Love Like Her (Against All Odds #3) - Claudia Y. Burgoa Page 0,54

move back to San Francisco.

My phone rings. Holly’s name appears on my dashboard. I touch the green button and say, “What’s new, boss?”

“Your one o’clock is here.”

“Are you at the office?”

“Maybe?”

“Why did you hire me if you’re going to be working every single day?” I try to sound like an angry mother chiding her child. “What is the point of moving across the country if you’re going to do whatever you want?”

“San Francisco isn’t across the country.” She makes a sound between a chuckle and a groan. “Plus, next weekend is the babymoon.”

“Pardon my ignorance, but what’s a babymoon? Are you sacrificing something to the moon so the baby will be born healthy? Or is it a sacrifice to Poseidon since you’re going to be by the ocean?” I laugh.

“There you go again, giving me a hard time about the baby.”

“I can’t help myself. And it’s not the baby, but your weird rituals. There’s the gender reveal, the babymoon, and the diaper shower, which I shouldn’t confuse with the baby shower. You could call the babymoon a vacation before the baby is born. Nope, there has to be some weird name to it,” I pause, clearing my throat before I say, “I’m judging you. Now, what were you calling me about?”

“As I said, your one o’clock is here,” she repeats. “Judge me as much as you like. It gives me a pass for when I judge you.”

Holly and I are more like sisters sometimes. She knows me a lot better than I know myself. I dare to say the same about her. Then again, I might be wrong, and Calvin, her husband, is the one who knows her best.

“The Wilfred-Brown consultation?” I confirm because Debbie, the receptionist, overlapped appointments yesterday, and it was a disaster.

“Yep,” she corroborates. Her tone is strange. I’m not sure if she’s concerned or just tense. That’s her permanent state of mind. Everything is urgent and due yesterday. She’s one of those people who sets her clocks fifteen minutes ahead so she’s never late. She scribbles her deadlines daily so she won’t miss them. She has a to-do list to create a to-do list.

“Hol, don’t stress out. I should be there in five minutes,” I assure her, pushing the gas pedal.

“I’m fine,” she assures me. “They came in early. I just wanted to give you a heads-up. Debbie walked them to the conference room and offered them some refreshments. She’s leaving for the day.”

I sigh. “Remind me, is this a full-service wedding or just the basics?”

“It’s an initial consultation,” she says. I hear her pressing the keys of her keyboard. “You’re not going to love this. They canceled their wedding a couple of years ago. One of them is high maintenance.”

“Which one?”

“I don’t know. They weren’t my clients. This was when Jessy and I started the company before she sold me her half and left.”

Right, the friend I never met who married a client and left her stranded with an angry bride, a growing business, and considerable debt. “Ugh.”

“You’re great at handling our special cases,” she says optimistically. “I’d love it if you can sell them the full service. We could use the extra money for a down payment on a house.”

I laugh. “If you need money, I can lend it to you.”

“That’s kind of you, but you know what they say about friendships and loans.”

“No, I don’t. The offer is on the table for you to take it,” I suggest. “Can you tell me anything about the couple?”

“He’s so hot!”

I chuckle. Since she started the second trimester of her pregnancy, every groom that crosses her business threshold is the most gorgeous man alive.

“Does Calvin know that you crush on all your clients?”

“This isn’t the pregnancy hormones, Liv,” she assures me. “The guy is smoking hot. Imagine if Rodrigo Santoro and Diego Luna had a child who grew up to be the most gorgeous, sexy, super-hot man alive.”

“Yet another reason to leave your husband,” I joke.

“And lose a client?” She snorts. “Never. I’ll just take a picture and add it to the hottie grooms’s album.”

She ends the conversation before I can remind her that I am in charge. She should be at home resting and enjoying her free time before the spawn arrives.

It takes me almost ten minutes to reach the office. Since it’s nearly one, I head to the conference room. I wiggle the handle of the conference room and push the door open. I hate to be unprepared for my meetings. I hate even