Not Quite Over You
Page 31

“Great, so we’ll do black, white and red as the colors. The bride and groom can be in plaid shirts. Jeans for Cade and a little white leather skirt with fringe for Bethany, or a white denim skirt.”
Bethany began to relax. “I like that.”
“Don’t forget the white cowboy hat with a veil,” Silver added. “This is going to be great. All your friends can wear red Bride’s Posse T-shirts.”
The ideas were flowing fast and Drew wasn’t sure what he was supposed to add. Telling everyone he couldn’t wait to see Silver in a tight T-shirt didn’t seem helpful.
“We’ll make this easy,” Renee said. “We can get ceramic cowboy boot vases for the centerpieces. We’ll go red and white with the flowers, but have table accents in black. Burlap table runners are neutral. We can have plaid everywhere.”
“Cow balloons,” Silver said. “Big bouquets of them.”
Bethany grinned. “I like that. This is fun.”
“It gets better,” Renee said. “We can put most of the tables inside because there’s no ceremony. A few will be outside, but we can use a portion of the lawn for games. Croquet, horseshoes, even a beanbag toss.”
“We can do spiked lemonade, margaritas and beer for the drinks.” Silver made some notes. “What about food?”
“I want a cake pop stand,” Bethany said. “In the shape of a tiered wedding cake.”
“Done,” Renee said. “How about fair food? Pulled pork, beef and chicken sandwiches. All kinds of salads, a taco bar, maybe some sliders. For dessert, in addition to the cake pops we can do s’mores.” She looked at Pallas. “We can set up a grill where people can roast their own marshmallows.”
Bethany leaned against Cade. “We have the best friends ever.”
Drew sat back and listened to the ideas flow. In less than an hour, the party was planned. They had a preliminary menu, the list of drinks, a theme and decoration ideas. Renee set up a time to go with Cade and Bethany to LA and do a tasting. Pallas promised to have the decorating samples in-house in less than a week and they’d agreed on three kinds of margaritas for the party. That tasting would be in a couple of days.
He hadn’t offered a single idea, mostly because he’d been unable to think of any. Silver, Pallas and Renee had moved too fast. He knew they did this sort of thing all the time but he’d had no idea they were so creative. He’d figured being a part of her business was going to be easy. After all, he had a degree and worked in business. He hadn’t realized how wrong he could be.
* * *
SILVER’S HEAD WAS spinning with ideas. She had a lot of things she wanted to look up when she got home. There were some decorations she’d seen on Pinterest that she wanted to share with Renee. If they could make them work, Bethany would be thrilled.
“That was a good meeting,” she said as Drew parked in front of her storefront.
“Is it always like that? So fast and creative?”
“Mostly. Sometimes the bride has an idea that we just can’t make work. Those meetings can be a slog, but we always keep going until we find something she loves. Bethany is easy. She’s totally open. Her big dream is to have fun party. That’s a lot easier to work with than a sea horse ball.”
“You’ve done a sea horse ball?”
She laughed. “Technically an under-the-sea wedding, but you get my idea.”
They got out of his car. “You were impressive,” he told her.
“I appreciate the compliment but Renee’s the real creative one. She just keeps coming up with different ideas until the bride is happy. And then she goes to town on all the details. I have to admit, when Pallas first hired her, I wasn’t sure I liked her, but I’m becoming a fan.”
“I couldn’t keep up,” he admitted.
“It takes practice to get good at brainstorming. Plus, you need to have ideas.”
“How can I learn about weddings and decorations and themes?”
“If you’re serious, get a couple of books on wedding planning. Read some bridal magazines, and then spend quality time on Pinterest. There are a million ideas and they’re all so good. I could spend hours browsing table decorations and drink ideas.”
“I’ll do that. I want to be a real partner.”
“Not just a pretty face?” she teased.
“I don’t mind being that.”
He stood close enough that her body was intensely aware of him. She thought about offering him a quickie upstairs, but he had to be at the bank and she had work to do. There was also the looming issue of telling him about Autumn. She had to do it. Honestly, she was going to pick a date and time and invite him over. She knew why she was putting it off, but wasn’t proud of herself or her actions.
“Drew? What are you doing out here? Why aren’t you at the bank?”
They both turned as a middle-aged woman approached. She was beautifully dressed, with dark hair and eyes and enough of Drew’s features for Silver to be able to guess who exactly this was.
Silver had never met Irene before—she and her husband had left Happily Inc shortly after Silver had moved to town. When Silver and Drew had been dating, his parents had been off somewhere in Europe—Silver could never remember exactly where.
“Hello, Mom,” Drew said, his tone more dutiful than pleased. “I’m surprised to see you in town.”
“I could say the same thing. You didn’t answer my question. Why aren’t you at work?”
“Mom, this is Silver Tesdal. Silver, my mother.”
Silver smiled. “Hello, Mrs. Lovato.”
“Yes, hello.” Irene positioned herself so her back was to Silver. “Drew, I’ve heard that the royal party is going to be planned very soon. I want you to find out as much as you can for me. I want to be prepared.”
Drew looked both resigned and uncomfortable. Silver lightly touched his arm, then smiled at Irene.
“You’re going to love it, Mrs. Lovato. Bethany and Cade picked a cowboy theme. I Do BBQ. She’s going to be in a white cowboy hat and they’ll wear matching plaid shirts. The food is all down-home barbecue inspired. Oh, and there will be a s’mores station. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?”
Irene turned to Silver, her expression icy. “Excuse me, but this is a private conversation.”
“I’m pretty sure I was here first.”
“Who are you?”
“Silver Tesdal. Drew already told you.” She pretended confusion. “Oh, you mean who am I? I own a traveling bar called AlcoHaul.” She gestured to the storefront bearing her company logo. “I’ll be one of the vendors at the party. And a guest. Hmm, that’s going to be complicated. All of Bethany’s girlfriends are wearing matching T-shirts, including me.”
Silver watched Irene battle with conflicting emotions. She would guess that while Drew’s mother wanted to crush her like a bug, she would be too worried about offending a princess’s friend.
“You know Bethany?”
“Uh-huh. I would have worked her wedding regardless, but now it’s more fun.”
Irene swung her attention back to her son. “And why are you here?”
Silver honestly expected Drew to deny their relationship. In that nanosecond before he spoke, she told herself she would be fine with it. Really. It was okay. Then he totally shocked her by putting his arm around her.