by Grace Kagni
“What are you grinning at?”
“Nothing. I’m impressed with the way you drive,” he commented.
“Why? Don’t women drive in your country?”
“Sure they do but traffic is nothing like in Rome,” he confessed.
“It’s just a matter of getting used to it, that’s all.”
They arrived at the florist and as she parked the car by the store, someone pulled up to double park by her car so she got out to tell the guy he needed to move it because she wouldn’t be staying long. They started to argue and by the time a crowd had formed, the guy got into the car and drove away.
“You’re a tough cookie,” he grinned.
“No – he shouldn’t have parked there so I had every right to tell him to move it,” she said, walking into the store. As soon as she walked in, she looked around at the selection of flowers and knew exactly what Serena wanted. She walked up to the counter and waited to be served.
Liam followed Milania inside and took in the wonderful scent of fresh flowers. He watched as Milania walked up to the counter and waited for her turn. The florist was serving a woman that didn’t know what she wanted and as the lady kept changing her mind on what she wanted, he could see Milania becoming impatient. He waited patiently beside her until he saw fury setting in her eyes so he took her arm and pulled her aside. “We’re next so be patient,” he said.
Milania was about to ask to be served because they were running behind schedule but when Liam told her to be patient, she decided to give the florist another few minutes to deal with the difficult client. In fact, the client left shortly after.
“I am terribly sorry for making you wait,” the florist said to Milania and Liam, waiting to know what they needed.
“Good morning, we are here to order flowers for a wedding,” Milania said. “The wedding will be in seven days.”
“Congratulations,” said the florist to them.
“Oh, no. It’s not for us. It’s for my best friend and his brother,” Milania said, pointing to Liam. She turned to him and thought how ridiculous it was to think the two of them together. He was clearly not her type and never could be.
“I’m sorry. You make such a lovely couple,” the florist said. She went to pull out wedding albums for them to look at floral arrangements. “What is the budget?”
Milania forgot to ask if there was a budget but she presumed Serena wanted something nice within reason.
“No limit to the budget,” Liam said. “I’m sure my brother would agree to whatever the bride will want.”
The flower arrangements in the album were beautiful and Milania knew James would pay for whatever Serena wanted so she turned the pages to choose from the pictures. Serena’s favorite flower was the white orchid so the bridal bouquet must be with orchids. Then she remembered Serena saying she loved white flowers for her wedding and since the cake had red roses, Milania thought an arrangement of red roses and white flowers would be appropriate so she explained it to the florist and waited for her suggestions.
“A cascading bouquet with white and red roses, white orchids, calla lilies and snowball viburnum would be beautiful for the bride,” Liam said. He turned to look at Milania’s staring eyes. “What?”
“She would love that. How did you know?” Milania suddenly looked at him with different eyes. Was there a heart inside that body?
“Let’s just say I know what women want,” he smirked.
“I’ll bet and I was starting to warm up to you,” she whispered under her breath.
“What was that?” he asked.
“Nothing. Can we have similar flowers for the other arrangements in the church and the reception hall?” Milania hoped Serena would like what they arranged.
“Yes, of course. The theme could be white exotic flowers and we could add a touch of red such as the red rose to make it elegant,” the florist said.
“I really like that idea,” Milania smiled as she crossed off the items on her list. “We also need a centerpiece for the wedding table but could it be the opposite? What I mean is the piece would be mainly of red roses with the white flowers accenting the arrangement.” Milania could see it in her mind but she wasn’t sure if she got her idea across to the florist.
“Yes, I would say to make the bridal bouquet and the wedding table centerpiece with the same flowers but changing the tone of the colors and the other arrangements could be of white flowers with a hint of red roses. We could use tiny red roses to change the effect of the arrangements.” The florist pulled out some tiny red roses along with white flowers from the refrigerator and made an arrangement for them to look at. “Something like this but with exotic white flowers.”
The arrangement was beautiful. It wasn’t overpowering but it was elegant. Milania liked what she saw and told the florist they would need enough to fill a huge house. “The wedding ceremony will be at Villa Conti and a large party tent will be placed in the garden for the wedding lunch afterward so I’m not sure how many arrangements we would need.” Milania thought about colors and flowers but had no idea on the quantity.
“How about I pass by this afternoon to see the location so I can suggest how many arrangements would be needed,” she smiled at Milania and Liam.
“Yes, that would be wonderful. Do you know where Villa Conti is?” Milania suddenly wondered if she had the full address. She drove there many times out of habit but couldn’t remember the street address if she needed to give it to the florist. If needed, she would call Serena for the information.
“I’ve been there before so I know exactly where it is. Would 4 p.m. be a suitable time to meet?” she asked.
“Oh, yes. Thank you,” Milania said as she shook the florist’s hand.
“Thank you for your time,” Liam said, shaking the florist’s hand too.
As they walked out the store, Milania pulled out her checklist and noticed they were late for the next stop. She needed to book the hair and makeup stylist so she got into the car and wondered which way she needed to go.
Liam got into the car beside her and didn’t say a word until she put the list away and was pensive a moment. “It’s lunchtime. How about we stop for a bite to eat?” He could tell she needed a break and it would be the right time to stop.
“No, we can’t stop just yet. We have a list of things to deal with before the end of the day and we’re already behind.”
“Can I see your list?” He was curious to see how many things she crammed into the day. When she gave it to him and he noticed six items to be dealt with without a coffee or lunch break, he put the list in his pocket and decided it was time to eat. He reached over and pulled the key from the ignition.
“Hey, what are you doing? We’re never going to be able to do everything today if you do that.” She tried to reach over to get the keys back from him but he wouldn’t let her.
“Someone has to be the adult here, Milania. You need to eat in order to think straight so we’re going to have some lunch right now. Get out of the car.” He opened his door to get out and saw she wasn’t moving. “Do I need to carry you out of the car?”
“Liam, we really need to get things done quickly. The longer we wait, the harder it will be to find what we need.” The last thing she needed was to botch things up for her best friend’s wedding and she wasn’t going to stand for that.
“Listen, Doll, you don’t have to worry your pretty little mind on something like that because we’ll sort everything out after lunch.” He walked to the driver’s side and opened her door. Then he extended his hand, waiting for her to get out.
“Now you listen, Doll! This is my best friend’s wedding and no matter what you do, I will make sure she has the best wedding possible and it won’t happen if the best hair and makeup stylist or band or gown designer is not available so the sooner we do this, the better it is.” Milania felt her heart pumping quickly.
“Milania, calm down. Rest assured that we will get whatever is needed in time for the wedding. Have faith in me. S
ometimes, a phone call is all that is needed. We’ve been out since early this morning and I’ll bet all you had for breakfast was an espresso. Is that right?” He waited for her to answer.
She nodded, not wanting to let him know he was right. She was really hungry but she was afraid if they didn’t continue, they would not find anyone available.
“I promise that I know enough people to get what we need. You need to trust me.” He waited for her to take his hand to step out of the car.
She reluctantly took his hand and got out of the car. Then she followed him to a nearby restaurant but stopped at the door. “We don’t have time to eat in a restaurant. We have too many things to do and we need to be back at Villa Conti by 4 p.m. for the florist.” She was really starting to worry about the work they needed to do and his cool attitude didn’t help the situation.
“Listen, I’ll make you a deal. If you sit down with me and have a proper meal, I will arrange for the hair and makeup stylist while we eat.”
“How do you plan on doing that? Are you a magician?” She was losing her patience with him and it was starting to show. The worry lines were clearly etched on her forehead.
He took her hand and lifted it to his lips. “Doll, you’ll have to trust me on this.”
“I don’t know you and you want me to trust you?” She shrugged and followed him inside.
As they sat down, a waiter brought menus which after looking briefly at the prices, Milania decided to order a salad.
He called the waiter over to order. “We’ll order two plates of fresh pasta and then two T-bone steaks with cooked vegetables. We’ll also have a bottle of the red Valpolicella wine.” When the waiter left, he leaned over and said, “Doll, you need to eat if we’re going to be running a marathon the next couple of days. No need to worry about the bill, it’s on me.”
She felt like a fool. He could read right through her and the worst was he didn’t bother to ask if she could eat the food he ordered. “What if I’m a vegetarian?” She scrunched her eyes small to dare him on his choice of food.
“Nope. You’re not the type.”
“How would you know?”
“I know the fussy type of woman that becomes a vegetarian or decides to eat only vegan and it’s not you,” he smirks.
“You don’t know that. In fact, you don’t know me at all so how do you know that I eat meat?”
“Listen, I know more about you than what you think by just looking at you.”
“Impossible.”
“It’s the truth.”
“Okay, let’s hear it. What conclusions have you made of me in the few hours we’ve spent together this morning?” She crossed her arms, waiting to hear what he had to say. He knew nothing about her so there was no way he knew what she was like. This was going to be great!
“Well, first of all, you are very organized. You like to keep a schedule and you probably schedule when you should go to lunch or have a break. You concentrate on one thing at a time and when you have too much on your plate, you feel like the walls cave in.” He smirked, waiting to know if he was right.
She couldn’t believe how close he was to the truth. How could he tell in so little time? “So what if I’m really organized. It’s not a crime.”
He laughed. “No, it’s not a crime but sometimes you need to let yourself loose and let things happen.”
She was grateful when their food arrived because it gave her a distraction she urgently needed. The fact that he’d read her like a book shook her from inside and nobody had ever been able to do such a thing. She’d always been a very sensible and stable person. Now, one morning with Liam Miller and he managed to tear down her security.
After they had their pasta, he called a friend by the name of Chiara and asked her for the name and number of her hair and makeup specialist in Rome. Then he called the specialist and booked her services for the entire day of the wedding.
“Hair and makeup booked,” he said taking Milania’s checklist out of his pocket to see what is next. “Oh, I know exactly who to call for the car.” Then he dialed a number and talked to a guy called Fabrizio. When he hung up, he took his glass of wine and took another sip. “A white Rolls Royce James Young Limousine Wedding Car booked for the wedding day. It’s a very romantic car which is high in demand for weddings.”
“If it’s high in demand then how were you able to book it?” She suddenly wondered how he did it?
“A friend in Rome owns it and it was only a matter of making a phone call.”
“A friend owns the car?” She looked at him speechless.
“Yes now those are two more things crossed off the list,” he said, crossing the two items off of Milania’s list. Then he looked at the last two items and smiled. “The second to last can be considered done. No need to make any calls. I can take care of it.”
She looked at the list and saw it mentioned booking forty guest rooms. “How are we going to find hotel rooms for forty guests?”
“Doll, I’m the Director of Marketing of the Miller Hotels and Resorts and if I can’t find forty rooms for my brother’s wedding then I’m not doing my job properly. I’ll book the rooms by the end of the day so the last thing on your list is finding something blue for the bride.”
“Oh, I haven’t had a chance to figure out what to get Serena that is blue so I’ll need a little time to think about it.”
“How about we think about it over dessert? We still have time before we need to head back to Villa Conti.” He asked the waiter for the menus to order dessert. “What do brides normally have that is blue?”
She suddenly blushed thinking of intimate things women wear which she couldn’t tell him so she tried not to say anything but then he guessed.
“I’ll bet women wear undergarments with blue trimmings. Am I right?” His blue eyes stared right into hers. He was mesmerized for a moment by her emerald green eyes. There was a look of embarrassment deep inside that he hadn’t seen before but why?
“I guess but I’m not sure what to get.”
“Oh, I’m good at choosing things in that department so lets have our dessert and go look for the appropriate store.”
“I’ll bet you are,” she whispered as she lowered her eyes to the menu.
He smirked at her comment.
When they finished their dessert, they got back into Milania’s car and drove to Piazza di Spagna. They got out and walked the rest of the way.
“How about we get Serena something that is from the both of us that she could wear after the wedding? A charm to hang on a garter that she can wear on a chain or link to a bracelet?” He looked at her expression and smiled at her embarrassment.
“I guess we could do that. How much are you thinking of spending?” Money was tight for her at the moment. Her employer had been late in paying salaries last month and she hadn’t been paid for this month just yet.
“Doll, don’t worry about cost. I’ll get it for the both of us as a memento of the wedding. You chose a garter and then we’ll look for the right charm.”
“Liam, I would like to contribute so you’ll have to give me an amount.”
“How much can you spend?”
“I can spend up to two hundred euros but can’t go higher, sorry.”
“No need to say sorry. How about you give me one hundred and then I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Okay, that sounds reasonable. There’s a bank over there so let me get some cash out to pay you.”
“There’s no rush,” he smiled.
“I insist. I don’t make any debts.”
She walked over to the bank and took out enough cash. Then she gave him the money before they walked into a wedding store to buy the garter. While in the store, Milania saw blue charms to fix to the garter and showed these to Liam.
“No, Doll. We’ll go somewhere else to get the charm.”
They paid for the garter and walked out. Then Liam took her down a few streets as they followed the navigator on his watch and stopped in front o
f Cartier.
“Wait a second. You want to get a charm from Cartier? I don’t have the money for something like this,” she said, feeling queasy. She couldn’t let him pay for the entire amount. One hundred euros was like a drop in the ocean compared to the cost of something from Cartier.
He took hold of her shoulders when he saw her start to panic and lifted her chin to look at her. “Breathe, Doll. I’ve got this and you’ve contributed so don’t stress yourself about it.”
“How can you say that? I’ll pay for the wrapping and nothing more,” her face started to pale and when he realized she was not taking the news well, he took her to the side and pulled her into his arms.
Her legs felt like they were about to buckle but when Liam pulled her into an embrace, she suddenly felt his warmth as his scent calmed her nerves.
“Close your eyes and breathe. It’s going to be okay. It’s the thought that counts, not how much you contribute.”
When she felt her legs again, she pushed him away and crossed her arms as her anger grew. “It’s not about contributing. Don’t you understand that it’s a gift I could never buy for my best friend?”
“Don’t be angry. It’s about letting go of your emotions which you have a hard time doing.”
“Letting go of my feelings? What planet do you live on? If others contribute it would be different but it’s only the two of us and I don’t feel comfortable putting my name on a gift that I literally paid for the box and ribbon.”
“Doll, calm down and try to see it my way. Would you rather Serena has something that she will use only on her wedding day or something she can cherish and use the rest of her life?”
“You are really exasperating!”
“I always have my way so you may as well give in to me,” he smirked.
“It’s not fair,” she pouted.
“Life isn’t always fair, Doll.” He loved the way her nose wiggled when she was pouting and he suddenly felt the urge to kiss it but refrained because he knew he would get an elbow in the stomach if he tried. He took her hand and led her into Cartier.
They were served immediately and shown one-of-a kind charms. They sparkled and shone in a way that made Milania’s eyes dance by the beauty they held.