Chapter 10 #2
“It was a traveling exhibit, on loan from the Smithsonian. A bunch of specimens from their geology department.” Ronnie’s eyes lit up as he talked about it.
“My mother’s side of the family owns a chain of jewelry shops, and I grew up on my great-grandfather’s stories about mining them himself before, um, World War II, I guess.
He’s passed now, but it’s always interested me. ”
“Did you pick out your bride’s ring, then?” Laurin asked.
Ronnie laughed. “Heck, no! She’s wearing it, not me. I picked the setting; she picked the stone.”
“What did—?” Laurin started before catching himself and nodding to Candace to ask her question.
“What did she pick?” Candace asked, sure this was Laurin’s question but just as curious herself.
“A sapphire,” Ronnie said with a cringe.
“What’s wrong with that?” Laurin asked. “Sapphires are great.”
“They are, but they need more care, and they scratch more easily than a diamond. Thankfully, I talked her out of emeralds. They’re a lot softer.”
Laurin jotted down some notes while Candace steered the questions back on track. “Is there a theme for the wedding?”
“Winter Wonderland. But that’s just what the network told us—”
Jannie made her little throat-clearing sound again, and the men both gave her a confused look.
Candace understood, though; the events featured on the show were paid for by Food2Love, but they weren’t allowed to discuss that on the air.
The guests for those episodes were always told this, but it was easy to forget in the moment, as well as easy to edit out if it wasn’t too frequently brought up.
She got enough out of Ronnie’s answer, at least. Winter theme, but not chosen by the couple.
So far, Laurin’s off-the-wall questions were getting better results, and Candace would give him that inch if she got her mile out of it.
He thought a little longer this time before asking, “The clothes you and Madison are wearing now, are they part of your usual wardrobe?”
Ronnie looked down at himself and laughed. “No. God, no. I haven’t worn a vest since my Senior Prom. I’m a civil engineer, so I don’t have much occasion to dress up. This is all Madison’s fashion. I just went along with it.”
“What kind of flowers will you be using for decoration?”
Ronnie frowned. “Honestly, I don’t really know flowers. Oh! I did see them, though. They’re really big and purple. On bulbs. The bridesmaids stuffed them in tubes with tiny Christmas lights last night. One of them posted a pic on Insta.”
He was trying his best, Candace knew he was, but that could be so many different flowers — irises, tulips, and crocuses all came to mind — that it was impossible to guess.
Candace brought her hand up to her lips to chew on her nail, but Laurin grabbed her hand and brought it back down to the space between them on the love seat.
He kept his hand over hers, out of view of the camera, the weight of it a good enough distraction that she could settle herself.
A couple more rounds of questions, most of them flops, and then the cameraman waved his hand as a cue, and Ronnie announced he had to go get tuxed up. They thanked him for taking time out of his big day to talk to them and remained seated while Jannie escorted him out.
“That went well,” Laurin said after the door closed.
Candace popped a speculative eyebrow at him. “Did you plant a bug on Madison or something?”
Laurin chuckled. “Nah, I just listened to the guy.”
“He couldn’t even say what the wedding colors are,” Candace reminded him. “The only thing we have to work with is the Winter Wonderland theme, and he didn’t sound too keen on it.”
Laurin shook his head. “You don’t do many wedding cake consultations, do you?”
“I had an assistant for that. And I’m sure you already know wedding cakes are not my thing.
” All of America knew that. It had bothered Candace at first — wedding cakes made a lot of money — but that loss in the bank account was also a major reduction of stress.
Overall, the show had been great for business.
She’d gotten her payroll up to five full-time and six part-time employees before the flood washed it all away.
“Well, look. Color swatches are great, don’t get me wrong, but it’s the little stuff that really sells the cake.
And reading between the lines, you know?
I didn’t ask about the clothes because I care what they wear every day; I asked because I wanted to know if they somehow tied into their vision for the wedding.
The cake is a focal point; if it perfectly matches the color swatches, it just blends into the venue anyway.
At least, that’s what I’ve seen in my experience. ”
“Seen a lot of weddings on the soccer field?”
Laurin’s frown reeked of irritation at her comment.
Candace should have felt good about that — maybe laying on references to soccer was the way to get him to back off — but every snarky comment she’d made this week to push everyone away, especially Laurin, stung a bit more.
This wasn’t her, not really. There weren’t many people left to vouch for her, but she was sure her few friends would agree she was good at heart.
“Don’t presume to know my life,” Laurin warned her. “You know exactly one thing about it. If you ever let your guard down for even a second to have a mature conversation with me, you’d see that’s a very small part of my life.”
Immediately chastised, as she’d already been on the edge of it herself, Candace dropped her head down and whispered, “Sorry.”
She tried to slip her hand out from the hold Laurin maintained on it, but his grip tightened. “You don’t have to be sorry. I only ask that you stop treating me like your enemy. I’d like to be your friend.”
The way he said it had Candace wondering if what he truly wanted was friendship.
Champagne bubbles fizzed in her tummy.