Chapter 8
Eight
Jasmin
The relief I’ve felt the past few days has been great.
I secured a “date” for the wedding and my mom won’t have any reason to set me up with the sons of people she knows.
That is the big positive takeaway from Parker agreeing.
My mom will stop at nothing to make sure we’re all matched up for the wedding.
Hopefully, my brother has someone he’s bringing.
If not, Mom will be focusing her attention on him.
For a split second, I feel bad about it, but ultimately, it’ll be funny to watch.
He’s the baby and gets away with so much.
If he doesn’t want to bring someone, he won’t.
I’m walking out of the office to get lunch when my phone pings with a message. I glance down at it as I press the button for the crosswalk.
Parker: Call me when you get a chance.
Dread sits in my stomach. Did he change his mind? He doesn’t seem the type to go back on his word. Not that I would know. We’ve seen each other twice in one month. The last time was by accident because I didn’t realize he owned the winery.
I glance at the time and figure I better get this over with. Otherwise, I’ll be thinking about it all day and it could affect my work.
The phone rings twice before he picks up, and I hurry across the street as soon as the light comes on. “Jasmin, I didn’t think I’d hear from you so soon. Last time you waited a solid eight hours to call me.”
“Well, I could hang up and make you wait again.” Ugh, I didn’t mean to sound so flirty. What is it about Parker that brings it out in me?
“No.” The word rushes out in a panic. Oh God, he’s going to say he had a change of heart. “What I have to say won’t take long.”
“It’s fine if you want to back out.” I take a deep breath.
“It was out of line for me to even ask you. I’m not sure what I was thinking.
Except I was desperate because I don’t want my mom setting me up with someone I have no interest in, and who will want more than to be my arm candy for my sister’s wedding. And—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down, Jasmin.” He chuckles on the other end of the line. “I’m still going to your sister’s wedding with you.”
“Oh, then why did your text sound so important? Is there something wrong with the wedding?”
“Take a deep breath, and I’ll tell you.”
“Okay.” I do as he says and inhale before exhaling. Leave it to me to overthink a text message. It’s what I do, though. I’m so used to fixing everything for everyone else, I saw it as something else I needed to remedy.
“Is there any chance you’d be open to coming around outside of wedding related things?”
That’s an odd request. “Why?” I’d be lying if I said I’m not on high alert.
“So, I was talking to one of my brothers about our arrangement. He told me it was a bad idea because apparently despite being the most charismatic of our group, I’m the family screw up. He thinks I don’t take anything seriously.”
“I’m failing to see how that has anything to do with me.”
“Well, if you come around more often, they’ll see I can be serious. The beauty of it is nothing will happen between us. I mean I’m already going to your sister’s wedding with you. I think it would do a lot to make my family see me in a different light.”
I’m not sure what to say to that. He doesn’t seem the type to care what anyone thinks of him. I guess it’s different when family is involved.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. I know it sounds dumb.”
Crap. I was quiet too long. “No, it’s not. As long as you promise not to fall hopelessly in love with me, I think we can add in a few extra appearances.”
“You really are awesome.”
I wonder how long he debated asking me to do this for him. Or, if he’s impulsive like he was that night and texted me as soon as he had the thought. It doesn’t matter.
“Um, thanks.” I glance at the sandwich shop in front of me. “But I should probably get going. I need to get food before my lunch hour is up.”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize you hadn’t eaten yet. We’ll figure out the details later. But seriously, this is going to make my family think of me in a whole new light.”
“It’s not a problem.” I feel like it should be, but my sister is always telling me to do things outside my comfort zone. That’s all I’m doing.
“Talk to you later.”
“Bye.” I end the call and hurry into the sandwich shop. There’s still forty-five minutes left in my break, but there are a few more things I want to sort out for work. They do things slightly different than the last company I worked for, and I need to make sure I’m doing everything right.
Hopefully the rest of the day is easy. As much as I love my new job, I’m looking forward to the weekend. Even if it will be spent looking at flowers.
“Can we eat before we look at flowers?” I whine.
Daniela woke me up before I was ready to roll out of bed. I didn’t have time for breakfast or anything. It’s like she doesn’t care about my well-being.
“We don’t have time.” She glances over at me from the driver seat. “Someone decided not to set their alarm this morning.”
“It’s not my fault I have a job that begins at eight and not later in the morning like you. I need my beauty sleep.” The window is cool against my head when I lean on it. Maybe the air conditioning blasting in my face will wake me up. Or put me to sleep. It could go either way.
Jacob laughs from the backseat. “I told her to make the appointment for later in the day.”
“I wanted to get it done early so we have the rest of the day to explore the town.” She shrugs her shoulders. “We still need to find catering and all that. This is the perfect time to do it.”
“Thanks for having my back.” I lean over the seat and smile at him.
My sister truly couldn’t have picked a better person to marry. He’s always thinking of others. Even the ride here, he told me to sit up front with Daniela. It’s not like I have a problem sitting in the back, but he wants to make sure everyone is comfortable.
“I got you, future sister.” He grins back.
“I thought your mom was coming.” Not going to lie, I’m glad she didn’t. She’s nice enough, but can be overbearing. I’m not used to having people in my business outside of my immediate family. Plus, I don’t feel like running interference today.
“She changed her mind last minute. Thank God.”
“You said it,” Daniela adds. I know she’s happy. She doesn’t dislike his mom, but she told me she’s driving her bananas with all the wedding stuff.
“I know she’s being a little too much.” Jacob reaches forward and places his hand on Daniela’s arm, giving it a small squeeze.
“Believe me, I’ve had many conversations with her to back off some.
I think it’s part of the reason she didn’t come today.
Although she blamed it on not being able to count on some of the employees to run the store. ”
I can see my sister melt at his admission. He has her back in the same way I do. It’s all I can ask for in a partner for her. She’ll be taken care of and have someone with her to battle whatever she faces.
“How much longer until we’re there?” I’m really not trying to hurry it along, but I am hungry.
She nods her head to the GPS on the dashboard. “We’ll get there when we get there. When I looked at the route, it didn’t seem too far from the road we took to the winery. Maybe another ten minutes past that?”
Her mention of the winery makes me think of Parker. We could always stop on the way home to show Jacob the location. I’m not sure if Daniela has even shown him pictures.
“We should stop so Jacob can see it. On the way back, of course, I still need to eat something soon.”
“Don’t worry, sister. The flower shop shouldn’t take long and then we’ll feed you.” She laughs and continues driving down the country road.
Despite the fact I’m getting hangry, it really is beautiful out here.
There aren’t a ton of cars on the road, no tall buildings blocking the view of open skies, and no litter.
Honestly, if I hadn’t just started a new job, this would be somewhere I’d like to live…
eventually. Right now, I don’t want to be too far from my parents.
Buildings come into sight the closer we get to town.
They aren’t skyscrapers or anything like that.
They are what someone would typically expect to see in a small town.
It’s almost like one of those cozy movies you see during the holidays.
I didn’t realize places like this actually exist. Maybe we should have done a little exploring the last time we were here.
“This place can’t be real.” Daniela’s voice is barely above a whisper as she leans over the steering wheel.
“I was thinking the same thing.” There’s a banner over the street with information about a flower festival of some sort. It’s odd this is even a thing. I mean we have the farmer’s market in the city and they have flower shops. But to have an entire festival about them seems a little much.
“Maybe they are smart and working with the film makers popping up in the state. I think most of the shows they’ve been shooting have this vibe.” Jacob adds from the back.
He has a point. It would be good for town revenue. Not that it’s any concern to me since I don’t live here. But it couldn’t hurt.
“Oh, there’s the flower shop.” I point ahead.
It looks like we’re coming into the downtown area.
There isn’t much to it. There are roads that shoot off to the side, but in the middle, it looks like there’s a gazebo.
Asheville really is picturesque. Maybe I’ll suggest my sister take her bridal photos in the area if this is the look she’s going for.
She’d never get authentic pictures in the city.
“Damn, Jas, you spotted that from here?” Jacob laughs. “You must be starving.”
“I am.” I sit up straight in my seat. “The sooner we pick out flowers, the sooner I can stuff my face.”
I can see my sister roll her eyes. “Because that’s a visual I want in my brain.”
“Hey, next time feed me before we leave.” We could have avoided all this if she had given me a set time we were leaving. Of course, it would have helped if I hadn’t completely ignored my alarm.
Dani pulls into an open spot in front of the shop, and I open the door as soon as the car is in park. The name is Whoopsie Daisy and I can’t help but grin to myself. I love a good pun.
Jacob rushes out of the car after me to open my sister’s door. He really is a gentleman. If there were more guys like him in the world, I wouldn’t choose the single life.
They take their time, hand in hand, to walk toward me. Okay, I take it back. There’s no way I could be that lovey dovey with someone. I open the door and let them go inside first. All of this is for them, after all.
“Welcome to Whoopsie Daisy, what can we help you with?” I glance toward the voice, and the woman looks familiar. I can’t place where I’ve seen her, but it seems like I know her from somewhere.
“We have an appointment to look at flowers for our wedding. It should be under Daniela Campos.”
“Of course.” The woman walks out from behind the counter. “I’m Paula. I’ll be helping you today. Is there a specific flower you have in mind?”
As soon as she says her name, the puzzle pieces fall into place. This is Parker’s big sister. Does she know who I am? I guess I’ll find out, but I’m not offering the information first.
I don’t know if he’s mentioned me to anyone since he wants me to help with his image. This feels like it will be a very long and potentially awkward meeting.