The hydraulic doors slam shut in my wake and my team’s heads all snap up at once.
“I need to rewrite my speech,” I announce, sounding as frazzled as I feel.
Olive appears at my side. “What do you need?”
“I’m gonna have to get ready here.” I pass off everything but my computer. “Can you find a place to stow this stuff until I need it? I’ll be in the lobby working on my speech if you guys need me.”
After we finished at the salon and I swore Mom to secrecy, I headed home. Thankfully, Rowan and his family were out grabbing lunch so I didn’t have to explain why I was so frantic. I swiped my dress, makeup bag, enough hair product and appliances to style a small film production, and hauled ass straight here.
I shoot a quick text to Rowan telling him I have things to do at the ballroom and to meet me here before I plug in my laptop and get to work.
Three and a half hours later, my speech is revised and I somehow managed to pull my look together in a staff bathroom tucked in the dark recesses of a service hallway.
Thetinkof wine glasses and a low hum of chatter can be heard on the other side of the main doors. A string quartet plays classical covers of contemporary songs as a soundtrack to the cocktail hour while guests mingle and await the official beginning of tonight’s festivities.
Through the ballroom, my team sets to work lighting hundreds of candles. The forty-piece, big-band orchestra warms up their instruments during their final soundcheck while I make one more pass through the room to ensure everything’s in order.
I ask one of the hotel staff to dim the overhead lights as the coloreduplighting, centerpiece spotlights, and ambient candlelight begin to fill the space. Full place settings along with crystal stemware are placed to perfection atop the satin table linens. Floral print sashes are tied around each of the four hundred bamboo chairs. The perimeter of the room is lined with tables displaying over a hundred auction items donated by local businesses large and small. Many of which are expected to go to the highest bidder for somewhere in the ballpark of five figures.
Olive hollers from across the room. “Hannah, Rowan and his family are here. You want me to let them in?”
“Yeah, use the side door.”
She hurries off and I take a deep breath. I find my printed speech folded in the pocket of my dress and run it through my fingers. My pulse hammers inside my chest at what’s about to happen.
I know he won’t be mad or accuse me of anything malicious. He’ll be as dumbfounded as I was at first. Then, his heart will catch up with his head, like mine did, and he’ll feel everything—a little lost, a little awestruck, and a whole lot hopeful. And, finally, reality will sink in the way it has for me—after tonight, our two weeks is up. Tomorrow morning we’ll say goodbye.
Fate isn’t always some starry-eyed, fairytale destiny wrapped in bliss.
Sometimes fate is just plain cruel.
49
i was always meant to love her
Rowan
The air gets knockedclean out of my lungs when I spot her.
Mom, Bri, and Dubs dart off to admire one of the tables but she’s all I see.
Candlelight sparkles off the shimmery material of her gown. Narrow straps run over her shoulders to hold up a fitted light blue bodice modestly molded to the curve of her breasts. Cherry lips match the bright red poppies printed on the full skirt flowing from the waist down—I imagine spinning her on the dance floor later to watch the swirl of blue and red. Her warm blonde hair hangs in long waves pinned all to one side. And her eyes, flecked with hues of green and gold, so captivating I can barely stand it when she finds me in the dim light of the ballroom.
A smile blooms across her face.
Before she says a word, I speak first. “My god, you look…just…”Words, Rowan.“Wow. Stunning, baby. You look stunning.”
She drags a finger down my lapel. “Thank you. You’re looking very…something…in this tux.”
“Something, huh?” I wrap an arm around her waist.
“Yeah…just…wow.” Her fingers curl in the hair at my nape.
“Brat.”
Her smirk kicks up one side of her mouth. “You thinking about kissing me, soldier?”
I tip her lower lip with the pad of my thumb. “Always. But your lipstick looks too good. And I don’t wanna get you in trouble if your boss is around.”