The Engagement Embargo

by Samantha Chase

  “I disagree. Look at my brother,” Josie went on. “I think he loved the idea of being married so much he was willing to settle to make it happen.”

  Leanna nodded. “How’s he doing? It’s been…what…a little over two months since the whole left at the altar thing. Is he getting better?”

  Skye picked up her plate and focused on counting crumbs rather than speaking up. There wasn’t anything wrong with Elliott that he needed to “get better” from. She hated when people talked about him like he was sick or something because he wasn’t.

  What he was was one hell of a kisser.

  And that one kiss was playing on a constant loop in her head for days.

  Yeah, she’d basically run from his house and sped away in her car and refused to look back.

  Coward.

  Yup. That was her–a big, fat coward.

  Okay, maybe that was a little dramatic, but…kissing Elliott was a mistake. Although…technically, he kissed her first.

  It was the way she reacted that was the mistake, and obviously he must have felt the same way because he hadn’t come after her.

  Ugh…why did he finally have to notice her when he was banned from getting involved with anyone? And why did he have to be such a good kisser? No wonder women were always drawn to him! If Elliott had gotten down on one knee right then and there, Skye would have agreed to marry him too!

  “…yeah, so I think it’s a good thing for him,” Josie was saying, and Skye realized she had seriously zoned out. “You can ask him yourself when he’s at the office on Monday.”

  “Um…why exactly is Elliott coming to the office?” Skye asked as she once again put her cake plate down.

  “He’s taking me to lunch,” Josie explained with a big smile. “I was shocked when he called and asked, and I totally jumped at the chance. We’ve seen each other a lot since the breakup, but we’re usually with my folks. It will be nice for it to be just the two of us.”

  “How sweet!” Leanna said. “Aww…I love it! That’s so nice that he’s reaching out like that.”

  “I thought so too. Plus, he almost never takes time off of work; he usually eats lunch at his desk, so this is huge for him. I think this embargo thing is really working!”

  Great…

  “Good for him! Oh, I can’t wait to see him,” Leanna went on. “If Elliott can be happy being single, I guess I can too, huh?”

  “There’s nothing wrong with being single,” Josie said wearily. “No one needs a significant other to complete them or make them happy. You should be happy with yourself.”

  “How are you even a wedding planner?” Leanna asked, shaking her head. “You talk to people about the importance of love and happily-ever-after, and yet you’re the most jaded person I know!”

  “I’m not jaded. I just don’t think we need someone us to make us whole. Plus, after watching Elliott’s journey over the last twelve years, I certainly don’t want to deal with any of that. No thank you.”

  That made Skye speak up. “So you’re saying all the things that used to speak to your brother–things like how your parents and grandparents all have these amazing relationships–hold no appeal to you?”

  Josie was quiet for a moment. “You know, I guess I just don’t look at it the same way he does. Sure, they’ve all been married for a long time, but those relationships aren’t perfect. My parents fight, my grandparents fight…” She sighed. “Elliott just never realized that there’s nothing overly special about our family. Lots of people have long marriages. There’s no magic to it and you certainly can’t force magic where there is none.”

  “So sad,” Leanna murmured as she finished her cake.

  “Oh! But that does remind me,” Josie said as she sat up straighter. “My nana and pop-pop–my dad’s parents–are going to be celebrating their sixty-fifth anniversary and they want us to help plan the party! They want to renew their vows and Nana swears she’s going to wear her original wedding gown! How cool is that?”

  “So romantic!” Leanna said with a sigh, and yet all Skye could think was how at one time, this was on the long list of things Elliott wanted for himself.

  Not anymore…

  Rather than voice that opinion, she opted to lick the remainder of the frosting off of her fork.

  It was safer that way.

  “You’re awfully quiet tonight, Skye,” Leanna observed. “You doing okay?”

  “Just tired,” she lied.

  “I think we all are,” Josie agreed as she stood up. “Let’s get things in motion so we can possibly crawl into bed as the sun comes up.”

  Sadly, that was exactly the way it went. After the entire venue was cleaned up, their supplies were taken back to the Meet Me at the Altar offices, and the staff was paid, it was nearing five in the morning. Skye dragged herself to bed and said a quick prayer of thanks that it was Sunday and she had nothing else to do but sleep.

  The next time she woke up it was after lunch and she enjoyed being lazy and doing nothing but laundry and having her dinner delivered.

  It was glorious.

  On Monday morning, she hit the ground running. The week always started off with a staff meeting–which was really just Skye, Josie, and Leanna sitting around their consultation table with coffee and bagels as they talked about the upcoming schedule for the week. Most of the time they stayed on task, but sometimes–like today–things went off the rails.

  “She called me at six thirty this morning wanting to know if we could accommodate an additional thirty guests and still stay on budget!” Josie explained, her Starbucks coffee precariously close to spilling.

  “What did you tell her? I mean, if they want to stay on budget, then something else has to go!”

  “That’s what I told her and she demanded a meeting today at eleven.”

  Both Skye and Leanna groaned. “Oh, come on, Jos,” Skye whined. “Why? Why would you agree to that on a Monday morning?”

  “What was I supposed to do? This is going to be one of our biggest events in the history of Meet Me at the Altar! We need to quickly come up with some options on how we can add thirty people without breaking fire codes and the budget. And if we can make that happen, do you have any idea how much business we could gain from this?”

  “I hate when you’re right,” she grumbled.

  “Okay, let’s start with me because I can say with great certainty that adding extra dessert won’t cost them anything extra. I can easily add an extra tier to the cake or we can even work on going with slightly smaller slices if she doesn’t want to change the overall design of the cake,” Leanna offered. “I believe we can also get by without having to add too much to the cocktail hour menu. It’s the main course that’s going to blow the food budget. Thirty extra people will more than likely add another five to seven thousand dollars to the overall cost. In the grand scheme of things, that’s not too terrible when you consider how much they’re already spending.”

  Skye nodded in agreement. “I say we lay that out from the get-go–give her the dollar amount it’s going to cost for the additional people and then mention how we’re throwing in the extra dessert for free. Think that will work?”

  “No idea,” Josie replied. “But we have to start somewhere, right?”

  Once that was agreed upon, Skye went to work up new paperwork so everything would be ready just in case. Leanna went and put together a tray of mini-cakes and cookies to offer, and Josie got on the phone with the venue they were going to be using to see if they could accommodate the extra guests. By the time eleven o’clock rolled around, they were all completely prepared and ready to go.

  Unfortunately, the Buchanans weren’t easily convinced and clearly wanted a discount of some sort. Skye let Josie do the bulk of the talking and it took almost ninety minutes to come to an agreement. While Josie wrapped things up, Skye wished them a good day and practically sprinted back to her office.

  And ran right into Elliott.

  “Oh!” she cried before he reached out to stea
dy her.

  “Sorry,” he said, smiling down at her. “You looked like you were anxious to get back here. Is everything okay?”

  “Fine,” she said breathlessly. “Everything’s fine.”

  Except I want to grab your face and kiss you.

  Bad Skylar!

  “So…how are you?” he asked softly.

  The sound of his voice and his nearness mesmerized her. She bit her bottom lip as her gaze met his. “I’m good,” she replied, her voice equally soft.

  He nodded. “I’m here to take Josie to lunch, but…I had hoped to see you and talk to you. You ran from the house after we had dinner together and…” He paused and shook his head. “I should have gone after you. I hate that you left that way.”

  So did she, but she wasn’t going to admit that to him. Swallowing hard, she said, “It was for the best. We never should have done that.”

  “I disagree.”

  And when his hands were still holding her and he was still smiling down at her, Skye felt herself melting and wondered what harm there could be in one more kiss.

  Clearly, Elliott must have been feeling the same way because they were each moving a little closer. And when she could feel his warm breath on her cheek, she practically sighed with relief.

  Just another few inches…

  “Oh, Elliott! I forgot to text you!” Josie said as she breezed into the office and walked over to her desk. “I’m in crisis mode with a client and won’t be able to do lunch today.”

  Luckily, she wasn’t looking at either of them, but Skye still all but jumped out of Elliott’s grasp. She made her way over to her own desk and began shuffling papers just to keep busy.

  “I made reservations at Winston’s, Jos,” Elliott was saying. “And I took some extra time off this afternoon.”

  Josie turned and looked at him. “I really am sorry. We just finished our presentation with a very important client and I’m having lunch brought in while we finish up.”

  “Why?” Skye asked. “I thought everything was good. I never would have left you alone in there if I thought they were still upset.”

  But Josie just waved her off. “It’s all going to be fine. I’m just smoothing things out so they leave here in a good mood and hopefully that will lead to them sending people our way. Leanna’s even making up some chocolate mousse because Mr. Buchanan mentioned it was his favorite dessert.”

  “Do you want me to go back in there with you? Maybe if all three of us are there…”

  “No,” Josie told her as she scooped up a file. “I think they’ll feel like we’re ganging up on them. Leanna’s just going to make the mousse and bring it in and go. It’s no big deal.”

  “If you’re sure…”

  “Um, hello!” Elliott interrupted. “Remember me? The guy you were supposed to have lunch with?”

  “Elliott,” Josie whined. “Don’t make me feel bad about doing my job. I would never do that to you.”

  “You’re right,” he said. “I’m sorry. I was just really looking forward to hanging out with you and you know how Winston’s is one of my favorite places.”

  “I know and again, I’m sorry.” She paused and glanced over at Skye. “Take Skye with you.”

  “What?” they cried in unison.

  Nodding, Josie explained, “Yeah, the two of you should go. Elliott, I know you hate to eat out alone and I sort of sprung this whole crazy client situation on Skye this morning. She deserves a good lunch. So, you two go and I’ll talk to you both later.” And before either could comment, she walked out of the office.

  Elliott was totally fine with the change of plans, but when he caught the look of sheer panic on Skylar’s face, he realized he was the only one.

  “So,” he said with more enthusiasm than he felt, “you ready?”

  If anything, her eyes went wider. “You’re not serious, right?”

  “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “Elliott, think about it! You’re not supposed to go out with anyone–even if it is just me,” she argued lightly. “I know Josie said it was okay, but…I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

  There was a part of him that completely agreed with her–going out for lunch together was going to confirm what he already knew.

  He should have paid more attention to Skye while they were growing up.

  The few times they spent time together–alone–made him realize just how much they had in common and how amazing she was.

  Unfortunately, with his reputation and the whole no dating for a year thing, he really was courting disaster by pushing the whole lunch thing.

  And yet…he couldn’t stop himself.

  “Come on, Skye,” he pled with just a hint of groveling. “Don’t make me go to lunch alone. You know Sullivan’s has the best menu and I happen to know you are a fan of their lobster salad.”

  “How…how do you know that?”

  She was sitting behind her desk again and Elliott placed both hands on it and leaned in a little close. “We talked about favorite restaurants and meals the day you drove me home and I remembered.”

  “Oh.”

  It was adorable how flustered she was and he knew he had to do something to get her to agree to go out with him.

  Now he sat down on the corner of her desk. “You know my sister is going to wonder why you didn’t go with me. How are you going to explain that to her?”

  “I would tell her that I already had lunch plans,” she countered.

  “And do you? Have lunch plans?”

  “Well, no. But Josie doesn’t know that.”

  “Hmm…and you’re okay with lying to her?” And before she could respond, he was going on. “You’ll probably end up grabbing a salad or something from one of the local fast-food places because you can’t go and sit someplace nearby to eat. Everyone around here knows you and Josie and Leanna and there’s always the chance that it will come up that you didn’t actually eat wherever it is that you’ll tell my sister you ate.”

  “I don’t really think that’s going to happen,” she said, but she didn’t sound overly confident.

  “Of course, you could possibly get away with it, but I have a feeling you’ll feel guilty because my sister is the queen of throwing a guilt trip and are you sure you really want to subject yourself to it?’

  “Oh, alright!” She pushed away from her desk and stood up. “Geez! Josie is good at throwing guilt around, but she’s got nothing on you! Good grief!” Reaching down, she grabbed her purse before walking around to him. “And just for the record, I don’t appreciate being badgered.”

  Elliott went to comment but she was already walking out of the office and he had no choice but to follow.

  Out in the parking lot, Skye insisted on taking her own car but he wore her down on that too and once he had her in his car and they were on their way, he let himself relax.

  “So, what’s the deal with the difficult client?” he asked.

  Skye explained the whole situation to him and it seemed a little crazy for anyone to expect to add thirty extra people without having to pay for them.

  “You didn’t cave, did you?”

  “I wouldn’t say we caved, but we’re certainly jumping through hoops to keep the cost down for them. They’re still paying, just not as much as they should.”

  He shook his head. “I wouldn’t have given in to them. I mean, everyone’s always looking for a deal, but this was way more than asking for an additional dessert or maybe an upgrade on the menu.”

  “Believe me, I agree, but Josie is convinced that if we give them their perfect day that it will lead to more high-paying clients. I’m not sure I believe her, but I’m going to have to trust her on this.”

  “And if it doesn’t?”

  She shrugged. “It’s not like I’m going to do an I-told-you-so dance or anything, but the next time something like this comes up, I’ll probably remind her that it didn’t work out.”

  “That seems fair.” He glanced over at her. “I know you don’t l
ike to make waves.”

  With a small frown, she sighed. “Yup. That’s me. Boring, unwilling to rock the boat, Skylar.”

  “What?”

  “Never mind. It’s nothing.” Then she straightened and pasted a smile on her face that didn’t quite meet her eyes. “So, what was the special event that had you taking time off to go to lunch with Josie?”

  Before he replied, he made a mental note to come back to the whole unwilling-to-rock-the-boat thing because he felt like there was a story there.

  “You know my sister and I are very close and even though we see each other for Sunday dinners with our folks whenever she’s not at an event, there are times when it’s nice for it to just be the two of us.” He shrugged. “I get the feeling she’s not comfortable talking about anything deep or personal when we’re with them, so I wanted to check on her and make sure she’s okay.” Then he paused. “Do you think anything’s going on with her?”

  “Elliott, even if I knew something, I wouldn’t tell you. Josie’s one of my best friends and if she didn’t want to tell you something, then I wouldn’t betray a confidence.”

  And that brought them right back to her not making waves.

  The rest of the drive was made in relative silence except for the random comment about the weather and traffic.

  Normally, it would make Elliott crazy – the lack of conversation–but it wasn’t like that with Skylar. He was comfortable with her and didn’t feel the need to always be ‘on’ or entertaining her.

  It was kind of freeing…

  At the restaurant, they were seated and heard the lunch specials and even though he was fairly certain she was going to order the lobster salad and he was going to order the beef tenderloin with truffle fries, they went through the motion of looking through the menu.

  And five minutes later, they ordered exactly what he thought and they were finally forced to talk.

  “Other than dealing with difficult clients, how’s business been?” he asked, hoping to break the ice and get Skye to talk.

  “Well…we had an event this past weekend that we didn’t think was ever going to end,” she began, and talking about her job seemed to put her at ease. Within minutes she had visibly relaxed and returned to her usual animated self. Elliott realized he enjoyed listening to her talk and really liked hearing her laugh.