“Odele called me this morning,” Verity admitted. “They’ve come up with what they think is a wonderful idea.”
He waited.
“A giant dog wedding.”
Her voice was thick with emotion and he had the horrifying thought that she might cry. How many dogs would there be in a giant dog wedding? Twenty? Fifty? And why did it matter?
Her lower lip trembled. “Odele knows where I am and she must have done research on the town because she wants to have the ceremony or whatever it is at Weddings Out of the Box!”
Ah, so there was the problem.
“You’re concerned Renee is going to be upset.”
“Yes. I just got my baby girl back. We’re getting along and she’s letting me into her life and now this! She’s going to hate the idea. What a nightmare. Dogs running everywhere, me talking to them, the TV cameras.” Tears filled her eyes. “I tried to tell Odele we couldn’t, but she was insistent and then she had to go. She’s very determined and I don’t want to jeopardize my show, but if I have to choose, of course I want Renee to be happy.”
Jasper knew the situation was more complicated than that. He also knew Verity really wanted to make her show a success and that Renee wanted that for her mother.
“Has Odele booked the, ah, event?”
“Not yet. She’s finalizing details before she calls. She said it would be a day to set up and a day to film. They’re talking midweek.”
“Then that’s a good thing. Pallas gets more business without a lot of work and none of the scheduled weddings get impacted.”
“You’re right. I hadn’t thought of that. I’m sure the production company is paying very well.” She brightened. “That will help. So all that’s left is for you to tell Renee what’s happening.”
“Me?”
“Please, Jasper. She won’t get mad at you.”
He knew that Renee was more than capable of getting plenty angry at him, but that wasn’t Verity’s point. She didn’t want to have to fight with her daughter now, when things were going well between them.
Damn, he thought grimly, seeing no way out of the situation. If he refused, he would upset Renee’s mother. If he said yes, he would upset Renee. Either way, he was screwed, because Renee wouldn’t like him upsetting her mother or herself so hey, no win for him.
“I’ll do it.”
“You will? Oh, thank you, Jasper.”
“Uh-huh. In return, you’re going to tell her how great I am until she’s done wanting to back the car over me.”
“I promise.”
* * *
PALLAS AND RENEE met weekly to discuss the upcoming weddings and share leads they had about future clients. While Renee generally enjoyed the breakneck pace of their days, she found herself looking forward to the last three weeks of January, when Weddings Out of the Box would shut down for vacation. She didn’t have any plans at the moment, but she was thinking somewhere quiet and peaceful with absolutely no brides or wedding parties or drama.
As Pallas reviewed the schedule, Renee took a second to wonder if Jasper would be interested in joining her for some of that time—just the two of them with no distractions except the ones they came up with together.
She had no idea if they were in a place where that was a question she could even ask. While he’d used the R word, she was less sure of their status. A relationship? But going away with him would be nice.
“You have it all under control,” Pallas said, closing the calendar program. “We’re also getting more and more busy. I used to have one wedding a weekend and I had the occasional weekend with nothing. Now we have at least two weddings or we have a wedding party booking us Friday through Sunday. I need to get serious about hiring help.”
“The work is very steady,” Renee said. “I would really like a couple of assistants on the days we have weddings. Someone to run and get things when we need extra thread or spot remover. I feel as if I’m forever racing back and forth across the property.”
“Of course.” Pallas nodded. “That would be easy enough. Most of our weddings are on Saturdays, so I could look at hiring high school kids who want a job on weekends. Of course they would have to be willing to give up their Saturday nights.” She smiled. “Let me write up a job description. Once you agree I’ve captured what you’re looking for, we’ll post it and start interviews.”