Chapter 9

Driving to Serenity's offices with my mother and Richard had been a mistake. I sat in the backseat while Richard drove, listening to her go on and on all the way back to her house about how much she loved Serenity.

"She just always makes me feel so taken care of," she gushed with a wide smile on her face. "So understood. Do you know how many wedding planners wouldn't have taken this seriously? At our age, some people think we're silly for wanting to get married, or that it's not a big deal because it's not our first rodeo."

"You were looking at other wedding planners?" I asked dryly, even if I had to admit that Serenity was growing on even me at this point. "It's almost like you don't have the best one in the city sitting right here."

Twisting in the passenger seat to look back at me, she laughed and shrugged one shoulder. "You know what I mean, honey. I just appreciate the effort she makes for us and how she doesn't make me feel like an afterthought bride."

"An afterthought bride?" I frowned. "You're Diana St. Clair. Anyone who treats you like an afterthought isn't giving you the respect you deserve."

"Yet, many people looked down on us when we first contacted them about venues," she said, glancing at Richard. "Tell him, honey. Tell him about that guy who laughed when he found out you were the groom and not the father of the groom."

A pang shot through me. "Is that true?"

Richard grunted, shaking his head as he shrugged. "When you get to a certain age, it doesn't matter so much who you are, son. Some people still think you're stupid or that you've lost your mind. We only checked out a couple other venues before we decided on Serenity's, but our overall experience before wasn't positive. She's doing a wonderful job, though. I'm glad we found her."

My eyes narrowed, but as I shoved my hands into my hair and pulled back, I guessed I could see how that might've been true. I'd had a few older couples in my time. Quite a lot actually, but many of even my own staff treated them differently.

Mom wasn't wrong. Weddings for older people were sometimes regarded as an afterthought. As somehow less important than those of the twenty-something monster-brides with their outlandish ideas and loud demands.

"Well, whoever they were that made you feel that way, they're idiots," I said, turning to look out the window as Richard got off the freeway.

With the ocean in the distance, I thought back to our meeting with Serenity and the way she'd silently checked in with me while Mom had been talking about my dad—even indirectly. Too many people these days were desensitized to the hurt of others, and I counted myself among that number.

I never sympathized. Never empathized. Trauma, grief, and loss were a part of life. As was death. It had always simply been something that the bereaved had to live with, but after that meeting, I wondered if I'd ever cared about a client the way Serenity did.

I liked that about her, the way she treated my mother and even myself with understanding and respect. It had made the experience more tolerable for me and I doubted I had ever done that for any of our clients.

After my talk with my mom the other day, I'd made my peace with her impending nuptials. I was even happy for her now, but it still didn't make the thought of her actually marrying another man any easier. Yet Serenity had softened the blow.

We arrived back at my mother's house. I said my goodbyes and immediately got into my own car to get back to my office. Serenity was still front and center in my mind, though. All the way to the estate, I thought about her and how beautiful she'd looked this morning—and how unusual it was for me to be thinking about that.

Her shirt had clung to her curves, accentuating every full line of her voluptuous body, and the violet had made her eyes pop. It was also a thought I'd never had before, but it was true. I was taken with her, I suddenly realized.

Attracted to her, sure. I'd known that for a while now, but after this last meeting, I was also just a little bit intrigued. I'd been horrible to her. She'd had every right to call me out on it and yet she'd smiled and told me that she understood. Then she'd shared personal details about herself to demonstrate her understanding.

It was odd how she'd been kind even after how intentionally rude I'd been to her. No one was really like that anymore, or at least, that was what I'd thought before. That the world was full of uncaring, closed-off people—like me—who were only out for themselves.

Except for my mother, who had always been warm and caring, and apparently, Serenity. Few people had made me question myself like she had, but especially not after only a couple meetings.

As I drove onto the estate and followed the long, winding road to the main building, I put her out of my head. Ultimately, we were still an incredibly popular, sought-after venue and event-planning company. Despite my lack of empathy, we were doing well, so I supposed it wasn't a prerequisite for being in our industry.

My day started with a bang. My assistants swarmed around me as soon as I stepped into the spacious foyer. "Mr. St. Clair, we've had over four hundred guests confirming their attendance for the fundraiser."

"There's an issue with the catering," another said.

Yet another spoke over the first two. "Misty Blue is insisting that we honor her rider."

Mentally pulling myself together, I turned to Adam, who'd spoken last. "Cancel Misty today. Right now. We've had artists banging down our doors to perform at this event. We're raising money to feed underprivileged children, for God's sake. If she's not willing to compromise, then I don't want her anywhere near here on the day."

He nodded and hurried down the expansive corridor that led from here to the administrative wing. I turned to Belle next. "If there's an issue with the catering, sort it out. If you can't, bring me the list of alternatives I approved. We're not taking any shit on this one, people. If we've already received positive responses on over four hundred invitations, that means we'll already have over eight hundred of the most influential guests in the city. Let's get it right."

With that done, I turned to Rick, my executive assistant and right-hand man. "Why have we only heard back from four hundred? We sent out almost double that amount of invitations."

He gave me a swift nod. "Yes, sir. We've received negative responses from fifty-three, but we only sent out the invitations last week."

"Start following up," I said. "This is a major event and our family has been hosting it for almost two decades. I'm not fucking it up now."

"Yes, sir," he said before taking off after the others.

Alone now, I chose to ascend the spiral staircase rather than using the elevator, and I looked out over the ocean and the rolling green lawns with the stables in the distance. While we were highly regarded as a wedding venue, we also specialized in many other types of functions and we hosted our fair share of charity events.

My dad had started the tradition, and while I wasn't exactly altruistic, I had continued the tradition and I would never stop. It was too big a part of my father's legacy, and if anything, I only planned on growing the number of charity events we hosted in his honor.

Getting lost in work, I sat down behind the bank of screens on my desk and dove in, only surfacing hours later when my mother called. It was almost the end of the day and I smiled, thinking she was checking in on the progress we'd made for the Hunger Foundation event.

"I've got it handled, Mom," I said instead of greeting her. "Trust me, we're going to raise more money than ever before and it's going to be the biggest one yet."

"I have no doubt, but I was calling because we're leaving for San Diego and I only just realized I forgot to take the paperwork I signed for the food back to Serenity. She called a little while ago to ask, and when I checked in the car, I saw that we never took it out."

"Okay," I said slowly, my head so far away from her wedding right then that it took me a second to process what she was saying. "Give her the go-ahead telephonically and tell her we'll bring the papers in next time."

"Could you go get it and take it back to her instead?" she asked, practically pleading. "She needs it today and we just don't have time to stop there before we go."

"I understand, but I'll just call her and let her know it's all taken care of. There's no reason she needs the paperwork to place the orders."

"No, but apparently she does. Her suppliers won't do anything without signed contracts in hand. She said they've been burned too many times and left holding the bag on expensive ingredients that they then need to foot the bill for."

I groaned. "They know who we are. We won't?—"

"Please, Dash?" she asked softly. "I don't expect any special treatment from anyone and I don't want to ask them to bend the rules over something as simple as this."

Squeezing my eyes shut, I gripped the phone tighter and exhaled slowly before I nodded. Honestly, I didn't even know why I was trying to get out of it. I was busy, but if I could drop it off after hours, it wasn't like I'd be sleeping in my office tonight and Serenity's wasn't that far out of the way.

"How about I send Rick over to collect it from you and I'll take it to her as soon as I can?"

"Thank you," she said, her relief palpable. "We're about to get on the plane, but I've left the papers with Constance. Tell Rick she'll have them ready when he arrives."

Before I could even say goodbye, she hung up the phone and I chuckled, wondering how my mother always seemed to get a yes from me. Whatever voodoo magic she possessed, I'd been left with no choice, so I picked up my phone and called Rick.

After quickly giving him the instructions to collect the papers, I contemplated calling Serenity and telling her that we'd simply send them to her electronically, but I dismissed the thought when I realized I'd just promised my mother I would take them.

In this day and age, I could hardly remember the last time I'd insisted on physical copies of anything, but on the other hand, my suppliers trusted me implicitly. I'd been working with every last one of them for years but Serenity had only just taken over her ex-husband's company.

It made sense people would still be treating her as a newcomer. After all, it was exactly what she was to the rest of us.

With Rick on the case, I got back to work, finishing off the last of the arrangements for the fundraiser that I'd had on my schedule for the day. I couldn't get quite as lost in the work as I had been before, though.

Knowing I was about to see Serenity again proved to be an unwelcome distraction. I'd only just managed to get my mind half off her when Rick strode into my office, a bunch of papers in his hands. "Here it is, boss. Want me to scan them in for you?"

"No, apparently we've gone back to the eighties and the originals need to be delivered in person. Today."

He frowned, his dainty features scrunching up as he cocked his head at me. "Are you sure?"

"Unfortunately." I sighed, saving the documents I'd been working on after I checked the time. "On that note, I should get going. If I miss her and these papers don't get to her today, the world might just explode."

Rick chuckled. "If you say so. Do you want me to drop them off?"

I paused. The thought hadn't even occurred to me before, but even as I started considering it, my head was already shaking. "It's better if I do it myself. My mom's peace of mind and all. Thanks for offering, though."

He seemed taken aback for a moment, and it took me all the way down to my car to realize why. That had possibly been the first time I'd either explained my decisions to him or even thanked him. Once again, the realization gave me pause.

I didn't quite know what it meant that I'd done it or why I had, but it felt strangely good to be walking away after a pleasant exchange. I must be losing my mind.

By the time I got to Serenity's offices, it was well after five. The doors were open, but I didn't see anyone still at work. For a moment, aggravation shot through me. If I'd wasted a trip, I was not going to be happy about it.

"Hello?" I called out, but nobody answered.

Heading up to her office, I decided I'd leave the papers on her assistant's desk if I had to, but I wasn't coming back here just for this. I wasn't a courier or a messenger, and frankly, my strangely good mood was dissipating fast.

I never had any time to waste and it was ridiculous that she'd insisted on physical copies being delivered today to begin with. Walking down the hall once I reached her floor, I called out again but still got no response.

Muscles tensing, I'd almost reached her office when I heard a muffled cry. My heartbeat faltered. Something inside me suddenly panicked and I broke into a sprint.

Rushing the rest of the way down the hall, my blood pounded in my ears and I didn't even knock before I yanked open the door. Racing in blindly, I braced myself for trouble. A possible attacker or a client who had gotten too worked up about the arrangements.

Breathing hard, I barreled all the way to the middle of her office before I saw her, standing slightly off to one side with her shirt off, her back to me, only wearing a dark purple bra. Instantly, my eyebrows jammed together, but my heart started racing for a whole different reason.

Evidently, she wasn't in trouble, but she was half naked and there didn't seem to be anyone else around. What the hell did I just walk in on?