MARRY ME AT CHRISTMAS
Evergreen Valley: Book 2
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Venus Halliday shoved a handful of Tic-Tacs into her mouth and contemplated her life choices, eyes glued shut with complete horror. She could have stayed in law school. Duking it in the courtroom wouldn’t be as stressful as battling a mother fussing over her daughter’s wedding. As a professional wedding planner it was part of the territory, she reminded herself. But still, that knowledge didn’t mean she had to like the fact that her 3Gs plan to a spectacular wedding—Glamour, Glitz and Glory—lined her up with another G word. Glitch. Her refined system worked like a charm. Usually. But even the best plans came with flaws. Venus ducked around the corner to check for cameras and then slid inside a little nook off the side of the foyer. She pulled up short and peeked outside to see guests already pulling up in limos and Rolls Royce’s. She let the curtain fall back in place. Venus lowered her voice as she spoke into the earpiece she shared with her assistant Callie and the wait staff. She should have seen this coming. “What exactly do you mean the wedding dress is missing? The bride can’t exactly say ‘I do’ in front of millions of people in her birthday suit.” “Well I’m sure that’s not how she wanted to get the ratings up either.” “Callie!” Venus needed a vacation after this wedding. There were no two ways about it. With a guest list that matched her height foot for foot and the barrage of tasks she somehow, someway managed to pull into an actual wedding, her nerves were toast. |
Venus appreciated her assistant’s attempt at humor but with her heartbeat nearing triple digits, laughing didn’t sit high on her list.
“I’m just saying, but okay, being totally serious now. I saw when you put it in the van for transport here from the shop when we brought everything over two days ago, but after that, I don’t know.”
“Where are you now? Does the client know?” No reason to upset her if the news hadn’t travelled. Not yet anyway.
Venus stepped out of the nook and made a beeline for the back entrance where they had unloaded everything.
“Didn’t you secure the dress along with the groom’s tux?”
“Affirmative. I placed the dress in the bride’s suite and the tux in the groom’s before leaving. I personally saw to it. Now, not so much.” She heard the shrug in Callie’s voice.
“Wait.” There was a small pause, a rattle of a doorknob and the snick of a door closing before Callie continued over the earpiece.
“There is this black bag on the loveseat. It’s way too small to hold the ton of silk and lace of Gretchen’s dress, but let me check.”
“No. No. That’s not it. Don’t waste your time,” Venus countered. A sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach clued her in on exactly what happened.
Venus stopped her mental freak-out to welcome a few guests with a smile before slipping into the growing crowd to make room for more guests to move through the foyer. She took a step back and bumped into a cameraman, who turned the lens on her. She smiled and skillfully slipped behind a burly man that looked a little too big for his suit. But he served as a great distraction to draw the attention of the nosy cameramen.
Don’t make eye contact. Don’t make eye contact.
She tucked her chin and hurried around the corner before the crew could get the idea of following her. That was all she needed.
The faint beams of winter sun faded to dusk beyond the wall of windows that lined the west side of the movie star’s Vancouver palace. It was the only word Venus could adequately use to describe the four-story home with long, winding marble staircases and just as many bathrooms as Buckingham Palace, no doubt.
A small part of her felt sorry for the cleaning crew after this shin-dig wrapped up.
Blurry beams of light spilled through the massive floor to ceiling windows in the large formal dining area. For the past two weeks leading up to the big day, Venus had worked closely with set designers. One being her brother Cooper who got his start in architecture as a set designer, which had been a tremendous help, and professional decorators to convert the star’s mansion into a scene straight out of a 007 flick.
When Gretchen Stewart had made the request, Venus didn’t blink and found a way to make it happen. The bride-to-be had wanted to honor her start in Hollywood as a coveted Bond girl and Venus would see it through to the end.
Daunting as the job had been, it was the first important step in taking her business to the next level.
A waitress glided through the growing crowd, tray held high. As part of the wedding, all staff color-coordinated with the elaborate James Bond theme. White shirts with golden accents paired with black slacks. The bridesmaids wore black satin with detached golden cuffs complete with cufflinks while she and Callie wore shimmery golden gowns that felt like gold leaf paper against her skin.
Countless tiny yellow and white roses were woven together to create a stunning floral curtain to drape from the eaves. Above, thousands of balloons covered the domed glass ceiling to create a sea of gold and black. When the sun dipped over the mountains and night fell, tiny specks hand-painted on the balloons would sparkle for a magical galaxy effect.
But right now none of that mattered.
“I’m in the west wing in the bride’s dressing room right next to her suite. We’ve looked everywhere and none of the wait staff or maids has moved anything.”
“I’m on it. Give me five.”
Venus heard the rustling of satin, girls’ laughter, and the unmistakable voice of Gretchen Stewart, Hollywood’s latest rising star, through the earpiece as they broke out in an impromptu rendition of “I’m Every Woman.”
Unlike most celebrities who preferred the privacy, Gretchen saw every event in her life as a reason to have a camera present. That meant triple the cameras for something as big a deal as this. Which made her job all the harder.
Venus pushed through the double doors separating the kitchen from the rest of the house and scanned over the chef and her assistants. A bustle of hands and bodies moved in unison as everyone worked around one another.
The thick aroma of beef with fresh vegetables, apples, cinnamon and of course the sweet vanilla scent of the flawless cake saturated her senses.
Memories would be made because of what their team pulled off here today. She started to tear up. This was what her job was all about.
Her gaze landed on a pretty middle-aged blonde with a fetish for hairspray and the color pink. “Bingo.” Gotcha. Right where she thought the meddlesome mother would be, too.
“Mrs. Stewart. Everything okay in here?” She crossed the kitchen and offered one of her cool-as-a-cucumber smiles she reserved for moments like these.
The mother of the bride stood a few inches shorter than Venus’s five eight, but her coif made up for the missing inches. Wrapped in a skin-tight, hot pink one-piece with matching stilettos, Venus didn’t know how the woman had slipped by her in the first place.
“Yes, just making sure everything is running smoothly. The cake could use a few more roses, don’t you think? I also wanted to talk to you about the vows.” She went on as she settled a hand over Venus’s, wrapped around her clipboard. “Don’t you think—”
“I’m sure it’s exactly like your daughter envisioned, Mrs. Stewart. And we’ve already talked about the vows your daughter will be sharing with her husband-to-be. Those aren’t really for us to change.” Venus hated to cut in and sound snippy, but she didn’t have time to coddle right now or the bride really would be walking the aisle in her birthday suit.
“Yes, but they are so dreadfully long. You would think they’re reciting Shakespeare.”
Venus laughed. “You remind me of my gran, Mrs. Stewart. You two would get along beautifully.”
That brought a smile from the bride’s mother and won her a little leeway with the otherwise overly…helpful… woman. “I like her already.”
“Can I speak with you a second in private, Mrs. Stewart.”
“Of course, dear.”
Venus guided them to a small area off the side of the kitchen where they wouldn’t be in the way. “Have you by chance seen Gretchen’s wedding dress?”
“Yes, yes of course. Gretchen needed something borrowed so I took the dress to my room for a quick surprise to be sewn onto the hem. Nothing to worry about, dear.” Mrs. Stewart winked a perfectly winged-tipped eye at her.
Why did that sound synonymous with the world is about to end and you are standing on ground zero?
Oh dear heavens. Venus had spent months tracking down the designer, scheduling fittings, and refitting.
Her breath caught in her throat and blocked her from letting all her worry slip out into words.
“Thank Heavens!” A little voice piped up in the back of her head with a silent prayer. Please don’t let the dress be ruined! She had personally hand-sewn the two hundred crystals to the hemline and bodice of that dress. She normally left that to the dressmaker, but the client caught a glimpse of a little personal project Venus had going on and wanted her sewing skills to add the final detail at the last minute. Literally. Not an hour before, she tied off the last knot.
Venus squeaked out her two-word reply, not able to try for anything more elaborate at the moment like, what have you done? And why do I have a feeling I won’t like this?
“I’ll send Callie to collect it. Thank you, Mrs. Stewart.”
“Not at all, dear. I’ll go up and see to it that everything is in order.”
“Venus.”
Callie spoke over the earpiece, grabbing her attention.
“Callie, the dress is in Mrs. Stewart’s room. She’ll be joining you right now so she can help with the dressing.” Venus nodded and signaled for Mrs. Stewart to go on ahead.
“I’m on it. God, please don’t let anything else go wrong today.”
“Amen to that.”
Unlike their competition, Vows from Venus specialized not only in destination weddings but unique weddings. A wedding in Fiji? No problem. Want to get hitched under the auroras in the Arctic Circle? Sure!
Heck, given enough time, she could make that Mt. Everest wedding a reality.
But a Hollywood star and her mom where about to make her tap out.
Today had to be more than just perfect—it had to be magical if her company were to survive. Plus, they couldn’t afford to mess up on live TV.
Just that thought sent an icy edge of fear up her spine.
Flowers, gowns, perfectly arranged silk bows along church pews and an immaculate cake to top off the perfect day. Every detail had to be perfect. No exception.
Booming laughter and lively string music erupted through the crack of the doors as a waiter pushed through the double oak slabs Mrs. Stewart just exited.
For some ridiculous reason Venus’s ears prickled and her finger wrapped a little tighter around her clipboard.
“What? What is it?”
“Ms. Halliday. It’s the champagne and martini ingredients.”
She turned to give the men her full attention, her heart sinking every second she looked at their fallen faces. “What about it?” There was no Bond wedding without the martinis.
“Umm…” The waiter who looked only a year or two younger than herself ran a shaky hand through his auburn hair before scratching at an invisible five o’clock shadow.
“It never arrived.”
She leaned in. “As in not delivered.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Venus nodded as an odd grip tightened in her chest.
“The flutes? The martini glasses with the little gold and black bowties. Did you bring those?”
Both men perked up at that and nodded.
“Okay then.” In an effort to regain her composure she offered a small smile. Not all was lost.
The double doors swung open again and she dared a peek. Bright lights and lenses flashed her way. Great. Cameras. Live TV.
Her hand flew to her heart and sudden panic tightened around her vocal cords. For a split second nothing came out.
Then her father’s favorite saying came to mind: Fail to plan then plan to fail.
She’d planned this down to the second the newlyweds would be sipping margaritas on a Tahitian beach. No way this little detail would throw a glitch in her work.
In an instant her mind clicked over from her second panic of the day to problem solver. That or risk passing out in the middle of the kitchen on live TV. Yeah, no thank you.
Venus shook off the cold dread that wanted to cling to her, smiled for the cameras, and let them get a good shot of the cake where she directed Rachael, Vows from Venus’s in-house chef and baker, to explain the intricate details of the design.
Step one completed, she moved to the side and signaled with a crooked finger for the waiters to follow her.
She didn’t panic when her assistant misplaced a check for ten grand from one of their summer weddings or when the wedding photographer showed up drunk from a three-day drinking binge in Puerto Vallarta. She wouldn’t panic now.
A waitress swept into the kitchen with a tray of cutlery specifically designed for the cutting of the cake, nearly smacking her in the face. Venus took it in stride.
“Whoops. Sorry, Ms. Halliday. Where should I put these?”
Venus checked her watch.
Her earpiece crackled a little before her partner came on the COMS to announce the bride-to-be was almost ready as her phone vibrated from a small modified pocket in her dress Venus added at the last minute.
Shoulders back and with a practiced smile, she calmly spoke to the waiters. “Here’s what we need to do. You two,” Venus pointed to the waiters beside her assistant and passed over a set of keys, “Ms. Stewart has a cellar. In there you will find five cases of champagne that I had delivered ahead of time. That should be enough to get you started.”
Venus pressed talk on her phone. “Hello, Venus speaking?” Please, let it be the delivery guys.
“Venus sweetie, this isn’t a bad time, is it?” Gran’s familiar voice filtered through the phone’s speaker.
Oh shoot. “Not at all, Gran.”
She fumbled in her pocket until she found her tiny case of mints.
With the phone still to her ear, Venus pointed to another waiter who had joined them and not a moment too soon. “And you wait outside for the delivery. I’ll call and get things worked out. Be on the ready to move fast when they arrive. We have an hour tops until everyone hits up the martini bar.” Hopefully.
“Not at all, Gran. Everything okay?” Venus repeated, peering at her watch as she spoke. Venus pulled the phone slightly away and turned to the waitress waiting for instruction. “Take the martini glasses and line all the remaining trays that do not have champagne flutes so we don’t waste any time once everything arrives.”
“Venus, the groom has a special request. He wants to know if you can help him say his vows?” Callie inquired over the earpiece in her other ear.
“It sounds like you’re busy, sweetie. I’ll call back later.”
“No, Gran, I needed to talk to you. Just a sec.”
Right. Groom’s vows. Venus snatched up her clipboard and thumbed through the stack of papers. Bingo.
“As in feed him his vows? Seriously? Uhh. Yeah sure.” Why the heck not, she supposed.
“Great.”
“Gran, you still there. Is everything okay?”
“Everything is great,” Gran answered. “I just had an idea for the party and thought you would need a bit of a fair warning.”
That had her brain revving in reverse and her attention fully on the next words to come out of her grandmother’s mouth. She dumped a few mints in her palm and popped them one after the other, dreading the next words.
When her gran actually called to give a heads up and used a word like warning paired with a sweet nonchalant voice, red flares went off and anyone fool enough not to listen was doomed. If you were smart—and this was something all the Halliday siblings learned the hard way—you stopped and listened. Sometimes you prayed. “What are you talking about, Gran? What did you do?”
Gran chuckled a little and that made her a little more nervous. When her Gran had something up her sleeve she normally didn’t give anyone a warning. Everyone found out about it at the same time as it unfolded on Facebook. She liked to keep people on their toes like that.
“What are you up to, lady?”
“Nothing much. You’ll see. I tagged you on Facebook. Lots of your clients already love the idea by the little hearts, smiley faces and thumbs up. Two hundred and forty-three by my last count to be exact.”
Venus pulled the phone from her ear and hit speaker as she pulled up her Facebook page. Please don’t let this be bad. Please don’t let this be bad.
This was bad. “Edible underwear for an engagement party for senior citizens really isn’t a thing.” Scrolled down a little further. Oh lordy. Wow. “The um… visual aids were not required, Gran. I had no idea those things were unisex.”
Warm, heartfelt laughter fed through the phone. The kind that said her grandmother was having way too much fun with her little joke.
“Apparently. That was the fun part of my research.”
Venus slid the preview up a little on her screen. Holy moly. Oh, that had her interest piqued. “Since when did they offer piña colada as a panty flavor? And wait. Is that a thong option?”
“Yeah, we’ll skip that one. There are about twenty flavors to pick from. But piña colada sounds fun and tropical. And besides, who says they’re not for senior citizens? We like to have a good laugh too, you know. Harry loves the idea and we can color-code it to the rest of the decorations for the engagement party and get a discount. I checked. The nice guy on the phone said if we order in bulk we could have it all arrive in plenty of time for the engagement party. How many do you think we need?”
Venus tossed back a few more mints and sighed when the last one shook out into her mouth.
If…IF…she survived today, she considered changing her area code and moving to Alaska. At this rate all the surprise ideas Gran had so far left her a couple of heartbeats shy of heart attack territory.
“As many as you can eat, I guess, Gran.”
“I’m just saying, but okay, being totally serious now. I saw when you put it in the van for transport here from the shop when we brought everything over two days ago, but after that, I don’t know.”
“Where are you now? Does the client know?” No reason to upset her if the news hadn’t travelled. Not yet anyway.
Venus stepped out of the nook and made a beeline for the back entrance where they had unloaded everything.
“Didn’t you secure the dress along with the groom’s tux?”
“Affirmative. I placed the dress in the bride’s suite and the tux in the groom’s before leaving. I personally saw to it. Now, not so much.” She heard the shrug in Callie’s voice.
“Wait.” There was a small pause, a rattle of a doorknob and the snick of a door closing before Callie continued over the earpiece.
“There is this black bag on the loveseat. It’s way too small to hold the ton of silk and lace of Gretchen’s dress, but let me check.”
“No. No. That’s not it. Don’t waste your time,” Venus countered. A sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach clued her in on exactly what happened.
Venus stopped her mental freak-out to welcome a few guests with a smile before slipping into the growing crowd to make room for more guests to move through the foyer. She took a step back and bumped into a cameraman, who turned the lens on her. She smiled and skillfully slipped behind a burly man that looked a little too big for his suit. But he served as a great distraction to draw the attention of the nosy cameramen.
Don’t make eye contact. Don’t make eye contact.
She tucked her chin and hurried around the corner before the crew could get the idea of following her. That was all she needed.
The faint beams of winter sun faded to dusk beyond the wall of windows that lined the west side of the movie star’s Vancouver palace. It was the only word Venus could adequately use to describe the four-story home with long, winding marble staircases and just as many bathrooms as Buckingham Palace, no doubt.
A small part of her felt sorry for the cleaning crew after this shin-dig wrapped up.
Blurry beams of light spilled through the massive floor to ceiling windows in the large formal dining area. For the past two weeks leading up to the big day, Venus had worked closely with set designers. One being her brother Cooper who got his start in architecture as a set designer, which had been a tremendous help, and professional decorators to convert the star’s mansion into a scene straight out of a 007 flick.
When Gretchen Stewart had made the request, Venus didn’t blink and found a way to make it happen. The bride-to-be had wanted to honor her start in Hollywood as a coveted Bond girl and Venus would see it through to the end.
Daunting as the job had been, it was the first important step in taking her business to the next level.
A waitress glided through the growing crowd, tray held high. As part of the wedding, all staff color-coordinated with the elaborate James Bond theme. White shirts with golden accents paired with black slacks. The bridesmaids wore black satin with detached golden cuffs complete with cufflinks while she and Callie wore shimmery golden gowns that felt like gold leaf paper against her skin.
Countless tiny yellow and white roses were woven together to create a stunning floral curtain to drape from the eaves. Above, thousands of balloons covered the domed glass ceiling to create a sea of gold and black. When the sun dipped over the mountains and night fell, tiny specks hand-painted on the balloons would sparkle for a magical galaxy effect.
But right now none of that mattered.
“I’m in the west wing in the bride’s dressing room right next to her suite. We’ve looked everywhere and none of the wait staff or maids has moved anything.”
“I’m on it. Give me five.”
Venus heard the rustling of satin, girls’ laughter, and the unmistakable voice of Gretchen Stewart, Hollywood’s latest rising star, through the earpiece as they broke out in an impromptu rendition of “I’m Every Woman.”
Unlike most celebrities who preferred the privacy, Gretchen saw every event in her life as a reason to have a camera present. That meant triple the cameras for something as big a deal as this. Which made her job all the harder.
Venus pushed through the double doors separating the kitchen from the rest of the house and scanned over the chef and her assistants. A bustle of hands and bodies moved in unison as everyone worked around one another.
The thick aroma of beef with fresh vegetables, apples, cinnamon and of course the sweet vanilla scent of the flawless cake saturated her senses.
Memories would be made because of what their team pulled off here today. She started to tear up. This was what her job was all about.
Her gaze landed on a pretty middle-aged blonde with a fetish for hairspray and the color pink. “Bingo.” Gotcha. Right where she thought the meddlesome mother would be, too.
“Mrs. Stewart. Everything okay in here?” She crossed the kitchen and offered one of her cool-as-a-cucumber smiles she reserved for moments like these.
The mother of the bride stood a few inches shorter than Venus’s five eight, but her coif made up for the missing inches. Wrapped in a skin-tight, hot pink one-piece with matching stilettos, Venus didn’t know how the woman had slipped by her in the first place.
“Yes, just making sure everything is running smoothly. The cake could use a few more roses, don’t you think? I also wanted to talk to you about the vows.” She went on as she settled a hand over Venus’s, wrapped around her clipboard. “Don’t you think—”
“I’m sure it’s exactly like your daughter envisioned, Mrs. Stewart. And we’ve already talked about the vows your daughter will be sharing with her husband-to-be. Those aren’t really for us to change.” Venus hated to cut in and sound snippy, but she didn’t have time to coddle right now or the bride really would be walking the aisle in her birthday suit.
“Yes, but they are so dreadfully long. You would think they’re reciting Shakespeare.”
Venus laughed. “You remind me of my gran, Mrs. Stewart. You two would get along beautifully.”
That brought a smile from the bride’s mother and won her a little leeway with the otherwise overly…helpful… woman. “I like her already.”
“Can I speak with you a second in private, Mrs. Stewart.”
“Of course, dear.”
Venus guided them to a small area off the side of the kitchen where they wouldn’t be in the way. “Have you by chance seen Gretchen’s wedding dress?”
“Yes, yes of course. Gretchen needed something borrowed so I took the dress to my room for a quick surprise to be sewn onto the hem. Nothing to worry about, dear.” Mrs. Stewart winked a perfectly winged-tipped eye at her.
Why did that sound synonymous with the world is about to end and you are standing on ground zero?
Oh dear heavens. Venus had spent months tracking down the designer, scheduling fittings, and refitting.
Her breath caught in her throat and blocked her from letting all her worry slip out into words.
“Thank Heavens!” A little voice piped up in the back of her head with a silent prayer. Please don’t let the dress be ruined! She had personally hand-sewn the two hundred crystals to the hemline and bodice of that dress. She normally left that to the dressmaker, but the client caught a glimpse of a little personal project Venus had going on and wanted her sewing skills to add the final detail at the last minute. Literally. Not an hour before, she tied off the last knot.
Venus squeaked out her two-word reply, not able to try for anything more elaborate at the moment like, what have you done? And why do I have a feeling I won’t like this?
“I’ll send Callie to collect it. Thank you, Mrs. Stewart.”
“Not at all, dear. I’ll go up and see to it that everything is in order.”
“Venus.”
Callie spoke over the earpiece, grabbing her attention.
“Callie, the dress is in Mrs. Stewart’s room. She’ll be joining you right now so she can help with the dressing.” Venus nodded and signaled for Mrs. Stewart to go on ahead.
“I’m on it. God, please don’t let anything else go wrong today.”
“Amen to that.”
Unlike their competition, Vows from Venus specialized not only in destination weddings but unique weddings. A wedding in Fiji? No problem. Want to get hitched under the auroras in the Arctic Circle? Sure!
Heck, given enough time, she could make that Mt. Everest wedding a reality.
But a Hollywood star and her mom where about to make her tap out.
Today had to be more than just perfect—it had to be magical if her company were to survive. Plus, they couldn’t afford to mess up on live TV.
Just that thought sent an icy edge of fear up her spine.
Flowers, gowns, perfectly arranged silk bows along church pews and an immaculate cake to top off the perfect day. Every detail had to be perfect. No exception.
Booming laughter and lively string music erupted through the crack of the doors as a waiter pushed through the double oak slabs Mrs. Stewart just exited.
For some ridiculous reason Venus’s ears prickled and her finger wrapped a little tighter around her clipboard.
“What? What is it?”
“Ms. Halliday. It’s the champagne and martini ingredients.”
She turned to give the men her full attention, her heart sinking every second she looked at their fallen faces. “What about it?” There was no Bond wedding without the martinis.
“Umm…” The waiter who looked only a year or two younger than herself ran a shaky hand through his auburn hair before scratching at an invisible five o’clock shadow.
“It never arrived.”
She leaned in. “As in not delivered.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Venus nodded as an odd grip tightened in her chest.
“The flutes? The martini glasses with the little gold and black bowties. Did you bring those?”
Both men perked up at that and nodded.
“Okay then.” In an effort to regain her composure she offered a small smile. Not all was lost.
The double doors swung open again and she dared a peek. Bright lights and lenses flashed her way. Great. Cameras. Live TV.
Her hand flew to her heart and sudden panic tightened around her vocal cords. For a split second nothing came out.
Then her father’s favorite saying came to mind: Fail to plan then plan to fail.
She’d planned this down to the second the newlyweds would be sipping margaritas on a Tahitian beach. No way this little detail would throw a glitch in her work.
In an instant her mind clicked over from her second panic of the day to problem solver. That or risk passing out in the middle of the kitchen on live TV. Yeah, no thank you.
Venus shook off the cold dread that wanted to cling to her, smiled for the cameras, and let them get a good shot of the cake where she directed Rachael, Vows from Venus’s in-house chef and baker, to explain the intricate details of the design.
Step one completed, she moved to the side and signaled with a crooked finger for the waiters to follow her.
She didn’t panic when her assistant misplaced a check for ten grand from one of their summer weddings or when the wedding photographer showed up drunk from a three-day drinking binge in Puerto Vallarta. She wouldn’t panic now.
A waitress swept into the kitchen with a tray of cutlery specifically designed for the cutting of the cake, nearly smacking her in the face. Venus took it in stride.
“Whoops. Sorry, Ms. Halliday. Where should I put these?”
Venus checked her watch.
Her earpiece crackled a little before her partner came on the COMS to announce the bride-to-be was almost ready as her phone vibrated from a small modified pocket in her dress Venus added at the last minute.
Shoulders back and with a practiced smile, she calmly spoke to the waiters. “Here’s what we need to do. You two,” Venus pointed to the waiters beside her assistant and passed over a set of keys, “Ms. Stewart has a cellar. In there you will find five cases of champagne that I had delivered ahead of time. That should be enough to get you started.”
Venus pressed talk on her phone. “Hello, Venus speaking?” Please, let it be the delivery guys.
“Venus sweetie, this isn’t a bad time, is it?” Gran’s familiar voice filtered through the phone’s speaker.
Oh shoot. “Not at all, Gran.”
She fumbled in her pocket until she found her tiny case of mints.
With the phone still to her ear, Venus pointed to another waiter who had joined them and not a moment too soon. “And you wait outside for the delivery. I’ll call and get things worked out. Be on the ready to move fast when they arrive. We have an hour tops until everyone hits up the martini bar.” Hopefully.
“Not at all, Gran. Everything okay?” Venus repeated, peering at her watch as she spoke. Venus pulled the phone slightly away and turned to the waitress waiting for instruction. “Take the martini glasses and line all the remaining trays that do not have champagne flutes so we don’t waste any time once everything arrives.”
“Venus, the groom has a special request. He wants to know if you can help him say his vows?” Callie inquired over the earpiece in her other ear.
“It sounds like you’re busy, sweetie. I’ll call back later.”
“No, Gran, I needed to talk to you. Just a sec.”
Right. Groom’s vows. Venus snatched up her clipboard and thumbed through the stack of papers. Bingo.
“As in feed him his vows? Seriously? Uhh. Yeah sure.” Why the heck not, she supposed.
“Great.”
“Gran, you still there. Is everything okay?”
“Everything is great,” Gran answered. “I just had an idea for the party and thought you would need a bit of a fair warning.”
That had her brain revving in reverse and her attention fully on the next words to come out of her grandmother’s mouth. She dumped a few mints in her palm and popped them one after the other, dreading the next words.
When her gran actually called to give a heads up and used a word like warning paired with a sweet nonchalant voice, red flares went off and anyone fool enough not to listen was doomed. If you were smart—and this was something all the Halliday siblings learned the hard way—you stopped and listened. Sometimes you prayed. “What are you talking about, Gran? What did you do?”
Gran chuckled a little and that made her a little more nervous. When her Gran had something up her sleeve she normally didn’t give anyone a warning. Everyone found out about it at the same time as it unfolded on Facebook. She liked to keep people on their toes like that.
“What are you up to, lady?”
“Nothing much. You’ll see. I tagged you on Facebook. Lots of your clients already love the idea by the little hearts, smiley faces and thumbs up. Two hundred and forty-three by my last count to be exact.”
Venus pulled the phone from her ear and hit speaker as she pulled up her Facebook page. Please don’t let this be bad. Please don’t let this be bad.
This was bad. “Edible underwear for an engagement party for senior citizens really isn’t a thing.” Scrolled down a little further. Oh lordy. Wow. “The um… visual aids were not required, Gran. I had no idea those things were unisex.”
Warm, heartfelt laughter fed through the phone. The kind that said her grandmother was having way too much fun with her little joke.
“Apparently. That was the fun part of my research.”
Venus slid the preview up a little on her screen. Holy moly. Oh, that had her interest piqued. “Since when did they offer piña colada as a panty flavor? And wait. Is that a thong option?”
“Yeah, we’ll skip that one. There are about twenty flavors to pick from. But piña colada sounds fun and tropical. And besides, who says they’re not for senior citizens? We like to have a good laugh too, you know. Harry loves the idea and we can color-code it to the rest of the decorations for the engagement party and get a discount. I checked. The nice guy on the phone said if we order in bulk we could have it all arrive in plenty of time for the engagement party. How many do you think we need?”
Venus tossed back a few more mints and sighed when the last one shook out into her mouth.
If…IF…she survived today, she considered changing her area code and moving to Alaska. At this rate all the surprise ideas Gran had so far left her a couple of heartbeats shy of heart attack territory.
“As many as you can eat, I guess, Gran.”
