CHAPTER 44 Tatum Barker
More Venues
I’ve spent the day fighting back tears.
This isn’t how I wanted to feel on the day of the first wedding I planned here in Tampa, but here we are. And I don’t even know what to do about it. Where to go.
Ford has always been the person I’d run to, but I can’t this time.
And that breaks my heart.
I need some space.
I walk away when things get hard. It’s why Archer and I broke up as many times as we did. He wanted to stay and fight it out, and I wanted to shut down.
And that is the real reason why it felt so permanent this last time.
Because he’s the one who ended it. He’s the one who walked away. It was always me before. I’d get mad, and I’d run. I’d take a few days to cool down—or two months, that one time—but I’d come back.
It’s different with Ford, though. I’ve never had to escape him. We’ve never had a fight about anything before.
“It’s time,” I say to Lindsay when I walk into the bridal suite. “You are stunning.” I pull her veil into place, and she tears up as she smiles at me.
“It’s been so much fun planning with you. I’ll miss our check-in calls,” she says, pulling me into a hug, and I feel a bit of surprise at that.
I guess somewhere along the way as we planned her wedding, we sort of became friends in all of this.
“I will, too,” I admit. I think about asking her if she wants to come work with me, but it doesn’t feel like the right time as she gets ready to walk down the aisle.
Besides, she’s pregnant, a fact she still hasn’t told her parents.
But either way, she’ll have a newborn to tend to soon. She may not want to come work with me.
Everything’s falling into place for her. Another bride whose dreams I helped facilitate while my own dreams continue to crash and burn.
God, what the hell is wrong with me?
It’s me. I’m the problem.
I brush a tear away and pretend like it has something to do with the beautiful bride, and her bridesmaids gather, and we head downstairs so the bridal party can make their grand entrance.
I peek outside, and I spot Ford in the yard. He’s in a suit, and if I weren’t so mad, just catching his eye across the space separating us would be enough to pulse a hot ache between my legs.
But I am mad. The ache shows up anyway. It’s always there with Ford, a fact I never realized until I started to fall for him. The intimacy with him is something fierce and out of this world, something completely unexpected.
Even that wouldn’t be enough to fix things between us, though. Not this time.
I pull my gaze away and move back toward the bridal party sans the groom, who’s waiting inside for his bride out in the yard just as Lindsay wanted.
She holds onto her dad’s arm, and the bridesmaids are all lined up with their groomsmen.
I hear the music change and give the first couple the go signal.
Once the party enters, including the ring bearer and the flower girl, I close the door. I wait for the change in song, and as the guests stand for the bride, I throw the door open again for her dramatic entrance.
And that’s it. Half an hour later, they’re married. Photos are taken. Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres are served outside as the inside is ready for dinner and dancing.
Ford helps where he can without me even having to ask, as if he can read the room and the situation and execute what needs to be done instinctively—another painful reminder of how simpatico we are.
I head upstairs after the food is served, and I pull my phone out to take a look at my calendar.
The next event I need to be here in Tampa for is a meeting with a bride and groom toward the end of next month.
It would be helpful to have someone here at the manor if I leave town to give tours for potential couples, but right now, I just need a few days to myself.
Everything has happened so quickly that my head is spinning.
When I focus on work is when I make things happen. I was recovering from the end of my relationship with Archer when I fell into Winston Manor.
The thought that the next venue I purchase will be as I’m dealing with whatever this is with my husband has tears heating behind my eyes.
I’ll focus on work. I have to.
I want more venues to add to my luxury collection. This isn’t me wanting a unicorn. It’s me building a business. If I can get a wedding booked at Winston Manor every weekend, this could be a cash cow.
I just need the right person who can help me manage all of that since I absolutely cannot do it alone.
I need to be making the highest-level decisions, and I’ll need several employees in each city where I own a venue.
Someone who knows each market, someone who can actually plan the events, a general manager responsible for the business side of things.
Not to mention employing the event staff.
We’re looking at maybe five or ten employees per location plus event staff.
Even here, starting with my very first venue, I need help. That much is obvious after running through my first event here at the manor. It can’t be Ford—even if we weren’t fighting. He still has a job that keeps him pretty busy a good majority of the time.
But this is me. I’ll find someone.
I must live under some lucky star when it comes to these types of things.
Kenzie fell onto my lap, and now she’s not just one of my best friends, she’s essentially running my entire business in Vegas with the occasional call into me for approvals.
She’s getting overwhelmed, though, too. She needs help. An assistant. A team behind her.
Winston Manor fell onto my lap when I threw myself into work last time, as did the money back from it so I could invest still more into my business.
So, while I throw myself into work once again, I think I’ll add a little more to my already very full plate by finding the right venue in my old hometown.
It’s Chicago. My favorite city in the world.
That city deserves a luxe venue that’s part of the Tatum Signature Collection even if it isn’t the Bradley Mansion.
And I intend to find it.