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Chapter One
Karlee
Karlee reached blindly between the manicured shrubs in search of her cell phone. The thorns from the rosebush scraped her bare arm as she pulled back.Fuck.
“Tell me why I’m doing this again?” She hoisted the oversized bags of samples back over her shoulder while balancing her phone between her chin and shoulder. Karlee continued down the long, winding walkway with the midafternoon sun beating down on her, and she knew the humidity had done a number on her hair.
“Because you’re one missed rental payment away from bankruptcy,” said Stella.
“Thanks, but I was looking for something a little more inspiring.”
The mansion came into view around the next bend in the path. Karlee nearly dropped her cell phone again. It was a modern-day palace lifted straight from one of her childhood fairy-tale books.
Stella’s voice kept breaking up. The reception this far from the city was proving unreliable at best. “What’s more inspiring than that? Just do what you do best, and you’ll be fine.”
The sheer size of the property brought her nerves and doubts to the surface. “I don’t know, Stella. This job might be too much.” She exhaled, questioning her decision to become the florist for such a massive wedding. The dollar signs had been too tempting to turn down when she was only a breath away from losing her flower shop. She still didn’t understand why they hadn’t called one of the big names in the industry. Karlee’s little business wasn’t even on the map, and she hadn’t updated her website in too many months to count. What if she couldn’t handle it? “I never should have agreed to take it.”
“Stop it. If you need extra help, you know where I am. Now, woman up and make this deal happen. The next time you call me, I want to hear your good news.”
“You’re right. I have to do this. I don’t exactly have a choice.” After saying goodbye, she stuffed her cell into her purse. It was time for her poker face. They didn’t need to know the nitty-gritty of her situation, just that she could come through for them.
Her heels clicked on the slate tiles as she walked up the main stairs to the house. The double doors on the wraparound porch were decorated with intricately carved glass inserts. Everything screamed money. Part of her already hated the well-to-do couple who got to live in this piece of paradise, but it was just her own jealously bubbling up. Karlee wanted to be the one to wake up like a princess every day, but Cinderella stories were fiction and didn’t come true for real women like her.
She swallowed hard before tentatively pressing the doorbell encased within a brass lion’s head, which seemed like a bit of overkill. Within seconds, one of the doors flung open, exposing a melee of commotion inside a grand foyer. It was a stark contrast from the peace and serenity of the gardens and fields surrounding the house.
Rather than a butler with the black suit and white hair she imagined, a beautiful woman with long waves of brown hair and a tight red dress stared back at her.
She was momentarily at a loss for words, feeling completely out of her element. “Hi.” Back in the city she lived in the modest bachelorette apartment above the store she rented. Designer clothing and upscale home decor were not in her wheelhouse. Compared to this woman, she felt short, frumpy, and very out of place. “I’m Karlee from the flower shop.”
“Thank God! Come in.”
Karlee followed her across the white marble floors. There were people everywhere—a small construction crew in the midst of removing a wall, and a woman who appeared to be the wedding planner conversing with chefs, maids, and designers.
They didn’t stop until they reached the rear of the home. The woman pushed open a set of French doors and stepped out onto a large open deck. There were already white tents placed out back and an elaborate arch where the vows would likely take place. She could envision green vines and white lilies entwined around the wrought iron. Her imagination was already on overdrive.
“This is where it’ll happen. I only get one chance to make this right, so it must be absolutely perfect.” She turned around to face Karlee. The sun highlighted her blue eyes and the delicate lines at the corners of her eyes. She’d make a beautiful bride.
“I’ll do my best.”
No pressure.
She smiled, taking an audible cleansing breath. “I’m sorry. Where are my manners? My name’s Elizabeth. As you can see, things are a bit crazy around here lately.” After shaking hands, she pointed to the wedding planner at the end of the long hallway back beyond the open French doors. “Robert asked for you personally. Isabel’s not too happy about not making the choice, but ignore her. She’s all bark.”
They walked around the area, getting an idea of what Elizabeth wanted for her dream wedding. Apparently Robert Black left most of the creative planning to his future bride, price not an object. Karlee mentally calculated her costs and wondered which suppliers carried the exotic flowers requested. She didn’t want to overprice her services and lose the contract, but she needed to make a decent profit from such a big, demanding job. This wedding was her saving grace, and she couldn’t blow it. Maybe it would put her on the map and become the beginning of a real change in her life.
“Do you have a budget in mind?”
“Robert said whatever you thought was fair.”
Wow, she was used to most of her clients trying to cheap out. This was unchartered territory for her.
Before she could respond, two young groundskeepers approached. “Ms. Shaw, we just had an abandoned wreck towed. It’s the reason the catering truck couldn’t get in the second driveway.”
“Perfect. Tell Isabel to show them to the extra freezers in the kitchen. We’re already behind schedule.”
Karlee processed what the man had said. She’d parked in the second driveway and hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary. Surely he wasn’t referring to her SUV. It may have been a bit beat up, but it ran well enough and was her only mode of transportation.
“What did the wreck look like?” she asked, keeping her emotions in check as she spoke.Please not my truck. Please not my truck.
