Chapter 4
Four
After the meeting finally ended, Ewan picked up his phone and let out a frustrated groan. Six missed calls from Sasha.
Most people would probably see six missed calls from the same person and go into a panic, thinking something terrible had happened. He had too—the first few times—before coming to realise Sasha was just impatient.
Most people would get the hint that if you didn’t answer when they called, you were probably at work … working … and would call back when you could. But not Sasha. Nope. If she had something to tell you and you didn’t pick up, she’d just keep on redialling until you did.
He hit call as he walked back into his office and tucked the phone between his ear and his shoulder while he logged on to his computer and opened his emails.
‘I’ve been calling you for ages,’ Sasha said, instead of hello. Whatever had upset her was clearly now going to become his problem as well.
‘Sorry. Work’s been hectic,’ he said, tapping out a reply to an email he needed to answer before he left for the day.
‘She’s cancelled.’
‘Who’s cancelled?’ he asked absently, wondering if he’d just spelled acquisition right. Autocorrect hadn’t highlighted it, so it must be okay, but it really didn’t look right.
‘Our event manager!’
That caught his attention. Kenzie. He’d been finding himself thinking about her a lot. Instantly, he felt guilty. ‘What do you mean she’s cancelled?’
‘She just sent an email saying due to unforeseen circumstances, her company could no longer take on the number of clients they’d hoped to for the rest of this year, and she was referring us on to someone else,’ Sasha informed him, and he could picture the pout on her face.
‘It doesn’t make any sense. I don’t understand what happened.
She’s doing Mercedes Lorenzo’s wedding, and I’ve already told everyone we have her doing ours! I’m going to look like an idiot.’
He had a suspicion what the unforeseen circumstances might be. ‘Well, I’m sure there’s plenty of other high-profile event managers out there we can get.’
‘I don’t want anyone else. We’ve already decided on the theme and picked the place settings … Kenzie got me,’ she protested. ‘Please do something,’ she begged.
He could never resist when she did that, but still. ‘I don’t know how much clout I have, babe. Why don’t you get your dad to call her?’
‘Daddy’s away on business.’
Naturally, which is why she’d been so impatient to get hold of him, because Daddy wasn’t here. ‘I’ll call her and see what we can do,’ he said, finally giving in. ‘But I can’t promise it’ll do any good.’
‘Ewan, you need to be more assertive,’ she said, reeling off one of her father’s lines. ‘You have to tell her what we want. Don’t be soft.’
He bit back the annoyance at her condescending tone and briefly closed his eyes.
‘Send me the details,’ he said wearily, before saying goodbye and disconnecting the call before she could add any more advice on how he could pep up his manhood.
Ever since this wedding business, he’d felt like a damn errand boy.
‘Be here at this time to meet such and such’, ‘Dress in this suit’, ‘I’ve made you an appointment at this hair salon’, ‘I’ve booked you in for a wax and skin treatment’—he’d drawn the line at that.
There was only so much of his testosterone he was willing to sacrifice for the sake of peace.
Now he had to try to sort out this mess. Great.
He dialled the number Sasha had sent through, fighting off a strange bout of nerves as he waited for the call to connect.
‘Events by Kenzie, how can I help you?’ a woman asked, but it wasn’t Kenzie and he leaned back in his chair, able to relax slightly.
‘This is Ewan Campbell. Can you put me through to Kenzie, please?’
‘I’m sorry, Mr Campbell, but Kenzie isn’t in the office. Can I take a message?’
‘I’d like to speak to her personally. Can you tell me when she’ll be back?’
‘I’m afraid it won’t be until next week.’
Ewan swore silently. There was no way he was going to be able to convince Sasha everything would be okay for another week.
‘This is a very important matter, it can’t wait a week. Could you give me a direct number to speak with her?’
‘I’m sorry, I can’t give out that information, but I can pass on your details to Kenzie and get her to call you as soon as she can.’
It wasn’t ideal but it was the only option he had. ‘Fine. But can you make sure you tell her it’s urgent.’
‘Absolutely, I’ll pass that on.’
He hung up and stared out his office window at the buildings in the distance. If he hadn’t offended Kenzie, everything would be fine, and he wouldn’t be stuck in the middle of a wedding disaster. This was all his fault.
The next day, after an evening of Sasha’s pouting, and not hearing back from Kenzie—no surprise there—Ewan took matters into his own hands.
He looked up the number of the reception venue where they’d met, and called. ‘Hi, yes, I’m wondering if you could help me out. My fiancée is going to kill me, but we’re supposed to be meeting our event planner, Kenzie from Events by Kenzie, and I’ve forgotten when.’
This was clearly not an unusual request, as the receptionist on the other end made an understanding noise before consulting her computer. ‘Was your appointment supposed to be today?’
‘I think so,’ he hedged.
‘Well, Kenzie is booked in with a client here today, what was your name?’
‘That sounds right, what time was it?’
‘Ten-thirty, but if you let me know the party name, I can make sure—’
‘Thanks so much for your help. You’ve been great,’ Ewan cut in quickly before hanging up. Now he knew where she’d be, he could speak to her and sort this mess out.
Ewan spotted Kenzie’s car parked nearby, breathing a sigh of relief.
He’d hoped to time it so he’d be able to catch her after the meeting and, at eleven-thirty on the dot, he spotted her shaking hands and smiling as she farewelled a young couple with the kind of warm smile she hadn’t shared with him.
He forced himself to remain in his car until she’d almost reached her own vehicle before opening his door and calling out her name.
He felt bad for the shock he read on her face when she saw him, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
‘What are you doing here?’ she asked, surprise rapidly turning to wary disapproval.
‘My phone calls weren’t working, so I was forced to resort to other measures. I have one very unhappy fiancée who is determined to keep you as our wedding planner. What will it take to fix this?’ he asked, getting straight to the point.
‘There’s nothing to fix. Under the circumstances, I can’t in good faith continue to work with you and your fiancée.’
‘I don’t see why not. What happened between us was years ago.’
‘Have you told Sasha?’ she asked pointedly.
The question caught him off guard. ‘No,’ he admitted.
‘Sasha doesn’t strike me as the kind of woman who would react too kindly to finding out her fiancé and her wedding planner have history.’
‘She doesn’t have to find out,’ he said, then cringed as he heard how that sounded.
‘So you’re just going to lie to her?’
‘Of course not. There’s just no reason she needs to know about something that happened so long ago.
I mean, we spent a night together. It’s not like it was serious.
’ Her face changed to something like fury, and he immediately regretted his words.
‘I didn’t mean … that is—’ he stammered until she cut him off.
‘Of course it didn’t mean anything. But I have my reputation to think about. I don’t need an irate bride going around telling everyone that her event manager hid the fact she’d slept with the groom.’
‘I’m not sure the alternative will be much better if you dump her and she has to find someone else,’ he pointed out. ‘I think the only way to solve the problem—for everyone—is to continue, without bringing up the past.’
He saw her anger dissolve in a flash of something that looked suspiciously like fear. It was gone in an instant, so perhaps he’d misread it?
But a lingering niggle remained, which made him wonder what it was about all this he didn’t yet understand.