Chapter 15 Sharon #2
Her grip is firm. Confident. Her skin is warm, and I can smell her scent even more intensely now that we're touching: vanilla and something like burnt sugar and wildfire.
"I have a meeting with my pack in about an hour," Tangle says, releasing my hand.
"But I'll be back tomorrow with all the details.
I'm staying at the Pine Inn for now, but once I work things out with the boys, I'll probably move in with them.
For now, just start planning. Start thinking. Start making magic happen."
She leaves like she arrived: like she owns the place. The door closes behind her, and the office suddenly feels very small and very quiet.
Jessica is staring at her planner like it just spoke to her in tongues. I'm staring at nothing, my brain trying to process what just happened while simultaneously having a minor breakdown about the wedding I've already been hired to plan.
"Did that just happen?" Jessica asks softly.
"I think so," I say. My scent is all over the place now. Strawberry panic mixed with honey anxiety with an undertone of something like excitement that I'm not sure I'm allowed to feel.
"We just got hired to plan Tangle Peak's wedding," Jessica continues, her voice getting higher with each word. "Tangle Peak. The Tangle Peak. The one who won the Grammy."
"Yes," I say. "On Christmas Eve. The same Christmas Eve that Ben and Penelope are getting married."
Jessica stops mid-celebration. She looks at me slowly, and I watch as her brain catches up with the implications of what she just committed us to.
"Well," Jessica says after a long moment, "that's not actually a problem anymore, is it? Because no one is going to Ben's wedding. Even if you and Penelope are buddies now.”
"You're right," I say quietly. I settle back into my chair and stare at my calendar, at the date circled in red that suddenly means something completely different than it did twenty minutes ago. "No one's going to Ben's wedding."
"Which means," Jessica says, and now she's smiling in a way that suggests she's already won the lottery and is about to win it again, "we are officially free to make Tangle Peak's wedding the most legendary event this town has ever seen."
I nod, but my stomach is doing something complicated. It's doing backflips and somersaults and generally acting like it's been possessed by a very enthusiastic gymnast.
Because the universe has a way of setting you up for disaster when you're not paying attention.
It has a way of stacking situations on top of each other until everything collapses under its own weight.
And now I'm standing on the edge of what could be the best opportunity of my career, but I'm also watching my previous job implode in real-time.
I pull out my phone and text the group chat that Cassian created last night: "Tangle Peak just walked into my office and booked us to plan her wedding for Christmas Eve."
Cassian's response comes through almost immediately: "No fucking way."
Jett: "Who the hell is Tangle Peak?"
Pine: "The singer. Multiple Grammys. Sold out Madison Square Garden. She's marrying three alphas?"
Jett: “How do you know?”
Pine: “Social media.”
Cassian: "Sharon, are you okay?"
I stare at that text for a long moment. Am I okay?
That's a complicated question. Professionally, I'm about to have the opportunity of a lifetime.
Personally, I'm about to have to watch my ex's wedding fall apart and disappear completely, which means I get to keep my first big job with the company but lose the job I was hired to do.
The universe is essentially forcing me to choose: either be the person who planned Ben's failed wedding or be the person who planned Tangle Peak's legendary one. There's no way to have both.
My fingers hover over the phone, and I think about everything that's led to this moment.
The mini heat in the office. Cassian showing up with coffee and kindness.
Ben screaming about his eye patch tattoo.
Jessica standing in this office, completely starstruck, committing us to something that's going to require miracles.
"I'm fine," I text back. "Everything is fine."
I close my eyes for a moment, feeling the weight of it all pressing down on me. The good, the bad, the complicated, the surprising. It's all here, all at once, all demanding my attention.
Jessica is already on her phone, calling vendors. I can hear her talking about Christmas Eve availability, about bringing in extra staff, about making magic happen. She sounds genuinely excited in a way I haven't heard before.
I pick up my planner and flip to the page that has Ben and Penelope's wedding details. All the color-coded notes. All the vendor confirmations. All the careful planning for a wedding that nobody actually wants to attend.
Then I flip the page, and I write: "Tangle Peak. Christmas Eve. Brownbox pack. Intimate. Beautiful. Impossible."
Thank you, universe, for making Savannah’s business better than ever. If we do this wedding well, we won’t be looking for clients; they’ll be looking for us. It’s good. It’s all good. It has to be.