Chapter Seven
Welcome Home
On my way.
Naomi had missed him, wanted to see him. But she hadn’t expected this.
Now she was rushing through an email to the graphic designer Samuel had recommended months ago.
Once she’d pressed send, she started the quickest clean of her apartment in history, putting away laundry, starting the dishwasher…
doing her best to make it look like she’d actually done things since she got back from brunch with her sister, as opposed to working at her kitchen table in an attempt to save Judith’s wedding ceremony and reception.
And yet…
This was Jason. It wasn’t as if he didn’t know what had been going on with the wedding anyway; he’d been in town long enough for her to ruin his New Year’s when she called him during the first catering disaster, but when he’d left, things were…
settled. Judith’s wedding had a caterer, and Naomi had both a mentor and an employer.
He also knew what her apartment looked like; he’d stayed over a bunch of times. He knew her.
What was this though? This sudden desire to clean? To make herself look perfect?
This was Jason—the guy who’d sent her random packages and photos, sharing his experiences. The man who sent her emails full of fun commentary that made her day.
Yes, their relationship had started to morph and change before he left, but it wasn’t as if there were strong words or boundaries set. It was easy.
This?
Not easy.
Her heart pounded at the thought of him; she could hear his footsteps as he came into the building, could see him as he reached her door.
The knock shouldn’t have surprised her, but it did, eliciting a sharp intake of breath.
“Coming,” she said as she crossed the room before unlocking the door.
She wasn’t prepared for him, for his smell, for the way he stood, exhausted, half asleep in the hallway, backpack at his feet.
She wished she was stronger, but she wasn’t. Instead of any of the plans she wanted to make, she fell against him, her head against his chest.
Immediately, she could feel his arms come around her, the familiar scent of him strengthening her.
“You missed me?”
She nodded. “I…”
His arms loosened around her, stopping her words before meeting her eyes. “Are you okay?”
The reflex answer she’d give anybody else out of habit, even Livvy, would be yes. But to Jason? Who had no reason to judge her?
“No.”
“You want to talk to me? Tell me what’s wrong?”
And instead of lying or trying to put on some kind of facade, she nodded; it was a lost cause anyway. “Let’s go inside, get you settled and then I’ll tell you everything that’s happened since you left.”
*
Before he left in January, he’d helped Naomi through the issue she’d had with her boss—Ida the horrible—about the caterer. Then he’d been there through the substitution of choices Judith had made because the ‘people weren’t up to the standards’ Ida had insisted on.
As he settled on Naomi’s couch, he listened as Naomi told the story.
The words she chose made his blood boil; he’d hated her now former boss already, and so to hear the woman had done this? Ol’ Ida was lucky she’d left the business without a forwarding address. But he couldn’t show anger Naomi wouldn’t be able to distinguish or even feel the need to apologize for.
He felt more comfortable showing incredulity instead. “So, until I got here, you spent the last few days trying to organize not only the wedding, but also your life?”
“Yeah. I had no choice, right?” She shook her head. “All of a sudden, not only do I not have a job, but my cousin’s wedding is basically disintegrating before my eyes.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I wish I’d been here.”
She shook her head. “No. You don’t, and you shouldn’t. You were doing something important for yourself and your career. Not to mention, I figured I’d tell you when you were back.”
“Makes sense.”
“Besides, you already had to yank me back from an Ida-caused disaster in January. Didn’t feel like bothering you to tell you about this one.”
He wasn’t going to say anything. Nothing. Zero.
“And,” she continued, “just like before, you can’t tell anybody—I mean Liv knows, and Leah knows because she’s dating Samuel, and that guy has no lock on his mouth.
But that’s it. Not Ash, nobody else. Because the very last thing I want to do is unleash the project manager on her own wedding when she should be relaxing and enjoying herself. ”
Jason nodded back, pulling her close. “Do you actually think you can pull off saving this wedding with a dime and a prayer?”
There was silence, and he wondered whether he’d stepped too far, over boundaries they’d somehow erected as everything else about their relationship had changed. “Yes.”
He was overtired and could barely see, but her words were shaking, as if they were being held together by bad glue. “You’re going to save this wedding by yourself?”
Instead of answering him, she buried her head in his shoulder. “I’m going to try,” she said, her voice just more than a whisper.
“You need help?”
She nodded. “I might. But I’m going to have to make some phone calls, not only to set up the LLC for real and not just the legal side I did months ago, but also to go through the list of contractors Judith had expressed interest in…”
“And I recommended.”
Her smile was usually a gift, but this time it was tired. “Yes,” she said. “You recommended some of them. But I’m going to have to somehow do it without alerting anybody to the fact there’s a problem.”
“Which is where I come in?”
She nodded. “Maybe we can find some of these people at events or in other ways that won’t make it look like we’re consulting them, you know?”
So. Her hastily thrown together plan was to go on what amounted to a scavenger hunt in the hopes of finding a caterer, an event designer, a photographer and a wedding cake.
In just over two weeks.
While organizing a business from scratch.
Without informing the bride or the groom in order to allow both of them to enjoy the time they had before the wedding.
“It sounds ridiculous,” he said, “but if you’re going to try, I’ve got your back.” Because what else could he say?
“Good.
“Who’s first on your list?”
“My cousin Leah. You go lie down and I’ll give her a call.”
He nodded, and he wanted to say something, wanted to see if she wanted to go with him, but she seemed…off.
He pulled her close, and she clung to him. He kissed her temple, because he needed to give her comfort. But he also wanted to make it clear to her that he hadn’t left the page they’d turned. “I’ll go to bed,” he said. “But join me? After you’re done with the call?”
She didn’t pull away, didn’t say no, didn’t fight him. “I’d like to.”
“Good,” he said. And as he let her fingers go, let her body go, he stood and kissed her again, on the forehead. “You can do this. I have every single confidence in you.”
And only because he knew he’d be useless to her if he didn’t get sleep, he headed to her bathroom, threw some water on his face, got undressed, and climbed under the covers. At least he’d dream of her; at most, he’d wake up bathed in her scent.
With the stretch goal? Of waking up with her in his arms…
*
Naomi was not going to overanalyze the slow change of her relationship with Jason while he was sleeping in her bedroom.
Especially considering how impossible it had been to let him sleep on his own. She wanted to go with him, wanted to bury herself underneath her covers, and revel in his mere presence.
But despite her desire, she had work to do.
She had a wedding to save, and that wouldn’t happen if she kept mooning over the hot man sleeping in her bedroom.
She had a to-do list to organize and, she reminded herself, if she finished quickly enough, Jason would still be sleeping when she finished the items.
Which meant the first message would be to her cousin Leah.
Admitting she needed Leah’s help was hard. Typing it was easier. As she waited for the text to be answered, she opened the program that contained her to-do list and took a fortifying sip of coffee.
The second she’d finished her drink, the phone buzzed.
She picked it up, prepared to answer the incoming text, but it was a call from her cousin.
“Hello?”
“What did your text say?” asked Leah, ever to the point, unwilling to miss an instance where she could give her the business. “I would like to hear you say what you texted me, Naomi.”
And because this call would take twice as long if she refused her cousin’s request, she pulled herself together and said it. “Leah, I need help.”
“Not enough, but it will do,” Leah replied. “Tell me what you need. And then I’ll see what I can do to help you.”
“With the preface of you know nothing, I told you nothing, and you are telling your sister nothing.”
“This is going to be a favor with extra compensation, I see,” Leah replied, making the very yummy Kona blend coffee turn to acid in Naomi’s stomach.
“But tell me. Though as I’m dating one of the people who’d contracted services to Judith’s wedding, I have a feeling I might know what you need from me. ”
Of course. The first indication that something had gone terribly wrong had, in fact, come from Leah’s boyfriend. “You might. This is what happened.”
And as Naomi went through the specifics of what had happened with Ida, leaving out the very specific details surrounding the hot man who was sleeping in her bedroom, Leah didn’t say anything, which wasn’t exactly worrying because Leah was someone who usually preferred to digest the whole story before answering things.
“So yeah,” Naomi said. “that’s what happened, which leads me to what I need. ”
“Yes?”
“I need a contract. For contractors. For events.”
There was an extended pause and Naomi wondered what the heck was going through her cousin’s head. Or more specifically, what kind of teasing she would be in store for once she’d made the ask.
“For a new entity?”
Naomi nodded, knowing her cousin couldn’t see it anyway. “An already registered new entity.”
“An already registered new entity called?”
“NN Events.”
“Excellent. Because I could have sworn I had a conversation with someone months ago about the importance of having an LLC set to go, hmmm?”
Naomi sighed. “I have it set to go, Leah,” she said as she hoped the contents of her coffee cup would give her strength. “I just don’t have the contracts, because I never really did much beyond set it up.”
“Yes,” Leah said. “After the January incident, things with Ida went back to what passed for normal; she’d given you her version of help as you went through the crisis of the caterer and then things continued.
You had Ida and security and that was fine with you.
And now you’re scrambling because she dropped you like a hot potato when she was finished with you. ”
This had been yet another reason why she didn’t like talking about the woman who had been her boss with other people; none of them liked her. None of them liked the way her former boss had treated her or ran her business.
Maybe what they’d said had been true.
But just like the situation with the hot man in her bedroom, this wasn’t the time to start analyzing her relationship with her former boss—not with Leah and definitely not with herself.
“Either way, no matter what you thought about Ida or how I handled her, the bottom line and most important name to think about right now is Judith’s.
I need help, and if you can’t or won’t help me, that’s fine. Just say so.”
“Oh, I can help you,” Leah replied. “But as I said, it’s going to cost you.”
“What?”
“I assume you want Samuel to sign?”
“Yes,” Naomi replied. “I want him to sign a contract with the new LLC.”
“And you want him not to tell anybody about what he’s signing and why?”
Naomi nodded. “Yes.”
“Brunch. Tomorrow. My place in Manhattan. Bring bagels and the dude who’s been seen with you at the most random events over the last…almost six years, but nobody in the family has asked you about.”
“And you’re not telling Judith.”
“I don’t see why my sister has to know about two cousins having brunch, or why it’s important, but I’m not telling her.”
And as she ended the call, brushed her fingers against a plastic ombré binder and a huge pile of printouts, she felt a little bit better.
At least better enough to go back to bed.