Mid Life Love: At Last (Mid Life Love #2)(23)

“Just what?”

“There was this place back in Pittsburgh—Stella’s. I used to use them for our company functions and they were phenomenal. It was a tiny business, but the woman who owned it worked magic every single time. She always went out of her way to make sure every fruit and h’ordeuvres display was designed to perfection. Plus, she made the best catered food I’ve ever had in my life. I think I’m just comparing everything to that...”

He reached over and held my hand. “If we have to look another day, that’ll be fine. I want this to be the wedding of your dreams.”

“Does that mean you’ll give me an extra month to plan it?”

“No.” He rolled his eyes. “And the next time you ask me that I’ll make you regret it.” He kissed my cheek as the town car came to a stop. “Don’t even try me, Claire...”

Greg opened the back door and reached for my hand. “Mrs. Stath—Miss Gracen.” He cleared his throat.

“Thank you, Greg.” I stepped out and looked up at the pink and white sign that hung over the small cream colored building. It read “Happily Ever After Catering—From One Happy Heart to Another.” There were pink and mint colored cupcakes sitting in the store’s windows, and when I saw the flawless display of vanilla mousse in frosted champagne glasses, I hoped we’d finally found our caterer.

Jonathan held the door open for me and I walked around the store in utter awe. The walls were painted in stripes of white and silver—stripes that complemented the displays that stood right in front of them.

In front of the white backdrops, brightly colored macaroons and pie pops were standing at attention. In front of the silver ones, baby cheesecakes and tuxedoed strawberries looked as if they had been made minutes ago.

“Come here. Look at this.” I motioned him over to a fountain that spewed white chocolate. “Look at how those cookies are floating. And they’re all in the shape of the letter S. How cute is that? The director actually prepared for our meeting.”

“It’s very creative. I like it.”

I walked over to the “Sugary H’ordeuvres Station” and inspected the cherry cupcake and miniature pie spread.

“I have a really good feeling about this.” I smiled. “The presentation is perfect and she doesn’t even have any fruit examples out here. I bet those are phenomenal.”

The French doors that were to our left suddenly opened and a blonde who looked like she was my daughters’ age came out and cleared her throat.

“Good afternoon, soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. Statham.,” she said. “Welcome to Happily Ever After Catering. Our manager is finishing up an emergency call right now, but I would love to walk you through our gallery until she’s able to personally assist you.”

I nodded and we followed her into a huge room where mirrors covered the walls and shimmering chandeliers hung low from the ceiling.

“This is where we keep most of our fruit displays. By contract, we’re able to accommodate weddings of up to five hundred people—anything over that requires an additional per person charge and we can only increase up to two thousand due to our permit.”

“This is amazing...” I picked up a small ice sculpture that held dove shaped pineapples and caramel covered cookies. “You know what? I don’t need to see anything else.” I clasped my hands together. “This is it. This is who I want to book with.”

The woman blushed. “Really? I’ll be right back with my manager!”

Jonathan pulled me into his arms and kissed me. “Finally...What else do we need to do?”

“Well, we need to meet with the invitation designer this evening...Then I need to schedule my dress appointment and we need to...” I spotted a chocolate cookie display that spelled “Mrs. Statham” out the corner of my eye. “Give me one second. I have to try one of those...”

I walked over and stuffed one into my mouth—then another and another.

God, I’m in heaven...

As I was eating my fifth one, I heard a raspy voice behind my back.

“Jonathan Statham? As in the Jonathan Statham?” The woman said. “My husband and I are both huge fans of your cell phones! Congratulations on your engagement! It’s an absolute pleasure to show you our gallery today.”

I tried to swallow down one last cookie before I turned back around to greet her.

“It’s a pleasure to do business with you as well.” He wrapped his arm around my waist and spun me around. “This is my fiancée, Claire Gracen. She was just talking about how much she loved—”

“I don’t want anything from here.” I could feel the blood draining from my face.

“What?” He raised his eyebrow. “I thought you just said...”

“Claire?” Amanda’s eyes widened as she looked back and forth between me and Jonathan. “You’re engaged? To him? Well, I...Congratulations...That’s wow... I um...”

She said something, something that sounded like “I hope you won’t let our personal past interfere with doing business with one another,” but all I could do was stand there and stare at her in shock. In disgusted disbelief.

And the more I stared at her, the more I tried my hardest not to lunge at her and give her the beat-down she deserved.