Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 117915 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 590(@200wpm)___ 472(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117915 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 590(@200wpm)___ 472(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
I sighed. I did not want to know where she got her information.
“We’ve patched things up,” I agreed. “In fact…” I hesitated, because speaking the words out loud seemed like bad luck somehow. “I think we have decided to be… cautiously romantic.”
“So much better than romantically cautious,” she said happily. “I’ll tell Terrance it’s time to gas up the truck.”
“But Cherry, that’s not why I’m calling. I need advice. Not about my, um… affairs.”
“Okay,” she agreed cautiously. “Shoot.”
I filled her in as much as I could on Marissa’s situation without tying it to Champ’s investigation… which was almost impossible when not wanting to let Champ down was my primary motivation for not telling Marissa to head to Vegas immediately.
“So, let me understand,” Cherry said when I was done. “This woman—your bride—is marrying an ass who tried to kiss you before your first meeting?”
“Well. Yes. I think he might be a little closeted, and I don’t know his whole story, but—”
“Quinn, I’m sympathetic, but you don’t get a free pass to cheat on your partner because you’re questioning your sexuality. You talk to your partner about the situation, and then you see what’s what.”
I closed my eyes. “No, I know.”
“And you’re saying the other man—Levi the bodyguard—is in love with her but won’t make a move?”
“He doesn’t think he’s good enough for her,” I confirmed. “She’d have to give him an engraved invitation.”
“And would she? Is your client in love with her bodyguard?”
I sighed miserably. “Definitely. She’s been in love with him for decades, and he’s been pulling away from her just as long because he doesn’t think he has enough to offer.”
“Oh, Lordy. Would she even listen to you if you told her?”
I hesitated, then admitted, “Marissa wouldn’t hesitate to listen if I told her this. She’d jump in Levi’s arms and have him on a plane to Vegas by sunset. The only reason she hasn’t done that already is because she doesn’t think Levi loves her that way.”
“Oh, honey. And you’re hesitating to talk to her… why?” Cherry asked plainly. “Please tell me this isn’t about you wanting to lose a contract.”
“No! Not that exactly. It’s just… my job is to plan the wedding, not to offer her life advice. My business reputation—”
“Your business reputation ain’t worth shit, pardon my French, if you don’t have your integrity,” she said firmly. “Do you know how many of my own brides I had to dissuade from buying the absolute wrong gown for their body type, even if it meant losing their business altogether? I can’t tell you how many thousands of dollars I might’ve lost, sweetie, but I can tell you I always managed to sleep at night. Besides, didn’t Bunny Champion set you up with a dozen or more new clients? She said she did. Said she hoped she’d gotten you to realize that life in Nashville won’t hold a candle to life in the Thicket.”
“Well, yes, but…”
“Setting up shop in the Thicket was plenty good for me all those years. I got plenty of Nashville brides, if you’ll recall, and I never had a dry spell for clients. Not in forty years! Besides which, it was always nice to be able to give the personal touch—”
“It is. I agree. I’m planning to stay in the Thicket, but—”
“Honey, go talk to your client—”
“But there’s nothing more useless than tying yourself to a man,” I said desperately. “You told me that a million times. Wouldn’t it be silly to encourage Marissa to cancel this wedding and run off with Levi when she’d really only be tying herself to a different sort of man?”
Cherry was silent for a long moment. “Sweetheart, there’s something I should’ve told you a while ago. Did you know that I was engaged, once upon a time?”
“You were? To who? I don’t remember—”
“No, you wouldn’t remember him. Fred jilted me at the altar before you were born,” she said quietly. “But he took my heart with him. Or at least I thought he did.”
“Wait, really? Oh, Cherry—”
“For the longest time, I believed I was protecting myself by never letting myself get involved with someone seriously again. Told myself that working with my brides was the closest I was ever meant to get to the altar. I spent a lot of lonely years. And I can’t entirely regret it because it means that I’m able to be with Terrance now, but… I hadn’t realized until the other night just how much of my own anger and pain I’d passed on to you unintentionally. And for that, I’m truly sorry.”
“You don’t owe me an apology—”
“Hush. I do. Because now I see a lot of things clearly. Like how relationships are meant to work. And how being honest and up-front about your feelings—with your man, with your clients, with yourself—is the only way to truly be happy. So you tell me, Quinny: Are you gonna be happy if you let Marissa marry this idiot when she could have someone who looks at her the same way you look at Percy Champion?”