When Maya showed up alone for their meeting later that week, Belle was a bit surprised. Usually, either her mom or Gabe came with her—sometimes both—but this time it was just the bride.
“We managed to finalize the wording for the invitations, and I overrode everyone’s opinion on the font for the napkins.” Maya grinned. “So we’re good to go with that.”
“I’m glad you got that decision made since the invitations need to go out sooner rather than later. You’re on a tighter timeline than most brides.”
Maya gave her a rueful look. “Yeah. Sorry about that.”
“It’s not a problem, but we just can’t delay on too many things.”
After Belle made a note of the latest decisions, they discussed what still needed to be done. Belle was happy that things went so smoothly and quickly, since usually when Maya’s mother and Gabe were present, the conversation was a lot more chaotic which ate up a lot of her time.
“Have you already got your own wedding all planned out?” Maya asked once the discussion about her wedding was over.
Belle looked at her then shook her head. “No. Can’t say that I have.”
Maya’s eyebrows rose. “You haven’t? I would have thought you’d have it all planned already.”
“As a teen, I used to think about it, but now I have no intention of getting married, so I haven’t thought much about it. It’s enough that I get to plan weddings for all the brides who come to me.”
“Not get married? Why not?” Maya sat back in her chair, a chastened expression on her face. “Sorry. That’s not really any of my business.”
Belle gave her a gentle smile. “You do realize, of course, that it’s not the goal of every woman to land a husband.”
“Yeah. I know,” Maya said with a sigh. “It’s just that since finding love with Gabe, I kind of want everyone to experience the same thing.”
“I get that,” Belle told her. “But not everyone’s experience with love is the same. Some of us have been burned by it in the past and have no desire to repeat the experience.”
“Maybe it was just the wrong man,” Maya said. “With the right man…”
Maya’s words trailed off as Belle began to shake her head. With another small smile at Maya, because she didn’t want to upset or offend her, Belle said, “I’m happy, Maya. I don’t need a man in my life to make me happier. Friends. Family. My work. It’s enough.”
The other woman’s brows drew together as she frowned. “I really do hope you’re happy. I kinda want all the people I like to be happy.”
“I’m happy. Don’t worry about me.”
“I’ll try not to,” Maya said.
“Let’s just focus on getting you married so you can be with the man you love every single day.”
“I am completely on board with that,” Maya agreed, a smile curving her lips.
Once the meeting was finished, Maya left, and Belle returned to her office. It was the last appointment for the day, so she kicked off her shoes and took off her suit jacket. Feeling more comfortable, she was able to focus on the list she’d been working through for the vendors. It was something to keep her mind off her conversation with Maya, and the fact that her words didn’t ring quite as true as they had in the past. Maya wasn’t the first one to ask that question—and she likely wouldn’t be the last.
An alert on her phone reminded her that she’d have to leave right at five-thirty as she had the rehearsal to attend at six. Then she could go home. Her favorite part of a busy day. Thankfully, she’d gotten her car back the day before so she could move around freely without having to rely on anyone else. It always felt like she was inconveniencing people when she had to beg for rides.
Even with Mitch. For some reason, she still couldn’t believe that he didn’t mind coming to help her out. But even if she did believe it, that didn’t mean she’d be calling on him for any more help. Or that she’d read anything more into his willingness to help than a friend helping a friend.
“I didn’t really believe you,” Maya said from where she sat across the table from Mitch.
Several of them were meeting for dinner before going to a movie, but so far it was just him, Gabe, Maya, and Tristan. Kenton and Avery would be arriving soon, but Bennett, Grace, Makayla, and Ethan planned to meet them at the theater. They didn’t like to leave the babies for too long even though they seemed to trust Ethan’s sister, Sierra, and Mitch’s sister, Danica, to watch them.
“Believe me about what?” Mitch asked.
“That Belle wasn’t interested in getting married. I really thought you’d just misread her.”
“Oh? How did you find this out?” Mitch really didn’t need confirmation that what Belle had said to him was true. She’d seemed quite convincing when she’d told him herself.
“I asked her if she’d planned her wedding out already, and she said no, that she didn’t plan to get married.”
Mitch nodded. “Obviously, there are plenty of women—and probably just as many men—that feel that way.”
He didn’t, of course, and he certainly didn’t understand why some felt that way, but he had to respect them. Besides, trying to convince Belle to change her mind seemed a little self-serving. He wouldn’t be doing it for her as much as for himself. That didn’t sit right with him. If there had ever been a hope of something between them, he would have wanted it to be something she desired herself, not because he’d convinced her to.
“I don’t get it,” Maya said. “Why would someone completely close the door on the possibility of finding love? I mean, I know there are people who are at peace about being single, and I think that’s wonderful. But I don’t get the feeling from them that they’d closed themselves off from love altogether.”
“Maybe she just hasn’t met the right man,” Gabe offered. “Like I said before.”
“No,” Maya said as she shook her head. “I don’t think she’d acknowledge love even if it came up and bit her on the nose.”
Mitch didn’t really want to hear that, but it wasn’t anything he hadn’t already suspected himself. If he’d had his way, Belle would have joined them for the dinner and movie. In fact, he’d considered asking her—as a friend—but had quickly dismissed that as too date-like. So instead, he and Tristan would be the only ones there without dates. He’d take small comfort in the fact that he wasn’t the only one there on his own. Except Tristan didn’t seem to care.
As he sat through dinner and then the movie, Mitch struggled with how he felt. It felt weak to be at the mercy of his emotions…his feelings. It shouldn’t matter that Belle had no interest in him. It wasn’t like they’d dated and had had time to develop feelings for each other. He should just move on to someone else. Someone who hadn’t closed off her heart to love.
But the thought of moving on didn’t sit well with him. Not because he was holding out hope for Belle, but because it wouldn’t be fair to the woman to take up her time knowing his heart wasn’t fully available just yet. In spite of the short amount of time they’d known each other, his heart held love for Belle.
Once the movie was over, Mitch said goodbye to his siblings and headed home. He spent some time in the gym in the basement of the building before taking a shower and crawling into bed. All the while, he considered ways to help himself get past what he felt for Belle. Maybe he just needed to be around more single women. Though he’d not been seeking out women for the last year or so, this situation with Belle had reawakened something within him.
He thought back on the conversation he’d had with Maya and Gabe earlier, and as he replayed it in his head, he realized that he was very much discontent to be single. He had no peace about it at all. For as long as he could remember, he’d wanted to be a husband and a father, just like his dad. Bennett had wanted to be in construction, running a business, just like their dad. Even Gabe—when he hadn’t been gallivanting around the globe—had wanted to be successful at business like their dad.
But it had never been about his dad’s business acumen for Mitch. No, it had been about the love and compassion he’d shown his sons when their mother had rejected them. The love he’d shown four children who were not his blood. And the love he’d shown the woman who had gone on to become their stepmother. Though he’d been wounded by love once, Steve Callaghan had been willing to take another chance, and in the end, that had been the best decision he’d ever made.
And that was what Mitch had always wanted. To love someone and to be loved in return. To have them choose to love him. The way his dad and Emily had chosen to love each other. If Belle wouldn’t make that choice to open her heart to the possibility of love, he would have to continue to wait for someone who would.
Belle stood at the back of the room, watching with a critical eye as the carefully planned wedding played out. As with each wedding, she was on alert for anything that had the potential to ruin the bride and groom’s special day. While she might not place much importance on the trappings of a wedding for herself, she understood how important it was to the people who came to her for help in planning their special day.
One day, she’d probably plan a wedding for Jasmine and maybe Rory. She wasn’t sure about Ariel though, as even if she tried to give her everything she asked for, they’d probably still end up injuring each other in the process. The irony of her family was that after searching for the perfect prince, when her mom had found him, she hadn’t bothered to wait to plan a wedding. She and Patrick had just taken themselves off to Paris, flown in Belle and her siblings, and gotten married.
None of them had been upset, and in fact, they’d all been a bit relieved to not have to deal with Mother Bride…not to be confused with Mother of the Bride.
One of whom, in this particular wedding, was managing to create a minor scene by sobbing her way through the ceremony.
Belle was eager for the ceremony to near its end. Her assistant for the day would stay at the ceremony site to help with any last-minute things that might come up, but Belle needed to head over to the reception location to make sure everything was ready for the cocktail hour and then their reception.
Once the reception was underway, she and her assistant would be free to leave. As with all weddings, she made sure the couple understood that her responsibilities would end once the reception began. Given how long a reception could last, once she’d verified the venue had fulfilled their obligations, Belle was done. If they wanted her to stick around to the bitter end, they had to pay handsomely for her time.
As the minister finished the vows, Belle slipped out the back door of the room and found her assistant waiting there.
“I’m heading off to the reception site. Once you’re done here, you’re free to leave.”
She nodded. “Thanks, Belle. I hope the rest of your weekend goes well.”
“Yours too.”
At the reception hall, Belle waited anxiously for the bride and groom to arrive with their guests, grateful that this was one of the times that a reception was occurring immediately following the ceremony. She’d checked with the venue manager, and everything was ready as she’d arranged. The hall was set up exactly as the bride had requested.
Now that her part was nearly over, Belle was ready to leave. She was planning to meet with Mitch for dinner. In the commotion with her car earlier in the week, she hadn’t realized that when Mitch had called her that day, he’d had a specific reason. She found that out when he’d called back the day before to ask if he could stop by with paint samples. They hadn’t been able to find a time that worked for them both except for that night, and Belle found herself looking forward to the time with Mitch.
Given her hectic week, she was happy for the opportunity to focus on something else. The new building was taking shape, but she was surprised they were ready to pick out paint samples already.
Noise at the front of the building drew her attention, and she turned to see the bridal party arriving. This couple had elected to have a receiving line as the guests arrived, so Belle helped get them organized for that, glad to see that the bride looked happy and not stressed out. If the bride was stressed, she wasn’t doing her job.
It took another hour, but finally, she checked in one last time with the mother of the bride then got her things ready to leave. Unlike the last time she and Mitch had gotten together, Belle had plenty of time to get ready before heading out. As he’d promised after their dinner at Mongo’s, Mitch had left the restaurant choice up to Belle.
Knowing that they were going to have a business discussion of sorts, Belle had decided on some place that wouldn’t be too busy and where they’d hopefully not be too rushed. That was a tall order, really, on a Saturday night. In the end, she chose a family-style restaurant that might not be as popular for a date or moms’ night out gatherings and was open twenty-four hours.
As soon as she walked into the restaurant, she spotted Mitch, and when the hostess approached her, Belle pointed him out. He sat at a booth on the far side of the restaurant, a mug cupped between his hands, his head bent forward. A binder sat beside him on the table.
“Hey,” Belle said as she slid into the booth.
Mitch looked up, his expression serious for a split second before he smiled at her. “Hey. How’s the wedding planner?”
“Happy that everything went smoothly. Well, the ceremony anyway. At this point, they’re married, and that’s all I care about. If they get in a fight at the reception and want to chuck it all, not my concern.”
“Does that ever happen?” Mitch asked as he sat back, dragging his mug closer to the edge of the table.
“Not that I’m aware of, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. My goal is to make it through my career without one of my weddings ending up on YouTube for bad reasons.”
Mitch grinned at that. “Yeah, I’ve seen a few funny ones over the years. My sister, Danica, likes to tag me in funny videos and some of them have been wedding ones.” He paused. “Oh, I got your friend request and accepted it.”
“Sorry if that crossed a professional line,” Belle said. “It was kind of a whim when I was bored the other day.”
Mitch lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “It’s fine. I’m not terribly exciting on social media, so I hope you’re not expecting to be entertained.”
“Oh, I’m not, considering I’m not all that active myself.” Belle grinned. “I don’t generally go to social media for my entertainment. Between my job and my family, I get plenty of entertainment.”
“Can I bring you a drink?” The waitress’s question drew Belle’s attention.
“Just water with lemon, please.”
She turned to Mitch. “Anything for you, sir? More coffee?”
“I’ll take water for now. Maybe another coffee after the meal.”
“Sure. I’ll bring your drinks right out.” She paused. “Did you have any questions about the menu?”
Belle looked down at the plastic-coated menu that she hadn’t even opened yet. “No. Not at the moment.”
When the waitress had left them, Belle opened the menu and looked it over. She flipped through it all, then ended up back at the first couple of pages.
“Breakfast for supper?” Mitch asked.
She looked up and smiled at him. “Yeah. It’s the most appealing thing at the moment.”
“My mom used to do that for us when I was still at home. We all loved coming home from school to the smell of bacon, eggs, and pancakes.”
Belle watched as Mitch got a faraway look in his eyes. Obviously he was taking a trip down memory lane. “If we wanted a meal like that, we usually had to make it ourselves. Did your mom have a job?”
Mitch shook his head as he laughed. “I think keeping track of eight kids—well, ten after Danica and Dalton arrived—constituted a full-time job for her. Before the other two came along, she’d volunteer at the school a couple of days a week. We were all involved with activities of one kind or another. I think that was her way of keeping track of us even when we weren’t home. Once the other two arrived, they kept her pretty busy around the house.”
Belle wondered how different she and her siblings’ lives would have been if her mom had chosen to be more available at home instead of spending so much of her time at the business. They’d spent more days than she liked to remember in a room her mom had set up in the boutique with toys, a television, and a computer. As they had gotten older, they’d been allowed out into the shop itself after school and in the summer. As long as they didn’t get in the way.
She knew that as a single mom, her mother had had to work hard in order to support them. Her dad had done what he could, but it wasn’t often he could go over and above what he paid in child support for her and Jon.
But still, Belle knew that her mom could have hired someone to help out at the boutique so that she could have been home with them a bit more. Funny how she was resisting doing the very thing she felt her mom should have done. Of course, she didn’t have a family to take care of the way her mom had.
Why would she hire someone to free up more of her time? She had no kids that she had to make time for. She didn’t have a boyfriend or a husband. Not even a pet. And she had no desire for any of that.
After the waitress came back to take their order, Belle pushed thoughts of her childhood out of her mind. “So is that the kind of woman you’re looking for?”
Mitch’s brows drew together as he looked at the waitress who was walking away. “Her?”