CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
There was no word from Max for the rest of the week, and despite me just resolving to do better, I was still too much of a chicken to reach out. I was worried that anything I tried to say in a text would come out wrong and be forever committed to a screen, where I’d have to relive my stupidity over and over again. I wanted to talk to him in person.
I also wanted him to want to talk to me, and his silence made me think that he didn’t.
My heart ached and twisted at the thought that things with Max might be over before they’d even started.
The one positive I was currently clinging to was that he had said he was attending Sunny’s baby shower. I was going to get to see him there.
I went over early in the morning to the Belmonts’ penthouse and quickly realized what our first issue of the day would be.
It was so windy outside that there was no way we could have the event out on their grand terrace. It would knock everything over, send linens flying off the tables, and all of the carnival booths would be flattened.
Rain and snow I could manage and work around. But there was no work-around for wind. Everything would have to be inside.
I had the equipment guys bring everything in. I tracked down Sunny’s mother-in-law, Margot, and explained the situation. I told her that I would need to move all the furniture out of the bottom floor so that we could decorate it properly.
“We have guest rooms on the second level, at the top of the stairs, that you can store everything in,” she said.
I had been worried she might be upset, but she seemed very understanding and I was grateful for it. After I’d shared the new plans with the movers, installers, lighting techs, and drapery guys, I went into the kitchen to check in with the caterer, Jeanine, to see how things were going.
“Two servers didn’t show up this morning,” she said. “Not detrimental, but not ideal.”
“With this crowd and everything shifting around, we are going to need as much help as possible. Let me make a phone call.”
I really had to find more friends than just Vella. She was going to get sick of me asking her for help. She mumbled, “What?” when she answered her phone.
“Do you want to earn some money today as a cater-waiter?”
“It depends. Is this the party that Max is going to be at?”
What difference did that make? “Yes.”
“I’m there. Black pants, white dress shirt?”
I glanced into the kitchen. “That is what the other servers are wearing. I’ll send you the address. Also, you can’t punch anybody in the throat.”
“I’m not going to do that.” She paused. “Again.”
I hung up and texted her the address. I was just going to have to hope that she would behave. Vella arrived when I was helping the balloon supplier gather up some of the balloons that had come free of the arch at the entrance. She slipped her arm through mine and dragged me away with her.
“Have you seen Max yet?”
“Not yet.” I was full of bubbly, nervous energy at seeing him again. I couldn’t stop tapping my foot every time I thought about him.
Which was constantly and was interfering with my ability to do my job.
“I’m just glad you dumped Lumpy and have publicly admitted you don’t have feelings for him. The riddance, it is good.”
I couldn’t disagree with her there.
“And you’re doing a little revenge dressing, I see.”
That had me glancing down at my outfit. I’d chosen a black dress. I had picked it so that I would blend in with the staff while still looking professional. The thing that was important about it was that Kat had never worn a dress similar to this one. Like my best friend had said, I didn’t need it.
I could face Max and have this conversation with him without relying on my feather to help me fly.
“Revenge dressing?” I repeated. “Is that what you use on the salad of your enemy?”
“At least you’re joking again,” she said with a note of relief in her voice. It was a fair judgment—I’d been serious and focused all week. I kept running conversations with Max in my head, trying to figure out what I would say to him. What he might say back to me.
No matter how many times I practiced it, though, I knew the first time I laid eyes on him, he was going to knock me off my feet.
“But when I said ‘revenge dressing,’ I meant you’re going to get your revenge on that man ghosting you by looking so amazing he’s going to trip over his own dropped jaw.”
“This is why we’re best friends,” I told her.
“That and the cheap rent,” she agreed. “You’re going to have a conversation with Max today, right?”
“Is that why you came? To get ringside seats to my humiliation?”
Her eyes went wide. “Does that mean you’re actually going to talk to him?”
I nodded. “It’s time to be honest with him. I can’t stay in this weird limbo state forever. It would be better for me to know if he only wants to be friends because then I can start getting over it.”
“Yes, because your crush on Lumpy was so short-lived.” Her observation was full of sarcasm.
“I did get over Adrian,” I pointed out.
“Thanks to meeting Max. You do realize that what you felt for Lumpy and what you feel for Max now are not even remotely the same, right?”
It would be like asking someone, “What’s hotter, this tiny birthday candle or the surface of the sun?” The two things were not comparable. What I had thought I felt for Adrian was nothing like what I felt for Max. One tiny flicker versus molten, blinding light.
“Yes, I realize that.”
“And when Max tells you he likes you, too, you have to spend the rest of our lives telling me how right I was and treating me like the wise sage that I am.”
“Deal.” If she was right, then I would be too happy to care that I had to pay her homage.
“Where’s the kitchen?” she asked. “I should probably go get started.”
I pointed it out to her and went back to my clipboard and the million things I still had to accomplish before the party started.
A half hour before the party was to begin, Sunny arrived. She was wearing a bright yellow dress and looked adorable. She rushed over to me. “Everly! This is beyond anything I could have imagined. Thank you so, so much.”
It was pretty perfect, if I did say so myself. She didn’t need to know about the earlier struggles we’d had—she deserved an amazing day. I didn’t want her to stress. As far as Sunny was concerned, everything would go just as we’d planned, no matter what else came up.
“How did you make it look just like a big top?” she asked, turning in a circle to get the full effect.
“Lots of planning,” I told her with a smile. I had wanted an upscale circus feel and that was exactly what I had. The main room was breezy and airy, the pastel pink and blue linens draping up toward the center with lines of tiny pastel triangle flags hanging down like tent poles. Jugglers, balloon artists, a magician, stuffed animals in fancy birdcages that would be perfect to donate after this was over. There were multiple booths set up with carnival games, along with more donatable prizes. A huge box near the door had a sign hung on it with the name of Max’s charity and a note that all presents and donations could be left there.
Sunny’s eyes welled up with tears, and she started fanning her hands in front of her face as she looked up to the ceiling. “Pregnancy is making me so hormonal, but I love it all. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”
“I’m so happy that you like it! Beside the carnival games we’ve got some fun stations set up,” I told her. “Over there we want to have people write a message on a diaper with a permanent marker for you and your husband, but you can’t see them until the shower is finished. I’ve hidden pacifiers all over this room and there’s going to be a prize for whoever finds the most. We’ve got a station for decorating onesies and bibs and a Polaroid station where people take a picture of themselves and write down what day they think the baby will be born. We’ll hang their photos up on this line with tiny clothespins,” I said. “There should be something to keep everyone entertained and having a great time.”
Sunny started to cry more earnestly now. “This is so wonderful. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
A man appeared, carrying a large bag. He was familiar and it took me a second to place him. He was Sunny’s husband.
Which he confirmed when he offered me his hand and said, “Hi, I’m Todd Belmont. Thank you so much for pulling this together for us at the last minute.” He smiled. “ And my wife doesn’t usually cry, so take it as a huge compliment.”
I smiled back as I shook his hand. “And I’m Everly Aprile. It’s good to meet you and thank you.”
“Everly?” he said, his eyebrows raising as he turned toward Sunny. “Is that the same one that Max—”
Sunny put both of her hands on my arms and said, “Can I talk to you real fast, Everly?”
She dragged me away from her husband and took me over to the base of the stairs. “Sorry about him,” she said. “Men. Always saying things they shouldn’t.”
That hadn’t really been my experience. I couldn’t get Max to say anything to me.
“There is something I want to tell you,” she went on, “and I hope you don’t take this the wrong way.”
Now I felt anxious and concerned. “Is there something wrong with the shower?”
“What? No! It’s sheer perfection and you are an event-planning goddess. I want to say something about Max.”
“You wouldn’t be the first person today to do so,” I told her.
She frowned slightly but pressed on. “Max has been really hurt in the past. There are people who have taken advantage of him and his good nature. Please treat him well.”
“I intend to,” I said, feeling a little breathless. Had Max asked her to speak to me?
No, he wouldn’t have done that. But they were close, and if Sunny had felt like she needed to say something ...
She might not be literally speaking for Max, but these could still be his words.
“You make him really happy,” she said. “I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen him like this.”
While I wanted to discuss this with her until we were both sick of the topic, I heard new voices and realized that some guests had started arriving. I would have to explain the different events to every new person who came in and Sunny needed to say hello to her guests.
“We should get back out there,” I told her. “People have started arriving.”
It was easy to slip into event planner mode, to make sure that everyone had a glass of champagne and an idea of where they should head next. About half an hour after all one hundred of her guests had arrived, we would start preparing to serve the luncheon. Sunny wouldn’t be opening presents as was customary since she planned on donating them all. She had thought it would be a nice touch for the new recipients to leave them in the wrapping paper.
Everything was going perfectly until Max walked in and I suddenly forgot how to speak.