Unexpectedly You (8 page)

She takes a bite that’s half the size of her burrito, and I figure it gives me license to also make a pig out of myself
and I shove in another loaded chip.

“How are you skinny?” I point to her mound of Taco Bell.

“Woo.. out,” she tries to say through a mouthful of food.

“What?”

She chomps a few more times, swallows, and sucks down half her soda. “I work out. Last week was Jillian Michaels, this week is P90X and next week will be that Insanity workout. After that I found this really cool schedule on runner training, but I also have two Pinterest boards of workouts, and I thought it might be fun to try some of those for a week. I just need to get some kind of rating system figured so I know which ones to use later and which ones can be erased.”

“You
plan
this?” I ask, though I really shouldn’t be surprised.

“Of course
, don’t you?”

“I
plan as little as possible, but I do a little Tae Kwon Do on the weekends, like since I was a kid. Aside from that an occasional run or bike ride followed by push-ups and sit-ups, usually in front of the TV…whenever I feel like it.”

“
Whenever…right.” She takes another impossible big bite. “Sorry. I’ve been staring at food all day but never had time to eat. I’m starving.”

I have no idea why she’s apologizing for eating, but whatever.

I’m still tweaking the photo because the couple always wants to see a handful of the pictures right away, and I never send them out untouched.

“Oh…” Brooke’s hands go to her chest.

“What?”

“That gorgeous moment in time!” Her finger presses against my computer screen. “So, so perfect.”

I push it away. “That is not a perfect moment in time.”

“But look at how he’s looking at her…” Brooke pleads still staring at the photo. “With their foreheads together and smiling shyly with her beautiful hair and dress and…just…wow…”

“They’re both tired and over-stressed. The groom was sweating so hard that all I’ve been doing since pulling this picture up is erasing the beads of moisture from his forehead. He’s in a suit he probably didn’t pick and she tugged on her dress for half the shoot. She’s wearing shoes that are a size too small for reasons I didn’t understand, and I told them how to pose. I have about sixty pictures of variations on this pose, and the only reason they look happy is because I directed them to it. This is smokescreens and bullshit.”

She chokes. “You are so completely unromantic that you can’t see this for the great moment of after-ceremony bliss this is.”

“Bliss is waking up next to a gorgeous girl who didn’t bother to get dressed after sex and fell asleep next to you because she trusts you that much. It’s the moment where you can watch her, and the moment when her eyes open and she smiles because she’s thinking her version of your thoughts. The thought that simply waking up next to someone you love is a small miracle in itself.”

Brooke’s eyes are wide, and I swear she dabs at the edges of her eyes like she’s crying. “Okay.” She sniffs. “You
are
romantic. Fine. Now eat something because if all this food disappears and all you’ve eaten are a few chips, I might die.”

“Fair enough.”

Funny that I didn’t expect my best friend in Las Vegas to be a girl, but after the past couple weeks, that’s exactly what’s happened.

Chapter Nine

Brooke

I want another foot rub.

I don’t actually
need
one, but I want one. It’s on my goals for the day. Even put it in my cute calendar.
Get another Magic Nate Foot Rub by 6:00!

I let out a major sigh, sliding down my chair and wincing a little bit. “I think I put on the wrong shoes.”

Nate’s eyes don’t move from his screen. He just lets out this, “Hmmm…” and his brow wrinkles.

It is our lunch hour, damn it. Why is he still working?

I sigh again, taking off my left heel. I make a huge show of looking at the size I know has worn off from wherever it was. “I knew it,” I lie. “These are fives.”

He doesn’t move. I’m clearly dropping hints here. I’ll brush his teeth or do his hair for him again if he wants. Hell, I’ll even give him my free hand job offer I got the other day. I actually snort because that’s so evil and silly, but I can totally picture his face losing all its color if I say that out loud.

“You see,” I babble on, “I bought the fives because they didn’t have any five and a halves. And it was too good a deal to pass up. Plus, I needed heels for my first day of this one job that totally sucked, but it was a paycheck, you know? So I wore them there and it wasn’t a big deal. Like it didn’t hurt, but that was a little over a year ago and I haven’t worn them since. Now they’re killing me.”

“Uh huh.”

I want to shut his laptop on him. But he’ll probably react to that the way I do when someone swipes my phone.

I blow another sigh.

“Brooke.” He finally looks up from his screen, a slight smile on his face. “You’re not getting another foot massage.”

I feign innocence, gawking at him like I would never do such a thing. “I wasn’t even thinking about
th—”

“Those are the same shoes you wore on your interview here.”

My brows pull together and I examine the heel in my hand. Crap, I think he’s right.

I growl and place it back on my left foot. “Well, damn it.”

He laughs, sitting upright and slowly tilting his screen down. “We don’t have time anyway. We have a few phone calls to catch up on. Mom left the list in there.” He jabs his thumb over his shoulder to her office.

But wait… “There’s more?”

“Huh?”

“I took care of those calls this morning.” I swear I did. I yank out my phone and pull out my cute checked off morning list.

He presses the lid to his laptop all the way down, cocking an eyebrow at me. “The Albert wedding…”

“Needed to change their cake from white with chocolate filling, to chocolate with raspberry filling. And the blue frosting roses are now yellow lilies.”

“And Mr. Haverman…”

“Needed his tux resized. I booked an appointment for him this afternoon and the tux will be ready by Thursday morning.”

“The Fox wedding…” He looks amused now, and I sit up straight staring him dead on.

“The MOH got her nipples pierced last weekend, and you can see it through the gown. I’ve scheduled an emergency padding.” And because I know he’s going to ask, I go through my checklist, feeling kickass as I read each one off. “Gunderson wedding wants another venue for nighttime stargazing. Rivera’s want a local band, so I ordered tickets for several in-city concerts for them to check out this week. They’ll get back to us next Tuesday. Our Timothy bride got cold feet, called crying her eyes out, but I calmed her down and scheduled a date night for her and her fiancé for tonight
far
away from wedding plans. And your mom asked me to make sure you ate your vegetables for lunch.” I gesture to his empty plate. “Good thing I challenged you on who could eat more asparagus without it coming back up. You kicked my ass.”

He watches as I give him the most arrogant look I possess. I rocked it. Just tell me I rocked it, and maybe I can make that phone call to my mom about how I’m finally on top of things. After what happened at my first wedding, I really didn’t know if I’d ever get to make that call.

“You look very proud of yourself,” he teases.

“I am.” I slip out of my heels and plop a foot on his lap. “So, we have time now.”

I bat my eyes and grin, and he laughs, shaking his head at my dainty foot I got all cute and pedicured for him. But the main phone rings and it jolts us both so much I kick a little too hard and he moves a little too much to the right, and WAM! Perfect nut shot.

“
Ughnn…” he groans, shoving my leg off him and curling over.

“Crap, Nate… I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah,” he grunts up at my stifled laughter. “You sure look it.”

“Do you want me to get that?” I point at the phone, and he gives me a look like he’s in no condition to talk to anyone right now. So I jump up and answer before they hang up.

“Marks Weddings and Events. This is Brooke, how may I help you?”

“Yes, I’ve got them on the phone right now,” a rushed female voice peppers through. “Sorry, yes, I’d like Ms. Marks to plan my daughter’s wedding.”

“Sure.” I slide my laptop across the table, my stomach dancing because I’ve taken care of the small stuff, like cakes and tuxes and panicky brides, but I’ve never booked a wedding on my own. Nate is still inhaling and exhaling like I chopped off his manhood. “We’re booked out for several mo—”

“I’m well aware of that, but I’m willing to get the platinum event. And I’ll pay double if you can get us in October sixteenth.” Something muffles over the other end of the line and she screams back. “I can’t talk venues yet until I book our planner! Calm down, Lily.”

I clear my throat and bring up our October schedule, which is jam-packed. Luckily no actual wedding that weekend, but we’ve got days and days I need to rearrange to make it work.

I blink over to Nate, and he’s sitting upright at least, gesturing to the phone, mouthing, “Do you need me to take it?”

My heart thumps unevenly because I don’t want to mess this up, but I also want to do this on my own. I want that big smile from Ms. Marks, the satisfied wedding party on the line, I want to call my mom and tell her just how big a deal this is. That I did something
really
good for this job.

This is a scheduling issue. I can do this.

I shake my head at Nate, and stare at the week of the sixteenth. “Can I get your name, please?”

“It’s Tabitha Greenwood.”

“Ms. Greenwood, the week of the sixteenth is dedicated to another wedding party, but if you are willing to pay double, I will rearrange to make your daughter’s wedding our top priority that weekend, and the future weekends you’ll require for the other wedding planning events.”

I’m already copy/pasting a dozen things, moving all appointments I have on the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth to earlier dates, setting reminders to call those wedding parties with updates on those, and shooting over to our special offers to give them for rescheduling. Ten percent off for the Parker wedding if they’re willing to move their rehearsal dinner to the eighth.
Five percent off the Zundel wedding if they’re willing to reschedule bridal photos to the fifth. I rearrange, set up reminders, and talk to Ms. Greenwood about our package details all at once, ignoring Nate as he moves from his seat and into the one next to mine.

“Ms. Marks likes to do the venues herself, but if you have something specific in mind I can—”

“Bellagio. Has to be the Bellagio.”

I click over to the saved bookmark on our internet tab and put us on the waiting list with lightning speed, using the dollar signs to indicate these people are willing to pay to get this date.

“I’ve just put your party on the waiting list, and when Ms. Marks takes you through the hotel, you can negotiate monetary terms there. How is next Wednesday at four o’clock? That is Ms. Marks next available venue appointment.”

“Yes, yes, we will be there.”

“Great. Let me put you on hold for a moment while I discuss things with my
assistant
…” I give Nate a sly smile, but he’s squinting at my computer screen with a tight expression. Crap, I hope I was okay to do this.

When I press hold, I don’t even talk to him because I’m afraid he’s going to tell me to tell Ms. Greenwood to forget it, I’m new and I just messed everything up. Instead I call the Parkers and the
Zundels, patting myself on the shoulder that I got a hold of both of them and they were
stoked
with the discounts I offered. Even with those discounts, we’re making it up and more with what the Greenwood wedding will get us.

I turn the tentative changes into permanent
ones, click back over to Ms. Greenwood, and say, “Sorry about that wait. October sixteenth is all yours, as long as Bellagio pulls through. We require fifty percent payment upfront, the other fifty after the honeymo—”

“Do you take American Express?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Great, the number is…”

I’m so glad I have the computer up because she rattles it off so fast I’d never get it in my phone or written down in time.

“This should charge to your card today. Once it approves, I’ll send you the itinerary for your daughter’s wedding events. Congratulations to you and the happy couple.”

“Thank you so much for your help, Brooke.”

I smile that she remembered my name, because I hope it bodes well for me, and I thank her and hang up, a big rush of breath whooshing out of me.

“Ho-lee shit.” Nate’s rubs a hand over his forehead, and I panic, because crap, crap, crap. Did I do everything wrong there? Should I have asked Ms. Marks before I rearranged things like this? Offered discounts? Even
talked
to Ms. Greenwood?

He looks at me, and I wait for it. Maybe he’ll just fire me and get it over with, but he has his mouth slightly open and shakes his head. “Do you realize you probably just made us close to fifty thousand after expenses in twenty minutes?”

I look at the clock, the panic starting to seep out because maybe I
didn’t
botch this. “Actually… it’s been thirty-two minutes.”

He laughs, and my panic turns into something else altogether. The feeling I get when I check something off in my phone.
That accomplishment, but ten times stronger.

He picks up the main line, dialing out then handing it over to me. “Tell my mom how kickass you are, then we’re going out.
”

“What?”

He nods toward the phone, and I slide it to my ear.

“Trust me…once she hears what you just did, she’s going to take you out. Better clear another schedule.”

I smile like a giddy schoolgirl as I listen to the phone ring in my ear. I can’t wait to put a checkmark next to this one.

Make someone proud!