it together.

  Abby smiles. “I know how that is.”

  Madison laughs. “So do I.”

  I sit back down and lay my head down on the table.

  “That’s the thing, Sienna, you don’t always have to keep it together,” Abby says softly.

  I laugh. “That’s a good thing because I’m doing an awful job.” I start to cry and I’m not embarrassed about it. Before I know it, all three of us are crying. I’m sure this is a sight to be seen—three grown women sobbing like teenagers.

  By the time we’re done talking, I almost feel like a new person. I guess true friendship is cheaper than therapy.

  *~*~*

  A few days go by and thankfully not a peep from Lisa. Craig says he hasn’t spoken to her and I believe him. Ace sent her a reply that she needed to leave me alone, and she sent some ridiculous response about me violating a confidentiality agreement. Apparently, she came close to losing her job at the firm and that’s my fault but somehow managed to talk her way out of it. She’s still convinced that I’m the one who revealed the truth, but Ace and I agree that she’s just grasping for a reason to hate me because of him. That has to be it. I’ve already decided that if she does anything crazy I’m going to call the firm.

  I’m sitting in my office trying to look for fresh ideas for my wedding.

  I look up to see Craig lingering in the doorway.

  “Are you coming in or not?” I ask him. “You know it bugs me when people stand in doorways.”

  He looks preoccupied. “I’m not sure,” he replies.

  All of a sudden, I don’t have a good feeling. Craig is not very good at bluffing, so I know he will tell me what’s bothering him.

  “Just come in already and tell me what’s falling apart this time.”

  Have I really become this jaded? Every time I turn around I’m expecting drama, and with Craig, it usually follows him. Oh, how I wish we could go back in time and he would have never met Lisa.

  He comes in and slumps over in one of the chairs.

  “I saw Lisa this weekend,” he says.

  I groan. I should have known this would have something to do with her. I guess she didn’t take Ace’s warning seriously.

  “Okay, and what did she have to say about me?”

  He dramatically throws his head back.

  “I told her that you were not the one who blabbed everything about Mike and her relationship.” He pauses. “In fact, I even told her that Kami found an email and that you had nothing to do with it.”

  He scratches his forehead. “The good news is I think I convinced her.”

  Well, that is good news, I think to myself.

  “But the bad news is it may be too late.” He trails off.

  I give him a curious look. “What do you mean too late?”

  He hesitates. “I don’t know for sure but I think she may have done an interview and review with one of those local magazines. She eluded to something like that and she even mentioned Carrie.”

  What the hell does Carrie have to do with this? This girl is insane.

&nbs
p; “Carrie? What did she say about her?” I say, raising my voice.

  “Oh, she didn’t say anything about her, but she was asking me how long we worked for her and a few other questions. I thought that was just odd.” He puts his hands behind his head.

  “Does she know Carrie?”

  He shakes his head. “I don’t think so. It may just have been a coincidence, but I thought you should know. I will see if I can get any more information out of her.”

  I fight the urge to ask him why he’s still friends with her after everything that she’s done. But after what happened the last time we discussed her, I don’t want to make things awkward around the office. Things have been really good since he came back and I don’t want to mess that up.

  So now I have to wonder if there’s going to be a negative story popping up about Sheer Happiness and/or me. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to face negative rumors, and I can get through it. Of course, this depends on what is said about me. I try to put it out of my thoughts and get back to planning my wedding.

  *~*~*

  “Mum, I can’t believe you’re already leaving,” Ace says sadly. “Your visit went way too quickly.”

  Ace, Maureen, and I are at Venice for Maureen’s farewell dinner.

  “Yes, I know,” she replies. “But I will be returning for your big day, so it won’t be too long until I’m with you again.”

  She glances at me and raises her eyebrows. Why does she keep doing that?

  Before Ace catches on to her hints, he’s interrupted by a business call, so he excuses himself. Now is my chance to ask Maureen why she keeps giving me strange looks. I’m strategically leading up to my questions, but unfortunately we’re interrupted again, this time by Lisa. This is the first time I’ve seen her since her tirade at my office.

  “Maureen, is that you?” she asks excitedly.

  We both turn to see Lisa in another one of her ultra-tight dresses. I really want to ask her how she can breathe in that thing, but I’m already on her shit list and it’s not worth it to aggravate her even more. Well, isn’t this an interesting coincidence to run into Lisa tonight . . . at Venice.