DREW WATCHED SILVER sign the paperwork formalizing their new business relationship. He’d delivered the contract to her a couple of days ago and she’d had an attorney look everything over. This morning she’d texted to say she was ready to sign.
He’d arrived at her retail space shortly before noon. She’d been waiting, one of the display tables cleared, with two chairs on opposite sides. It wasn’t until she finished with the last page that he realized he’d half expected her to change her mind. Taking on a partner was a big deal. But she hadn’t and now they were partners.
He took his copy of the contract, then held out the keys for the new trailers. “Here you go.”
She grinned and took them. “I have so many plans I’m not sure where to start.”
“Show me.”
She walked to the small alcove she used as her office and returned with several sheets of paper and a large sketch pad. She set the latter in front of him, then moved her chair so they were sitting on the same side of the table.
“I thought we’d keep the remodel on the smaller trailer fairly simple,” she began. “It’s more mobile, given the size. We can take it out into the desert or up to Honeymoon Falls. It’s going to be all about using the space.”
She showed him the drawings she’d made of custom shelves and cabinets. A refrigerator was a must, but if they were going to be away from an electrical source, then they would be working off a portable generator.
“That means there’s a noise component,” she told him. “We’ll have to figure out how long we can have the generator turned off. During a wedding ceremony for sure, but then it would have to be on for the party, otherwise, nothing would stay cold.”
“What about solar panels?” he asked.
She blinked at him. “What?”
“Maybe we could use solar panels to power everything. We’re in the desert—it’s rarely cloudy. As long as the panels were fully charged, I bet we could avoid using a generator.”
Her eyes widened. “That’s brilliant. Yes, let’s look into that!”
Her praise made him sit up a little straighter. Stupid, but true. He’d always like impressing Silver and apparently, that hadn’t changed.
They returned their attention to her drawings. She’d designed flip-up counters and plenty of storage for glasses, blenders and liquor.
“With this design, we could use the trailer for a lot more than weddings,” he said. “How about graduations, birthday celebrations and office parties? Things that happen other than on the weekend.”
“I was thinking about that, too. Having more trailers means having more staff. I won’t be able to simply call around to find out if my preferred people are available. I’m going to have to keep at least one or two on permanently.”
She didn’t look happy as she spoke.
“There’s money in the budget for two employees.”
“I know, but it’s a step further than I’ve ever gone.” She looked at him. “We can’t all be titans of industry.”
“It’s a small-town bank, Silver. I’m not exactly a titan.”
“You’re more titan-like than anyone I know.”
They were sitting close enough that he could see tiny smile lines by her eyes and the pale freckles on her nose. She wore her usual nonwork uniform of jeans and a tank top. A tattoo of a dragon curled over her left shoulder, the tail trailing toward her elbow. He knew there was a small rose on the inside of her right ankle and a ladybug by her right hip bone.
The dragon was new to him. After all this time, there were probably tats he hadn’t seen and he was curious about them. What other ink had she chosen to define and celebrate herself?
Silver had always been beautiful. As a teenager, she’d been in a class by herself. She still was but it was different now. Her features were a little sharper—honed by life’s experiences. She still smelled like vanilla and the promise of sex, a scent he knew to be uniquely hers. Even her pheromones taunted him.
He pulled his attention back to the drawings in front of him. They went over her plans for the larger trailer, one that would be primarily for weddings. Her design was all about getting as much of a bar as possible into a trailer, and then being able to serve customers quickly and efficiently.
“We’re going to have to pick a contractor,” he told her. “Did you look at the names I sent you?”
“Yes. They both have great reputations. Neither of them have experience working with trailers, but that’s not a surprise. It’s kind of a specialized field.”
“They’ve each worked with clients of mine and have gotten good reviews. We can go with whomever you’re comfortable with.” When she hesitated, he added, “I’m happy to interview them myself or set up interviews with both of us there.”
“Let’s do that. I’m not sure what to ask, but I want to be there. Then we’ll make a decision.”
He pulled out his phone and added the task to his calendar. “I’ll get something out to them today so we can get going.”
She nodded. “The sooner the trailers are functional, the sooner we can start booking them.” She glanced around her showroom. “Now if only we could do something with this.”
He followed her gaze. The retail space was big and open. One square room maybe fifty by fifty with an alcove that was her office. There were a couple of restrooms in back and a small storage area.
Silver leaned back in her chair. “I keep feeling as if I’m missing out on an opportunity to make money here, but I’m not sure what to do. Everything I’ve thought of seems so complicated.”
“Such as?”
“Rehearsal dinners. Generally, the wedding party has the rehearsal on Friday and then the dinner after, but sometimes their wedding venue has a Friday wedding planned and so the Saturday wedding folks are out of luck. Or sometimes the wedding party is too small to meet the venue’s minimum. I thought about offering this place, but there’s no kitchen. Putting one in would be really expensive and take up too much space.”
“Can’t they use caterers? Or couldn’t you contract with a caterer who would bring in everything they need.”
Silver looked doubtful. “Without any kind of food prep area, it would be difficult to actually cook. All the food would have to be brought in. It makes things complicated.” She paused. “Don’t laugh, but I’ve thought about having bachelorette parties here.”
“How would you make that happen?”
She pointed to the ceiling. “I’d get rods installed so I could easily hang drapes to make the setting feel more intimate. We’d have seating like at any dinner, but also a few sofas and love seats. It would all be movable so we’d be able to support whatever theme they wanted.”
“There’s a theme?” All the bachelor parties he’d been to had focused on liquor and giving the groom a hard time.
She nodded. “Say a spa theme. So there would be a massage table and pedicure stations. Those would be brought in but we certainly have the room.” She looked at him, then away. “And we could put in some poles.”
If she hadn’t already mentioned rods for the drapes, he would have assumed she meant poles for that. “What are you talking about?”
She cleared her throat. “You know. Poles. Like stripper poles. They’re actually very popular. The bride and her friends learn moves they can, ah, share later.”
He kept his expression neutral and did his best not to wonder if Silver had any moves he didn’t know about. “Stripper poles?”
“It’s just a thought.”
He reminded himself this was a business meeting and that picturing Silver doing a pole dance was wrong on many levels. “Sounds like a good one.”
“Let me run some numbers. The poles have to be secured to the floor and the ceiling. I’d have to check my lease as well, to make sure I could do it. Or I guess I could phone Violet and just ask.”
Violet was the owner of the retail space and loft above, and Silver’s landlord. The previous year she’d fallen in love with an English duke and had moved across the pond, so to speak, and married him.
“If you can install stripper poles?” He laughed. “I almost want to be in on that call.”
She rolled her eyes. “We’re not going to talk about anything sexy.”
“No, but it will still be interesting.”
“You’re such a guy.”
“I can be, yes.” He looked around. “I would say if you think renting out this space for parties is something we should try, let’s spend the least amount we can. The poles shouldn’t be too expensive. Better lighting and some soundproofing. But nothing that expensive, at least at first. The main business is always going to be the trailers.”
“That’s a really good point.”
“Have you thought of starting a franchise?”
She stared at him. “Excuse me?”
“Your trailer bar idea is brilliant. What about a franchise? It would be great for a lot of people. Retirees, anyone who only wants to work a few days a week.”
She made a T with her hands. “Let’s take this just a little slower. You’ve been my business partner all of fifteen minutes. Let’s put franchising on the back burner for oh, say a month.”
“It wouldn’t be hard. Once we got the legal stuff out of the way, we’d need to come up with a plan, then maybe do a little internet advertising.”
“Is that all?”
“You have to have vision.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “You weren’t kidding when you said you had a lot of business experience.”
“I wasn’t.”
“My business partner, the bank mogul.”
“It’s just one bank. Does that make me a mogul?”
She laughed. “It’s one more bank than anyone else I know owns. I’m kind of surprised you stayed in town.”
“Why would I leave?”
“You could be a bigger mogul somewhere else. Plus, you know, the parents. I’ve never actually met them, but I remember what you told me about them when we were going out. Your mother is very ambitious for her only child.”
“Why would you remember that?” he asked.
“Because it was important to you.”
It had been, and still was. He didn’t normally talk about his parents, but with Silver he’d felt a connection that he hadn’t experienced before or since. He’d trusted her with every part of himself, including the doubts he rarely admitted to, let alone shared.
He’d talked about his parents and their odd sense of the world—that being connected and having political and financial power mattered more than anything else, including family. His mother especially was driven to be influential. Ambition drove her to an extent that was almost frightening.
Drew had done his best to rebel against their dreams for him but it had been a losing battle. Then his father had received an ambassadorship that had sent his parents to Europe. He’d been in high school and after much discussion, they’d agreed to leave him with his Grandpa Frank.
Drew had loved the freedom, the normalcy of simply being one of the grandkids. He’d been able to relax, to learn and grow because it was what he wanted and not because of some unrealistic master plan. And he’d fallen in love with Silver.
“What is this really about?” she asked, her voice quiet. “Are you really that interested in being a business partner or are you rebelling against what your parents expect?”
“You mean run the bank for two years, then join them in their lobbying firm?”
Her eyebrows rose. “Is that the current plan?”
“Last I heard.”
“What do you want?”
What he’d always wanted. He wanted to run the bank, to modernize the various processes and make every department responsive to the community.
“Remember about three years ago when there was that big push to raise the money to build a new fire station?”
One had desperately been needed, but there hadn’t been the money. Business leaders had come together to raise the funds privately.
“I ran the committee,” he admitted. “I wasn’t the public face, but I took care of all the details, brainstormed most of the ideas. I convinced my grandfather to donate a sizable portion of our profits for the quarter. Everyone kicked in and we got the station built.”
“I remember, but I didn’t know that was you.”
“It wasn’t me. It was the whole town. That’s what I want—to be more than a guy who runs the bank. I want to make the bank relevant and important. Not some heartless institution.”
“Wow.” She looked at him. “And here I thought you just gave orders and counted the money.”
He grinned. “I let Libby do that.”
He looked at Silver. She was the more mature version of the girl he’d fallen in love with. Back then she’d had attitude, but now she had life experience to back it up. He wanted to say she was fearless but didn’t everyone fear something? As the question formed, he wondered what she worried about in the middle of the night.
“Do you ever think about what would have happened if we’d stayed together?”
Her eyes widened. “You and me?” She gave a strangled laugh. “Sometimes I do, but it would have been a disaster.”
“Why?”
“We were too young to have a baby. You had just started college. I appreciate that you said all the right things, but we both know you would have hated to come home. Where would you have gotten a job? Where would we have lived? You would have ended up resenting me and it would have been awful.”
She spoke with an authority that made him realize she had thought about them staying together. She’d considered the possibilities and had rejected the premise of the question.
“We might have been okay,” he said, not knowing why he wanted that to be true. It had been a long time ago—the decisions had been made and they’d both moved on.
She looked at him. “I don’t think so. Besides, you’d already let me go and were ready to move on to someone else.”
“I was still in love with you.” Maybe a little less than he had been when he’d left for college, but there had been feelings. Not that he’d wanted a baby. Not then. She was right about them being too young for that.
“I appreciate you saying that but we both know it was long over. We’d moved on.” One corner of her mouth turned up. “Besides, your mother would never have let us get married.”
“We were legally adults. We could do what we wanted.”
“Uh-huh.” Her expression turned sympathetic. “You don’t actually believe that, do you? We’re talking about your mother. She would have found a way to stop us.”
Silver was right about that, he admitted to himself. Not only had he been raised to respect his parents’ wishes, his mother had a way of manipulating people he couldn’t begin to master. Regardless, he liked to think he would have been strong.
“I would have married you,” he told her. “If that was what you’d wanted.”
Emotions flashed across her face. She opened her mouth, as if she were about to say something, then shook her head.
“Thank you for saying that. I, ah...” She drew in a breath. “I have a meeting in an hour with a lot of prep work and you have to get back to the bank. Let’s talk soon.”
“The sooner the better. We need to get the trailers remodeled and figure out what to do with this space.”
“Absolutely.”
He hesitated, unable to shake the feeling that there was more she wanted to discuss, but she only smiled.
What had she been thinking and what had she wanted to say? He was about to cross the street toward the bank when he realized what it was. He’d told her he would have married her if that was what she wanted—a long way from saying he’d wanted it, too.
Not that they were in love anymore, or even dating. But they’d been in the middle of a “what if” conversation and he hadn’t played along.
He thought about going back to say something, only he couldn’t think of what. What would he tell her? That he was sorry she’d given up the baby? That he wished they’d gotten married? He wasn’t sure either of those statements were true. What he did know was that both he and Silver had come a long way and he was looking forward to finding out where they went after today.
* * *
SILVER COULDN’T SHAKE the fact that she’d been a complete and utter coward. She’d always thought of herself as reasonably brave and self-aware, but at the exact moment when she should have told Drew about Autumn and Leigh and the wedding, she’d said nothing.
Drew had given her the perfect opening. Honestly, what had she been waiting for? But instead of taking advantage of the moment, of coming clean, she’d bolted. Now, not only did she still have to tell him, she got to beat herself up. She’d been five kinds of dumb.
She walked into the conference room at Weddings Out of the Box. Renee was already there, tablet in hand, samples scattered around the table and a laptop opened to the teleconferencing program.
“Hi,” she said when she saw Silver. “Thanks for coming. I know you could have just provided a drink list, but I appreciate you being here. I’ve never transferred a partially planned wedding from one bride and groom to another, so I can’t know if I’m doing it right.”
“I’m not sure there’s a wrong way to do it,” Silver told her with a smile. “Except for messing up all the details.”
“If this is you trying to make me feel better, it’s not working.”
“Sorry.” Silver sat across from her. “Leigh is super excited to have the wedding mostly planned. She’s busy moving out of her place and working with her fiancé on the house they’re having built, on top of work and getting ready for the honeymoon and raising her daughter. Leigh is very easygoing and she’s going to love everything you do.”
Renee smiled. “Thanks. I appreciate hearing that. I think I’ll be able to relax a little after our phone call when I know she’s happy with the choices already made.”
Renee glanced at the clock, then tapped a few keys on the computer. The screen showed the log-on sequence. Silver had seen the program in action before. It allowed multiple viewers to see each other and the Weddings Out of the Box conference room. Slides could be displayed to everyone attending the call, so they were all on the same page, so to speak. In the past, Silver had been at the meetings as a vendor representing AlcoHaul and occasionally the caterer. Today she was also a friend of the bride.
Leigh’s smiling face appeared on the screen. She waved. “Hi, Silver. Hi, Renee. Thanks for doing this. I’m so excited. Denton has patients so he’s not going to join us but he said anything I love, he’ll love, too.”
Her happiness was so much a part of who she was that Silver felt it reach through the screen and give her a big hug. Leigh had always been an upbeat person, but since falling in love with Denton, she’d become even more joyful.
“We have a lot to get to,” Renee said. “So let’s dive in. There are some elements that the previous bride has chosen that can’t be changed. The date for one. We can be flexible on the time of the ceremony, of course. The only thing to keep in mind is there’s a wedding on Sunday afternoon, so we can’t go too late.”
Leigh shook her head. “A five o’clock wedding with the reception right after is perfect. We’ll wrap up by ten, as the contract says. We’re not really stay-up-past-midnight people.”
Renee made notes on her tablet. “Okay, on to food. You mentioned you looked over the menus. Any changes?”
“Just a couple.”
Leigh and Renee worked through the various courses including the custom cookies that had been ordered.
“I love a cookie,” Leigh told them. “These are super cute. We want to keep them as a party favor.”
A wedding cake had already been ordered and Leigh and Denton would be taking that, as well. It was relatively simple, with pale gold frosting and a few swags on each of the three tiers.
When they were done with all things edible, Silver explained how the champagne fountain worked.
“I have enough coupe glasses so we don’t have to rent any.”
Leigh frowned. “Those are the round, old-fashioned champagne glasses?”
“Uh-huh. They’re more sturdy. The base of the fountain will be sixteen glasses. That makes the fountain four glasses high, which looks pretty and is very manageable. Because the fountain is for display only, I’ve ordered crappy sparkling wine for that and we’ll have it set up before the reception. But for drinking, we’ll want something good.”
Silver nodded at Renee. She’d already emailed her slides for the presentation. Renee hit a couple of keys and a large picture of a triangular-shaped glass appeared. There was a sugar rim and the liquid inside was pale gold.
“In keeping with the Gatsby theme, I’ve been coming up with Roaring ’20s drink ideas. What if we went all champagne? Champagne by the glass, along with two or three champagne-based cocktails?”
Leigh clapped her hands together. “I love that idea. What did you have in mind?”
Silver nodded at Renee, who advanced the presentation. “This drink is called a Caribou Martini. It’s coffee-flavored vodka and champagne. I know it sounds odd, but the flavors really work together. I’m also thinking a Sparkling Julep and a French 75.”
“Those sound delicious. So three cocktails, plus champagne.”
“Do you want an alternative for people who don’t like champagne? Maybe beer or wine?”
“Denton would like a selection of Scotches, but otherwise, that’s it.”
Silver made some notes. She would email Denton directly and get his thoughts on the type of Scotch he wanted. Prices ranged from around ten or fifteen dollars a bottle to a couple of hundred dollars. She wanted to make sure she knew what he was expecting the final bill to be.
“I’ll get with him,” Silver said. “Scotch is super easy.”
Renee made more notes. “Now let’s talk about the decorations. We’ve already ordered decorative drapes trimmed in pearls. In fact, pearls are a theme here. Strands of them will decorate the table. We’ve ordered teardrop-shaped balloons in cream. We use fishing line so the tethers aren’t visible, then hang them upside down from the ceiling. The tablecloths are pale gold, with darker gold chargers. The accents are black, including the napkins and the table numbers.”
They walked through everything from flowers to the guest book. Leigh showed them a pair of shoes she’d bought that were decorated with pearls and feathers.
“Silver, I found the perfect dress for you,” Leigh said. “And I ordered it, so I’m hoping you’ll love it.”
“If it makes you happy, it makes me happy.”
Leigh laughed. “You say that now.”
“I mean it. This is your day. What is Autumn wearing?”
“A little flapper-inspired dress. You’re going to love it. She’s going to be so cute.” Leigh glanced at Renee. “Autumn is my daughter.”
Silver heard the caution in her friend’s tone and knew that Leigh was erring on the side of discretion. “She knows about me and Drew and the baby,” Silver assured her.
“Oh good. We’re all so excited to meet Drew,” Leigh said. “I’ve always been curious about him and Autumn can’t wait to finally meet her birth father.”
Words designed to make Silver feel a little nauseous. Even if she’d wanted to try to avoid Drew for the week Autumn was here, that wasn’t going to be a possibility. She had to tell him, and soon.
“She understands about the adoption and everything?” Renee asked.
Leigh nodded. “I always wanted her to know the truth. When Silver came to live with us, Autumn was still a baby. I don’t remember exactly when we started talking about it but by the time she was three, she was clear on the fact that she’d been adopted. I’m her mom but Silver grew her in her tummy.” Leigh laughed again. “Not that we describe it that way now. She’s eleven, so we can be a little more sophisticated in our conversation.”
Silver’s sick feeling grew.
Leigh glanced at her watch. “Oh my. I have to run. Is that everything?”
“For now,” Renee told her. “We’ll schedule another call next week. Have a good rest of your day, Leigh.”
“You, too.” Leigh blew Silver a kiss. “Love you, Silver.”
“Love you, too.”
The connection went dark. Renee turned off the computer.
“Do you need to breathe into a paper bag?”
Silver frowned. “Why would you ask that?”
“You went totally white while Leigh was talking. I thought you were going to pass out.”
“My stomach’s a little iffy.”
“Is that what we’re calling it?”
Silver put her arms on the table and rested her forehead on her hands. “I’m screwed.”
“You are.”
“You don’t have to agree with me.”
“I’m an honest person.” Renee put her tablet on top of her computer, then collected the napkin samples. “I take it you haven’t told Drew about Autumn.”
Silver straightened. “Not yet. I need to. I get that. I just don’t know how to start the conversation.” She sighed. “It’s weird. It’s not as if he doesn’t know I got pregnant and therefore there was a baby born, but we’ve never talked about it. Not really. I’m sure he assumes I simply gave up our child and walked away. I don’t know how to say it’s different than that.”
“You’re afraid he’s going to be mad, or feel betrayed?”
Silver groaned. “Yes, but that makes no sense. It’s not like he asked. It’s not like he ever bothered to find out what happened. I’m not the bad guy here. He’s not, either. It’s just...”
“You feel guilty.”
“I do. Why is that?”
“Because you kept something from him, and while the reasons made sense at the time, you’re less sure now and you’re going to have to tell him and won’t that be awkward.”
Silver studied her friend. “You’re insightful, aren’t you?”
“I can be.”
Why was that? Had Renee been born more intuitive than most or had life circumstances pushed her to the fringes where she was forced to observe rather than participate?
Yet another question that would be difficult to ask, Silver thought.
“I’m going to tell him,” she said, as much to herself as to Renee. “Really, really soon.”
“Or you could wait and let Autumn spring it on him.”
“I wouldn’t do that to her. When she meets her birth father, I want it to be a happy moment.”
“What about for Drew?”
“I want him to understand and be sweet to his daughter.”
“Are you worried he won’t be?”
“Not really. I’m mostly being a coward, which isn’t like me.” She put both hands on the desk and looked at Renee. “I’m done being wishy-washy. I’m telling him no matter what.”
Renee smiled. “You go, girl.”