Chapter 3 Musepiration
MUSEPIRATION
Addie
Addie dropped her head to her desk and willed the aching throb behind her eyes to go away. “I’m ten seconds and one more phone call away from running away from the city and joining an acrobatic circus.”
Sitting comfortably in the chair on the other side of the desk and scrolling on their laptop, Bailey snorted. “Since when do you do acrobatics?”
“I practice every time I put on my brown knee-high boots. I can learn the rest.”
Worried about the nightmare situation waiting for her at the office, Addie had put off showing her face today.
She’d scoured her closet for the skirt she hadn’t seen in months, and decided waiting in a long-ass line for overpriced coffee was better than using her travel mug or hitting up the always efficient Java the Hut.
She should’ve found something else to delay her. Where was a late train or broken bus when a girl needed one?
After walking through the Happily Ever Forever door, it took five seconds to realize that not only were her fears about office chaos warranted, but it was much worse than anticipated.
Karleigh Kinkaid-Fink was a freaking society influencer, and she’d made good on her threat to share with the world—and her five million followers—about the “tragedy” that had transpired at her wedding, complete with sobbing testimonials.
Calls flooded in nonstop from all avenues. Karleigh’s outraged fans issued veiled threats, and wedding bloggers and local news outlets zeroed in on Evelyn Sinclair’s “exposé,” seeking statements.
The most concerning calls came from worried current clients, one of whom canceled their event entirely, and most baffling was from someone inquiring if they handled anti-love ceremonies.
What. The. Fuck.
“Let’s look at this in a positive light,” Bailey suggested. “We’ve never been more popular than we are right now. Our DMs are bursting. We’re being tagged left, right, and center. Once the dust settles, this could be a blessing in disguise. You know what they say … any press is—”
“If you say good press, I will show you how acrobatic I am by hurtling myself over this desk.” Addie picked her head up and shot her cousin a look. “How is this good press?”
She pointed to her screen, which framed the latest Wedding Woes article, “Happily Ever For-Never.”
An online publication with a significant following, Woes documented “wedding blunders, woes, and faux pas,” and had featured Happily Ever Forever in their column not once but now three times and counting.
Addie wasn’t sure what she—or HEF—had done to piss in Evelyn Sinclair’s cereal bowl, but it was clear the journalist had it out for them.
“Where’s the Pepto?” Addie yanked open her desk drawers, prepping to down the pink liquid like a college student with a string of all-nighter study sessions ahead of her.
“Knock, knock.” Maxi stood in Addie’s office doorway, her smile firmly in place.
Of the two of them, Maxine not only looked most like their mother, but she loved the idea of love, and had yet to meet a stranger, making friends wherever she went.
Addie’s perfect opposite. Not that Addie was a total grumpy introvert.
She ran a business, which required that she people on the daily.
But after she turned off the customer service persona, she was usually decked out in her favorite pj’s and sitting on her couch, only braving the public when dragged by either Max or Bailey.
Addie and Max’s differences were what made Happily Ever Forever work. Max ran the matchmaking side of HEF, playing Cupid and helping clients find The One, and Addie handled the logistical side.
The numbers.
The schedules.
The event planning.
“Most people physically knock instead of saying the words.” Addie leaned back in her chair, giving her tired eyes a break from reading yet more bad news.
Her sister’s gaze dropped to the computer screen. “You saw it already. Crap. I was hoping to distract you enough this morning that you wouldn’t.”
“Kinda hard to miss it when our biggest fan, Evelyn, emails me a direct link to the article,” Addie quipped dryly.
“Son-of-a—”
Addie cocked an eyebrow, the move effectively silencing her usually optimistic sibling.
Maxi dropped into the seat next to Bailey with a heavy sigh. “Things will pick back up. I mean, they have to, right?”
“One would hope, but it better happen soon. The Braxtons just canceled their wedding, saying they decided to go ‘another route,’ and I’ve fielded two other phone calls threatening to do the same. I had to make a few concessions to keep them from going somewhere else.”
Maxi winced, knowing that meant discounts. Deep, deep discounts that wouldn’t help their bottom line in the least.
“I’m so sorry, Addie,” Maxi apologized.
“What are you sorry about? I’m pretty sure all the mess-ups that happened, happened on my end.”
“Eh. That’s one way to look at it. But if you really think about it, most of what happened on your end was just the fallout of improper matches.” Maxi shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she avoided eye contact. “I’ve been having some … matching issues recently.”
Addie waited for her sister to elaborate.
The two of them had always been opposites.
As kids, Maxi always tended toward the fantastical and Addie toward the logical.
Where Maxi had always dreamed and played the part of the princess in the ivory tower awaiting her one true love to rescue her from the fire-breathing dragon, Addie had played the part of the dragon.
And she’d played it well.
Maxi believed in the power of love sonnets and heartfelt devotionals, and the magic of a true soul match. She was a true daughter of Aphrodite, making their mother proud with her keen ability to find someone’s soul match.
A Cupid.
It’s what made Happily Ever Forever so lucrative in the beginning.
With Maxi’s matchmaking superpower, the online-dating-app half of the business flourished with people flocking to find their soulmates.
More and more happily engaged couples returned, all begging for wedding planning recommendations.
So many they expanded HEF into an all-inclusive, one-stop shop for their success stories.
Only two short years ago, they’d been forced to turn people away, their waiting list years long. Now, Addie considered standing on the sidewalk twirling a sign next to one of those blowing squiggly-armed banners and offering their services for free.
“Have you talked to her about it?” Addie asked casually, knowing her sister would know about whom she spoke. “She’s been all about the suggestions and advice lately. I’m sure she’ll have something in mind.”
“She said it’s probably a phase, and that I’ll outgrow it sooner rather than later, but…” Maxi sighed. “I don’t know if I can handle it being later. My last match—by far—was the worst yet. And I’ve had some doozies.”
“It couldn’t have been that bad.”
It was Maxi’s turn to lift a brow. “Would you care to place a bet on that? Because I saw this pair of shoes I’d really like…”
“No…? But now you have my attention.”
“It all started well and good. They both went through the app’s survey and their answers melded to form a perfect union on paper, and so I brought them in for a link check.
” Max winced, obviously picturing the moment when she’d brought in two potentials and put them in separate rooms. “And I felt it … a perfect, although a little roughened, link.”
“So you not only found a good match but a soul tether. I’m not seeing the problem here, sis.”
“Turns out that they’d already tried the marriage thing to one another. Their divorce became finalized less than three months ago and it was most definitely not amicable. At some point during the intro, something about a murder plot was screamed, but by that point I had blacked out.”
Addie heaved out a slow breath. “Okay, so that’s definitely not good … but hey, they didn’t make it down the aisle again for things to blow up over the cake cutting … so plus!”
They shared a look, both bursting into laughter.
Bailey’s gaze bounced between them, always calculating things much like their mother, Athena. “See. Things aren’t as bad as you all previously thought.”
“Oh, no.” Addie wheezed, drying her tears. “Things are atrocious, but it’s either laugh about it or go into the fetal position under my desk and never come out.”
Bailey smirked. “I’m glad you’re thinking positively. Maybe you’ll be more receptive to my idea, because I’ve been thinking…”
“Gods help us,” Addie and Maxi said in unison.
“We need clients who are walking around with hearts in their eyes and spewing love sonnets, ready to say those two little words, right?” Bailey glanced at Maxi apologetically. “Sorry, babe, but time is of the essence and waiting for you to do your Cupidess thing will just take too long.”
“No apology needed.” Maxi waved it off. “Weddings are what bring in the green. What’s your idea to bring in sonnet-spewing love clients?”
“We need a rebrand. A big one, way more than a color scheme and updated logo. I’m talking a massive social media campaign, testimonials, a big-ass client with a big, nosy following … and a big celebrity endorsement. Someone everyone knows, regardless of how deep in the hole they stick their heads.”
“And where are we supposed to find this celebrity endorsement?” Addie asked. “And not to mention, how would we even convince them to do it? It’s not like we can pay them.”
“Which is why it’s such a good thing that you two have a link to one of the best endorsements Happily Ever Forever could ever hope to have.” Bailey bit their lip. “I know the two of you have been adamant about keeping your relationship to Aunt Aphro—”
“No,” Addie and Max said in unison.
“Just hear me out!” Baily cried.
“I’ve heard enough.” Addie shook her head. “And it’s not happening.”
“But who wouldn’t want to be ‘matched’ by the daughter of Aphrodite? And can you imagine what people would pay to have her other daughter plan their perfect wedding?”