Belle looked at the woman standing in front of her in an extravagant white dress. She had a furious look on her face as she glared at Belle.
“Where is the girl who helped me before? I want her again.”
“Not going to happen, I’m afraid,” Belle told her, only just barely holding onto her temper at the woman’s demands. “Jasmine is currently with another client.”
“I’ll wait.” The woman crossed her arms, and Belle could see from the reflection in the mirror behind the bride that her movement pulled the gaping edges of the back of the dress even further apart.
“She is booked for the rest of the day, but even if she wasn’t, she wouldn’t be assisting you.”
“But she ordered the wrong size dress. I want to talk to her about her mistake.”
“Actually.” Belle looked down at the tablet she held, reading over the notes Jasmine had made on the file. “You are quite correct. According to the notes here, you insisted that she order a size six even though it was tight when you tried on the sample, and she recommended a size eight. She made note that you insisted on the smaller size saying that you were going to be on a diet, so a size six would be fine. Oddly enough, she went ahead and ordered the eight, knowing we could alter it if necessary. So…”
As the reality of the situation sank in with the bride, the rage on her face increased. “I want to speak with her.”
“No. The last time she dealt with you, you managed to reduce her to tears and, from witness accounts, you seemed to take pride in that. Jasmine is one of our best consultants here, and most brides appreciate her. Since she is also my sister, I’m not going to allow you to have another go at her. However, if you’d like to make me cry, you’re welcome to try.”
“Then what are we supposed to do about this situation?” the bride demanded, waving a hand at her image in the mirror.
“I’ll have our seamstress come and see what our options are.”
When she returned a couple of minutes later with their head seamstress, Belle decided she’d better stay through the rest of the fitting, just to be safe. Carmelita was their best seamstress, and there was no way she wanted her upset.
Clearly, the bride was not happy with most of Lita’s suggestions, but this time her mom tried to reason with her. Belle stayed out of the discussion, partly because she was just done with the bride, but also because she was gearing up for the battle of her wanting them to rush order another dress in a larger size. At a discount.
She kept an eye on the time since her meeting at Mitch’s company was fast approaching. This appointment was supposed to have happened earlier in the week, but the bride had switched it twice before finally showing up just after noon that day. They would have one more fitting after this, but Belle had a funny feeling that the bride was going to go on a crash diet and then they’d have to take the dress in again. If that was the case, bridezilla was going to pay for the additional alterations.
When the fitting was finally over, Belle walked the women to the door and felt a keen sense of relief as they left the building. But as she turned away from the door, Belle froze when she spotted the bouquet on the circular desk. Jasmine walked in from the room where all the sample dresses were and paused before heading in Belle’s direction.
“Was it a delivery?”
Jasmine grimaced as she shook her head. “He brought them himself this time.”
“You know what to do with them,” Belle said as she spun away from the desk and headed for her office.
It had been almost five years since she’d finally been able to break free from the guy, and he still showed up with flowers, trying to convince her that she’d been wrong to end things between them. However, Belle was confident that of all the decisions she’d made in her life, that one was absolutely the right one. It had taken her far too long to make it, and when she looked back on the person she’d been then, Belle was surprised that she’d actually had the strength to leave him. And because of that, she wouldn’t be going back to him. Ever.
Seeing she had twenty minutes left before she had to leave for her appointment at the C&M Builders office, Belle made herself a cup of coffee from the small Keurig she had in her office. She took a sip as she settled back in her chair, letting out a long sigh as she closed her eyes. There were times when she needed to take a few minutes throughout the day to just step back and breathe.
Though the morning had been okay—mostly fielding phone calls from vendors she was working with—the appointment with bridezilla and then the flower delivery had stressed her out, plus the looming appointment for the renovations didn’t help. She been praying that the meeting at C&M Builders would provide the solution she needed to help her get through the move without losing her mind.
After she finished her coffee, Belle gathered up her things and put them in her briefcase. Included was the information she’d gathered on places she’d already seen. She just really, really hoped that she wasn’t wasting their time.
Mitch jogged from his truck in the parking lot to the entrance of the C&M building. Maya looked up as he walked in and smiled.
“Hey,” she said as he neared the desk.
“Hi, Mitch.” The girl next to Maya gave him a flirty look as her cheeks turned pink. “How is your day going?”
“It’s going well, Shelly. How about yours?” Mitch didn’t like to encourage the young woman’s interest in him, but he wasn’t going to be rude. There was no rule about not dating within the company. If that had been the case, none of his siblings, with the exception of Kenton, would have found their significant others.
Mitch kind of wished that Shelly had been attractive to him, but the big turn off with her was that she still wasn’t one hundred percent certain when it was him or when it was Gabe. Mitch found that hard to believe, but there were times when Gabe told him she’d mistaken him for Mitch. And if they were in the office at the same time and Mitch was wearing normal clothes, Mitch had noticed she waited for someone to identify one of them before making her move. In contrast, Belle had known without even being told that he wasn’t Gabe, despite not even knowing Gabe had a twin brother.
“My day is going great…now.” She gave him another shy smile. “So, do you have plans for tonight?”
Mitch glanced at Maya, who just widened her eyes and shrugged. “Uh…”
Thankfully, he was saved from having to answer when the front door opened. He turned in time to see the real estate agent Tristan had arranged to meet with them step into the office.
“Hey there, Mitch,” she said as she held out her hand, a wide smile on her face. “How’s it going?”
“Good, Cassidy. And you?”
“Excited.” She rubbed her hands together. “Sounds like you and Tristan have a challenge for me. But I’m up for it. I’ve already got a couple of locations that might work for what they need.”
Mitch was glad to hear that. He had heard the frustration in Belle’s voice, and he hoped that they’d be able to help her out and alleviate the stress he sensed she was experiencing.
“I’m going to chat with Tristan before the meeting,” she said. “See you in a few.”
Though Mitch wasn’t anxious to make small talk with Shelly, he did want to be there when Belle arrived. He wanted to find out if the pull he’d felt to her during the first meeting was still there.
“Did you tell your mom about your meeting with Belle?” Mitch asked, hoping to keep the conversation from returning to his plans for later that day.
“I did, and she wasn’t terribly happy with me.” Maya rolled her eyes. “She told me that since she and Dad were paying for the wedding, she should have input.”
“Oh boy,” Mitch said.
“No worries,” Maya said with a shrug of her shoulders. “I just told her that I’d pay for the wedding myself.”
That made Mitch laugh. It was so great to see Maya taking a stand for herself. He knew how difficult it had been for her to spread her wings initially, but she’d definitely come into her own since they’d first met.
“So now everything is just fine,” Maya said, grinning as she plopped back down onto her chair. “I’m excited about planning the wedding now. With Belle’s help, I think it’s going to be amazing.”
As if speaking the woman’s name brought her forth, the front door opened again, and Belle walked in. She looked every bit the businesswoman in her dark green pantsuit, holding a briefcase in one hand.
She approached them with a confident smile. “Hello, Mitch. Maya.”
When she held out her hand to him, Mitch didn’t hesitate to take it in his, but he was conscious of the roughness of his palm when he felt the smoothness of hers. “Nice to see you again, Belle.”
“I’m excited to see how Tristan and Mitch will be able to help you,” Maya said as she came around the desk to greet Belle. “The conference room is ready for your meeting. Mitch can show you where it is.”
“Sure,” Mitch said as he held his hand out in the direction the real estate agent had disappeared a few minutes earlier. “It’s just this way.”
When Belle came to his side, they walked down the hallway to the large glass doors that led to the conference room. Tristan and the real estate agent were already seated there, deep in conversation that stopped abruptly as Mitch and Belle walked in.
Once introductions were made, they sat down at the large wooden table. Tristan took a seat at the head of the table while the agent sat to his right. Mitch held the chair to Tristan’s left for Belle then settled into the seat beside her. He knew that his presence there wasn’t exactly necessary at this point in the process, but there was no way he was going to miss this discussion.
“So why don’t you tell us what you’d like to end up with,” the real estate agent said. “Something the same as what you have or something different?”
“Honestly, the safe answer is…the same thing as what we have. My mom was the one who designed the original store, so it’s all I’ve ever known. Basically, we have four areas…well, five if you count my office. We have the room where we store all the dresses. We need an area with dressing rooms and mirrors. I need a larger room where I can meet for consultations, and we also have an alterations department. Currently, that department is in the basement. The dresses and the dressing rooms are on the main floor. My office is also on the main floor while the consultation room is on the second floor. I don’t mind that set-up though ideally, I’d like to have my office on the second floor with the consultation room.”
The real estate agent nodded her head as she jotted down notes on the pad in front of her. “Okay, so you’d like to stick with the two-story floor plan with a basement?”
“Yes. I would like that, if possible, but I do realize that I may have to make some concessions.”
“Okay, right off the bat, I think we might have a couple options for you to look at,” the agent said.
Belle lifted her briefcase onto the table and opened it. “I’ve brought you a list of all the properties we’ve already seen. None of them seemed like they would work for us though, so I’m not sure if you’d have fresh thoughts on that or not.”
The agent took the paper Belle held out and glanced over it. “Yeah. Yeah. I can see why they chose to show you those properties. The ones I have for you are not move-in ready, but with Tristan and Mitch’s help, I think at least one of them would work for you.”
“Really?”
The hope in Belle’s voice made Mitch smile. That was what he’d wanted. To see her excited that they could do something for her and help to relieve some of her frustration. As the meeting continued, Belle seemed to become more engaged in the discussion. Mitch knew Tristan was good at following direction when people came in with a very definite design in mind, but he was even better at drawing out what people wanted when they didn’t know precisely what that was.
Though he didn’t exactly have much to add to the conversation, Mitch paid attention nonetheless, because if she decided to go through with anything they were discussing, he would be in charge of the renovations. He really hoped that she would give them the opportunity to do the work. It seemed like a challenging project, and while those often came with their own set of complications, they were also rewarding when completed.
Against his better judgment, he found himself thinking that he wouldn’t mind working a little more closely with Belle Jacobs. Just to see if maybe there was something there between them. Something that maybe she felt as well. He definitely was intrigued by her, which should have made him back right off because he knew from previous experience that, for him, intrigue was quickly followed by infatuation and then…love.
That right there should have made him step back and let Tristan and Cassidy deal with Belle. He could just let them go through all the preliminaries with her and then he would take over the renovations when it got to that point. His contact with her could be reduced to pretty much nothing. Which is what he should do…and yet, after a year of not being in a relationship, the slow burn of excitement that this may be the one was hard to ignore.
Yes, she was the physical type of woman he was attracted to, but Mitch knew from experience that sometimes beauty was only skin deep. So even though he wanted to explore the fascination he already had for Belle, he was well aware he shouldn’t rush things. Still, his desire for a family of his own, combined with the passing years, made it difficult to not want to push ahead quickly.
But for now, if things worked out with the renovations, he’d just settle for getting to know her a bit better. He had to try to keep himself from thinking beyond that. It was time to try a different approach. Instead of rushing in and allowing his emotions to have free rein, he needed to take things slowly and be intentional in praying about it. That was something he knew he’d not done a very good job of in the past. Too often he’d jump into a relationship and then pray hard that it would last. This time around, he wanted to pray about the situation first…then see where God might lead it.