Chapter Six Dane
‘What do you think about orchids?’
‘I don’t think about orchids.’
From across the counter, Bailey shoots me a withering glare.
Her hair is wrapped in a colourful scarf, she’s wearing one of Cash’s old Great Dane Construction Services T-shirts, and there’s a fresh mug of steaming tea by her side.
It’s still early and, if I had to guess, I’d say she’s been up for less than thirty minutes.
Which makes the look on her face – a death stare aimed in my direction – definitely something to worry about.
I reach across the counter and ignore her huff of complaint as I tug her laptop towards me.
There are about fifty different windows open and they’re all wedding-related in some way.
Dresses, invitations, decorations, venues, suits, bands and more all fill the screen.
The biggest window open is filled with a seemingly endless stream of colourful bouquets, and her orchid question suddenly makes sense.
I raise a brow at my sister. ‘Didn’t you get engaged all of two minutes ago? Why’re you so stressed already?’
‘I’m not stressed,’ she murmurs. Her phone vibrates by her side and she immediately reaches to snatch it up.
She holds her breath as she scans whatever it is that’s come up on the screen and, after a few seconds, she deflates slightly.
Her shoulders slump and she lets her phone fall back onto the counter with a bang.
‘Hey.’ Cash is still in the shower – I can hear his slightly muffled voice singing along to what sounds like a medley of 80s hits – which means I can’t rely on him to explain whatever it is that’s going on with Bailey right now. ‘What’s happening here?’
Bailey looks at me for several long seconds and then shakes her head and sighs. ‘We’re not supposed to tell anyone yet. You know, in case it all falls through.’
‘I don’t know, actually.’
Her eyes narrow a fraction. ‘After I posted the engagement photos, a really big bridal magazine got in touch. They want to feature and potentially sponsor the wedding.’
‘Oh.’ I frown. ‘That’s a good thing, isn’t it?’
Bailey’s an influencer and even if I still don’t understand exactly what it is she does every day, I know she’s good at it.
Her follower count is close to a mind-boggling million and rising every day and, as far as I can tell, there seems to be a never-ending stream of brands flooding her inbox every day desperate to work with her.
Bridal magazines included too now, apparently.
‘It’s great ,’ she says, her tone a little too forced.
‘It’s great exposure and it’ll introduce me to an entirely new audience.
And then there’s all the money we’ll save.
It’s just – and I don’t want to sound ungrateful or anything – but I just didn’t think wedding planning would involve sending a list of potential flowers to a random editor I’ve never even met so they can approve them.
’ Her nose wrinkles as she finishes her explanation, and I have to agree.
‘Doesn’t sound very romantic.’
She huffs out a dry laugh. ‘It’s not. Can you imagine sending someone a photo of your dream dress and them emailing back with a note that just says, “ I think we can do better ”?’
‘I still think you should get the dress.’ Cash’s voice comes floating from down the hallway and he emerges into the kitchen a few seconds later. He claps my shoulder as he passes me, then walks over to Bailey and gives her a kiss on the cheek.
‘You haven’t even seen it,’ Bailey murmurs, instinctively leaning into his touch. ‘What if it’s actually hideous, and the editor was right?’
‘You chose it and you like it,’ Cash says with a shrug. ‘You’ll look beautiful in whatever you wear, but I’d rather it be something I know you’re happy with.’ He pulls away from her and makes his way to the kettle. ‘Get the dress, love.’
I swear, the smile on Bailey’s face right now could light up a small town.
‘I don’t get it,’ I say, interrupting their latest bout of staring lovingly into each other’s eyes. ‘Why does the editor even need to approve anything? The magazine approached you , right?’
Bailey nods. ‘They did, but they still need to make sure the wedding fits their brand and is something their audience will connect with. Technically, we do have the final say when it comes to the big decisions, but we risk losing the feature if we do something they really don’t like.
I even had to send them Eliott’s portfolio and all the engagement party photos so they could check they liked her style of photography. ’
I tense slightly at the mention of Eliott’s name. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Cash’s thoughtful gaze slide over to me for a brief second before he resumes pouring his tea.
‘Did she agree to it, then?’ I ask casually. ‘Photographing the wedding, I mean.’
‘Not yet,’ Bailey says. ‘We’re just waiting on the venue to confirm our dates, and then I can book Eliott in.’
‘And what if she says no?’
Bailey looks at me like I’ve just suggested she shave off all her hair. ‘Don’t even put that out into the universe, Dane.’
I shrug, trying to keep my expression and gestures as light as possible. But it’s hard because suddenly Eliott’s voice is ringing in my ear.
‘I haven’t actually agreed to photograph the wedding. I might not even be available.’
I’d laughed it off back at the engagement party, assuming she was just posturing for my benefit. But now I’m not so sure.
‘Eliott’s actually the only thing we’ve been able to agree on with the editor,’ Bailey continues. ‘They love her style just as much as we do. She’s the one thing we don’t have to worry about right now, and I’d love for it to stay that way.’
Again, Cash glances at me from across the room. He’s leaning against the countertop, quietly sipping his tea, watching me curiously.
Contemplatively.
I avoid his pointed stare and clear my throat, eager to shift the conversation towards something a little more light-hearted and far, far away from me potentially ruining my sister’s wedding before it’s even started. ‘Since we’re on wedding talk… Do I get a plus one?’
‘Who do you want to bring?’ Bailey asks absentmindedly, most of her concentration already back on her laptop screen. ‘Hazel? I liked her.’
I frown. ‘Hazel?’
Bailey looks up, one brow arched in disbelief. ‘Hazel. Your girlfriend? Or latest one, anyway. We went on that double date with you two to Winter Wonderland just before Christmas.’
Something clicks in my mind. ‘Oh.’
‘ Oh ?’
I give her a sheepish grin. ‘First off, Hazel wasn’t my girlfriend—’
‘Did she know that?’
‘And secondly,’ I say, a little louder this time to combat the sarcasm dripping off her every word, ‘we’re not together anymore. Didn’t work out.’
I say that, but it did. It worked exactly like it was supposed to.
A few weeks of fun before things fizzled out and we went our separate ways.
No hard feelings, no heartbreak. Just two adults who knew exactly what they wanted from each other and didn’t ask for anything more.
But if you say that to people, they start to look at you strangely.
Like everyone’s supposed to want what Cash and Bailey have, and like I couldn’t possibly be satisfied with anything less.
Bailey’s on the verge of saying something similar.
She’s got this look in her eyes that’s halfway between pity and exasperation, and I have no desire to sit here and listen to another well-meaning, but no less annoying, lecture about my love life.
I push away from the counter, making a point to cause the stool legs to scrape loudly against the floor.
‘We should get going.’ I glance over at Cash. ‘Don’t want to be late.’
We’ve got a job over on the outskirts of the city and it’ll likely take us at least an hour to get there, even without the threat of rush-hour traffic.
Cash nods, seemingly satisfied with my sudden excuse to leave. He doesn’t say a word until it’s the two of us in the van together. As soon as he slides into the passenger seat, he turns to me and raises an unimpressed brow. ‘Eliott’s not going to take the job, is she?’
Straight to the point.
Usually that’s something I admire about Cash, but right now it’s just annoying.
I scowl at my reflection in the rear-view mirror. ‘How am I supposed to know?’
‘Dane.’
It’s a subtle change in a tone, but it’s enough. This isn’t Cash, my best friend speaking. It’s Cash, Bailey’s fiancé.
Despite the flicker of annoyance shooting through me, I can’t help but feel happy that Bailey has someone like Cash in her corner. Someone who will always fight for her and what she wants.
The thought of being that person for someone is so foreign to me, I can’t even begin to comprehend it.
I’ve tried to imagine myself being the kind of person Cash is for Bailey – reliable, constant, all-consuming with his love – but I come up blank every time.
Like the idea of me and love are two parallel concepts my brain just can’t get to work together.
I’m glad Cash and Bailey have each other, though. Even if it does result in this. A weird kind of tension between me and Cash that I don’t think I’ve ever felt before.
The van crawls to a stop as we hit a stretch of traffic and I sigh, my fingers tapping restlessly against the wheel. ‘I don’t know what she’s going to do.’ Eliott’s irritated face swims in my mind and I wince. ‘But, yeah. Can’t see her agreeing to it.’
Cash groans and he brings a hand up to run through his hair. ‘Why? What happened?’
I hesitate. Cash and I don’t have secrets.
Not when it comes to things like this. I’ve never had any problem telling him about my dates, and he’s always been happy to wingman for me, to give me advice without judging, to let me live my life the way I want to without trying to mould me into being someone else.
‘I’m not sure,’ I tell him honestly. Because I’m not.
I don’t know what I’d been expecting from Eliott at the engagement party, but it definitely hadn’t been that.
‘But we’ve met before.’ I tell him about that night two years ago, about the chemistry Eliott and I had with each other on the dance floor, about how the energy between us felt almost electric as we stumbled back to her home.
Cash exhales a deep breath and shakes his head. ‘So, what happened? You slept together and then didn’t call or something? That’s why she’s pissed?’
‘That’s the thing. We didn’t actually sleep together. Not really.’ Cash shoots me a quizzical look and I shrug. ‘It was obvious she wasn’t feeling it anymore, so I left.’
I think back to that night and try to recall if there was something I said or did that resulted in the abrupt change in her demeanour that night.
How she went from being an enthusiastic participant in our evening together to awkwardly trying to end things.
At the time, her truly awful fake moaning had been almost funny – keyword almost – but now, thinking back on it, I’m pretty sure there was something else in her eyes.
A sadness I hadn’t been able to recognise back then.
I suddenly feel guilty for leaving so abruptly.
Maybe I should’ve stayed and talked to her.
Found out what was wrong and tried to help her through it.
Is that why she’s so mad? For some reason, I doubt it.
We didn’t know each other. Didn’t owe her other anything other than an orgasm, and we both ran a zero on that front.
‘I don’t know what her deal is,’ I say, shaking away my memories of that night. ‘But I’m definitely not her favourite person.’
‘And you think she’ll say no to the wedding just to avoid you?’ Cash is looking at me in disbelief, and I can’t say that I blame him.
‘I know how it sounds, but this isn’t an ego thing or anything like that. I genuinely think she’d rather turn down a job than have to spend another minute in the same room as me.’
And that’s a jarring realisation. Especially when I have no idea what I’ve done to deserve such a visceral response from her.
Cash frowns and the contemplative look is back. I can practically see the cogs turning in his mind. ‘You need to fix this.’
‘What?’
The traffic ahead of us starts rolling forward, but I don’t make any move to follow. A car honks behind us, but I ignore it in favour of staring at Cash incredulously.
‘I need to what ?’
‘Fix this,’ Cash repeats simply. ‘The feature is important. This is Bailey’s job.’
Low blow.
I know just as well as he does how important Bailey’s work is to her. I know how hard she’s worked to build this platform for herself, and just how difficult it’s been maintaining it. I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardise that. Not after everything she’s been through to get to this point.
‘And…’ His voice softens slightly, and he gets that stupid grin on his face that only crops up whenever he’s thinking about my sister.
‘It’s our wedding, and I want it to be everything she’s dreamt about.
If that means that you have to patch things up with Eliott so Bailey can have her dream photographer, then so be it. ’
The car behind us honks again and I hurriedly pull off, racing to catch up with the traffic ahead. ‘And how am I supposed to do that?’
Cash grins over at me, and any tension that’s been lingering between us dissipates immediately. ‘I’m sure you’ll figure it out.’