You, Me, and Forever (Blushing)

“Oh boy, look who stopped by to say hi,” Violet said over a fit of laughter. “Clifford Wellhung is staring at us like he wants to make an appointment.”

I looked up from where I was signing a few contracts for upcoming weddings, and I laughed at the sight of Clifford, the local brown moose who cruised through town like he owned the place.

Clifford was what everyone in town called him, but “Clifford Wellhung” was the name that Violet called him.

Because she was crude.

Because Clifford was definitely rocking a set of balls that were impossible to miss.

He’d been around for years, and if you didn’t mess with him, he wouldn’t mess with you.

He stared in our window for a few seconds before he turned and walked toward the courtyard across the street, where he often lay beneath the large oak tree.

The views from our business were my favorite. I could see the water in the distance, and the mountains behind it. It calmed me in a way, and I’d been feeling much better lately.

I don’t know if it was the fact that I had a new sexy friend whom I was either running into or talking to via text every night.

I’d never had a friendship like this.

We talked. We flirted. We fought. We laughed.

Rinse and repeat and do it all again the next day.

And I actually looked forward to it. Even if I was ridiculously busy this week planning this wedding, Myles St. James had somehow become my favorite part of the day.

I’d never admit that to anyone else, but it was the truth.

I hadn’t heard from him today, which was not the norm, and I was trying not to let it bother me.

It didn’t matter.

I had things to do anyway. It was a typical busy Friday.

“Speaking of well-hung men . . . ,” Violet said, just as the door chimed.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t my three favorite frauds,” Myles said as he crossed his arms over his chest and his eyes found mine. I felt a burst of butterflies in my stomach, but I tried hard to act unaffected.

His dark hair was cut short on the sides and a little longer on the top. He wore a white fitted tee, dark jeans, and a pair of brown boots. He’d grown comfortable here in Blushing, and I tried to remind myself that he wasn’t staying.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t our favorite billionaire,” Violet said.

“Is it normal for that moose to hang out by your window?” he asked, and I couldn’t help but laugh because the look on his face was hilarious.

“Have you never seen Clifford before?” I asked.

“You’ve named him? I’ve seen that fucker hanging out in the center of town, and I stay out of his way. I didn’t know he had a name.” He ran a hand over his jaw, and the way it felt when he’d buried his face between my legs flooded my memories.

Did it just get hot in here?

“Yes, his name is Clifford,” Blakely said as she turned to put a few files in the cabinet. “Monny actually named him years ago, and the name stuck with everyone in town.”

“Is it his real name, or is this his alias?” he asked, his attention on me, and I didn’t miss the way Violet and Blakely were looking between us as if they’d noticed.

“It’s his real name. Clifford Wellhung, actually. He’s a Scorpio, and he enjoys long walks on the beach and square dancing with the ladies on Saturday nights.” I smirked.

He smiled, that dimple on full display. And when Myles St. James smiled, it did something to me. I worked hard to act unaffected around this man, but it was becoming more challenging with each passing day.

“Good to know. I’ll have to hit him up to meet me for a drink sometime.” His gaze locked with mine. “You got a minute? I wanted to run something by you.”

“Sure. We can go to my office,” I said, handing the file with the contract to Violet as she raised a brow.

I led him down the hallway and into my office, then shut the door behind us. Myles took the seat across from my desk. He glanced around. “It’s so . . . girly in here.”

“I like to call it French—it’s romantic and chic. I made a vision board of this office long before I went into business for myself.”

“What the fuck is a vision board?”

“It’s a place to dream, Myles. To be creative and think about what you want.”

“And it goes on a board?” he asked, like this was the most outrageous thing he’d ever heard.

“What? Don’t billionaires make vision boards on Saturday nights for a fun family activity?” I teased as I pointed to the wall to the left that held three of my favorite vision boards. They were covered in magazine clippings of everything that I loved and wanted for my life.

“Yeah.” He rubbed his neck. “The St. Jameses aren’t big on arts and crafts. Not really our thing, but I think it’s cool.”

He pushed to his feet and walked to the wall that held the boards and studied them, one at a time. “You like to paint and read. You clearly like the water, and you enjoy shopping because you’ve got a lot of boats and shoes and purses on here.”

I chuckled. “Yes. All my favorite things.”

“You’ve got a large piano in the center of this board,” he said, pointing to the one in the center. “That’s sort of what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“The piano on my vision board?”

“No. The piano at Seaside. Would you like to have it?”

“Would I like to have it? Are you selling it?”noveldrama

“No. It’s old, and it’s not for sale. But Charlie and I were talking about demo next week, and I remembered you mentioning that you learned to play on that particular piano. I thought you might want to keep it. You know, as a memory from your childhood.”

I stared at him for the longest time. “I can’t let you give it to me, but I could buy it from you. I just assumed you’d sell it to an antique dealer. I think it’s worth a lot of money.”

“It’s not for sale, Montana. It’s yours if you want it.” He cleared his throat.

“You’re pretty good at this friendship thing, you know that?”

He pushed to his feet. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. I still think about that pussy of yours daily, so I’m not that good at the friendship thing.”

I groaned. “You’re ridiculous.”

“I’ve got to get back to work. I’ll let him know that you want it.”

“I’m not sure how I’ll get it moved, but I’ll call around and see if I can find someone,” I said, pushing to my feet and following him to the door.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll have it delivered to your house for you.”

Before I could stop myself, I lunged at him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him. “Thank you for thinking of me. It means a lot to me that you’re letting me keep it. It’ll mean a lot to my dad too.”

When I pulled back, his features were softer than usual. “Yeah, well, I’m heading back to the inn to give your father shit about making vision boards on Saturday nights.”

“Don’t knock it till you try it, Moneybags. You like building things. You might just surprise yourself.”

He walked out toward the front office and turned around to look at me one last time. “Maybe you’ll have to show me how it’s done.”

“Oh, she’ll be happy to show you how it’s done,” Violet said, taking his words completely out of context, and I gaped at her.

“I’m going to hold her to it, then.” He winked and stepped out of the office.

And we all three stood there in silence for a few seconds.

“Holy fucking hotness. That man makes Clifford Wellhung seem like he has no swagger.”

Blakely reached for a few Skittles from the candy jar that always sat on her desk and popped them in her mouth. “He sure does. And what did he do to you in the office? Your cheeks are pink, and you look a little sweaty.”

“Stop. It was business.”

“Business regarding your vajabbies diagnosis?” Violet asked as she walked around the desk.

“I’ve been so much better lately. I no longer suffer from the vajabbies, but thanks for the reminder.” I reached for a few Skittles.

“That’s because you’ve probably been getting a good workout from your vibrator with your new bestie hanging around you all the time.”

“Vi, let it go. He’ll be gone as quickly as he came.”

“That’s what she said,” Blakely shouted, and we all erupted in laughter. Just then the door chimed, pulling our attention to the woman standing in the doorway.

Susannah stood there with swollen eyes and tears streaming down her face, which looked unusually orange.

“Hi, Susannah. Is everything okay?” I asked, trying to hide the panic from my voice and making an effort to appear relaxed and not alarmed by her appearance.

“Look at me. It’s the night before my wedding, and I have a zit in the center of my forehead,” she said, pointing to her forehead. Violet and Blakely tucked their lips between their teeth, because clearly no one wanted to tell her that the zit was the least of her worries.

“It’s all right. Don’t worry at all. This stuff happens all the time. Come to my office—I’ve got just what you need.” This had always been my area of expertise. Violet was a little more rough around the edges when it came to handling sensitive situations. Her strengths were negotiating contracts, marketing the business, and running the books.

I was all about the details.

Susannah followed me back to my office, and I motioned for her to sit in the pink velvet chair across from me. Blakely followed us inside, handing us each a bottle of sparkling water and setting down a small plate of cookies before hurrying out.

Getting married should be an experience.

The Blushing Bride always tried to provide that.

From happy moments to meltdowns, which always arrived somewhere between thirty-six hours and three hours before the ceremony.

So, we were right on time, coming in around twenty-eight hours until we’d be gathering at the Seaside Inn.

“You have your rehearsal dinner tonight, right?”

“Yes,” she said, and the word broke on a sob. “And look at me. Jesse just sent me over the edge when I went to ask him if my zit was noticeable.”

“What did he say?” I asked as I pushed the cookie plate toward her, and she reached for an oatmeal raisin and took a bite.

“He said that the pimple wasn’t noticeable.” She sniffed and swiped at her eyes.

I moved around my desk, grabbed the box of tissue, and took the seat beside her.

“He’s right. It’s barely noticeable. I can give you some ointment, and we’ll get it dried up, and then it will be easy to cover with makeup by dinner tonight.”

“But that wasn’t all he said.”

Was it typical for a groom to say the wrong thing the day before the wedding? Yes. It happened all the time.

“What did he say?”

“He asked if I was supposed to be orange!” she shouted in outrage before turning to me and breaking out in a fit of hysterics. “Am I orange?”

I sighed. I always told my brides to avoid spray tans the day before the wedding, but most of the time they ignored the tip and did it anyway. This wasn’t unheard of.

“You look beautiful, but I think this spray was probably set a little too dark for your fair skin. But we can tone it right down and have you good to go by dinner tonight.”

“Really?” she asked. “Damn, Brit told me she’d practiced with the new tanning gun she’d just bought for her business. But it did feel like it went on awfully thick.”

Brit Hansen had recently opened a mobile spray-tan company, called the Spray & Stay. She ran the whole thing right out of her peach-colored VW Bus, and she traveled to her clients’ homes with bronzing guns a-blazing. She’d caused me more stress on wedding days these last few months than feuding families of the bride and groom and unexpected food allergies from wedding guests.

“I’ve got everything you need, and it will just tone everything down a bit.” I pushed to my feet, walked to the large antique cabinet that held all my worldly wedding planner secrets, and pulled the doors open. Premade bags for this exact situation sat on the shelf, and I reached for the pimple cream that I kept in a basket beside it. I made my way back over to her and bent down to meet her gaze. “Here’s what I want you to do. You’re going to head home and get in the shower. There’s an exfoliating glove and exfoliator in this bag, and I want you to scrub down your entire body and face under hot water. Once you get out and dry off, you’ll put this cream on that pimple, and it will dry it right up. It’s a miracle worker.”

She sniffed a few more times. “How will I know if I’m the right color?”

“Because I’ll be over to your house in thirty minutes. I just need to stop by Blushing Blooms and check on the arrangements with Charlotte. I’ll meet you at your place, and we’ll make sure you’re looking perfect for tonight.”

“Thank you.” She pushed to her feet and hugged me tight. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Well, you’d most likely be walking down the aisle the wrong shade of neon orange.

“You’d be the most beautiful bride in the world regardless. Now get going and stay under that hot water and scrub yourself down for several minutes. I’ll see you soon.”

“Thank you. Hey, I do have something else I wanted to talk to you about,” she said.

“Sure. What is it?”

“I wanted to check with you and make sure you were okay about seeing Phillip and Angel at the wedding tomorrow.”

I’d rather take a sharp stick to the eye.

“Of course I am. He’s Jesse’s best man; I knew he’d be there.” I cleared my throat, dreading that I’d have to be face to face with him and his supermodel fiancée tomorrow while I’d be working the event. “We ended on friendly terms.”

“Okay, that’s good to know. I met Angel, and for the record, the man traded down. There’s not a lot going on upstairs,” she said, tapping her temple as she chuckled.

“Well, that’s sweet of you to say, but I wish them nothing but the best,” I forced myself to say before I led her out of my office.

Always the professional when it comes to my weddings.

She waved at the girls before making her way out the door.

“The Spray & Stay is going to be the death of us at this rate,” Violet said over her laughter. “Perhaps she should have done some research when she switched professions.”

“Well, she wasn’t the best dental hygienist either,” Blakely said. “Remember I had to use eye drops for days when she blasted me in the eye with that water gun? I think Brit has found her calling as a spray tanner; she just needs to learn how to adjust the strength.”

We were all laughing now.

“I’m going to stop by the flower shop and then head over to make sure she’s scrubbed enough layers off her body.” I chuckled.

“I’ll walk with you. I’m heading to the inn to check on the tent setup.” Violet grabbed her purse and followed me outside.

It was almost game time, and we were both in work mode now.

Exactly the way I liked it.