his serial killer cooties messing up her couples’ happy day, but she really didn’t have it in her. He’d been great at the apple wedding. Stacey and Felix hadn’t known he wasn’t one of Silver’s regular servers. He’d done his job and had observed in such a way that no one had guessed. Given that, she supposed there wasn’t really a reason to object.
Pallas yawned again. “Sorry. I’ll rally.”
Nick looked at her. “You’re being ridiculous.”
“You don’t think I’ll rally? I really will.”
He squeezed her hand. “Not that. You’re working too hard. Ryan is still a baby and while I understand you want to be back at work, you also want to be with him. You’re running yourself ragged doing both.”
“But I need to be in the office. Renee has been doing both our jobs for too long already.”
“Agreed.” Nick smiled at her. “There’s an easy solution. Make Renee a partner so she can manage things, then hire staff to take care of the day-to-day wedding business. You two can’t keep doing it all yourself. The business is getting too big. You need help.”
Pallas nodded slowly. “You have a point. I need to think about it.”
She smiled at Renee, who was doing her best to sit there calmly, as if they weren’t discussing her future. She had no idea what to say or do other than look normal and wait for the game of the night to be announced.
Take her on as a partner? Would Pallas want to do that? Would she want it for herself?
She knew the answer even as she mentally asked the question. Of course she did. She wanted to be a part of something. She wanted to have a place in Weddings Out of the Box and the town. Not just an “I work here” place but one that said she totally and completely belonged.
Hope blossomed. She told herself it was early days yet and a lot of things could change, but still, a partner!
The Boardroom servers began passing out the game of the night. Renee glanced at the familiar cover of Risk and tried to remember how to play. She was too excited to think.
She felt Jasper reach under the table and lightly squeeze her hand. She looked at him and he winked, as if he got what she was thinking and he was there for her. Which was a lot to read into a hand squeeze/wink, but she was going to go with it, regardless.
* * *
JASPER SAT IN the Weddings Out of the Box conference room and had no idea what to expect. Renee had texted him that she had a meeting with Hanna and Graham and that he was welcome to attend. But when he arrived, she’d told him it was a video conference meeting, which was how a lot of her prep meetings were handled.
“Not everyone can get to Happily Inc a dozen or so times before the wedding,” she said, setting up her computer and tablet. “Hanna and Graham live relatively close, so we’ll see them more than we see most of our clients, but even they don’t want to drive in every time.”
She had him sit across from her at the large table, then passed him an agenda. “We’re hoping to cover all this today. Not every decision will be made, but we’ll make a run at them. I have a few samples to show them but the most important issue is the timetable. They’ve booked the venue for an entire weekend. I want to work out the hours to make sure the contract doesn’t need to be amended and that we’re charging them the right amount.”
She smiled. “Too much information?”
“Not yet but I’m sure we’ll get there.”
He’d never helped plan a wedding so he had no idea what to expect beyond what he’d read in the bridal magazines. He’d ripped out to-do lists to bring with him. Hanna and Graham’s wedding had been fast-tracked so they wouldn’t have the usual year or so to plan.
Renee set file folders on the table, then typed on her computer. The large screen on the wall lit up. He saw that Hanna and Graham would be on the left, while whatever material they were sharing with each other would appear on the right. Exactly at 10:00 a.m. Renee initiated the phone call that would conference them together.
Hanna appeared first, waving at them. Graham followed.
“Hi, everyone,” Hanna called, waving. “Hi, sweetie. How’s New York?”