Chapter 38
MANDY
Istood in the middle of Cleo’s design studio while she and Callum circled me like sharks, pulling at the hem of the wedding dress I was modeling.
Not for me but for their new bridal line.
I was their living mannequin for the afternoon, which meant standing still while they pinned and adjusted and debated hemlines.
“Hold still,” Cleo commanded, her mouth full of pins.
“I am holding still.”
“You’re fidgeting.”
“Because I’ve been standing here for forty-five minutes and I’m bored.”
Callum laughed from where he was sketching at his drafting table. “You look happy though. Like, disgustingly happy. It’s unnerving.”
I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. “I am happy.”
“It’s the husband, isn’t it?” Cleo said, standing up and studying the dress from a different angle. “He’s still here, right? Hasn’t fled back to New York yet?”
“He’s still here. We have a few more days.”
“And then what?” Callum asked, setting down his pencil. “Back to the miserable long-distance thing where you mope around and check your phone every five seconds?”
I made a face at him. “I don’t mope.”
“You absolutely mope,” Cleo said. “You’ve been a complete bummer when he’s not around. No offense, but it’s exhausting. One of you needs to move. Like, immediately.”
I opened my mouth to argue, then closed it.
They weren’t wrong. The few days Briggs had been here had been the happiest I’d felt in weeks.
Hell, if I was being completely honest, it was the happiest I had been in my entire life.
Coming home to him every night, waking up next to him every morning, having him there when I got off work—it felt right in a way nothing else had.
It felt so good to be loved. I trusted his love like nothing I’d ever trusted before.
“I know,” I admitted quietly. “I’ve been thinking about it.”
“And?” Cleo prompted.
“And I don’t know what to do.” I looked down at the dress, the beautiful lace and silk that Cleo had designed. “My whole life is here.”
“But is it your whole life?” Callum asked gently. “Or is it just the life you built because you didn’t have anything else? Would you say Briggs is your life now?”
I’d spent years building my business in LA because it’s where I lived. It just kind of happened. Had I done it because LA was where I wanted to be? Or had I done it because it just worked out that way? I didn’t have any ties to the place beyond my business.
“I love LA,” I said.
“Okay, let’s break this down,” Cleo said, stepping back and crossing her arms. “What do you love about LA?”
“The weather. The food. The beaches.”
“New York has food,” Callum pointed out. “Some would argue better food.”
“Fine, but New York doesn’t have beaches.”
“It has the Hamptons. Close enough.” Cleo started unpinning the dress from my waist. “What else?”
“My clients. I’ve worked really hard to build my client base here.”
“Rich people get married in New York too,” Callum said. “Probably more of them, actually. And with the Blackwell connection, you’d have an automatic in with that whole scene.”
I chewed on my lip, thinking. “The traffic is terrible in LA.”
“The traffic is terrible in New York too,” Cleo said. “But at least New York is walkable. You don’t need a car. Most people that live in the city don’t have cars.”
“I’d miss you guys,” I said quietly.
Cleo’s expression softened. “We’d miss you too. But, Mandy, we want you to be happy. And you’re happy with him. Anyone with eyes can see that.”
“Plus, it’d give us an excuse to visit,” Callum added. “I’ve been dying to see a Broadway show.”
“You could open a New York office,” Cleo said, warming to the idea. “Keep the LA operation running, hire someone to manage the day-to-day here. You’d have to fly back periodically, but you could make it work.”
“That’s a lot of work,” I said.
“You love work,” Callum reminded me. “When have you ever shied away from a challenge?”
I thought about Briggs, about how his face lit up when he talked about his family. About Sunday dinners with his mom. And his first nephew. He was rooted in New York in a way I’d never been rooted anywhere.
“His family is there,” I said. “He’s so close with them. I can’t ask him to leave that.”
“So don’t ask him,” Cleo said simply. “Go to him instead.”
“What if I move there and it doesn’t work out? What if I uproot my entire life and then six months from now we realize we made a mistake?”
Cleo came around to face me directly. “Mandy, you’ve spent the last couple of weeks being completely miserable without him. You just spent the last forty-five minutes with the most ridiculous smile on your face talking about him. Does that sound like something that’s not going to work out?”
“No,” I admitted.
“Then stop overthinking it,” Callum said. “Go where your heart is. The logistics will figure themselves out.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“It is simple,” Cleo said. “You’re just making it complicated because you’re scared. Which is fair. Moving across the country for a guy is scary. But you know what’s scarier? Spending the rest of your life wondering what if.”
She had a point. They both did.
“Okay,” I said. “Let me think about it.”
“Don’t think too long,” Callum warned. “Because watching you pine is getting old.”
I stuck my tongue out at him, which was mature and professional.
Cleo helped me out of the dress, and I changed back into my regular clothes. We spent another hour going over designs for the new collection, but my mind kept wandering to what my life could look like if I was brave enough to take the leap.
By the time I left the studio, I’d made my decision.
I drove home thinking about how I would tell him. It was absolutely insane to do what I was going to do.
I found him in my kitchen, making dinner. He looked up when I walked in. That was a sight that would never get old.
“Hi, gorgeous,” I said.
“Hey,” he said. “How’d it go with Cleo and Callum?”
“Good. They used me as a dress form for three hours, but good.” I set my bag down and crossed to him. “Can we talk?”
His expression shifted to concern. “That sounds ominous.”
“It’s not. I promise.” I took a deep breath. “I’ve been thinking about us. About the distance. About how we’re going to make this work long-term.”
“Okay,” he said slowly, setting down the knife he’d been using to chop vegetables.
“And I’ve decided—” I paused, suddenly nervous. “I want to move to New York. With you. If you want me.”
His eyes widened. “What?”
“I’ll need to wrap things up here, get the LA office transitioned, but I could probably be ready to move in a couple months. I know it’s fast, and I know it’s crazy, but I want to be with you. Not once a month. I want to spend my nights with you and days when we can swing it.”
He kissed me, cutting off my rambling. When he pulled back, he was grinning. “Of course I want you. But are you sure? I could move to LA. I’ve been thinking about it, actually. Adrian offered me the position out here to oversee the retail expansion.”
I shook my head. “No. You’re so close with your family. It makes sense for you to stay near them. And honestly, I don’t have family in LA. My parents are in Boca Raton. I built a life here because I needed to build something, but it doesn’t have to be here specifically.”
“Baby, I don’t want to ask you to do that.”
“You’re not asking. I’m telling you. I’ve always wanted to live in New York. Now I have someone to show me around the city. And wedding season in New York is next level. This could be a huge career move for me as well as the next step for our future together.”
“We’re doing this.” He pulled me closer, resting his forehead against mine. “Two months?”
“Give or take. I have to do some planning and hiring. And then set up a New York office.” My mind was already spinning. “Are you sure you’re ready to live together? Like full time.”
“Mandy, you just told me you’re moving three thousand miles to be with me. I think we’re past worrying about moving too fast.” He cupped my face in his hands. “I want you in my space. I want your candles everywhere and your terrible singing in the shower and your clothes taking over my closet.”
I laughed, feeling tears prick at my eyes. “My singing isn’t that bad.”
“It’s pretty bad.”
“Rude.”
He kissed me again, soft and sweet, and then he picked me up and spun me around, both of us laughing like idiots. When he set me down, I was dizzy—from the spinning or the happiness, I couldn’t tell.
“This calls for celebration.” I grabbed a bottle from my wine rack—a nice Pinot Noir I’d been saving—and poured us each a glass while he finished making dinner.
We settled at my small dining table with pasta and salad and wine. I felt an overwhelming sense of rightness. This was what I wanted. This partnership with him.
“Okay, let’s talk future,” I said, twirling pasta on my fork. “Big question first. Kids. How many do you want?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Two. Maybe three if we’re not completely destroyed by the first two.”
“Three?” I raised my eyebrows. “That’s a lot of children.”
“I grew up in a big family. I liked it. But I’m flexible. What about you?”
“I always pictured two,” I admitted. “A boy and a girl, if we’re lucky. Though I know you don’t get to choose.”
“Two sounds perfect.” He sipped his wine. “When? Not right away, obviously, but eventually?”
“Give me a year to get established in New York,” I said. “Let’s enjoy being married without the chaos of diapers and midnight feedings. But after that? Yeah. I’d like to start trying.”
“A year. I can work with that.”
“What about parenting styles?” I asked. “Are you going to be the fun dad or the strict dad?”
“Probably somewhere in the middle. I want to be present, you know? Not like my dad.” He paused, his expression getting just a little sad. “My dad was great, but he worked all the time. I don’t want that. I want to be there for school plays and soccer games and homework.”
“That’s important to me too,” I said softly.
“Do you want to stay in the city or get a house in the suburbs?” he asked. “Picket fence or doorman?”
I considered it. “Are you asking because you want a grill?”
He grinned. “I’m going to miss that grill. Will you keep the house?”
“I don’t know, should we? It might be nice to have a place to come to. I’m sure we’ll make trips out here from time to time, especially if we do end up doing brick and mortar locations.”
“Good plan,” he said. “I like that.”
“What about hobbies?” I asked. “What do you do for fun besides work? And don’t say work. That doesn’t count.”
He thought about it. “I used to play tennis. Haven’t had time in years, but I enjoyed it. And I like to read, though lately it’s been all legal thrillers and case files.”
“I could see you playing tennis,” I said. “Very country club.”
“What about you?”
“I like hiking when I have time. And I’ve done yoga a few times, though I’m terrible at it.”
“We have some places to hike,” he said. “Not like you do here, but we’ll find places.”
Briggs had let down his guard in front of me. It was completely gone. He was the man I saw in the videos and he was sitting right here without a bottle of tequila in him.
He’s the man I want to spend the rest of my life with.