Chapter 43

Something else had gone wrong. I didn't know what yet, but I knew she wouldn't have asked to see me otherwise. Although I was worried about what might've happened, I didn't ask in my message because I was just happy that I was finally going to get to see her.

Whatever problem we had now, I'd solve it—but only once I'd seen her. If I risked asking via text, she might've decided not to meet with me after all and I couldn't have that.

Ever since she'd ended things, I'd only heard from her via text message and it was only ever a brief update about wedding stuff. I hadn't spoken to her. Hadn't received any messages to me personally. Hadn't caught so much as a glimpse of her in person.

After my talk with Richard, I'd tried reaching her a few more times, to no avail. All my efforts had been in vain and while I knew it had to be something big for her to have summoned me like this, I was still okay with it.

I could take anything except never seeing her again.

Immediately after I received her message, I stood up and popped into Lance's office on my way to the car. "I have to go see Serenity, so you're going to have to take the Robertson meeting by yourself."

His nostrils flared and he narrowed his eyes at me as he shook his head. "That doesn't work, Dash. They're a big client and I need you here. They requested you here."

I shrugged at him. "I'll try to make it back on time, but there's some issue with my mother's wedding. Depending on what it is?—"

"Never mind," he grumbled. "Don't bother. I'll take care of it. Just save your mom's wedding so that it can be over. God knows, I don't think the estate can handle the thing having to be postponed."

I chuckled. "You'll be fine and so will the estate. Just apologize to the Robertsons and throw in a freebie for their kid's wedding. Also, I don't postpone events. Whatever it is this time, I'll sort it out but my mother is getting married next weekend."

Lance nodded. "Let's hope. Good luck."

"Thanks."

I hated leaving him with the Robertsons. They were a big-name family and they had guests flying in from all over the world for their only child's wedding. We'd be hosting them for a whole weekend and I knew they were expecting me to be present today, which meant Lance was going to have to take the brunt of their irritation over my absence when they arrived to find out I wasn't here, but I couldn't pass up this opportunity.

Besides, even William Robertson would understand that I had to take care of my family first. Lance would be great in the meeting and I already knew the family loved him or I wouldn't have let him take it without me.

Just to be on the safe side, I had my second assistant prepare a list of complimentary items we could offer the Robertsons to make up for it. On the drive over to Serenity's offices, my heart raced and my palms got sweaty.

I couldn't remember the last time I had been truly nervous, but I sure was now. Today was my chance to apologize. To look her in the eyes and explain what had happened with that reporter. I didn't intend on leaving until I'd done it.

As soon as I walked into her office, that clean, aquatic, feminine scent enveloped me and I almost groaned out loud. God, I've missed that smell.

Not nearly as much as I'd missed the woman sitting behind the desk, though. My heart lurched when I saw her, my mouth drying up at the sight of her in person after what had felt like years. I swore, she'd gotten even more beautiful in the last couple weeks.

Her hair was loose, a curtain of gold that framed her face before it tumbled to her waist. Those gorgeous eyes seemed bluer than ever, shimmering as she looked back at me. Wearing a navy dress with a white suit jacket, she looked so professional. So put together and sure of herself.

I smiled. "Hi."

"Have a seat," she said briskly, checking something on her phone before folding her hands on her desk. "I'm afraid I have some bad news. Our chef broke a few bones in his hand this morning and his sous chef will be taking over for him. We don't have to make any changes to the menu and nobody has to know. Unless you have any objections, of course."

"No objections," I said easily. I didn't feel the same way I had in the beginning about the way she was running her business. "Thank you for letting me know so quickly. You're handling this exceptionally well. I'm sure the sous chef will do an amazing job."

The shocked look on her face told me she hadn't been expecting that at all. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened as she stared at me. Blinking a few times, she finally pressed her lips back together. "That's it? No admonishing? No snapping?"

"Nope," I said, offering her another smile. "I mean it, Serenity. You've got this. You're handling it like a pro and?—"

"Okay," she said suddenly, cutting me off as she waved at her door. "In that case, thank you for coming in and I'll keep you up to date as the week progresses."

Obviously, the shock over my reaction hadn't thawed her to me. I nodded in response to what she'd said, but I didn't get up to leave. It felt like the script had flipped and she was the standoffish one now, but thankfully, I knew how to deal with standoffish.

"Now that business is out of the way, I'd like to talk to you about that article. The reporter?—"

"No." She lifted her arm, glancing at her watch and shaking her head. "Now that business is out of the way, we don't have anything left to talk about."

"That quote wasn't what you think, Serenity," I said directly, looking into her narrowed eyes. "The guy asked me if we were together?—"

"We're not, so like I said, we don't have anything more to talk about. If something else comes up with the wedding, I'll be in touch. Otherwise, I'll see you next weekend."

"You're not going to hear me out?"

"No," she said firmly and without thinking twice about it. "I really don't want to go there again, Dash. It's over and it's for the best."

"I don't want it to be and I don't agree about it being for the best."

"Well, I'm sorry you feel that way, but it's time for you to go. I have another meeting coming up, and since we don't have anything else to discuss, we're only wasting each other's time here. I'm sure you need to get back as well."

I sighed but stood up and showed her my palms. "Fine. I'm going, but if you're ever ready to talk, give me a shout. Otherwise, I guess you're right. I'll see you next weekend."

She nodded, not even walking me out or saying goodbye. She simply picked up her phone and told her assistant she was ready for her next appointment. Knowing when not to push, I left, sighing heavily, and drove back to my office.

Although I thought I'd done a pretty good job of hiding it, I was reeling a little at how efficiently and completely she'd shut me down. In the past when I'd messed up, she hadn't been nearly as closed off to me as she was now. To be fair, I supposed this was my third strike, which probably meant I was out, but I wasn't ready to give up yet.

I just needed a grand gesture. Something that would make her realize how much she meant to me. Only thinking about her, I'd completely forgotten about the Robertson meeting until I walked back into the foyer at the estate to find a furious Lance waiting for me.

My friend was generally a pretty docile guy. He didn't get red-faced or tense about many things in life, but he sure was both of those things now. Tension rippled through him, his shoulders stiff as a board and his jaw tight as he glared at me.

"The Robertsons are gone."

I frowned. "Already? What happened?"

"What happened is that you weren't here," he seethed, turning on his heels and stalking away from me.

I followed him down the hall to his office, confused but still wondering how I was going to convince Serenity to take me back. "Relax, Lance. Just tell me what happened and I'll fix it."

"You can't fix it," he snapped, only spinning around to face me again once we were shut into his office and alone. "They wanted you in the meeting and you knew it, but you blew them off and they figured it out."

"I didn't blow them off. I had to go take care of something for my mother's wedding."

He arched an eyebrow at me. "What was it, Dash? What was the emergency that was so important that you couldn't take a meeting with a fucking ambassador?"

"The chef broke his hand this morning," I said. "The sous chef is stepping in."

Lance snorted loudly. "That's it? How is that so important? That's a text, Dash. The chef is out, but we've got another one. Do you realize that we just lost a politician whose event would've gotten us international attention because you rushed to a meeting that could've been a fucking email?"

I swiped my tongue across my lips as surprise punched a hole in my stomach. "What do you mean we lost him?"

"What I meant is that we lost him. He's not going to be using our venue after all. They wouldn't even talk to me without you, so they walked in, realized you weren't here, and then walked right back out."

I blinked a few times in rapid succession. "I thought you got along well with them?"

"I did, but they don't want me as a wedding planner. They wanted you. The St. Clair of the St. Clair Estate. People don't like it when they don't feel important enough to get your attention, Dash. You know this, and the Robertsons walked because, in their case, they were right. They weren't important enough."

"It's my mother's wedding, Lance. What did you want me to do?"

He glowered at me as he shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. How about picking up the phone and asking what's wrong instead of racing over there for nothing?"

"It wasn't nothing."

He rolled his eyes at me before he started grabbing all his stuff and shoving it into his laptop bag. "Do me a favor and stop fucking up the business for some girl you couldn't even tell one reporter you cared about. I'm leaving for the day. I'll see you tomorrow."

"I'll fix it," I promised him as he stormed past me.

"You better," he shouted as he left, slamming his office door behind him.

Once he was gone, I groaned and dropped my head back. Feeling like shit for being a bad friend as well now, I knew I had a lot to make up for, but I was going to fix things with everyone. I had to, or I was going to wind up alone and even more miserable than I had been before.

The difference was that now that I knew what it felt like to be truly happy, I couldn't just go back. It was like I'd seen the light, but the door had been shut before I could walk into it. There was no going back after something like that.

I really had changed. It was just time that I finally fucking did something about it.