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“Stella,” Marshall warned.
“I think it’s a great idea.”
He didn’t know which one said it but his brothers needed to leave. He cut a look their way but none of them paid attention.
“What I mean is,” Stella continued, “you need a wedding of the century kind of gal. You need a miracle and you need it now…remember? No one around here is wanting the job and it looks like she just wrapped up and has an opening. Maybe. Look, she’s it. I have a gut feeling and you know my gut feelings.”
He did and that was what had him giving her only half an ear.
“My gut says she’s the one to help us.” His sister spoke over the interviewer, barely taking a second to catch a breath.
He walked around the desk and placed his hands on Stella’s shoulders. “Are you okay? Anything you want to talk about? Have you been sleeping okay, hit your head in the shower this morning? Did Cole spike your coffee with moonshine again? The woman is in LA for Christ’s sake.”
Stella pulled back and punched her brother in the arm. “She’s a wedding planner, you’re a groom. Two plus two. We’ll figure out the bride later. She doesn’t need to know you don’t have one on hand to get started. You promised Mom a big event. Not some Vegas shindig with some tassel-wearing Elvis wannabe. You can’t break your word.”
How he wished he could. He’d redefine the terms of a shotgun wedding for damn sure. But his mother refused to lower their—her—golden standards as pillars in the community. Especially now with so many eyes on them, and more importantly their company.
Marshall returned to his desk, his lips quirked to the side in a grin, and he faked a wince.
Stella plucked the last peppermint from the dish on his desk and tossed it at him.
“Are you done yet?”
One thing family did was help him keep his feet firmly on the ground. It didn’t matter he once dated stars like Gretchen Stewart or met with Presidents and Prime Ministers. Kid sisters had a way of keeping you humble and firmly flat-footed.
“Like I just said, she’s in LA, we’re in Houston, and I can’t break away. We’ll just have to find another way. Here.”
“LA isn’t Mars. If you don’t do this, there will be nothing to break away from. Let’s do deets.” Stella scrolled through the tablet that came tethered to her left hand, already armed with all the details he would need and then some. Since she learned how to use a library index card system and then Google, the girl breathed information.
“Ready?”
Their brothers sidled up close. All ears now.
“I don’t think you’re giving us much of a choice, so go ahead and get it out of your system. Shoot.”
She gave a side smile and wiggled her brows. “I know. Okay, here we go. Her business is coming up on its first year. She’s the sole owner of Vows from Juniper. Her website lists a handful ofweddings and a few bridal showers. A few birthday parties, too. She’s low on staff, seriously like two other people and a chef. Stewart’s being the largest by far from what I can see.” Stella looked up from her tablet. “Must have had some good marketing in place to catch the eye of someone like her. From what I can find on the fly, she’s struggling to be noticed in such a large city. I think she’d take you on in a heartbeat.”
Marshall punched the speaker. “Mrs. Carver,” but no answer came.
“Stella, will you reroute all my calls to my cell. Would you also call the hangar and have the jet readied?”
“What will you be doing?”
By this time tomorrow, he’d officially be getting married. He could sugarcoat the two-week dilemma with a few extra zeros and then all he had to do was find a bride.
Hell if he knew. “Saving the family fortune, I guess.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Juniper stretched out a kink in her neck from falling asleep over her desk and watched as people bustled along the busy city street running from one errand or another. Some were window shopping hand in hand.
Half a block away, she watched a mother about her age shuffled her energetic toddler and three hyper puppies into a waiting car and laughed as a puppy escaped to play in a small patch of grass under a palm tree. The show that ensued of a toddler and two more puppies joining the impromptu chase sparked a deep respect for a mom who dared take on such energetic babies this early in the morning.
Before the sun could fully bathe the city with its full power, Juniper breezed through the motions of her morning routine and pulled her loose hair in a sloppy ponytail to hang over her shoulder and out of the way.
Lights flickered on as she unlocked the front door and moved through the shop floor flicking on a few lamps at different workstations. She loved their warm glow.
Cool wooden slabs soothed the sore spots on her soles from the day and night before.
