Chapter 2
Two
Friday afternoon, Liv wasn’t even fully seated when the door opened and a couple around her age walked inside.
Talk about good timing.
Standing, Liv walked out from behind her desk.
She’d spent the earlier part of the day making phone calls and then ensuring that all the food would be ready for the retirement party Ocean View was catering later that day.
Once done with that, she’d prepared for her afternoon meeting and then took care of a few errands—ones that shouldn’t have taken her long.
Unfortunately, thanks to some overtalkative acquaintances and traffic, she’d barely gotten back in time to unlock the door for her potential clients.
“Good afternoon. You must be Gina.” Liv extended her hand toward the dark-haired woman.
Smiling, Gina shook her hand. “It’s great to meet you finally. Once again, I’m sorry we had to reschedule so many times.”
“I understand.” As long as the couple booked Ocean View Catering, Liv didn’t care how often they’d canceled their initial meeting.
“This is my fiancé, Blake.” Gina gestured toward her companion, a well-dressed man who appeared to spend more time on his appearance in the morning than Liv did, which, in all honesty, wouldn’t be that difficult.
“It’s nice to meet you both. If you want to have a seat, we can get started.
” Liv gestured toward the small conference table.
Although they could use her desk, she preferred the table because, at least to her, it made meetings like this feel more like a get-together with your friends rather than a business transaction.
Based on their previous conversations, Liv knew the couple was from Cambridge and that they’d decided to get married in Orchard Harbor after visiting a friend who had a home on the water.
Although Liv wasn’t sure “home” was the correct term for the ten-thousand-square-foot mansion Raymond Thatcher owned.
Regardless, they’d fallen in love with the area and planned to get married at Raymond’s estate.
It just so happened that Ocean View catered the party Raymond and his wife hosted during Gina and Blake’s visit.
According to Gina, they’d enjoyed the food so much they’d asked Raymond’s wife for the name of the catering company so they could hire them for the wedding reception.
Of course, it helped that they were the only catering company in town.
She watched in awe as Blake pulled out a chair and waited for Gina to sit before doing the same.
Granted, she’d seen men do that for women at the restaurant, but they were usually much older.
She’d genuinely assumed only people from earlier generations still did it.
Clearly, she’d been wrong, or Blake was simply a throwback to an earlier time.
Either way, she wouldn’t mind if a man did that for her every once in a while.
Of course, she’d need to have a date first. Unfortunately, her dating life was almost nonexistent.
But that was something she could think about later when she was alone.
“The last time we spoke, you had two possible dates in mind. Have you settled on one?”
Across the table, Gina retrieved her phone from her purse, and sunlight bounced off her engagement ring, all but blinding Liv. The thing had undoubtedly cost a small fortune, but she found it downright gaudy.
“We have. We’re going with the twentieth.”
As she spoke, Liv opened her calendar. Currently, they had nothing scheduled for September.
Considering the news her dad and grandfather received earlier in the week, perhaps they shouldn’t book anything, because the likelihood of them being able to buy the building was slim.
However, even if Rick Desmond were to purchase the property, it would take time for the details to be finalized.
And while she didn’t know anything about real estate law, she hoped it prohibited Desmond from kicking them out the moment his company signed the purchase and sales agreement.
“That’s a Thursday,” Liv supplied. There was no rule stating people couldn’t get married on a Thursday, but most people she knew preferred to do so on the weekend.
“No, it’s a Friday,” Gina answered, looking up from her phone.
Her father always said not to argue with a customer, but she had the calendar in front of her. And September 20 was a Thursday.
“Are you sure? On my calendar, the twentieth is a Thursday.” Liv turned the calendar around and slid it closer to the couple.
Gina checked her phone and then the calendar on the table. “You’re looking at the wrong month. We decided to get married in July instead of September.”
Some people preferred short engagements.
Her brother was an excellent example of that.
Eight months and three days had passed between Owen proposing and when he and Jenny said “I do.” What Gina was suggesting wasn’t a short engagement but an almost nonexistent one.
Even with eight months to plan, it hadn’t been easy.
Less than two months to prepare potentially tripled the difficulty.
“I realize it is rather short notice. But my uncle, who’s conducting the ceremony, will be in Europe in September. I hope you’re still available.”
Liv flipped to the appropriate month. At the moment, they were catering a high school graduation party on July 1, the Garden Club Tea on the second Saturday of the month, and the Maine Writers’ Guild retreat on July 28, but July 20 was open. “We can do the twentieth.”
“Excellent.” Smiling, Gina clapped her hands together.
They were there to discuss food options, not whether Gina and Blake had reserved the services of a photographer and florist. However, if the bride-to-be couldn’t book those on such short notice, the couple might have to reschedule with Liv.
With the sale of the building looming over her head, she’d rather not have that happen.
“Have you already found a florist?”
“Finding one is next on my list,” Gina answered.
You’re in luck, my friend.
While getting the catering side of the restaurant up and going had been her immediate goal, it wasn’t Liv’s ultimate one.
She not only wanted Ocean View Catering to be successful, but she also wanted to develop a one-stop shopping event-planning business.
A place where someone like Gina could come and hire everyone they needed to make sure their wedding or special event was perfect.
She’d already approached Emma and Phoebe.
Both were willing to jump on board when the time was right.
Until then, they recommended each other to customers at times like this.
“I recommend you try Exquisite Flowers across the street. They do amazing work.”
Hopefully, Emma could help the couple on such short notice.
“Let me see if I have any of their business cards left.” Standing, Liv walked back to her desk. “What about a photographer?”
Even before she stood, Liv knew she had plenty of business cards for Exquisite Flowers on hand.
After grabbing one, her hand lingered over the stack for Dalton Photography.
Some people might not like it, but Liv saw nothing wrong with sending customers to her friends rather than their competition.
They’d do the same for her if Ocean View Catering had any competition in the area.
“I’m waiting to hear back from one,” Gina answered.
Liv pulled out one of Phoebe’s business cards too. “If they don’t get back to you or aren’t available, try Dalton Photography. They’re located nearby.” She handed the other woman the two business cards as she sat down again.
“Have you already decided on a time?” Not that it mattered much. Ocean View wasn’t yet large enough to handle two events on the same day, so Gina and Blake’s wedding would be it for the day.
Gina nodded as she tucked the business cards into her purse. “The ceremony will be at four.”
Why, Liv couldn’t say, but she preferred evening weddings.
While she’d never been married, she’d been a bridesmaid in several weddings and catered a few small ones.
At least to her, there seemed to be less stress hovering over everyone when the event occurred at night.
Maybe it was because people had more time to prepare.
Or perhaps it was all in her head. Either way, she wanted an evening wedding if she were to get married.
“Four o’clock is a great time for a ceremony. Have you discussed whether you want a sit-down meal or a buffet?”
Once again, Liv had an opinion on the topic, and if this were her wedding, she’d want a buffet, so her guests had options. But many people considered sit-down meals more formal and turned their noses up at the idea of a buffet.
“Sit-down, but we do want a dessert buffet, similar to the one at Raymond’s party, in addition to the cake.”
After adding the answers to her notes, Liv passed Ocean View’s updated catering menu across the table. “Our current dinner choices are in here. Any of the meal options can be modified. Each comes with either a soup or salad and your choice of bread for the table.”
“We want to give our guests two or three options to pick from.” Gina opened the menu binder. “We also have some guests with allergies, so they’ll need special meals.”
Gina and her fiancé were the ones who had to keep track of who wanted what, so Liv didn’t care if they gave their guests twenty different options.
“That won’t be a problem for us.” Nowadays, restaurants and catering companies had to be prepared for food allergies if they hoped to remain in business. In fact, she hadn’t catered an event yet that didn’t require at least one special dish due to an allergy or special dietary requirement.