CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER TWELVE
I woke up the next morning with a pounding headache and a fuzzy tongue. It was like something had crawled in my mouth and died. I let out a groan before pushing the covers off my face. I turned to my side and grabbed the aspirin and water and swallowed both.
In that moment, all of last night came rushing back to me.
Camden.
I looked at the armchair, but he was gone. The only sign I had that he’d even been here was the water and medicine. It was almost like I’d imagined the entire interaction. There was a hazy filter over my memories of last night.
Until there wasn’t.
I sat up in bed and gritted my teeth at the jolt of pain that shot through my head. I thought of all the things I’d told Camden, how he’d seen me deposit daiquiris and cake into my toilet. I mentally scrolled through my memories, trying to see if I’d told him too much.
I’d for sure told him that he smelled good and was hot, and I’d attempted to kiss him. All totally humiliating, but I let out a sigh of relief when I realized that I hadn’t told him the truth about my relationship with Sadie. So I’d shamed myself in such a way that I never wanted to see him again, but at least I hadn’t broken the NDA.
It was like I’d become this totally different version of myself. A flirtier, freer, ready-to-spill-her-guts (both metaphorically and literally) kind of woman. I hadn’t recognized myself.
What was I going to say when I saw Camden again? Because despite me wanting to hide in this hotel room for the next three days, that wouldn’t be possible.
My phone rang and I had to get up, letting out another moan. My skull felt like it was trying to push my brain out the top of my head. I had dropped my purse on my way to the bathroom and I found it in the small hallway. I reached inside and grabbed my phone.
A New York number I didn’t recognize was calling me.
My heart started thudding in time to my headache. It had to be Camden. Because outside of my parents, my employees, and my clients, nobody else had this number. I had created a contact for every number that had ever called me.
I didn’t answer. I brought my phone back to bed and plugged it into the charger since it was nearly dead.
It stopped ringing and I felt oddly disappointed. I wondered if he’d call back.
Ugh. I had to get a grip on myself. This couldn’t happen. I wouldn’t let it. There was too much at stake here. I had people to protect. I did not need to dial the number to see if it was actually him.
When I looked at my missed calls, I saw that the same number had called two other times this morning and I’d managed to sleep through both of them.
Which wasn’t surprising. I could sleep through just about anything. When everyone else complained about not being able to sleep with all the noise in New York, I honestly had no idea what they were talking about. Which also had its disadvantages. There could be a four-alarm fire in my apartment building and I wouldn’t know.
Just like how I had no idea what time Camden had left. What had possessed me to ask him to stay? How had I let everything get so upside down?
I glanced at the time on my phone and realized it was almost noon. I had slept for so long. It was unlike me. I wondered what else I had missed.
As I scrolled through my notifications I saw that one of the missed calls was from Desiree, my employee working for the New Jersey bridezilla. I called her back and quickly determined that things were spiraling out of control there and she wanted to know if I could come to the wedding. They weren’t sure they could manage.
The only way I could swing that would be to get on a red-eye directly after Sadie and Dan’s wedding reception. Once the newlyweds had left for the evening, I’d ask Mandy to help Brandy get back to her room and my responsibilities would be over.
I got on the phone with the airline and had them change around the flights for me and Krista to the new day and time and to have my flight take me directly to Newark instead of JFK.
I texted Krista to let her know about the changes and she sent me back a thumbs-up. It surprised me a bit that she didn’t ask me about last night, and that she didn’t volunteer any information about her own activities. To gush if she’d had a good time or to complain if she hadn’t.
It was very unlike her.
My phone rang again.
“I love the smell of wedding emergencies in the morning,” I muttered.
Only this time, it was my mother. I wondered if she could hear me rolling my eyes over the line. “Hi, Mom.”
“Hi, sweetie. Where are you?”
What kind of question was that? “In my room.”
“With Camden?”
Matricide was still illegal, right? She was making my headache a thousand times worse. “No, Mother. Sheesh.”
“Why not?”
It was actually a shock that I wasn’t more messed up. “Nobody is making you any grandchildren right now.”
She let out a dramatic sound and then said, “That’s a shame.”
I wondered what it was like to have a normal mother. “Mom, I need to get going. I’ve got a lot to do today.”
“Okay. Do you want to say hi to your brothers?”
“Mom, they’re not my—”
The next thing I heard was her three dogs barking at me angrily, still disliking me even thousands of miles away.
I’d never understood why she pushed the dog thing so hard. We lived across the country from each other. It was okay if her dogs weren’t fans of mine. Teddy, Toby, and Tommy were free to be at war with me.
They were her “triplets” because she’d adopted them all on the same day (all different breeds) and she’d given them human names in what I could only guess was some kind of message of her expectations for me. I didn’t have a degree in psychology or anything, but my mother was going to be what doctors commonly described as “deeply disappointed.”
Nor did I understand her infatuation with Camden. I’d gone on real dates with actual men and she’d never been like this. Maybe she was getting desperate and was ready to foist me off on any guy who so much as spoke to me.
At this point I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d started offering them a dowry or something.
She got back on the phone once the barking had turned into a dull roar. “They love you so much!”
I had a scar on my left ankle from where Tommy had sunk his teeth into me and still mourned my favorite pair of high heels after Toby had defecated in them and I’d been forced to throw them away, but sure, the dogs loved me.
Before I could respond she asked, “Are you going to be spending some quality time with Camden today?”
“Mom, why would I—”
I didn’t have long to wonder what she was up to, as she finally saw fit to enlighten me. “I had the loveliest conversation with him a few hours ago.”
“What?” I mean, I recognized all of the words she had just used, but the order she’d used them in made no sense. How would she have talked to Camden?
“I forgot about the time difference because usually you’re two hours ahead of me instead of two hours behind me and I called you and it was probably like four in the morning and you didn’t answer your phone. I had the front desk connect me and there was this sleepy handsome man answering, telling me that you weren’t feeling well and he’d have me call you later. I can’t believe you finally listened to me and took my advice. It’s better than Christmas!”
What was it about this man that made every woman who met him want to set him up with me?
“It’s not what you think.” Did one tell their mother that they were really drunk and were sleeping it off and that they had asked the man who had been nice and helpful to stay because one didn’t want to be alone?
There was no way to describe this to her that wouldn’t send her down the wrong path. No matter what I said or did, or how innocent I tried to make it seem, she would pole vault over me to get to the wrong conclusion.
“You don’t want to know what I think!” she said, with that annoyingly chipper singsong tone of hers.
No, I most definitely did not. “Okay, I really do have to go. Love to Dad. Talk to you later.”
I half expected her to call right back in an attempt to pump me for more information, but she didn’t.
I had just finished using the bathroom when I heard my hotel phone ring. Was my mother trying to circumvent me from checking to see who was calling?
Or maybe she’d done it in hopes that Camden would answer again?
“Hello?”
“Rachel? This is Troy. There is a wedding emergency and I need you down in my room right away.”
“Is it Brandy?” I asked, the first place my mind went after I heard the word emergency. “Sadie? Is she okay?”
“Just get down here immediately.” He told me his room number and then hung up. Troy was the kind of wedding planner who always prepped for emergencies. What could be so bad that he’d need me right away? I threw on some comfortable clothes, quickly brushed my hair, and twisted it into place. Troy had sounded like it was urgent, but I had to stop and clean my teeth. I half expected to see green fuzz growing on them, given how they felt and smelled.
I hurried toward the elevator and ran over a million worst-case scenarios in my head as I waited. It finally arrived and took me straight to Troy’s floor. I sprinted to his room, banging on the door.
When he opened it he announced, “Finally!” and let me inside.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Lei,” Troy announced. “We need lei for tonight and the florist made them in the wrong color. They have to be white. I told them white plumerias, but somebody messed up and they said they didn’t have time to do new ones. I told them that was fine, I could do them by myself. But I need your help.”
So, not technically by himself, then. “I thought you were only supposed to give them out as a welcome.”
“There are several people arriving today for the party, and I don’t want to overlook the new guests,” he said.
His room was full of buckets of white flowers and he’d used his desk to set up a bunch of strings and a few long metal needles. He was kidding, wasn’t he?
“Are you serious?” I asked.
“I never joke about weddings,” he told me. “I’ll show you how to make one. It’s easy.”
Troy and I had never worked together before. He’d heard about me from another wedding planner and, based on that recommendation, given my name to Sadie when she’d told him she needed a special type of bridesmaid at her wedding.
It was one of the things I focused on in growing my business—building reciprocal relationships with wedding vendors who would recommend me to their clients.
Which meant that I couldn’t tell Troy no, even if his request was ridiculous. So I paid attention as he showed me the proper length for the string, how I should double it up and knot it at one end, hooking the free end to this foot-long steel needle. He pushed the needle through the bottom of the flowers.
“And you just keep doing that until the lei is full.”
I looked around the room. “We have to make all of these?”
“Not we. My assistants and I are needed downstairs. But don’t worry. I’ve called for reinforcements. If you haven’t had lunch yet, please get room service. It’s on me. I’ve left you my cell phone on the notepad there. Call if you need anything. See you soon!”
My stomach gurgled at the offer. It was past lunchtime, but I wasn’t the least bit hungry. I still felt queasy and unsettled.
Then he left me alone. I sat down at the desk and sighed. I’d strung many a garland and arranged more than my fair share of floral centerpieces. A lei couldn’t be that much different. It seemed relatively straightforward—just time consuming.
I’d finished three lei, pleased with how they’d turned out, when there was a knock at the door. Finally, Krista had arrived. I wondered if Mary-Ellen was going to show up, too.
Throwing open the door I said, “It’s about time—” but immediately stopped when I saw who was standing there.
Camden.