The Proposal Playbook, page 21
With a sigh, Daisy leaned against the counter with her. “Apparently you weren’t the only one who got in his head.”
“But…you guys talked, right?”
She nodded. “We did and we’re good.” Then she couldn’t help but smile. “Really good.”
“Okay, whew!” Sagging a little with relief, Josie laughed. “Thank God! I don’t think I could have lived with myself if I screwed everything up beyond repair and lost you as a friend.” Reaching out, she squeezed Daisy’s hand. “You may have started out as just an employee here, but now I consider you one of my best friends. I’m always going to worry about you and try to look out for you and I’ll probably do and say something stupid again, but…next time I promise to talk to you first before…you know…going in with guns blazing.”
Laughing, Daisy shook her head. “Thank you. I appreciate that, and you should know that I consider you a good friend too. I was dreading coming in here today because I was afraid you were going to fire me and then I’d be out a job and a friend.” She paused. “Well, three friends. No…wait. Four. Emilie’s right in there too.”
“We all make a good team and there was no way I would fire you. The girls would have lost their minds on me. Trust me, I do not need the emotional drama right now. I feel like these pregnancy hormones have me on a roller coaster already.”
“I’m sure they’ll get better, but…I don’t think I can guarantee that,” she said before turning to make herself a cup of coffee.
“Yeah, Skye was a bit of a nightmare when she was pregnant and we all thought it would get better once she had Bella, but that was not the case.” Then she grinned. “That’s why we hired you!”
“Really? I’m the result of post-baby hormones? How?” Once she was done making her coffee, she was about to ask for more details, but Lea called them back in because they had a lot to discuss this morning.
“Story for another time,” Josie promised as they walked down the hall to the conference room.
As soon as everyone was seated and had their breakfast in front of them, Lea spoke. “Okay, my wedding is a month away. Finally! The schedule is going to be a little hectic and we have so many things to discuss to make sure we’re all on the same page and that we can truly cover it all.”
“You know we’re going to have to bring in extra staff,” Skye said. “At least the whole week of your wedding. With Josie and me being in the bridal party and being involved in all the activities that go along with it, we need to make sure Daisy’s not overwhelmed. Do we think the new girls are going to be ready to step up by then?”
“I don’t think they’re ready to take on anything huge, but they’ll definitely be able to be gophers wherever we need them,” Josie replied.
“It will be nice to have them there to assist,” Daisy agreed. “And there’s nothing else on the schedule that we have to cover, right?”
“Well, we did block out that whole week for that exact reason,” Josie commented. “We wanted all of our attention on the wedding.” She looked over at Daisy. “You are obviously running point that weekend for all the events, but that doesn’t mean you can’t talk to us if you need something.”
“I kind of hate how you’re not going to get to be a guest,” Lea said with a small pout. “It feels wrong for you to be working at my wedding.”
“It’s totally fine, Lea,” Daisy assured her. “I’ll still get to be there and see you get married. It’s going to be very exciting and I’ll be snapping pictures behind the scenes for you to see when you get back.”
“Ooh…I like the sound of that!” Lea looked over at Emilie. “And you are not only in charge of all the baking once I get dragged from the building…” She glared adorably at Josie and Skye. “I still think I should be allowed to work on my own wedding cake since I designed it.”
“No!” they all yelled at her.
“Fine. Whatever.” She focused on Emilie again. “But you’re also going to be the head baker while I’m away on my honeymoon. That’s three weeks total between the wedding and honeymoon that you’ll be in charge. I haven’t looked at the schedule, but I’m hoping you’ll get some days off in there, but if you don’t…”
“Lea,” Skye interrupted. “We’ve got it all under control. Emilie is going to have time off. Don’t worry.”
“I know, but…”
“Stop worrying,” Josie said firmly.
“But what if she gets a difficult client or…or someone changes their order, or…”
With a loud and dramatic sigh, Josie rose and walked out of the room, only to return a minute later with her tablet. She sat back down and made a big show of scrolling before putting her full attention on Lea.
“The Tuesday after your wedding, we have a consult with Erica and Carl Worthington. Their daughter Susan is getting married in June of next year. Wednesday we’ve got consults for a sweet sixteen and an engagement party. Thursday’s consult is with Todd and Mandy Roberts for their daughter’s wedding, which is tentatively scheduled for next May. We have an engagement party on Friday night. On Saturday, we have a retirement party, an 80th birthday party, and another engagement party. And Sunday is the Gibb wedding.” Looking up at Emilie, she asked, “Any of those ready to throw you over the edge?”
Laughing softly, Emilie shook her head. “No. So far so good.”
“Alrighty then,” Josie said with a smug smile aimed at Lea. “Shall we continue?”
“You really don’t…”
“The following week,” Josie went on, cutting Lea off. “We have a bit of a bizarre consult.”
“Uh-oh,” Daisy murmured. “Bizarre how?”
“Oh, wait!” Skye said. “Is this the snooty couple that came in? The ones who want to talk about the weddings of both of their sons?”
“That is correct!” Josie said excitedly. “The Snootingtons!”
“Wait, that’s not really their last name, is it?” Daisy asked in confusion.
“No,” Skye replied with a laugh. “But once you see them in person, you’ll know why we’ve named them that.”
“So you’ve met them already?”
“Oh, yeah,” Josie said. “Remember the wedding we did last month at that estate in Pinehurst? Well, they were guests there and pretty much backed me and Skye into a corner to tell us about their sons and how they were getting ready to start planning their weddings.”
“The gist of the conversation was that whatever the Macons spent on their daughter’s wedding–the one they were currently guests at–they wanted to spend double,” Skye said with a hint of disgust. “I almost feel bad for the poor women marrying into that family.”
“Why? For all you know, the sons are just as obnoxious as their parents,” Daisy said. “I hate people like that who think that just because they have money they don’t have to have manners.”
“We tried to explain how it’s customary for the bride’s family to be the ones to come in for the consult, but there seemed to be some sort of weird situation…” Skye explained before looking at Josie. “Did you catch what they were saying or did I miss something?”
“No, you didn’t miss anything. It seemed like the one son–the younger one–was marrying a girl who did not come from a well-to-do family…”
“And they made a face when they said that,” Skye interjected before Josie went on.
“So they’re taking care of paying for the wedding and would bring her parents in once they deemed us worthy of handing the plans.”
“Oh my God,” Daisy said. “Please tell me they did not say that?”
Both women nodded. “They did.”
“Yikes.”
“And what about the second son?” Emilie asked.
“Yeah, there didn’t seem to be a bride, per se,” Skye said slowly.
“It’s complicated,” Josie finally said. “All I know is that it seems like they’re planning a wedding and hope to plug in a bride at some point. There was a lot going on and maybe we both heard things wrong, but…there it is.” She looked at Emilie. “They did request a cake testing so you’ll need to prepare for that.”
“No problem,” Emilie said confidently. “I can prep one of those with my eyes closed.” Then she glanced over at Lea. “But I won’t. I swear. My eyes will be wide open and everything will be perfect.”
“I trust you,” Lea said with a smile. “I just don’t want you to be so overworked that you’ll be ready to quit when I get back. You’re my right hand! And arm! Basically, you’re my baking other half, so please don’t leave me!”
Emilie reached over to soothe her and Daisy figured they should all let them have their moment.
Once everyone was calm again, they talked through the rest of the schedule, both leading up to Lea’s wedding and for the weeks after. As soon as everything was covered, they switched to a more relaxed mode since they didn’t have any consults scheduled until later in the afternoon.
“So?” Skye asked, looking directly at Daisy. “Are things back to normal between you and Xander?”
She felt herself blushing. “They are,” she said. “He apologized repeatedly and we had a really good conversation.” She paused and smiled. “Actually, we had a lot of good conversations all weekend.”
“Is conversation code for sex?” Lea asked, “Or do you really mean a verbal conversation?”
“Lea,” Skye hissed. “Jeez.”
“What? Like we don’t share all the inappropriate details of our love lives with each other around here?” Then she looked at Daisy. “Did you like the cupcakes I picked and the frosting flavors?”
Now her face felt like it was positively on fire. “Um…yeah. The caramel buttercream was a particular favorite.”
“Ooh…good to know,” Skye said with a wink.
“Maybe…I should go,” Emilie said as she slowly pushed her chair back from the table.
“Don’t you dare!” Josie scolded. “You’re one of us now and you’ll be dealing with these kinds of conversations while Lea’s away, so you might as well get used to it.”
“Well, don’t scare her!” Lea cried. “I just convinced her not to quit!”
“I wasn’t going to quit…”
“But you might if these sex fiends keep things up!” Lea argued before shaking her finger at all of them. “Behave yourselves while I’m gone. I don’t want to have to spend the next few weeks prepping this poor girl for your shenanigans.”
“But you will prep her on making sure there are always extra batches of frosting, right?” Daisy asked, because she couldn’t help but join in the teasing.
Beside her, Josie gasped softly, her hand fluttering over her heart. “It’s official. Daisy is officially one of us. I’m so proud!”
“Me? What did I…?”
“You finally overshared a bit and openly admitted that you’re just as twisted as the rest of us! This makes me so happy!” And then she started to cry.
“Pregnancy hormones,” Skye said, and waved her off. “So what did he say, Daisy? How did he manage to turn things around?”
“Well…”
“And, can I just say, we were all a little worried,” Skye quickly explained. “I mean, we knew of his reputation and even though Josie may have gone about it the wrong way, she only did it out of concern for you.”
“I’m right here!” Josie said weepily.
“Yes, we know,” Lea said before shoving a stack of napkins towards her. “Wipe your face. Your mascara’s running.”
“I know,” Daisy said somberly. “And Josie and I are good. As for Xander, I’d really love it if no one held his past against him. I know it’s not the greatest, but…I’ve seen some major changes in him since we started dating and if I’m okay with all of it, you should be too.”
Everyone nodded rather than saying anything.
“And as for what he said and did…” She told them about the apology playbook.
“Oh my goodness! I love that! Where did he get the idea?” Lea asked.
That’s when she told them about her proposal one. “Once I started helping my brother, I would research ideas online and there were so many great ones that it seemed a good way to keep track of them. And because I’m a total nerd who likes things to be orderly and organized, I created the binder. Xander saw it the night he came to my place to install a security system. I had joked with him about how I would love to offer that as a service here,” she admitted bashfully, “but I’m not sure there’s really a call for it. So…”
You could have heard a pin drop in the room and that made her extremely nervous.
“I’m not trying to change anything or tell you we have to offer something you don’t want to,” she quickly explained, wishing she had kept that last part to herself. “I mean, by the time anyone comes here, they’ve already proposed, so it’s kind of a moot point, right?”
It was another solid minute before anyone spoke.
“I think it could be interesting,” Skye said as she looked at both Josie and Lea. “It’s something completely new and different and would probably require the help of a PR firm to hammer it all out, but…I think it could be exciting.”
“We could even offer it as part of our party planning services,” Lea joined in. “We could be the ones to go in and prep things. Remember when that rock star proposed to the reality star and he had thousands of roses and candles set up on the beach? Why can’t we be the people who help stage that?”
Josie looked over at Daisy, her expression unreadable. “If you’d be willing, we could probably find an editor and formatter and publish your book and have it for sale on our website and at our table when we do bridal conventions. Would you be interested in adding author to your resume?”
Her eyes went wide. “Are you serious? You’d really want to do that?”
“Of course! Why wouldn’t we? When the three of us started this business, we thought we would only plan weddings,” Josie told her.
“I worked as a baker at a local bakery,” Lea said. “I didn’t think I’d ever be able to own my own baking business. We started our wedding planning out of Josie’s apartment at the time. It was almost a year before this version of Meet Me at the Altar truly formed.”
“Lea’s baking is what really helped us to branch out. People would meet us at weddings and ask if she would do cakes for other occasions and that’s when we decided to try offering our party planning services to a larger audience,” Skye finished for them. “And here we are. So, of course, we’re always looking to expand. And it’s kind of cool that you’re going to add your stamp to the business.”
“Oh my goodness! This makes me so happy! I never thought I could do all these things! Quitting teaching and taking the leap into party planning is probably the best decision I’ve ever made!”
And it was true. In making that move, she’d not only found her forever man, but she found her forever friends—her people.
Life was good.
“So basically we’ve got four different real-time scenarios that we can provide that can have different outcomes. Do I have that right?” Xander asked Monday morning during the Seal Security weekly meeting.
“Exactly. Trainees have to deal with the reality that not every situation is going to have a happy ending. They’ll need to deal with the fact that sometimes you can’t rescue people. The bad guys go rogue or perhaps they were lying all along. We’ve got basic outlines,” Daniel explained, “but there isn’t a way to do any kind of script because every action will have to happen live in the middle of the action.” He looked at Xander and Knox. “I think once we get this thing going and work out all the kinks, we’re going to have something outstanding on our hands. I’m sure there are other organizations out there that do this kind of specialized training, but I think it’s important on our level as well.”
“I agree,” Knox said. “We still need to find a roster of ‘actors’ who can help so none of the trainees miss out on the experience. Have either of you talked more with Josie and Daisy about helping out when they’re free?”
“There is no way I’m letting Josie do it. She’s pregnant and when she’s not working, then I want her relaxing and getting pampered. No mock abductions or break-ins. Nuh-uh. No way. Plus, her hormones are making her a little crazy right now. I can’t even imagine what she’d do in a mock drama situation.”
“Jeez, relax,” Knox murmured before looking over at Xander. “And I suppose you have issues too?”
“Daisy actually wants to do it,” he said with a grin. “But that’s only because she’s awesome at martial arts and thinks she can escape.” Laughing, he added, “I’d kind of feel bad for whoever’s in charge of watching over her because she’s like a tiny ninja and no one would see it coming.”
“Oh, come on! That’s awesome! Seriously, sign her up!”
“The decision is ultimately hers, but…I’d rather she not.”
“Why the hell not? Think of what an asset she’d be!”
But Xander shook his head. “She already works hard all week and a lot of weekends. When she’s off, she deserves to rest.” He tapped his pen on the table before the grin took over his face. “Plus, I’d have to kick any guy’s ass who’s alone with her, so…yeah. I’d end up going rogue and ruining things, so it’s probably for the best that she doesn’t do it.”
“Oh my God! You guys are so damn lame!” Knox yelled as he threw his pen across the room. “What happened to you two? I never thought I’d see the day where you’d both be so whipped!”
“Knock it off,” Daniel said. “You just don’t get it. Someday you’re going to meet someone who you’re going to want to take care of and protect, and you’ll do the same thing. Believe me. I never thought I’d be married less than a year after getting out of the Navy. Hell, I didn’t think I’d ever get married at all!”
“Dude, you were married in like three months. It was stupidly fast,” Knox countered.
“It was fast, but there was nothing stupid about it. Best damn decision I ever made and now we’re having a baby. Life is good.”
