22. Chapter 22
Chapter 22
Spencer
I contact Sam and, while the apartment I’d gone to see ended up with an accepted offer quickly, she gets me a list of other condos that meet my criteria. I don’t tell her or Lis that I’ve included the things Lis thought were important.
We go to see a few places, but it’s instantly clear that I am picky. Sam starts giving me fewer listings to look at, but every one is almost perfect. There’s just something off about each one.
I keep thinking back to the one I saw with Lis and wishing I’d jumped on it sooner. I’m still thinking about it four weeks later when I should be working. There’s a wedding rehearsal tonight that I force myself to focus on, getting chairs set up with white slip covers and pink bows on each. The pergola has matching fancy pink gauze draped over it with strategically placed flowers in the gathers of the material.
After some pretty nasty June-uary weather for the last couple weeks, today has blue skies far off into the distance. I have the tents brought up but set in the back of the area in case we need to set them up in a hurry.
Then I check on the progress in the hall where dinner will be served later tonight and tomorrow for the wedding. While I’m heading down, I check the weather app on my phone to make sure no rain is forecast.
“Spencer,” someone calls. I turn to see Nessa, the bride for tomorrow’s wedding. Thankfully not a bridezilla.
“Hey. How are you doing?”
She’s followed into the hall by her fiancé and two women, one older, probably her mom, and one around her age.
“Excellent. Is everything ready?”
“Just about. Everything for the rehearsal is ready upstairs. We’re just finishing up down here for the dinner. Once they’re done, you can do the rehearsal dinner at the top three tables.”
“You remember Carter,” she says, holding her fiancé’s arm and looking up at him adoringly.
“Of course.” I hold my hand out and we shake. In addition to being a groom at our venue, Carter is also Derek’s mechanic. He’s even convinced Adalie to bring her car to him when necessary.
“This is my mom, Deb, and my best friend and maid of honour, Annie. Everyone, this is Spencer, the event coordinator for Blue Vista. Is Vic and Derek around?”
I shake everyone’s hands as I’m introduced. Annie holds the handshake just a second too long.
“Not tonight,” I tell Nessa. “But they’ll be here tomorrow for the main event. If people are starting to arrive, I’d better get someone stationed downstairs to make sure they all get to the right place. You can find your way to the roof?”
Nessa gives me a nod and starts toward the stairs. Annie lingers.
“Hi,” she says.
“Hello.”
“Will you be here all night?”
“Yes. Tonight and tomorrow. It’s my job to make sure everything runs smooth.”
“So we’re like co-workers then?” she asks, fluttering her eyelashes at me.
I admit, it’s not the first time I’ve heard that line from a maid of honour.
“I guess so.”
“Well, Spence, if you need me for anything,” she says, stepping closer. “Anything at all. Just let me know. I’ll be happy to assist.”
I grit my teeth at the use of my shortened name. I hate it when people call me Spence, especially when it’s used to create a familiarity that doesn’t exist. I give Annie a polite nod, because she doesn’t know and she’s a guest.
“I prefer Spencer,” I say. “And I think we have everything under control. But thank you. If you’ll excuse me.”
I turn before she has a chance to respond, escaping downstairs, hoping the retreat lets her know I’m not interested.
It doesn’t.
Two hours later, the rehearsal is wrapping up and the guests are starting toward the hall for dinner. I’ve staved off Annie’s advances as best I can without being outright rude. If we’d met at a bar, I would simply tell her I’m not interested. But I can’t be rude to a guest. Especially when the guest is part of the bridal party. At least she hasn’t called me Spence again.
When I’ve had enough, I tell Nessa and Carter that I’m going to check on the dinner even though I’m certain Lis doesn’t need my help.
I’m right. She doesn’t. She’s plating the first of the dishes when I enter the kitchen, standing near enough that I can talk to her but out of the way so I don’t mess up her rhythm.
“What are you doing here?” she asks, barely looking up from her work. She’s plating all twenty, moving around a large table with Tina as they get everything ready to leave the kitchen at once. Wait staff stand by to take the plates on four trolleys as soon as they’re done.
“Hiding,” I tell her.
“From your job?”
“From the maid of honour. She keeps hitting on me.”
She gives me a startled look and I think I see a flash of jealousy cross her features before she concentrates on her task again.
“Poor baby. Some chick wants to bone. Whatever are you going to do?”
“I keep trying to let her down easy. She’s not getting the message.”
“Tell her you have a girlfriend.”
“I have. She doesn’t seem to care.” I’d mentioned it when she tried to grab my ass. I don’t tell Lis that I’d been thinking of her when I told the lie.
She sets down the tray she’d been carrying to put the roast beef on each plate and then pats my shoulder before picking up a pot of red sauce to drizzle over the meat. “I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
“Your vote of confidence is overwhelming,” I say, deadpan.
She pauses in her plating and fixes me with a look, one eyebrow raised. “You must be having a bad night if you think a Princess Bride quote is going to stump me. Even a more obscure one. There is no line from that movie you can recite that I won’t guess.”
I manage a smile. “Inconceivable.”
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
I huff a laugh and straighten. The plates that Lis has put sauce on are now being loaded onto the trolleys. She only has a few left. “I guess I better get back to it. Wish me luck.”
“Have fun storming the castle,” she says without looking up.
As I climb the stairs with the wait staff that won’t fit on the elevator, I wonder if it’s weird I’d rather trade quips with Lis than be hit on by an admittedly beautiful woman.
I know weddings bring out the loneliness in some people and they act in ways they wouldn’t normally. But Annie’s behaviour is more of a turnoff than a turn on and I try to ignore her while dinner is served. Wait staff top up glasses of wine and people start eating.
After everyone is settled, but before I can make another quick departure, Annie stands and catches my arm, keeping me in place.
“Weddings are so lovely, aren’t they?” she asks.
“They are,” I respond, gently extricating myself from her touch.
She’s saying something else when I catch sight of a rainbow-haired siren coming up the stairs. Instead of paying attention to the guest, I watch Lis’ sure steps as she makes her way toward us, eyes fixed on me.
Annie must notice she doesn’t have my attention anymore because she’s watching Lis approach as well.
“Hey babe,” Lis says as she slips an arm around my waist and rises to her toes. I tilt my head down so she can brush my cheek with her lips. The whole interaction is so smooth, it’s like we’ve done it a million times instead of never. My arm settles around her waist, keeping her against me and every part of me relaxes.
“I just came up to check on things, see if we’re still on schedule for dessert.”
She didn’t have to come up to see that. She could have texted me. In fact, she should have texted me. It would have taken a lot less time. She came up to see this woman who wouldn’t leave me alone and had taken it upon herself to help me.
“Running like clockwork. Everyone loves your food. We should be ready for dessert in about twenty minutes. Maybe bring it up in fifteen?”
She checks her watch, noting the time and, even though coming up was a ruse, I know she’s going to have the dessert here in exactly fifteen minutes from this moment.
“Sounds good.” She reaches her free hand out to Annie. “Hi. I’m Lis, the head chef.”
Annie shakes her hand, her gaze darting between us.
“I’m Annie. The maid of honour. So, you and Spencer…” she trails off.
Lis turns to me with a bewitching smile, and I catch myself before I kiss it off her lips. “How long has it been, babe? A year almost? Time sure flies when you’re as madly in love as we are.”
“It sure does,” I respond, slightly bewildered at this amazing firecracker.
“Well, I should head back downstairs to the kitchen. Will you come down in about ten minutes to help get everything onto the elevator?”
She lifts onto her toes again, to give me what I’m certain is supposed to be a quick peck on the lips. But as soon as our lips touch, sparks shoot through me and my arm tightens around her, pulling her closer. She responds in kind, her hand grabbing a fistful of my shirt. The kiss, that was probably meant to last half a second, turns into three seconds, which turns into five. I don’t deepen it, but fuck, I want to. Though they’ve become like the Charlie Brown adults, I know there are twenty people around us, including Annie who is right fucking there, ruining what would have otherwise been me pressing Lis into a wall and taking her lips in a searing kiss that leads to—
We draw apart and Lis looks up at me, her eyes darkened to green and heavy-lidded. I keep my arm around her to steady her.
“As you wish,” I whisper.
I don’t know what I’m saying. Am I teasing her? Drawing out the Princess Bride joke? Or have I just told her I love her? Because I’m not sure how far from the truth that might be.
Annie clears her throat, and the moment is broken. Lis steps back and I let her go. I can’t stop from staring at her retreating back as she hurries down the stairs and I’m left to deal with Annie on my own again.