CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Max and I rejoined the shower, which was still going strong. No one seemed to notice or complain about smaller portions at lunch or the mismatched tables and chairs. Everyone seemed to be very happy and Jeanine’s idea to keep all of the champagne flutes topped off was an excellent one.
Everywhere I went, every person I spoke to, I could feel Max’s gaze on me. There was something slightly predatory and possessive about it that thrilled me, like he couldn’t wait to get me alone.
I helped with as much cleanup as I could in the kitchen, away from the guests. We wouldn’t be able to start breaking down everything else until most of the people had left.
And apparently the guests were having such a great time that nobody wanted to go. I was going to have to kick them out soon because the vendors were going to show up with their teams, expecting to pack everything back up.
Vella came over to offer me a glass of champagne but I shook my head. I wanted a clear head and to be totally present for Max later on.
“Why are you so giggly-looking?” she asked.
“I can’t stop smiling.”
“Yeah, you kind of look like the Joker.” Then she gasped. “Did you work things out with Max?”
“Yes, but we’re going to talk some more.”
“Do you mean ‘talk,’ as in it should have air quotes around it?” she asked hopefully.
“No. Well, maybe.”
“Here.” She set her tray down and dug into her purse and produced a tube of lipstick. “Hold still.”
Before I could react, she was applying it to my mouth.
When she finished I asked, “What did you just do?”
“That shade is Ruby Woo by MAC. This’ll get Max where you want him. Red lipstick makes men think about sex.”
I shook my head. “Doesn’t everything do that?”
“Good point,” she responded. “And earlier the other cater-waiters invited me to a party and I wasn’t going to go but now I think I should. So you will have privacy.” She waggled her eyebrows at me and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Thanks, I think?”
“You’re welcome. And Everly, there’s something I want you to know.”
“I already had the sex talk years ago.”
She frowned. “No, that’s not it. It’s important to me that you are aware of the fact that it is a special burden being right all the time.”
I laughed again.
“Plus, I hope you appreciate how much this means you’ve grown,” she said.
“In what way?” I asked, keeping an eye on Max, who was still watching me with that look that made my insides burn and shiver at the same time.
“You started out wanting the prince but you chose the pauper.”
“Like you said, the part of Kat’s life that appeals to me the most is her being with the man she loves.” Max was my fairy-tale prince, too good to be true, and none of the rest of that stuff mattered.
We both noticed Sunny making her way toward us and Vella said her goodbye. “I’m going to help pack up the rest of the stuff in the kitchen and get my money. I am going to need a full report later.”
“See you later,” I said.
“Everly!” Sunny hugged me for like, the fifth time that day. “You did amazing. I am so sorry about those extra guests. I asked Margot repeatedly for all of her guests’ names, told her about the head count, and she still did this.”
“I was kind of hoping you wouldn’t notice,” I said, a bit disappointed.
“Oh! I only know about it because Max filled me in on all the details. Part of me wonders if she did it intentionally just so that things would fall apart, but you didn’t let that happen.”
“Do you really think she’d do that?”
“I’m not who she wanted Todd to marry and she uses stuff like this to prove to him that he should have married someone more like them. But you showed her up today. In fact, before she came downstairs, she was complaining to Todd’s sister that the shower was going to be cheap and tacky, but she shut up as soon as she walked in the room and hasn’t said a word about it since.”
I was gratified for both me and Sunny. “I just hope that you enjoyed yourself.”
“Like I keep telling you, it was absolutely perfect. If you don’t mind, I am going to recommend you to all my friends.”
“I would love that! Thank you!” Maybe I could bring some new clients in to Elevated. That would definitely make Claudia happy.
“Excellent. And, just to let you know, I transferred over your fee. And I didn’t make a mistake—I sent you twice what you asked for. I should be paying you three times but Max said that might be insulting or something, I don’t know why, so I’m tipping you a hundred percent and I hope you’re okay with it because I will close my bank account down before I let you send that money back to me. You deserve every penny.”
“Sunny, I couldn’t possibly—”
“Nope! I’m not listening. I one-upped my mother-in-law, who wanted me to fail, and I have this perfect memory of most of the people I love being here to celebrate with me. And I don’t mean to be pushy, but I would love for you and me to grab lunch sometime. I have enjoyed getting to know you and I think we should be friends.”
I couldn’t help but grin at her. “I would like that, too.”
“Great! I will text you. Thank you again.”
She had doubled my fee? That was a lot of money. What was I going to do with all of it?
Guests finally started saying their goodbyes and I sent out texts letting the vendors know to come inside in about ten minutes to start collecting their stuff. Sunny and Todd were by the door, thanking everyone for coming. The box for Max’s charity was overflowing.
Normally I would be with the couple and telling people to take home goody bags, but Sunny had decided to invest that money in congratulations kits for new moms with everything they’d need for the first few days after they got home from the hospital.
The vendors came in through the back entrance and I helped to get everything taken down, making sure that all of the furniture we’d stored upstairs was returned to the correct spot. I was motivated to work quickly and get out of there as fast as possible.
I even found the vase that Margot had been so worried about and returned it to the right place next to an expensive couch in her front room.
After we were finished, you couldn’t even tell that an event had taken place.
“Are you ready to go?” Max asked once everything was done.
“Yes!”
We decided to go to a nearby grocery store, presumably the same one that Jeanine’s sous chef had shopped at earlier, and picked up some ingredients for dinner. I offered to make him my meemaw’s smothered chicken recipe and it felt so domestic to be shopping with him.
Like we were a real couple.
We walked back, hand in hand, to my apartment. It was dreary and cold and the wind was still blowing, but I didn’t mind.
I asked Max about his California trip, and he told me all about the donor and the countless meetings, the unending hoops he’d had to jump through.
“Do you see yourself always working for this non-profit?” I asked.
“Definitely. I can’t imagine any other job that would bring as much happiness, getting to help people in need. I guess I’m selfish that way.”
I smiled at him.
“What about you?” he asked. “Do you envision yourself climbing the ranks at your company?”
“I see a future where I become the boss at Elevated, but if I’m being completely honest, and I’ve never said this to another person before, it’s always been a dream of mine to start my own business. I would focus on baby and bridal showers and call it Aprile’s Showers.” Getting to be in charge of every step of the process, having no one else I had to check in with or answer to, sounded like heaven to me.
“That sounds perfect! Why don’t you do that now?”
“Well, I’ve heard it’s not exactly cheap to start your own business and it’s hard to get something like that off the ground. You need clients.”
“I’m sure Sunny will tell everyone with a pulse about how amazing you are, so that part’s handled. The money thing will be a bit more difficult,” he mused. “But you told me the most important parts of event planning are the ability to design beautiful things, being calm in a crisis, and relationships with vendors, and as far as I can tell, you’re three for three.”
“You’re right. I think I’d do a good job. But it’d be a one-woman show and I’m not sure I can be everywhere at once.”
“I’d help out.”
“You would?” I asked, touched by his offer.
“I would. I’m strong. I can move stuff.”
He did have truly excellent arms, which I very much enjoyed.
Max handed me the groceries. “I’ll prove it to you.”
Then before I could figure out what he was doing, he had swung me up into his arms and carried me as if it were effortless for him. I hadn’t known that could happen for someone as tall as me and I was impressed by and thrilled at his strength.
While I would have happily let him carry me for several more blocks, people were staring.
“You’ve proven your point,” I said with a laugh, and he came to a stop. He released my legs but not his arm around my back and we remained close together, unmoving. I pressed my lips against his neck and was rewarded with a sharp intake of breath and his hand flexing against me. I left a faint imprint of red lipstick behind but I didn’t say anything. It was like I had marked him as mine.
I wanted to mark up a whole lot more of him.
Given where my thoughts were headed, I was about to get a public indecency ticket if we stayed here any longer. “We should go,” I murmured against his skin. He smelled so good that I sighed.
After a few beats he nodded and then released his arm around my waist. He reached for the groceries and then my hand to hold it again. We resumed walking, even though my legs were feeling a bit wobbly.
I tried to think of a topic we could discuss that wouldn’t be about how much I wanted him to kiss me, something light and fun. I settled on, “You found all the pacifiers. You never did tell me what you had in mind as your prize.”
“What I have in mind and what’s actually going to happen are two very different things,” he said in a voice that made my blood instantly heat up.
I had the feeling that when we got to my place, despite our best intentions, there wasn’t going to be a whole lot of talking happening.