You Say It First
Page 19

“I already have my dress,” Nova told her. “Please. My father and I are depending on you.”
Pallas drew in a breath and admitted, if only to herself, there was no way she could refuse the project. At least not without more information. “Let me work the numbers and talk to my vendors and get back to you.”
Nova and Joel exchanged a look. “We need to know in forty-eight hours,” Joel said. “Time really is precious to us.”
“I understand.”
Pallas got their contact information. Nova wanted to write her a check, but Pallas refused.
“I’ll need plenty, if we come to terms.” She smiled. “I’ll take your money then.”
The couple left. Once they were gone, she glared at Nick. “Did you do this on purpose? Was I just set up?”
“No way. It wasn’t me, but it’s totally cool. You have to take the wedding, Pallas. Not only can you make a dying man’s wish come true, you’ll get the chance to see what you’re capable of. You can use this as a test to decide on how you want to run the business.”
“Maybe. I’ll have to talk to everyone first and find out if they can get everything done in time. To be honest, I don’t even know where to start.”
“I’m in,” Nick told her. “Everyone else will be, too.”
Easy for him to say, she thought as excitement battled with terror. If this didn’t work out, he could simply create another three-hundred-thousand-dollar piece of art and call it a win. She could screw up a wedding, damage the last memories of a dying man and ruin her reputation all in the same day. But hey—no pressure.
CHAPTER SIX
FOR HER EMERGENCY meeting with her vendors—aka her friends—Pallas had set up a couple of big tables in the ballroom. They would have more space there.
She hadn’t slept at all the night before. Not only had her mind been filled with all the possibilities, she’d spent hours wrestling with self-doubt.
Could she pull off the wedding Nova and Joel wanted? What if she failed? Did she really want to step so far out of her comfort zone? What if she failed? Could everyone come through with what was necessary to make the wedding spectacular? What if she failed?
Somewhere close to dawn, she’d given up on sleep and had started making a master to-do list. With only six weeks between now and the wedding, not to mention all the ground breaking required, there was plenty to write down and plenty to worry about. By the time her afternoon meeting rolled around, she’d kind of worked herself into a frenzy.
Wynn and Violet arrived first.
“This is going to be fun,” Violet said, sounding excited. “A new kind of wedding. You didn’t say much in your text, but I am totally up for a challenge.”
“I hope so. It’s going to be that.”
Silver arrived next, with Nick on her heels. Pallas introduced her “artist in residence” to Violet and Wynn, then they all sat down at the first table and Pallas explained what she was hoping to accomplish.
“At this point, I want to know if we think we can pull this off,” she said. “I told Nova I’d get back to her by tomorrow, but I know time is tight so I’d really like to call her tonight with a yes or no.”
“Yes,” Violet said. “I’m in.”
“You don’t even know what it is.”
“I don’t care. I’m in. So what’s the wedding theme?”
Pallas set a box on the table and opened it. “Nova overnighted these to me.” She passed out copies of the game. “It’s called Concord Awaken. Nova and Joel created the game and they want their wedding set in that world.”
“A video game?” Silver sounded doubtful. “How is that possible?”
“The best games all create a world,” Wynn told her. “They can be very detailed with complex story lines. Some are just shoot to kill, but a lot get into the world’s past. There are characters we care about. As you work through various levels, you learn more about what’s happening. Sometimes information about the backstory can help save you.”
Everyone stared at her. She shrugged. “Let’s all remember I’m the mother of a ten-year-old boy, people. I live this stuff.” She glanced at the label. “Oh, good. It’s not rated mature. I’ll have Hunter play it tonight.” She smiled. “I’ll revel in being the cool mom for a couple of hours.”
“I’ve played the game,” Nick said. “It’s set on another planet but has a dystopian quality to it.”
Silver raised her eyebrows. “Seriously?”
“I was embarrassed for him, too,” Pallas said, her voice teasing.
Nick leaned toward her. “Do you want to hear this or not?”
He was so close. She’d been so focused on her worry and panic that she hadn’t noticed he’d taken a seat next to her. Now she was aware of him in the next chair, his body perilously near her own. She could almost feel the heat of him, and his eyes... The way they focused on hers. She wanted to get lost in his gaze, or maybe just his arms. She wondered if she could get him to kiss her again.
“Pallas?”
“Huh?” She blinked and realized everyone was looking at her. Hoping she wasn’t blushing she said, as casually as she could, “Um, sorry. Go ahead.”
He gave her a quizzical look before turning to her friends. “As I was saying, Concord Awaken takes place on a distant planet. Sunlight is precious and only lasts for a few hours. Shapeshifters, called The Yellow, are deadly and can be anything. They’re the bad guys. The population is divided into three segments. All are fighters. At one time they lived on separate continents but there was a violent earthquake and the land masses collided. Now they have to work together to defeat their common enemy.”
Pallas listened as attentively as everyone else.
Nick reached for the box and pulled out several rolled posters. He spread them out on the table and pointed at the various images. “The three populations are The Steadfast, The Pureheart and The Cunning. We never have a picture of The Yellow because they’re always changing. The world itself exists in shades of purple, teal and black.”
“Oooh, I could do a lot with that,” Violet said happily. She tucked a strand of red hair behind her ears. “I’ll have to go through my button collection, but I’m sure I have some amazing things. Do we know what the dresses look like? Not that I’d do anything to the wedding gown, but the bridesmaids’ dresses could be transformed to fit the game theme.”
Pallas looked through the box and pulled out a folder. She opened it and saw pictures of a bridal gown and bridesmaid dresses. She fanned out the pictures on the table.
“The bridesmaid dresses are already the colors of CA,” Pallas noted. “But you could jazz them up.”
Violet nodded. She traced the lace on the wedding gown. The dress itself was a fairly traditional—ivory lace with netting, a mermaid style—fitted to midthigh. The rest of the skirt flared out to form a train. While there was extra fabric in the front of the skirt, it fell straight to the floor. A good choice for Nova, Pallas thought. That way the style wouldn’t overwhelm her petite frame.
Nick picked up the wedding gown picture. “I could paint this.”
The four women gasped.
“What?” he asked.
“It’s a wedding gown,” Silver breathed. “I’m the least traditional of anyone here, but even I know you don’t mess with that.”