“Are you sure you want to get rid of all this?” Felicity asks, staring at the pile of boxes in her foyer. “You don’t even know what’s in them.”

“Exactly. I haven’t opened a single one in the past six months. Clearly, I don’t need whatever’s inside.”

“You could store them here,” she offers.

I shake my head and prepare to tell her again that I don’t need it when the doorbell rings. My heart stops. It does each time someone knocks. “Are you expecting someone?”

Felicity shakes her head. I can’t tell if it’s fear or hope that makes her eyes round, and her hand goes to her chest, but this has become a quick routine for us.

I grip the handle and open it slowly, my heart pounding painfully in my chest when I see Catherine on the other side. She’s wearing an ivory suit with a black blouse. It’s sharp and stunning, a direct contrast to my yoga pants and sweatshirt. Thoughts and words race through my mind, each one falling away before I can articulate it.

“You haven’t returned any of my calls,” she says, pushing her sunglasses up the bridge of her nose even though it’s cloudy and gloomy out.

I swallow. “I haven’t turned my phone on.”

“I sent you emails. Dozens of them.”

I shake my head. “I haven’t been online either.”

She pulls off her sunglasses with a quick jerk. “I know. You haven’t been making regular blog posts.”

My mouth falls open, and my forehead creases with confusion. I’d expected to receive a dozen angry messages from her when I finally chose to turn on my phone, but I never expected her to come over. I should have though, because while I don’t physically have any of the company’s property with me, I’m a personal database filled with useless information that is often pertinent to Catherine.

“What are you doing?” she asks. “What is this nonsense all about?” She waves an arm in the air. “I’ve given you time; now it’s time to come back to work.”

I shake my head to hold back my anger. “I’ve been offered a new job.”

“I know.”

I shake my head again. “I’m not coming back to Glitter and Gold.”

She huffs. “Is this about money?”

“How did you know I was offered another job?”

“How do you think I know? You’re smart. Connect the dots.”

“You can’t insult me and compliment me in the same sentence. It’s rude and completely demerits the accolade,” I tell her.

She stiffens. “Is this about money? Is that why you accepted the other job?” she repeats the question, punctuating the words with a stern look. “Because if that’s what this is about, we can discuss giving you a raise. I can do it now. How much do you want? Ten percent? Twenty?”

I’m fairly certain I’m going to have to wipe the floor because my jaw has dropped so low. “Do you even realize how much that would be?”

“Do you want more?”

I shake my head. “This … this has nothing to do with money.”

“Then what does it have to do with?”

I stare at her, and though her words differ completely from Grammy’s, I hear the same insinuation behind them—questioning if I’m doing this because of someone else. I wonder if she believes it’s Gabe as well.

“You deceived me,” I tell her. “You’re planning my ex boyfriend’s wedding!”

“Who cares about him?” she snaps.

I pull my head back, shock hitting me like a weight at her lack of surprise or denial. “You intentionally tasked me with the bar so that you could take the wedding and I wouldn’t know.”

“Exactly. I did it as a favor. She wanted the best wedding planner at Glitter and Gold, which is you, and I didn’t put you on it.”

I chuckle, the sound dark and menacing. “Well, thank you so much for that favor.”

“You were always better than Gabe,” Catherine continues, rolling up one of her sleeves, making the bracelets around her wrist jangle. “I waited and waited and waited to introduce you to Levi, and when the chance finally arose, the circumstances definitely weren’t the best, but I cleaned it up as much as I could. I did the wedding to keep you as far away from it as possible. I was so sure that once you and Levi met, you’d forget about Gabe and I’d be able to tell you about the wedding and the entire mess that cockroach of a man created.”

“I don’t want to talk about Levi.”

She holds her chin higher. “Well, that’s tough because we’re talking about him.”

“Why? What’s the point?”

“Because you’re making a mistake, and I’m trying to help you.” She brushes a hand down the lapel of her jacket. “You’ve faced a lot of disappointment in your life.” Her gaze shifts to the wall behind me, her jaw flexing as she takes a breath. “People assume what happens to us as children doesn’t carry on into our lives as adults. That we should just suck it up and move forward—make the best of things. But those memories, those events, they influence us. My mother was always a homemaker, but she was a thousand times smarter than my father. She was creative and artistic and strategic. My dad was a drunk for most of my childhood and insisted he be the one to work and she stay home though he went through jobs faster than meals. My mother never told me her dreams or her intentions—I never asked, and she never shared. But watching her give up on herself and the desires I know she had still lives in me. It impacted my marriage, my children, the way I perceive other women and even men.

“Your parents left you. They abandoned you.” Her words are as precise as they are harsh. “It’s why you always focus on the end. You forget the beginning and the middle, and all you care about is the end, which makes you a phenomenal wedding planner but sets you up for continuous disappointment. You can try to say the past is in the past and that it doesn’t matter, but the truth is we are who we are because of our pasts. Those painful parts of our lives influence even the good things.” She reaches into her purse and pulls out a few glossy photos that she offers to me.

My mind is still reeling, working to catch up with all she’s said and all the feelings she’s evoked. I look at the top of the pictures and see the large arch I’d tied tulle and ribbons to and sat over Felicity and Dan’s wedding cake. The next is of the bows tied to the pews at the church. Another is of the table settings, and the last one is a picture of me and Catherine, smiling at the reception. I don’t even remember taking the picture with her.

“What are these?” I pull my chin back and stare at her.

She stares back, her chin still high, ready to spar.

“I don’t even know what we’re referring to right now, so why don’t you just tell me why you’re upset with me so we can both go. Is it because I left Glitter and Gold? Because you can’t find someone else who’s willing to learn your gardener’s name and schedule, or find you recipes and shopping lists, or pick up your coffee and dry cleaning? Because really, if that’s the issue, you need to get a personal assistant and be very upfront with them that their responsibility will literally go far beyond working in the office.”

“I included you. You were family to me, and then you quit, and now you want to move away.”

“I was your lackey.”

“You weren’t my lackey. I was training you. Teaching you everything I knew. You were like a daughter to me. You think I let everyone know that stuff?” She rolls her eyes dramatically. “Do you think those bags and shoes and clothes I gave to you over the years were really for me? I’d fire a personal shopper if they bought things that didn’t fit me and weren’t willing to return them. No. Those were for you.”

“What?” I shake my head. “You constantly complained and griped at me.”

Her eyebrows rise the small fraction of an inch the Botox injections allow them to move. “That’s who I am. That’s how I show my appreciation. Is it the best? Probably not—but it’s me, and after ten years, you should know this better than most.” Her chin quivers. In all the years of working with her, I can’t recall having seen Catherine weak, not even marginally. She quickly wipes the underside of her eyes, raising her chin even higher.

“Stop focusing on the end and work on the middle—the now. You won’t always get a decision in things, but be damn sure that you force your decision on those that you can.” She straightens, taking a deep breath. “When Levi found out who Gabe was, he went to a lawyer and began going through the steps of buying Haley’s shares and selling the others so they could part ways. They were never that close to begin with, but when he found out what she’d done—what Gabe had done—he was so livid he was willing to walk away from everything he’d spent years investing and building. I told him to let me handle things. I assured him I would take care of it, and I failed. Don’t blame Levi. Blame me.”

I shake my head. “He should have told me.”

She nods. “We both should have, but when you love someone, it’s natural to want to shield them from pain.”

Tears swim in my eyes, burning my lower lids. “I thought you’d hate me spending time with him.”

Catherine sputters. “If it had been my way, you two would have been together years ago.”

I stare at her for several seconds, not sure if I’m ready to ask or learn anything more when I’m still trying to process her admission and deny her words.

“Don’t move to LA. Talk to him. Stay at Glitter and Gold. In a few years, when I retire, the place will be yours. That’s the way things are supposed to be.” She puts her sunglasses on and hikes her purse higher on her shoulder. Without saying good-bye, Catherine walks to her car and leaves.

Felicity appears behind me, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. She doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t need to. Her support is enough.