One Day Like This: A feel-good summer romance
Page 27
Again, Tessa felt surprise. It hadn’t even crossed her mind that everyone automatically looked to her today instead of to Blake, recognizing her true role for the first time—or that the handyman would realize it. She hadn’t imagined that he would avoid coming for any reason other than escaping his role as the fake wedding planner.
“Thanks,” she said. “It meant a lot to me, truly. It’s my first wedding to plan, and it was nice to be the person everyone asked for help, and not just their assistant.”
That’s how it would have been with Stefan, truthfully. Natalie was right: Tessa would never have planned an event on her own so long as he was part of the business. But with Blake instead, it had been her guidance and expertise that led them in the planning process. Some of the moments they shared had felt almost like a real partnership, at times. If he had been a real event planner, and not merely pretending.
The musicians had struck up a soft, steady love song that Tessa’s mind couldn’t place at this moment as she gazed at the handyman. A few guests were dancing near the band. Blake held out his hand.
“A quick spin?” he said. “Just so we look like we’re enjoying ourselves?”
Tessa managed to hide any roses that might be trying to bloom in her cheeks. “I suppose it’s only right that Bianca sees the expert wedding planner Blake Ellingham blending among the guests,” she said.
“You don’t have to call me that anymore, remember?” he answered, as his arm encircled her back. His mouth was now close to Tessa’s ear. “We’re no longer business partners after today.” His free hand took hold of hers, encircling it, too. “Just ‘Blake’ is fine.”
“Just ‘Tessa’ is fine as well.” Leaning against him, she realized her body was tense; not with discomfort, but nervousness. Her heart was beating fast inside her, the fingers touching Blake’s almost trembling, like the symptoms of someone falling into a deep attraction: the first stages of her old romantic crushes. You’re being very stupid and impulsive right now, she told herself. It must be the tux he was wearing. Or the atmosphere. Weddings made people wish for romance and magic, didn’t they?
“Do you think this wedding turned out to be a success?” Blake asked her. “The way it was supposed to be in your mind?”
“I think it’s been pretty unforgettable so far,” said Tessa. “In a good way,” she added. “Of course, sometimes we can’t tell the difference until time has passed. Then, sometimes, we see the good parts instead of just the parts that didn’t turn out like we imagined.” She remembered the fondness in Bianca’s voice at the memories of her last-minute haphazard wedding, despite her disappointment over the missing traditions and celebration.
“No disasters today,” said Blake, looking around him at the guests dancing, the rest laughing and talking as they mingled. “The wedding couple and Bianca must be happy about that.”
“They look happy,” agreed Tessa. From where she and Blake were dancing, she could see the bride and groom sharing their slice of cake, smiling into each other’s eyes—and not for the benefit of the photographer capturing the moment. “That’s what every wedding planner wants to see when they look at the couple whose big day they planned,” she said, watching them as Blake was doing, too.
“The romance that made it happen,” said Blake. “You see more than just the big, beautiful event you planned when you look at the two of them, don’t you? You’re looking at why it was all worthwhile.”
He was right. That remark expressed perfectly what she felt at this moment, gazing at Molly and Paolo in their happiness. It surprised her so much, this understanding of her work, that her power to reply was momentarily stripped away.
“Here he is,” said Bianca, who had spotted them now. “I must thank you. The altar was beautiful, the flowers were beautiful… it was a day that Molly and Paolo can be so proud of all their lives.” She clasped Blake’s hand in one of her own, and Tessa’s in the other. “How can I thank you both?” Her glance was fixed on Tessa more than Blake now, as if, somehow, the grandmother realized at last who had truly planned this day for her grandson and his new wife.
“It was our pleasure,” said Tessa. “All of us.” She met Blake’s eye with a tiny smile. “I know I speak for Natalie and Ama, too.”
“I want to thank them also,” said Bianca. “It was all so nice. Just as you said it would be.”
“I’ll be recommending you to anybody I know who’s looking for an event planner,” said Molly, as the happy couple joined them. “You really did make this day perfect.”
“And you kept Gran from spending every dime she had, too,” added Paolo, as he hugged his grandmother close. “Even if she did insist on paying for Molly’s dress and the limo in the end.”
“I would pay for more, if you would stop being so stubborn,” said Bianca.
“We want you to save your money for yourself,” said Molly. “You need to live on your pension, not pay for champagne for us. And whatever’s left in the tin will help you out with bills, too.”
“Oh, I spent half of it already,” said Bianca, waving her hand dismissively. “Since you wouldn’t let me pay for the whole wedding, I got you something else. Two tickets for your honeymoon and a nice hotel. Next week, when you take time off from work, you can go.”
“Gran, we’re just going upstate for a few days,” said Paolo. “We don’t need your money for that.”
“Upstate? That’s not a honeymoon,” scoffed Bianca. “I got you a proper one. To an island resort.” She fumbled with the catch on her purse, then produced two plane tickets in an envelope. There was a reservation slip tucked inside for an exclusive resort on a Caribbean beach.
“Gran!” said Molly, her mouth dropping open. “How much money did you spend?”
“How could anybody let you do this with only a few hundred dollars?” asked Paolo. “It’s a scam, Gran.”
“That’s all you thought I had?” said Bianca. She laughed. “No, no—I have lots more. Your grandfather Pietro—he had life insurance. So I saved the money so I can buy you a wedding… but when you said ‘no,’ what else can I do?” She shrugged her shoulders. “I wasn’t going to waste twenty thousand dollars.”
Twenty thousand? Paolo and Molly exchanged glances of shock. So, for that matter, did Tessa and Blake. All this time in Bianca’s tin, the cash from her husband’s life insurance policy had been waiting, easily worth more than double the money spent for today’s wedding.
“What?” said Bianca. “Why do you all look so surprised?”
In response, they all laughed.
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“A toast to our first successful event,” said Tessa, lifting her glass. “And may the next one be just as wonderful.”
“I’ll drink to that,” said Natalie, who brought her espresso cup to clink against Tessa’s water glass. Ama chimed in, with a paper cup bearing a local teashop’s logo. “We couldn’t have asked for a better first client than Bianca.”
The cake was gone and so was the rest of the food, leaving the reception’s room bare, except for a few stray flowers decorating the table linen. All three of the Wedding Belles’ official partners sat at the empty table as one of the restaurant’s waitresses coiled the vacuum cleaner’s cord and wheeled the appliance out of the room. The French doors stood open, letting in the evening’s breeze from the terrace garden outside.
“I guess this definitely means we’re up and running,” said Natalie. “Time for me to apply some of my serious business skills to our operation’s plan.”
“And your needle to some more dresses,” said Ama slyly, as Natalie pretended not to hear.
“We have to pay our handyman for fixing our leaky roof, too,” said Natalie, casting a glance toward Blake. He was leaning against the terrace doorway, polishing off a slice of wedding cake from a plate.
“Don’t worry. I’m not planning to sue you before your business succeeds,” he told them. “We’ll work out a payment plan of some sort. You can mail me five dollars a week until you’ve paid your bill.”
“I’m afraid to ask.” Blake was smiling, but they could detect his suspicion about where this was leading.
“We could offer you a partnership,” said Tessa. “A stake in our business. You’d receive a fourth of our net profits from everything we earn.”
“I already have a business,” said Blake gently. “And it’s not as a wedding planner, or a consultant, or whatever this is. The last thing I want to do is take anything unearned from you—”
“You can take it if we’re insisting on giving it to you,” said Ama.
“You deserve it,” said Natalie. “You really helped us out, and not just by fixing our broken building—”
“Which, by the way, we can’t afford to pay you for just yet,” Tessa reminded him. “So we’ll need all the help we can get in order to pay that bill.”
“I won’t have anything to contribute,” he protested. “I can’t just stand around in a suit or a tux, trying to look like I know what I’m doing in front of your clients.”
“But you could help us in other ways,” said Tessa. “When it comes to locating something special like that altar—or choosing a historic venue for hosting weddings.”
“Or you could just hang around at all our meetings and look good in a suit,” added Natalie. “That would make us happy.”
Was it a mistake, or was Blake blushing now? “I don’t know.” He shook his head.
“You won’t be pretending anymore. And you really don’t have to show up at any of our events, if you don’t want to,” said Tessa gently. “You can be a silent partner. And you can always quit sometime in the future, and we’ll pay you back. Somehow,” she added.
“Then again, there might be lots of things you could help us with,” said Ama, stressing the “might” in her statement. “You obviously have an artistic eye.”
“True,” said Natalie. Blake’s face had reddened even more in response to these suggestions about his “fourth partnership” including actual contributions.
“It’s up to you, of course,” said Tessa, who was more serious now. “But we really are sincere. We want to do this for you. We need you. At least, you would admit that our crumbling building needs you,” she amended, though she wasn’t thinking about the help he had given to their kitchen and second-story floors. But she wasn’t sure he would admit to the value of the other ways he had helped them.
Blake had begun to waver. “I don’t feel completely right about this,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “But I wouldn’t object to being paid for the work I’ve already done, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course,” said Natalie.
“And if that means sticking around… I can do something to help you out on the side, probably. Just for a little while,” he added. “At least long enough to patch up some of your building’s worst problems.”
“Think of all the beautiful handiwork you could do around the place,” coaxed Natalie. “And you’ll be earning money just for being there.”
“We’ll call you our consultant,” said Tessa. “How does that sound?”
He sighed. “I’m really going to regret working for you three, aren’t I?”
“That depends,” said Tessa. “You might really have a flair for the business.” A playful smile accompanied this statement. The handyman rolled his eyes. A look of reluctant resignation crossed his face—no words of refusal came in reply to Tessa’s offer.
“I’ll be in the garden,” he told them. “Rethinking my decision to agree to this, if I’m smart.” His three new business partners glanced at each other as he stepped outside, watching him mull it over in the garden.
“You think he can live with this?” Natalie asked.
“Wait and see,” said Ama. “I think he could really surprise us.”
Tessa glanced toward the figure in the garden. “I think you’re right,” she said. “He’s already surprised us a few times, hasn’t he? There’s something a little different about him. He didn’t stick around just to spackle our walls for mere pennies these last few weeks.” The unexpected facets of the contractor’s personality promised more was yet to come. He could be sensitive, almost charming at times. If she wasn’t careful, she might find herself thinking about all of this more often than she should, too.
“Here’s to happy endings,” said Natalie, lifting her cup. “For Paolo and Molly, for Bianca, and for all the future events we plan.”
“And may we all find our own,” added Ama.
As her partners sipped the last of the champagne, Tessa stepped outside to the terrace, with two champagne flutes in hand, approaching the contractor leaning against the terrace’s little table. “Here,” she said, handing one of the glasses to Blake. “It’s the last of the bottle. We’re drinking a toast to the future, so you should join us.”
“You don’t need me for that,” he said. “You fixed your future on your own. All I did was strictly what I was asked to do.”
“I think we do,” said Tessa. “At least to fix our leaky roof and bad pipes. But… also because we owe you a lot more for what you did for us.”
“Not that again,” he said, groaning. “Will you stop thanking me?”
“That’s kind of hard to do, after everything you managed on our behalf,” she said, crossing her arms. “Becoming The Wedding Guru… finding that amazing altar…”
“I already told you. I’m happy to be paid for my regular work in your building,” he said. He smiled at her, and his voice became gentler. “Let’s leave it at that. Although… I would like a crack at finishing that little room downstairs that needs new wainscoting. If you want to say ‘thank you’ properly.”
“You are impossible to work with,” declared Tessa. “Unbelievable.” She shook her head, and leaned to kiss Blake’s cheek in a tender gesture—only he turned his head at that exact moment, and her lips made contact with his own in a kiss.
Quick, light, and almost accidental… but Tessa felt electricity in the second her lips touched his. Was she imagining things, or did his lips actually return the pressure—reach for her own in the second before she broke from that touch in her surprise?
She gazed at him, wide-eyed, too surprised to find the words. In Blake’s eyes was a look that might be amusement or amazement, but certainly not unpleasantness. A hint of a smile appeared in them, and Tessa felt her lips mirroring his.
“I should—go back inside,” she said, when she found her voice again. “See if the girls need some help.” She set her glass on the patio table, but couldn’t help glancing back once more at their fourth partner before she went inside. Their eyes met again and Tessa felt an emotion both familiar and forgotten: a mixture of passion, hope, and excitement. The same feeling she used to get daydreaming about her future and how she would spend it making other people’s perfect moments come true. Looking into that clear blue gaze, Tessa felt this might be a perfect moment for her, though—and maybe, just maybe, others were in store for the future.
Electricity. Chemistry. Whatever else it might be, she hadn’t been imagining things when she felt it in Blake’s arms before. Maybe that kind of magic—the romantic, inexplicable kind—wasn’t as crazy as she believed after all.
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A Letter from Laura
“Everybody loves a wedding,” the old saying claims, and in my writing career, I’ve dreamed up several weddin
g scenarios, from perfect vows to romantic disasters. But One Day Like This has been something new and unique for me, and I hope that, if you enjoyed the world of Tessa, Natalie, and Ama as much as I did, you will sign up below for notifications about upcoming releases. Your email address will remain completely private, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
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Thank you for joining my characters on this adventure in their fictional hometown of Bellegrove, a city with historic atmosphere, cultural flavours, and a little Southern charm to boot. It’s a promising setting, I hope, for more romantic stories yet to come as Tessa, Natalie, and Ama learn to navigate the sometimes-complicated world of wedding planning and the complex scenarios in their own love lives.
I also hope that if you enjoyed this book, you will leave a review sharing what you loved about their story. To learn more about the series, please join me on social media using the links below—I look forward to sharing with readers soon the exciting romantic sequel in this series!
Thanks for reading,
Laura Briggs
Laura’s website.
Published by Bookouture
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Copyright © Laura Briggs 2018
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Laura Briggs has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.
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