Do You Take This Man (4)
“Anyway, this woman was in the park where it happened and could perform weddings, so they did it that day. She was amazing, like, such a beautiful ceremony that she wrote on the fly. Absolutely everyone has seen the video. Mom, we have to get her. Can you imagine if the same woman who married the hottest couple in Hollywood married me and Sam?”
I peeked over my shoulder again as the woman strode toward where the wedding would be held, hands smoothing down the front of her outfit.
“Well, you know your father and I would prefer you use our pastor, but it’s your day, and if you want this woman, it’s fine with us.” She turned to me. “Can you check on that?” I did not know the answer to her question and would rather have talked up an anti-deodorant activist with a new multilevel marketing obsession than show my face to that woman, but Penny had told me to make them think we could move mountains, so I nodded.
“She’s completely popular, but everyone on the wedding websites says she doesn’t take new clients. How cool is it that she’s attending this wedding?” the younger woman exclaimed, her smile spreading. “If you could get her, I would be the happiest bride in all North Carolina.”
As the woman I’d left scowling on the sidewalk reached the door, a slip of paper fell out of her binder, and I jogged over to her. Turn on the charm. Apologize. Move mountains.
“Excuse me?” I bent to pick up the yellow Post-it Note from the ground. “You dropped this.”
At my voice, she turned, her smile genuine. “Oh, thank—” She stopped when she saw my face, her soft eyes snapping into cold daggers and her smile turning into a tight line of full, pressed lips.
I held out the note and smiled anyway.
“Thank you,” she said coolly, taking the slip of paper but being careful not to touch my hand, as if I’d peed on it or something.
“Listen, I’m sorry about what I said outside. I was way out of line and—”
She interrupted me with practiced skill. “Can I help you with something? I’m in a hurry.”
“Yes, I just wanted to apologize. I’m Lear Campbell,” I said, holding out my hand.
She looked at it like I’d just offered her an old gym sock. “Lear? Like King Lear?”
“It’s a nickname,” I said, pulling my hand back for a moment. “My client over there is interested in working with you on a wedding.” I motioned to the embodiment of fangirling, her blond ponytail bobbing while she bounced on her heels. “Do you have a card, or can I call you about your availability?”
“Did you hear me say I’m in a hurry?”
“Sure—”
She interrupted me again. “Are you familiar with the phrase?” She arched one eyebrow in a way that made me feel two inches tall despite having a good eight on her.
This might be the least pleasant person I’ve ever met, beautiful body and stunning smile be damned. “I am,” I gritted out. “If I could just get your card.”
The door to the anteroom pushed open, and Penny slipped out. “RJ. Thank God. I was about to send out a search party. You’re never actually late.” She glanced between us. “And you met Lear,” she said to her with a sideways glance at me. “He’s just starting out with me. Lear, RJ Brooks is the officiant.”
Oh, shit.
I noted the binder RJ held, the one she’d clutched to her chest outside. The officiant for this wedding. That made sense and was so much worse for me. “It’s nice to formally meet you,” I said, holding out a hand again.
She raised that eyebrow again and then turned away from me, a fast-moving polar vortex taking over the space where she’d stood. “I ran into something unpleasant on the way in. Sorry. I’m ready.” She flashed a smile to my cousin and didn’t give me a second glance.
Penny flicked her eyes to me in a way I knew meant What the hell did you do?
My first day was off to a great start.
Chapter 3
RJ
ERIC POPPED HIS head into my office. “Lunch? I need to get out of here.”
I glanced at my watch. It was three fifteen, and I had eaten nothing since a bagel at nine that morning. “I have a ton of work to do,” I said, unconvincingly nudging the pile of folders on my desk.
“I’ll rephrase. This is a senior associate telling a junior associate to leave her office for thirty minutes.”
I grabbed my purse from my desk drawer because I was hungry. “Does your husband know you’re this annoying?”
“As a matter of fact, he does.” Eric leaned against the door frame. “But my charm and good looks more than make up for any shortcomings.”
We walked down the hall, side by side. Streaks of afternoon sunlight flowed from open doors into the hallway. “I know that’s not true,” I said with a laugh. I liked Eric. He and his husband had become fast friends of mine when I moved to North Carolina. “I seem to remember him definitively disliking your brief but memorable obsession with fur-lined Crocs.”
“We don’t speak of that period in our relationship,” he said, pushing open the door. “And I thank you not to bring it up.”
We laughed as we stepped out into the sunshine. The deli down the street was a frequent stop, though lately I’d been ordering in more than leaving the building.