He shouldn’t be allowed to be this charming when I was trying so hard to remind myself of all the reasons to keep my distance. But to my heart, it was like he’d never left, had never hurt me—every time he smiled, it fluttered, full of butterflies.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sharon,” Cade said. “My mother’s running late, as usual.” He winked at us like it was a private joke. “But she’ll be here soon to join us.”
Of course, I had never met either of Cade’s parents when we’d been dating. I’d respected the fact that he didn’t want to talk about them. But I was deeply, painfully aware of my background, and wondered whether he kept me hidden from his parents because he didn’t want them to see the person he was dating—a poor girl living in the trailer park. However, his fiancée would have met his family obvio
usly. Jealousy pricked at me. Of course, Melinda James, the actress famous for her high-end fashion style, would be helping Cade and his fiancé make this wedding the best that it could be.
Stop being jealous! I hissed at myself. There was no reason for me to be upset! I should be glad to have dodged a bullet, that I wasn’t spending the rest of my life with someone as selfish as Cade. But I couldn’t help the sick feeling in my stomach that had me wishing he’d loved me enough to make our relationship work and introduce me to his family.
“We can wait for her,” I said. “It’s not a problem. There are other things we can discuss.”
“You just call me back when you’re ready to discuss the menu,” Sharon said, smiling.
Cade thanked her profusely, making Sharon blush before she headed back to her office. He should’ve been an actor, I thought bitterly, followed in his mother’s footsteps. He sure had the talent for it.
Cade turned to me with a grimace. “I am sorry about my mother. She’s made being fashionably late her motto.”
“It’s not a problem,” I repeated.
“She’s going to be involved, but I’ll try and keep her to a minimum.”
“It’s your wedding,” I reminded him. “And I’ll be following your tastes and your choices. Not anybody else’s.”
This was something I’d say to people before when planning their events—coworkers, friends, and family. Inevitably, various people would try to get involved and offer their opinions, trying to get their vision and ideas be materialized. But I was loyal to the client that hired me, the client whose event it was, be it a baby shower or a work event or a birthday. However, saying this line to Cade, I could feel my voice getting soft. But I looked into his eyes, telling myself that I wouldn’t let him see that he still affected me, that he would be treated like any other client.
Cade smiled, as if in gratitude. I didn’t want his gratitude. I wanted him out of my life again, so that he could stop messing with my head.
“We’ll need to rent a lot of things,” I said quickly, desperate to change the subject before Cade could say anything and prolong my inner panic. “Normally, the wedding venue has tables, chairs and such, but as you’re doing this at your lake house, we’ll have to rent everything. We’ll even need to rent the supplies to set up a dance floor, including lighting.”
Cade nodded. “All right. What do you need from me?”
“I’d like to get an idea of how many people will be attending and what kind of ceremony it will be. And because of the tight timeline, I need to start reserving things now.”
He grimaced. I stopped myself from thinking about how adorable he looked. “I haven’t gotten a vision yet, but there will be at least two hundred people.” He paused in thought, “Tables and chairs sound like a great idea.”
I laughed, unable to help myself, “I love your strong opinions on things.”
Cade laughed as well. “Yeah, well, I hadn’t given much thought to all of this. I’ve kind of had to wrestle this whole planning thing away from my mother, so I never expected to be working so closely with the planner.”
“I’m used to working with brides, some of whom have been planning their wedding since they were little girls—so they have strong opinions.”
“I’m sure you’ve got some crazy stories of demanding brides,” Cade replied, smirking conspiratorially.
Don’t swoon, I reminded myself sternly. I wouldn’t fall under his spell again.
But it couldn’t hurt to relax around him, just a little. After all, I didn’t want him to know just how badly he had hurt me. Or how much it still hurt to think of him. I didn’t want Cade to know that he had that much power over me.
“Oh, plenty,” I said, laughing. “It’s not just the brides, either. I’ve dealt with some spoiled teenagers who wanted a sweet sixteen party, company reps who needed to impress their boss…it’s nuts!”
“What’s the worst one?”
“Definitely the one with the ice sculpture,” I said with a chuckle. “The bride wanted this huge ice sculpture of—I think it was dolphins or something—and it was just so big and unwieldy. And of course, it was a warm day and ice melts quickly…it was such a mess! I had tried my best to deter her, I had told her that we could do something else because for a wedding in June, it just wasn’t going to work out the way that she wanted it to. She refused to listen. I mean, after a while, it’s just easier for me to do as the person asks and let the chips fall where they may. I try to guide my clients but it’s their event, at the end of the day.”
Cade spread his arms wide. “Well, lucky you! I’m a blank canvas for the most part. I had kind of resigned myself to the idea that my mom would be dictating everything, so I never thought about what I wanted. But now, I’m happy to listen to what you think is best and then go from there.”
I knew it was probably just because he was caught off-guard on what he would want and because he didn’t want to do all of the work, but I had never had a client who wanted to hear what I thought was best and work off of that. Almost all of them had their own vision that they wanted me to make true. Cade looked so earnest, like he was really listening to me, and it warmed my heart.
Stop it, I chided myself.