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Juniper remembered the stories fondly and smiled.
“I don’t know, maybe the need to know he’ll always tell the truth, wake me up with midnight kisses?—”
“Facetime me while grocery shopping to make sure he gets the right kind of chocolates,” Ivy cut Juniper off. “I can’t tell you how many times Aspen has done that.”
“Know how to set up a candlelight dinner,” Mom added next and the circle came back to Gran, who slipped another piece of lasagna on her plate. “How about a man who says nothing when I go back for seconds? How’s that for a perfect man?”
“And a man that knows exactly what I need every second of the day.”
Juniper sat back and raised her hands in defeat. “Okay, okay. I get it. So there’s no such thing as a perfect man.”
“Oh I think there is, sweetie,” her mom added, chuckling. “A perfect man for you because your heart said so not because of some list. Love doesn’t hold to borders, rules and bullet points.”
“I thought it did and I almost missed a chance at what I have with Aspen.”
Juniper swirled the silky red liquid in her glass. “You know, the whole time I was with Marshall I didn’t even think about my list.”
Hmm. That wasn’t entirely true, but she wasn’t about to say she mentally checked off the ‘spanking my ass just right’ rule.
“He makes me smile, piques my curiosity with his ideas and way of viewing the world and if we’d only met under different circumstances.” She let her words trail off. He could have been the one in another life.
A heavy weight settled over her heart. Time for her to grow up. Her childhood fantasies of a happily-ever-after at all costs were made for fairytales and would make her what she feared most—being alone.
“Honey,” Gran took her hand, “I want to tell you things will work out the way they’re meant to be, but in this case, when it’s the matter of the heart, planned or unplanned, you don’t really get a say in it. You’ll see what I mean in time.”
Ivy nodded. “Your wise gran told me the same thing with Aspen one day when she saw me having cold feet.”
“I told him I would follow through with the wedding, but...” She drew in a breath and didn’t know if she wanted to laugh or cry or both. “I’m afraid it will break my heart if it’s not true love.” She looked at her friends, her mom, and gran in turn.
Her phone pinged and she let out a shaky laugh. “Save by the bell, I guess. It’s probably Jon.” Gran released her hand and Juniper flipped her phone over to read Marshall’s name on the screen.
Her heart quickened, and her stomach tumbled over with nerves.
Meeting went fine. Glad you are home safe and sound. Wishing I was there with you.- B
CHAPTER FIVE
The next morning Juniper straightened her borrowed cotton pajama shorts and slipped her feet into matching slippers.
Sunshine peeked through the curtains and the divine smell of coffee carried her to the kitchen, which she found empty.
“Thank goodness for programmable coffee pots.”
A night’s sleep and coffee the next morning did nothing to help calm her nerves. Instead of heading home, she’d taken Ivy up on the offer to sleep over. It would make it easier to prepare the last details for the party.
Marshall had sent a message last night that the funds would be wired to her account tomorrow morning in plenty of time to pay off the bank. She appreciated the gesture of him paying early.
She warmed her fingers with her mug and stared out over the back deck. Beyond the kitchen window, glittering shimmers of light played across the calm Pacific waters in the distance.
What if her feelings for Marshall were tied to what he was doing for her? It wasn’t unheard of to fall for the knight just because he saved her. How many romances had she read where the heroine fell for the hero after he swooped in and saved the day?
Yeah, she never pictured that to be her, but she couldn’t deny how he made her feel either.
On the other side of that coin, while her family didn’t judge, what would her clients say? How would they find out? Marshall was high society. His life ended up in the New York Times as easily as the rag mags. Any variations of the truth were bound to surface. One was bound to land on something that hit close to the truth of their marriage being a sham.
She would have to wait and see on that front. If anyone had a beef with her, she’d deal with it as they came. Right now, she didn’t need to borrow trouble.
Had she misspoken last night when sharing her feelings for Marshall with her family? She couldn’t feel love for a man she barely knew. Love didn’t work that way. She was a wedding planner, after all. Love took time like weddings did. Right?
