by Marci Bolden
Even so, she did wish she could feel a bit more laid-back about meeting Noah Joplin. She’d practically passed out when he’d shaken her hand.
“What are you thinking now?” Taylor asked.
“I want to be like Jade when I grow up,” Darby whispered. “She’s talking to one of the most handsome men ever to have walked this earth, and she’s not even stumbling over her words.”
Taylor raised her brows and chuckled. “Yeah, but have you seen her try to make sense when Liam’s around?”
“Liam doesn’t hold a candle to this dude.”
“I guess that all depends on whose candle it is.”
Darby started to ask what that meant, but the room opened up even more and she was suddenly too enthralled by their surroundings to worry about Jade, Liam, and mysterious candles.
The high ceilings and big lights were exactly like she’d seen in movies. So were the cameras. And the big green screen where the weather was delivered looked exactly how she’d always imagined. As much as she thought she would be an awesome newscaster, she knew she’d never be a meteorologist. The pointing and aiming and gesturing at nothing on the green screen behind her would definitely trip her up. Even so, she was in awe of the setup.
“This is amazing,” Darby whispered. She didn’t think she could possibly see all the aspects of the studio she wanted to see, but she was determined to soak up as much as she could. Turning her head this way and that, she tried to memorize everything.
“It’s pretty cool,” Taylor agreed.
Darby gawked at her. “Pretty cool? What is with you two? We are walking through a television studio.”
“In Fairfax, Virginia,” Taylor pointed out. “It’s cool, but I’d feel more excited if we were in Hollywood.”
Blowing out a breath, Darby shook her head. “This is as close to Hollywood as we’ll ever get. Make the most of it.”
They walked through another door and started down a hallway. There were several smaller spaces that had been allocated for the podcasts hosted through the news station, each with fancy equipment and foam squares on the walls to help with dampening sound. Darby recognized a few names on the signs.
Each studio was barely bigger than Darby’s walk-in closet. Then, like a beacon in the night, there it was—Noah freaking Joplin’s studio. He opened the glass pane door and gestured for the three of them to enter.
“I’ll give you a quick tour—really quick since there isn’t much in here.” Noah smiled and winked at Darby. “Then we’ll sit and chat to get you comfortable with the scene before we go live.”
As soon as he reminded her why she was there, a knot formed in her chest. Darby Zamora was standing in a studio with Noah Joplin, about to go live with him in front of all his viewers, and…
“Oh, God.” Darby pressed her hand to her chest as reality sank in, and like a fire sweeping across a dry forest bed, her nerves came to life, causing her anxiety to flare. “I…I can’t do this.”
“What?” Taylor asked.
Darby’s heart plummeted to the pit of her stomach, and she shook her head as she turned away. “Nope. No way. I gotta go.”
Taylor blocked her exit.
“I’m out,” Darby said. “I am not doing this.”
“Darby,” Noah soothed in a deep, calming voice. “It’s perfectly normal to be nervous—”
She shook her head harder. “I’m not nervous. I’m dying. Right now. Death is here. For me.”
Noah smiled, and the world nearly stopped spinning.
“And now I’m dead,” she muttered.
Putting his hands on her upper arms, he waited until she met his gaze. “Take a few deep breaths.” He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply then blew the air from between his lips. The rush of air smelled like mint, which she found oddly soothing. Mint wasn’t on the top of the list of soothing scents for her, not usually, but as she inhaled, the smell calmed her.
After his second demonstration of how she should be inhaling and exhaling, Darby closed her eyes and mimicked his technique.
“And one more.” Noah repeated the process.
When Darby lifted her eyelids, he was smiling at her. Her stomach fluttered but with a different kind of nervousness.
“How’s that?” he asked softly. “Better?”
“I guess,” she said, though she wasn’t sure if she’d told the truth. She felt like elephants were having a wrestling match inside her stomach—rolling, tumbling, and tearing her apart bit by bit.
“We’re going to talk, Darby.” Again, he’d used a soothing tone. Like some kind of freaking hypnotherapist or something. “We’re going to sit right there at that table, and you’re going to tell me about your business. You’ll tell me a few nice stories about how you made the dresses, and you’ll talk about how you came up with the idea to sell them. We’ll talk like you’d talk to your friends.”
“You’re going to do fine,” Jade said.
Darby glanced toward Taylor, who gestured for Darby to move farther into the studio.
“It’s like twenty minutes of your life.” Taylor casually tossed out her usual logic and lack of sympathy for Darby’s plight. “You can do this.”
Darby lifted her hand to her forehead and noticed how much her fingers were trembling. Dropping her hand back to her side, she clenched her fingers into a tight fist. “Yeah. Okay.”
She hesitantly moved to the chair where she knew—from watching his show online—guests sat. She only half listened as Noah showed Jade and Taylor the equipment and explained how the foam on the walls absorbed the sound so voices didn’t echo and mics wouldn’t screech from feedback. Normally, Darby would be enthralled by what he was saying, but her heart was in her throat and her breath was coming too fast and shallow.
Twenty minutes. That was what Taylor had said. Twenty minutes of her life.
As soon as Noah took the seat across from her, Darby looked to her right. Taylor and Jade hovered in a corner of the room behind the man who would be operating the camera. Darby knew his name. Noah introduced him at the beginning of every podcast. Sometimes he even engaged with the guests. Luke. That was it. His name was Luke.
Jade and Taylor stood behind Luke as he put on his earphones and got ready for the podcast.
The podcast where she was going to be the guest. Front and center. Oh boy.
“Okay.” Noah settled in to the chair across from her. “For the first segment, you’re going to sit quietly. Your mic won’t be on. I’m going to talk, do the opening bit, and then I’ll introduce you. I’ll ask a few questions. All you have to do is smile and answer. This is going to be straightforward, and it’s going to go by really quickly.”
Darby nodded, and after he pushed her earphones closer, she put them on. They drowned out much of the noise in the room, and suddenly everything was a blur. Noah was smiling his charming smile and talking as casually as he had with Jade when they’d come into the studio. He was so relaxed, so calm, that Darby actually felt reassured and was able to take a real breath. This couldn’t be too bad. If it was, he’d be nervous too.
Twenty minutes. Darby had taken showers longer than that.
She breathed again. Deep, soothing, calming breaths. She slowed her mind, and when Noah started his introduction, she gave herself one last, quick pep talk.
This was going to be easy peasy and over in a jiffy. This was her big break. This was going to put her shop in the spotlight and turn her luck around.
You got this, Darbs, she told herself.
“I’d like to welcome this week’s small business owner, Darby Zamora.” Noah sang out her name in the fun and zany way he always used when introducing guests. Hearing him apply that off-key tune to her name made her giggle and eased her nerves a bit. “She’s the owner of The Un-Do Wedding Boutique, which has quite an interesting concept behind it.”
She glanced over to where Jade and Taylor were standing. Jade smiled and Taylor gave the thumbs-up. Silent cheers from her personal squad. Swallowing hard, Darby focuse
d on Noah again. A wave of heat washed over her, and she thought she might break out into a sweat, but he winked and smiled, and she was drawn into his charms. As quickly as it had overcome her, the heat subsided, and she almost forgot she was on a live podcast.
“Darby, how did The Un-Do Wedding Boutique come about?”
“Oh,” Darby said, and even she heard the tremble in her voice. “You see, I was having a hard time getting my other business, Mistress of Ceremonies, off the ground because everyone thought I was offering sex. I wasn’t,” she was quick to add when Noah’s eyes widened. “I was planning parties. Or trying to, anyway. I was a party planner… A Mistress of Ceremonies. Get it?”
“Got it.” His smile widened, clearly amused by the conversation.
“Well, a lot of people—men in particular—thought it was something completely…inappropriate.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m not even going to tell you what this one guy thought amuse-bouche meant.”
Noah laughed and hesitantly asked, “What does it mean?”
“Nothing bad. It’s a complimentary hors d’oeuvre.” She laughed and pressed her hand to her chest. “Well, trying to explain that only led to more misunderstandings, because he thought he was getting something else altogether. And for free!”
Darby glanced around, pleased that not only Noah, but Luke, Taylor, and Jade were laughing at her story. The anxiety left her as she realized she could do this. She could totally sell herself and her boutique. This really was easy!
“Uh, well,” Noah said when he stopped laughing. “I can see why you struggled to get that business off the ground. How did that lead to this fun spin on wedding consignment?”
“Oh, well, I had a seamstress business a long time ago. I like to sew my own clothes because”—she gestured down at herself—“curvy girls with unique tastes in fashion can’t run to the department store. So, anyway, in between sewing high-waist slacks, short-shorts, and faux vintage swing dresses, I sewed wedding attire to make some cash.”
“Faux vintage…” Noah laughed again. “Sorry, you’re going to have to spell all that out for me. I don’t know nearly enough about women’s fashion to understand what you said.”
As if the man had flipped a switch, Darby found her groove as she explained her clothes and the vintage style she preferred and how much she loved making the clothing. Suddenly, she was in her element. Her smile was natural, and the words were flowing from her lips without a single stammer, hiccup, or incoherent thought.
Then he turned the topic again. “Okay, so you were up to your eyeballs in polka dot dresses and people misunderstanding what complimentary hors d’oeuvres meant. How did that turn into your hilarious wedding dress consignment shop?”
Oh. Back to Un-Do. She must have gone off on one of her rambling tangents. Jade and Taylor were always pulling her back to topic. They had actually reminded her to stay focused. Easier said than done when she got to talking.
Darby stumbled through her thoughts for a few seconds, trying to regain her footing. “Well, you see, my best friend Jade came over to talk me through the crisis and organize my closet because I tend to clean when I get upset. Anyway, there were all these garment bags stuck way in the back of my closet, and she asked what was in them. I told her those were dresses from cancelled weddings that I’d never charged the brides for, so I got to keep them, even though I had no idea what I was going to do with them. That’s when she had this total light bulb moment and suggested I sell those while trying to figure out my next business venture. And here we are.”
“Here we are,” Noah agreed. “Now, part of the reason we chose The Un-Do Wedding Boutique is because you have these hilarious stories to go with each dress. Are those true stories?”
Darby giggled, thinking of the fun she’d had sharing the background of the dresses. “Mostly. Some are slightly embellished for entertainment purposes. But don’t ask which ones,” she quickly added. “I’ll never tell.”
“Fair enough. How did you come up with the name The Un-Do Wedding Boutique?”
“Well, it’s like a play on words,” she said. “I do, but...not. Un-Do. I do. Un-Do. Get it?”
He laughed again. Damn. She was nailing this interview! This was awesome. She wanted to give herself a high five for being so damn good at this. Darby glanced toward the corner. Jade gave her an enthusiastic thumbs-up, and Taylor smiled a real, genuine smile. Even Luke, the camera guy, seemed to be having a good time watching the interview.
When Luke noticed Darby looking his way, he asked, “How many weddings get cancelled? Like, how many wedding dresses can one seamstress have?”
She waved her hand. “Man, you don’t want to know how many women find out their men are snakes after getting engaged. It’s like they think they have us snagged and can finally reveal their true colors. No offense to the men in the room.”
“Tell us,” Noah encouraged, “what is the craziest story you were ever told about why a wedding was cancelled?”
Darby paused, only for a few heartbeats, before laughing. “Well,” she said teasingly before breaking into a story about a groom, two bridesmaids, and what apparently took place on a secluded beach somewhere on the west side of Chammont Lake. The bride only discovered the groom’s betrayal because she found three pairs of underwear in her canoe the next morning and recognized her fiancé’s as one of them.
“No way.” Noah gasped and then broke into a fit of laughter. “How did she find out who the other two pairs belonged to?”
“That,” Darby said, “I don’t know. But…” She told another tale of a bride who did tell her how she found out her groom was cheating. He called out her sister’s name in bed!
Noah gasped dramatically as Darby confirmed the story was true. A hundred and ten percent.
“Well, we are about out of time,” Noah announced, “but I have to say this is easily my favorite small business highlight we’ve done so far. I don’t know if we can top this one. Thank you for visiting us, Darby, and for all of you out there, be sure to visit The Un-Do Wedding Boutique.” He rambled off the website information, and then her ears filled with the sounds of a commercial.
“We’re out.” Luke turned his focus to buttons and screens and whatever it was he did to get them ready for the rest of the show.
Noah’s smile never faltered as he pulled his earphones from his head. Darby pulled hers off too. As she did, she glanced at Taylor and Jade. They didn’t seem nearly as amused as she thought they would be. Taylor forced a quick smile when she caught her gaze and Jade gave her a slight nod, but they weren’t laughing like they had been minutes before.
“That was fantastic, Darby,” he said.
“Really?” she asked, soaking up his praise since her friends seemed less excited. She wished she could sit there and dissect everything she’d said and relive the interview, but she didn’t have time. He stood and all but ushered her and her friends from the studio.
“We only have a short break,” he explained. All of Noah Joplin’s shows went out with only a few seconds of delay. He never prerecorded. If he had, he wouldn’t have had to bring Darby in at this particular time on this particular day. Even so, knowing that he’d be back on the air in thirty seconds or so, she was hesitant to leave.
Noah stood and gestured toward the door, but Darby couldn’t make herself stand. This had been the most epic moment of her life, and she wanted it to last.
“Thanks so much,” Taylor said to Noah as she gripped Darby’s hand and practically yanked her from the chair and toward the door.
Though she didn’t want to go, she was glad Taylor had jerked her from her daze. She probably would have sat there staring and smiling like a fool for the entire hour of Noah’s show. But now that the spell was broken, a new kind of euphoria washed over her.
That. Had. Been. Awesome!
As soon as the three of them were outside, Darby rolled her head back and let out a squeal. Her smile spread so wide her cheeks ached. “So?” she asked, eying them. “What’d yo
u think?”
“I think you did great,” Jade said.
Darby’s smile faltered when she noticed Taylor doing that forced smile thing that Jade always encouraged her to do. “What? What’s wrong?”
Taylor let her smile fade as she shrugged and glanced at Jade, who shook her head almost imperceptibly, but Taylor said, “It’s just… Do you think you should have told Noah all that stuff about the cancelled weddings?”
“What stuff?” Darby asked, trying to remember what could have possibly upset her friends.
“Those were some pretty private stories you shared,” Jade said, sounding equally as hesitant. “Maybe we should have talked about that before you went on the air.”
Darby waved her hand to dismiss their concerns. “I never shared anyone’s name. Nobody could possibly know who I was talking about.”
“Chammont Point isn’t that big,” Taylor reminded her. “People know more than you think.”
“I had clients from all over the region,” Darby stated, slightly offended that Taylor didn’t understand that her work was sought after. Or at least a few people outside of Chammont Point had reached out to her. “You guys.” She gave a slight laugh, surprised by their behavior. “Relax. Nobody could possibly know who I was talking about. Nobody.”
She turned on her heels and headed toward the exit, practically walking on air.
Two
The next morning, Darby dropped onto her sofa and clicked the icon on her phone to check her online store sales. She was ready to print labels, ship boxes, and collect the windfall from her interview the day before. Closing her eyes, she took one last moment to manifest success as the app opened. Her smile and her spirits sank when she noticed she didn’t have a single new sale.
“That can’t be right,” she mumbled.
Scrolling through her analytics, she could see that visits to her site had increased by the thousands. She’d had so many notifications about new comments on her products that she’d had to turn off the beeping sound on her phone so she could get some sleep. How could there not be a single new sale?
