Lauren was quick to make the introductions. "Honey, this is Ms. Woods, the woman in charge of planning our wedding. Ms. Woods, meet my fiancé, Senatorial candidate Jack Fitzgerald."
A person's life is full of defining moments. Sometimes they're good, sometimes they're bad, and sometimes they're just downright brutal. Planning the wedding of the only man I'd ever really gotten weak in the knees over definitely fell in the brutal category, but then again, nothing about my life had been fair as of late.
This was just the icing on the cake.
~ CHAPTER FIVE ~
"Sorry," Jack spoke up after a full minute of staring me down like a deer in headlights, taking a seat beside his fiancée. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Woods."
I almost laughed at that. I couldn't help it. Nothing about this situation was funny, but he was such a good liar that he almost managed to have me convinced that we didn't know each other.
"Please," I said, continuing the charade. "Call me Chantel."
Lauren started talking then, completely oblivious of the tension in the air. She rambled on and on about all the elite people on her guest list, making sure to stress that money wouldn't be a factor in planning her dream wedding. Apparently her father was one of the biggest players on Wall Street, thus explaining Peter's excitement to have booked this event.
I nodded as she explained her family's wealth in great detail, but deep down I couldn't have been any less interested. This woman could talk circles around a deaf man, and Jack might as well have been one considering he hadn't said a word in minutes.
Lauren finally stopped talking long enough to catch her breath, and I took the opportunity to pull an event planning sheet from my desk.
"So have the two of you set a date yet?" I questioned, pressing my pen to the paper. I wished I could have been anywhere but there, but alas, luck wasn't on my side that day.
"We were thinking early spring," Lauren said, exchanging a look with Jack. "So preferably April or May."
"Great," I deadpanned, jotting it down. "What about theme. Have you put any thought into that yet?"
I felt strange even asking it. It was obvious that I was dealing with the kind of woman who probably planned out her next bathroom break. Of course she already had a theme in mind.
Lauren nodded, flashing me a proud smile. "Of course," she said, confirming my suspicions. "My dress is being designed by Carolina Herrera, so I was thinking maybe a neutral color pallet with floral accents. Think spring on the French coast."
I nodded and made note of it even though my inner Meryl Streep was cringing. Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking.
Jack pulled his gaze from the window when Lauren asked for his input, dragging his tongue across his bottom lip in the way he only ever did when he was agitated. For a man who was just a few months away from getting married, he sure didn't seem very happy to me. The only hint of his old self that I could discern in him was the familiar glow in his eyes when they latched onto mine, but he kept his expression neutral to keep from letting on that he knew me.
I was just about to ask the next question on my sheet when Malika popped her head into my office and asked if she could steal me away for a second.
"Go ahead," Lauren said when I glanced over at her for her approval. "I'm sure you're a very busy woman."
I couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not, but I thanked her anyway, handing her a stack of vendor catalogs to flip through before following Malika out into the hall.
"What is it?" I questioned once we were alone, crossing my arms. "Didn't we just have a talk about you not interrupting me while I'm with clients?"
"A client?" Malika snorted, entering the break room to refill her coffee mug before turning to look at me. "Since when is Jack Fitzgerald one of your clients?"
"I don't know," I said, giving her a pointed look. "Why don't you ask your fiancé?"
Malika gasped. "So you do know!" she exclaimed, completely disregarding the lack of enthusiasm in my tone. "I don't get it. Why didn't you say anything sooner?"
She couldn't be serious.
"What was I supposed to say?" I challenged, letting out a deep sigh. "You're marrying my ex. It's not exactly cause for celebration in my world."
Malika looked deeply wounded by this. "But you said you didn't care that we were dating … "
"Yeah, dating," I repeated. "I didn't think you'd go and marry the guy!"
"You make it sound like it was planned," Malika said, sounding overly eager for my approval. "It wasn't. I really didn't expect to feel so strongly for him. It just sort of-"
"Spare me the details," I cut in, stopping her in mid sentence. "It's your life and you're free to do what you want with it. Just don't let it interfere with your work, because I happen to know a handful of interns who are just itching for your job."
Malika's expression took on a harder edge. "Is that a threat?" she said, backing away from me. "Because I think we both know Peter would never let you fire me."
"Peter?" I laughed and shook my head. "Please. I'd go straight to the board with this one. I'm sure they'd love to hear all about the romantic vacations you lovebirds have been taking on the company's dime."
Malika clenched her jaw and stared me down for a full minute before turning to leave. Jada entered the break room with her lunch right when she did, glancing back at her as she took a seat at the table. "What was that about?" she questioned, unwrapping her sandwich and biting into it.
"Nothing," I said, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge. "Just a little quality control."
Jada gave me a knowing look and continued eating, not bothering to grill me for more information. "So the call with Mayor Greenwell went pretty well," she said instead, licking a bit of dressing from her fingers. "Forget that for a second though. Who's the babe in your office, and why do I feel like I know him?"
"I'm sure you do," I said, taking a seat beside her. I wasn't usually big on small talk, but making conversation gave me a reason not to head back into my office. "He's running for Senate."
"Ah," Jada said, swallowing down a bite of her sandwich with some Diet Coke. "That makes sense. I probably saw him on a billboard or something."
"Probably," I said, tossing my empty water bottle in the recycling bin. "Anyway, I should get back. His fiancée's a major bridezilla. I wouldn't want to keep her waiting."
Jada gave me a sympathetic look. "Well I'm free to help if you need it," she offered. "I have a pretty open schedule this week. Why don't you send some of your clients on over to me?"
"Really? You'd do that?"
"Sure," Jada said, pulling a sly smile. "You can start with the two that are currently in your office. You know I'm great at putting bridezillas in their place."
Dammit.
Why oh why did she have to say that?
"No can do," I said with a sigh. "Peter would kill me if I dumped a client this big off on someone else."
Jada backed off when she realized I had a point. "Well at least the commissions will be killer. You might even be able to finally afford that house you've been wanting to put an offer down on."
"Wait, you know about that?" I questioned, frowning as I tried to recall telling her about it.
Jada shrugged. "It's a small office. People talk."
"People huh?" I looked through the glass separating the break room from the rest of the office, narrowing in on Malika's desk. "Well what else do these people have to say about my personal life?"
Jada bit the inside of her cheek. "Oh you know," she said, waving her hand in the air rather dismissively. "Just the usual stuff."
"Like?" I challenged, blocking the door before she could escape through it.
Jada let out a breath of defeat. "Like how there may or may not be a guy from your past who you're still pretty hung up on..."
"And?"
"And how he may or may not be the guy who's currently in your office," Jada trailed off, looking down at her feet.
"Jada!" I gasped and shook my head. "Why'd you make me think you didn't know who he was?"