Chapter 12
Mahogany Hall
Tinsley
Double dropped me off at his family’s event venue, Mahogany Hall, on Thursday afternoon. He would finish up some work next door while I helped Compton with the balloon arch. I found her in the Angel Ballroom. I wasn’t sure how long she’d been there, but she had certainly gotten a lot done.
“Hey,” I said, taking in the room while trying to keep the expression on my face blank.
I wasn’t personally familiar with Galentine’s.
As far as I knew, it was an American thing.
From social media, I had gathered that it was like Valentine’s for single ladies.
Compton had taken the Valentine’s theme and run with it.
It was as if someone had vomited Valentine’s all over the room.
The tables were covered with glittery, pink tablecloths.
Red cutout hearts had been scattered across each table.
The backs of the chairs had been tied with gauzy, hot-pink ribbons.
Each place had been set with pink and red paper plates, plastic utensils, and plastic cups.
It definitely looked festive . . . It just also looked cheap.
“Hey.” She looked me up and down. “Did Lyric put that outfit together for you?”
“She did.” I wasn’t about to lie or feel guilty that Double got Lyric to do something for me that Justus wouldn’t get Lyric to do for her.
“Um. Anyway, the balloons, the balloon pump, and the arch kit are over there.” She pointed to the other side of the room.
I tried not to chuckle at the fact that she obviously put me on the other side of the room, far away from her.
I was cool with that; we didn’t need to talk to each other.
Double had replaced the earphones I left in Iredia, and I had an audiobook by Soleil Wilson that I was dying to listen to. I wasn’t interested in talking either.
I walked over to the table where the stuff I would need was set out and took out the balloons. Once I had the pump plugged in and the tying tool handy, I was on my way. I had all the balloons blown up and tied off in less than twenty minutes. I was grouping them by size when Compton came over.
“Damn, you did that fast.”
I took out my earphone so I could hear her. “I’m sorry. What?”
“I said, you did that fast.”
“Yeah. I told you, I have a lot of experience with balloon arches.”
“For your event designin’ business back wherever you’re from?” She managed to look simultaneously disgusted and interested.
I nodded. No need for me to expound on it if she wasn’t interested.
“How long was your company in business?”
That reminded me that I needed to figure out a way to check on Faylise.
I wasn’t sure whether the business was still going or not.
I wasn’t even sure if Faylise was still alive or not.
I pushed those thoughts from my mind. “Uh, eight years. My best friend and I started it right after we graduated university.”
“Graduated university? Do you mean graduated from the university?”
I stared at her. “It may be a cultural difference because, where I’m from, we don’t add the prepositional phrase.”
“You don’t add the what? What are you talkin’ about?”
I fought not to sigh. “We don’t say graduated from the. We just say, graduated university, or finished university.”
“That’s weird.”
“Well, there are entire countries that say that same thing. Maybe America’s weird.”
She eyed me meanly, like she wanted to say more, but in the end, she didn’t. “So?” she asked instead. “In your professional opinion, what do you think?” She gestured with her hand around the space.
I was no stranger to diplomacy. I used it all the time on clients when they came in with ideas I knew wouldn’t work.
“Festive.” I gave her a sincere grin. Her space looked almost exactly like something Faylise and I would’ve created during our first year on the job.
“It’s very literal. It definitely says Valentine’s . . . or in this case, Galentine’s.”
She grinned big and gave a nod. “That’s what I was going for.”
“You nailed it.” I grabbed the arch strip, continuing to work while we talked. Double said he was coming back in an hour, and I knew he wasn’t playing.
She pulled out her phone. “Oh, a delivery is here.” She stood up and left the room.
I kept working. Moments later, she was back, pushing one large box with her foot while carrying another.
“Ooh, these are the gold chafing dishes I saw online. They’re cutesy, and they have a soft-close lid.”
“Fancy.”
She placed the box she was carrying on the one empty table that I presumed would hold the food.
“Okay. So I’m just waiting for the cake stand.
Got the cake and other sweet treats. Got the DJ.
Got the food. We’re not doing flowers.” She pointed at me.
“Got the balloon arch. Waiting on the balloon bouquets. Got the photo backdrop. Got the bags for the swag bags. Got the swag. What am I missing?”
“Do you have the photographer?”
She waved me off. “My cousin’s best friend is connected to a photographer. We’re using him, and she’s handling those details.” She went back to her list.
“Sounds like you’re on top of things,” I commented with my attention still on the balloon arch.
“You sound surprised,” she accused.
My eyes flew up to hers. “What?”
“You sound surprised, like you didn’t think I would be on top of things.”
“Uh, Compton, I don’t know you to—”
She cut me off. “Right! You don’t know me. So I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t make judgments about me.”
“I wasn’t making judgments about you. I was giving you a compliment.” I was still confused. “But since that’s not allowed, let me finish up on this arch so I can get out of your hair.”
She took a deep breath. “Listen. I didn’t mean to crash out. I’m just under a lot of pressure with this event.”
“I understand,” I said uneasily. “I’ve been exactly where you are.”
“My cousin is hosting this event. Most of the guest list is related to me or friends of the family. They didn’t think she should hire me. They’re waiting to see me fail. That’s why it’s so important that I get this right.”
I nodded but kept working. People always had excuses for their bad behavior, after the fact.
It wasn’t that I wasn’t forgiving. I just hated when people used their circumstances as an excuse.
Hell, I had almost been unceremoniously forced into marrying an old pervert.
I had to be rescued from my own blessing ceremony.
I’d married a stranger, walked away from my home country, given up my apartment and my belongings, and moved in with a man I didn’t know.
Yet I wasn’t going around shitting on people and calling it stress.
Besides, that woman hadn’t given me a real apology. She’d told me to “listen” while she spouted some nonsense about needing to prove her family wrong—as if throwing a good party was going to change their opinions about her if they only wanted to see the worst in her.
I worked as quickly as I could to finish up that balloon arch so I could get out of there. “All right, girl,” I said loudly once all the balloons were attached. “Instructions for how to connect it to the wall and hang it came with the kit. I left them on the table over there. Good luck.”
“Okay. Bye.” She gave me a small wave.
I walked out of the ballroom, thinking that she didn’t even bother to say thank you. That irritated me. I was so busy thinking about how rude she was that I didn’t notice Double coming into the venue as I was walking out, and I bumped right into him. “Oh, sorry. Hey.”
“What’s up? You good?”
“I’m good. Just ready to go.”
The two of us walked to his truck.
“How’d it go?” Double asked once the two of us were in his truck, heading to do a quick check on one of his properties.
“Uh, it was weird. When I first got there, she acted like she had an attitude with me. She’s still upset that you got Lyric to help me with clothes.”
“She’ll get over it.”
“Since she had an attitude, I directed myself right to the balloon arch and got busy on that. After a while, she came over to me and started trying to pick my brain for event designer tricks and tips.”
“You give her any?”
“I didn’t say much of anything. She’s kinda like a bomb—you never know when she might go off. I hope her event is good.” We rode in silence for a little bit. I finally broke it. “It’s the beginning of week three. How’re you feeling about this marriage?”
He took his eyes off the road for a second to cut his gaze to me. “I could ask you the same thing.”
“You could, but I asked first.”
“I wanted a wife that I’m physically attracted to. Someone who’s loyal, smart, kind, and ambitious. Somebody that I could consider a friend. I feel like I’m doing pretty good. What about you?”
“I don’t know, Double.”
“I see you’re becoming more comfortable callin’ me Double. You haven’t called me Jayson in a minute.”
“I think you’re right; Double suits you.
I don’t know why, but it does. I’m gonna have to work up to calling you Jinx, though.
Anyway, back to the question.” I took a deep breath.
“I feel like I should have more resentment toward you.” I held up my hand.
“Not that you did anything wrong. Logically, I know that. I feel like I should resent you because I was literally saved from one marriage and thrust into another. Instead, I like you. I enjoy the little talks we have when we’re eating or playing Scrabble.
I forced you to bring me to work with you because I don’t want to be away from you. ”
“Nah, I don’t think you don’t want to be away from me. I think you’re comfortable with me, and you don’t want to be alone at the house.”
“Maybe,” I said, even though, in my mind, I didn’t want to be away from him.