Chapter 3 – Katie
Three
PRESENT DAY
KATIE
“Please tell me you found Asher Brooks’ car last night and egged the hell out of it?” I stared at my top assistant, Madison, via video call.
“We egged three of them.” She smiled. “Five dozen eggs for us, and an extra dozen for the time we wasted. He left his sunroof down in his convertible, so he’ll probably have to air that one out for weeks.”
“You’re the best for a reason.”
“The back of Brian’s shirt may have gotten caught by one of the security cameras, though.” She tapped her lip. “He forgot to change out of his uniform.”
“I’ll handle it.” I shrugged. “Don’t stress.”
“Want me to bring you a latte when I get in?” she asked. “Egg white to celebrate?”
“I’ll take it black like Asher Brooks’ soul,” I said. “See you soon.”
I ended the call and opened my FUCK ASHER list and added this newest incident.
In the days after a wedding-that-never-was, I always started the morning by tucking all the unused blooms into cases and donating them to businesses nearby.
Thanks to multiple misfortunes, John’s Pizza Cafe next door has transformed from a gritty dive bar into a place where people stand in long lines just to dine under the ornate arrangements.
At least someone benefits from the disasters…
After sealing up five floral crates, I set down the tape and walked through my showroom. Every table was set with the names of the bride and groom for an upcoming wedding—from three weeks from now through three years from now.
Sixteen-year-old me would be jumping for joy at this dream coming true, but present-me was starting to dread things here and there.
The nightmare clients were becoming a lot more frequent, and my late nights of perfecting table settings and invitations were no longer being appreciated.
They were expected.
I walked to my office and contemplated taking a few months off to finish working on my debut romance novel.
Well, my eighteenth attempt at writing one.
Opening my latest manuscript, I found myself face-to-face with what I’d last written.
Untitled: A Romance Novel
By Katie Elizabeth.
Chapter 1.
Welp, there goes that dream.
I shut my laptop and picked up a client’s vision board instead.
I was halfway through pulling out the roses and silk pieces to match when Madison stepped into my doorway.
“Mrs. Calloway—I mean, Natalie from this weekend—is on line one for you,” she said.
“How sad does she sound on a scale of one to ten?”
“I honestly can’t tell…”
As if she knew I was tempted to make her pretend to be me instead, she walked over and hit the speaker button.
“This is Katie Elizabeth speaking,” I forced myself to say.
“Um, hi.” Natalie’s voice was flat. “I was just calling to say sorry about my wedding… You put a lot of work into making things perfect and—well…”
“You don’t need to apologize to me at all.” I shook my head. “I should be apologizing to you.”
“You’re not the one who made everyone waste their time.”
Neither are you.
“Anyway, I just wanted you to know that I will definitely hire you again if it works out with Ryan.”
“I won’t charge you a dime.”
“Well…” She sniffled and laughed at the same time. “I’ll hold you to that. Our final flight is about to take off, so thanks for everything. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.” I ended the call, stunned that she had yet to put two and two together.
That the grim reaper of weddings has gotten away unscathed yet again…
“Anything else I need to know today, Madison?” I asked.
“Someone named Michelle Arrow booked an emergency brunch in SoHo with you in like two hours,” she said. “I tried to ask her what it was about, but she said it was personal. Sounds like a scam.”
“It’s not.” I smiled. “She’s a friend, and my old college roommate.”
“So, you’re not close?”
“We have lunch like six to eight times a year, and it always feels like we’re picking up right where we left off in each other’s lives.”
“Is she important enough for you to lose hours of work ahead of the three-million-dollar Kensington wedding?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
She gave me a blank stare, and I could feel her judging me.
“I don’t have many friends as it is, Madison,” I said. “It’s nice to socialize with someone outside of the office whenever I get the chance.”
“It’s a three-million-dollar wedding.” She crossed her arms. “We’re already a week behind on florals…”
“Can you ask Michelle to come here and we’ll just have some brunch catered, then?”
“Thank you for using your brain today…”