The Paid Bridesmaid(90)

I sat down in my chair, ready to put my head between my knees. This was such good news. Such. Good. News. I’d thought I’d ruined everything and to find out that I hadn’t? I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so relieved.

“I’m going to tell everyone,” Krista said.

I got her inclination. I sort of wanted to do that, too.

Brinley handed me another message. “This woman said you have to call her first, right away. That it’s very important. She made me swear.”

My first thought was that my mom had gotten impatient, but then I saw the name. Sadie.

I dialed her number immediately and Brinley left my office, closing the door behind her.

Sadie answered on the first ring. “Hello?”

“It’s Rachel! How are you?”

“I’m great. It’s you I’m worried about. I left you a couple of voice mails. How are you?”

I got that throat-thickening sensation, but I wasn’t going to cry. “I’ve been better. I saw your video. Thank you for that. I was so worried that my entire company would immediately fold, but our phone has apparently been ringing off the hook with people who want to hire us.”

“You should see my DMs and email! So many people want to talk to me about this. They’re saying I’m a trendsetter. I’ve added like, a hundred thousand new followers since the reception.”

“That is fantastic!” I was thrilled that something good had come out of all this mess.

“Not only that, but my mom was able to see how she was acting and she’s been talking about going to rehab. I don’t know if she actually will, but I’m really hopeful that this time things might be different.”

“Sadie, that makes me so happy for you.”

“Thank you.” She paused, as if waiting for me to say something in return, but then went on. “Anyway, I was just calling to check on you. To see how you were doing and if anything’s changed. You know, in your life.”

I’d just told her how much better things were. That was kind of a weird thing to say.

She kept on in that sort of rambling tone. “So . . . I’m going to get back to Dan. Let’s keep in touch, okay?”

I promised I would and hung up my phone. I started thumbing through the messages, excited that even if we were sued we might still be able to find a way to stay in business.

Brinley buzzed my phone and I pushed the intercom button. “Yes?”

“There’s someone here in the conference room that wants to talk to you about an event on Friday.”

“Thank you!” It was kind of last minute, but we’d certainly done it before. I stood up and my office phone buzzed again from Krista’s extension.

When I pushed the button she said, “Sadie and Krista ex machina for the win!” and hung up.

What was that supposed to mean? I nearly called her back for an explanation but I wasn’t in a position to keep a potential client waiting. I walked into the conference room and my heart came to a complete and total stop when I saw who was standing there.

Camden.





CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE


This was what Krista had meant and why Sadie had been strange. They’d set this up.

He stood there in a slate-gray suit that looked like it had been tailored specifically for him. He was impossibly handsome and I was having a hard time breathing.

“Hello, Rachel.”

For a second I thought maybe I was hallucinating from lack of sleep but when he spoke his voice had that melting effect on my knees and I knew that it was him. He was here.

“Why?” I asked, and then modified it because he couldn’t hear what I was thinking in my head. “Why are you here?”

He smiled mysteriously. I’d missed him so much that I was aching from it. I wanted nothing more than to run across the room and launch myself at him.

“I thought you never wanted to see me again,” I said, unable to keep the hurt tone out of my voice.

“I never said that, Rachel.”

“But . . .” How could I explain everything in just a few words? “You walked away.”

“I said I needed a walk, not that I never wanted to speak to you again.”

Oh. That was true but . . . “You didn’t call me.” I left out the part where I hadn’t called him, either, even though I’d really wanted to.

“You’re right. I didn’t. Because what I have to say has to be said in person.” He undid the button on his coat and then put his hands into his pants pockets, like he was preparing for something. “I talked with Sadie. She told me everything.”

“Okay.” I wrapped my arms around my chest, not knowing where this was going.

“I wish you’d stayed so that we could have talked things through.” I wished that, too. I was so afraid of being that vulnerable that I’d flown thousands of miles away from him. He went on, “And I wish that I hadn’t gone for that walk. That I’d given you a chance to explain. It was just sort of like all of my worst fears were being confirmed and that you’d been using me and I was too stupid to figure it out.”

“I know how afraid you’ve been for this deal. I get it. It’s one of the reasons I was scared to tell you. Given your past and what you were going through I thought you wouldn’t be able to forgive me.”