“The shit is officially together,” Jackson announces as they take their seats.
“I’m happy for you, boo,” Tillie says.
“I’m happy for me too, but seriously, what on earth do you need to check the menu for, yet again?” I whine at my best friend.
She smirks and darts her eyes between Jackson and me. “Huh. Colour me impressed, I thought you would have caved and told her,” she says to Jackson. “You’re such a pussy where she’s concerned.”
I frown at her and then at him. “Tell me what?”
Jackson grins at me triumphantly. “This isn’t about the wedding. It’s about you.”
“Me?” I ask in surprise. “What? Why?”
Tillie reaches across the table and takes one of my hands in hers. “I wanted to thank you for putting up with all my shit. I’m a ‘grade A’ sociopath and you’ve dealt with it pretty well… You haven’t had a go at killing me yet anyway.”
“Debatable,” I mutter under my breath.
Jackson takes my other hand. “And even though all I did was keep the secret, I’m going to jump in and take some credit, and thank you for putting up with all my shit too. You really are too good for me.”
“For both of us,” Tillie corrects him.
I can’t believe she did this for me. And that she roped Jackson in and got this whole thing planned for me.
I almost feel bad for wanting to yell at her and possibly even stab her, but then I remember that I still have a couple more weeks of planning her wedding to go and I don’t feel so guilty anymore. She’ll drive me to the brink of insanity again before we get this thing done.
Tillie nudges Reece and gestures her head towards my hands.
He shrugs at her and she gives him a hard glare.
He lays his hand over top of Tillie’s and mine. “I didn’t know I had to prepare a speech, but how about I just promise you that you’ll never have to plan another wedding for her?”
I giggle. “That would be great. You guys are so sweet,” I say as I feel tears pooling in my eyes.
“Oh lord.” Tillie groans as they let me go so I can wipe at my eyes. “You always get so teary when you’re tired.”
“Crying women make me nervous,” Reece says as he eyes me anxiously.
I burst out laughing at his obvious discomfort. “You’re lucky you’ve got the ice queen for a wife then, you won’t have to worry about any of that with her.”
“Hey! I cry on the inside.” Tillie grins. “In a pretty, composed kind of way that doesn’t involve my makeup getting messed up.”
I laugh at her and dab at the liquid in the corners of my eyes. “But seriously, thank you for doing this, I really appreciate it.”
“It’s the least we could do.”
“The least you could do is dial back the crazy, but since we both know that’s a long shot, this will be sufficient.”
“You know her so well,” Reece teases as he looks at his wife-to-be with amusement.
“That she does,” she agrees as she picks up the cocktail menu. “And since that works both ways… I know she needs one of those pretty pink drinks with the strawberries in it.”
“I do need one of those.” I nod in agreement.
Tillie stares at Jackson expectantly.
He chuckles. “Alright, I’m on it.”
He kisses my temple again before sliding out of his seat.
***
“Do you want to go and look at apartments with me tomorrow? My lease is up just after your wedding and I’m not really liking the idea of being homeless.”
“Oh no, sweetie, living under a bridge wouldn’t be a good look for you.”
I shake my head in amusement.
“Oooh! There’s one just up the street from us that would be perfect for you.” Tillie claps her hands together excitedly. “We could be neighbours.”
“What are you jumping up and down about?” Jackson asks, his tone amused, as he slides back into his spot next to me.
“I’m going to show Katie the best apartment for her to lease,” Tillie tells him excitedly.
He chuckles and shakes his head. “No need. I already found her a place.”
I look at him in confusion. “You did?”
“Well this place is newly renovated,” Tillie tells him, her tone sounding pissed that he’s trying to mess with her new plan.
“Well this place has a view,” Jackson argues.
“A park across the road.”
“The beach at your fingertips.”
“Me as a neighbour,” Tillie argues, her expression turning triumphant, as though she’s finally found the winning answer.
“Me as a roommate,” Jackson replies softly, as he turns to face me.
“Huh?” I ask, totally shocked. I don’t know what the hell just happened here, but this situation seems to have escalated rather quickly.
“I was going to ask you in private, but she egged me on,” he explains.
I look over at Tillie and she’s got one hand clapped over her mouth and the other shaking Reece’s arm relentlessly to make sure he’s paying attention to what’s going down.
I turn my focus back to the man in front of me. “Are you asking me to move in here with you?”
He shrugs. “Yeah… I mean, why the hell not?”
“We only just became official,” I breathe.
He shrugs again. “We go way back,” he says with a cheeky grin. “May as well jump in head first, right?”
It’s crazy, but I can’t imagine saying no. I know how easily I could fall into a life with this man, even though he drives me insane half the time, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.
“Let’s do it.” I nod eagerly.
It takes a few seconds for my words to sink in, but when they do, the biggest smile graces his face. It’s my favourite one.
“Sorry, Tills, but he beat you fair and square.”
“Whoop!” Tillie exclaims. “Moving-in time, bitches!”
Jackson grabs hold of me and tugs me against his body. He plants a kiss to my temple before letting me go again.
I giggle gleefully.
“I think you and your ten-second relationship might be rubbing off on me,” I tell Tillie with a roll of my eyes.
“As long as you wait until after my wedding to get engaged, mmkay?” She looks between the two of us pointedly.
“I think I can manage to wait another couple of weeks,” Jackson jokes.
“I’m not sure how I’ll cope that long without a ring on my finger, but you’re the boss,” I add sarcastically.
She nudges Reece. “Did you see that? My little girl is all grown up,” she announces dramatically.
Jackson’s hand finds mine under the table and he gives it a squeeze.
I grin at him and I know damn well that I may as well have hearts in my eyes.
I might still have one hell of a wedding to pull off, a house to move and whatever else this month decides to throw at me, but somehow, I’ve never felt more at ease in my whole life.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Jackson
Two weeks later
“These ones, dimples?” I ask, my voice strained under the weight of what I’m carrying.
She points to the furthest corner of the room and I grunt in response. I don’t know what’s in these boxes I’m lugging around, but they’re heavy as fuck.
There’s an entire team of people taking over my restaurant right now. They’ve only been in here a little over an hour, and I almost don’t recognise the place already.
There’s white, girly crap everywhere.
It’s three in the morning and I’m not sure how much more of this I can handle before I have to excuse myself and hit the hay.
Tomorrow, technically today, is the big day, and Katie is in full-swing wedding-planner mode.
I’m impressed if not a little intimidated. She might be the sweetest, most kind-hearted woman I’ve ever met, but damn, she commands the attention of a room full of peop
le like a drill sergeant.
This whole operation is running like a well-oiled machine.
I don’t know how she does it — sees the bigger picture like she does. I guess I do the same thing, but on a much, much smaller scale.
This makes the setup I have look like child’s play.
I peer inside one of the boxes I’ve just put down and it’s full of lanterns that need to be hung.
“Bloody lanterns,” I mutter under my breath.
“You can go up to bed if you want.” I hear her voice right before I feel her arms wrapping around my waist.
“I’m fine,” I say as I twist around so I can look at her.
I’m exhausted, but I’d stay here all night if it meant that she’d smile at me the way she is right now.
“No, seriously, the team will only work for another hour and then we’ll be back into it at a more reasonable hour. Go and get some rest. I’ll be up soon.”
She hasn’t officially moved in yet, all her boxes of crap are still waiting for a moving truck, but she hasn’t spent a night out of my bed in over a week and a half — so it’s as good as official as far as I’m concerned.
“If you insist.”
“I do.” She turns me by my shoulders and gives me a shove in the direction of the staircase.
I’m halfway to freedom when I hear my name being called from across the room.
“So close,” I mutter to myself.
Gabriel, the owner of the place next door, waves me down and gestures for me to wait for him to come over.
He’s got about five hundred string lights, a million lanterns and layer upon layer of something called tulle to get through, so I point out the booth in the corner that has somehow managed to come out unscathed thus far.
I slide into a chair and refrain from laying my head down on the table. He’s likely been up for as long as I have, so at least maybe that’ll help keep this brief.
He sits down opposite me and looks over his shoulder like he’s afraid of what might come at him while he’s not looking.
“Scary shit, right?” I joke. “Sorry about all the noise.”
He waves his hand dismissively. “It’s no problem, but you’re right, this is terrifying. Since when do you host weddings?”
“Since I decided I wanted to impress a woman,” I say with a roll of my eyes.
“Not the bride I hope?”
I chuckle. Gabriel has such a good sense of humour, for a man in his seventies, he’s still so young at heart.
“The bridesmaid,” I clarify.
“Ahh I see...” He nods his head in understanding. “What happened to that pretty young woman you brought into my place?”
“Same pretty young woman.”
His eyes light up. “Oh good. I liked her.”
I try and bite back a yawn. “I don’t mean to be rude, but what can I do for you at this hour?”
He looks at me sheepishly. “I know it’s not a good time, but I wanted to plant the seed now.”
I’m not sure where he’s heading with this, but I’m intrigued.
“Go on.”
“I’ve decided I’m going to retire at the end of the year. And I want to sell my place to someone I like, someone I trust…”
“And you want to know if I know of anyone?” I ask, confused.
He shakes his head. “No, I want to sell it to you.”
I laugh, but it dies off quickly when I see his expression.
He’s deadly serious.
“I think I might already have my hands full with this place.”
“You’re young. You can handle it.”
This whole situation is so bizarre. There’s nothing like doing business at three in the morning.
I go to say something more, but he cuts me off with a wave of his hand. “I just want you to think about it,” he says as he gets to his feet. “The offer is there, and there’s no hurry to give me an answer.”
“Okay?” I say, unsure what else I can give him right now.
My mind is spinning.
“You’ll think about it?”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Excellent.” He beams. “I’m off to bed, I’m too old for this nonsense.”
“Night, Gab.”
I chuckle as I watch him weave his way through the carnage and out the door.
I sit for a few minutes, thinking about what he’s just said before getting up and heading up the stairs to bed.
***
I must have drifted off while I waited for her, because I didn’t hear her come in, I just feel her cool hands touching my bare skin.
“You work too hard,” I mumble as I glance over at the clock by my bedside and see that it’s four forty-five in the morning.
“I know,” she replies with a yawn as she snuggles in to me. “But we can sleep in a bit later now that I’ve got some extra done. I don’t know what I was thinking, letting her choose a venue that couldn’t be set up until the day of the wedding… I need more sleep than this.”
“You’re doing good, dimples, it’s a hell of a lot of work… If I didn’t need my restaurant back, you could just leave it set up for another one next week,” I joke.
“Oh, don’t tempt me. I might never give it back. It looks seriously beautiful down there.”
We fall into silence and I feel myself drifting back off again when an idea hits me straight in the face and wakes me up in an instant.
“Holy fuck, let’s do it.”
“Not tonight, I’m too tired for sex,” she replies lazily.
I chuckle. “Not that. Let’s make a space just for weddings, or parties or whatever the fuck else you want to throw. Let’s do it.”
She pats my chest sleepily. “You really are sleep deprived. I can’t keep your restaurant.”
“You’re right. You can’t.”
“You’re not making any sense.”
She’s right, I’m making no sense at all from her point of view, but inside my head, the plan of a lifetime is unfolding.
“Gabriel wants to sell me his place next door,” I blurt out the piece of the puzzle that she’s missing.
“What?” she answers quickly, sounding far more alert than she did only a moment ago.
That piece of information certainly got her attention.
“He came over tonight. He’s retiring, and he wants me to buy the place… But I don’t need two restaurants…”
“No?” she questions.
I can feel her heart beating against my chest.
“No.” I shake my head. “But what I do need is a venue that will be perfect for my incredibly talented event planner girlfriend to host weddings and whatever other extravagant events crazy rich people want to throw. Actually, it’s not what I need, it’s what we need.”
This idea should terrify me after what happened with my last relationship, and the fact that I had to buy Lizzie out of the business and all the other shit that went with it, but I don’t feel one ounce of panic about this. Katie isn’t like my ex, not even a little bit, and I know I have no reason not to do this with her — if it’s what she wants.
“Jackson Matthews, are you asking me if I want to go into business with you?”
“I think I might be.”
“Are you serious?” she asks, and I can hear the excitement in her voice. “You’re not fucking with me?”
I chuckle. “I’m as serious as herpes.”
“Heart attack, Jackson, the phrase is ‘as serious as a heart attack’.”
“Is herpes not serious enough for you?”
“Oh lord.” She groans. “It’s plenty serious; just can we get back to this business conversation already, I haven’t had enough sleep to deal with your stupid sayings right now.”
I chuckle. “Imagine it, dimples… functions, events… Imagine the possibilities we could create for that place.”
“I can picture it already,” she admits.
We’re lying here in total darkness, I can barely make out the shape
of her in the bed, but I’ve never felt closer to her — to anyone for that matter.
Being with Lizzie felt like work a lot of the time, and while Katie is no stranger to keeping me on my toes; it feels natural when we’re together.
“I can picture it too.”
“Are you sure you’re not just exhausted and losing your mind?”
“I could be. I don’t even know what he wants for the place.”
“Sleep on it?” she suggests.
I don’t need to sleep on it. If she wants it, and we can make the money work, then it’s ours, but I nod my head and lean down until my lips find her forehead.
“You need to get some rest.”
“You should have thought about that before you offered me the opportunity of a lifetime,” she says, her tone teasing.
I chuckle as she snuggles even closer into me.
It’s funny, she thinks I’m the one offering her something, when the reality is quite the opposite — she’s the one with everything to offer me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Katie
“Show time, dimples.” Jackson grins at me.
I know there’s something important I should be doing right now, but I can’t take my eyes off him long enough to figure out what it is.
I thought he looked handsome in a shirt and tie, but that’s got nothing on him in a tux.
The place he brought it from should have hired him on the spot to model the thing for them, that’s how good he looks.
Quite frankly, I’m afraid he’s going to upstage the groom.
“Don’t let him in here,” Tillie yells out from somewhere inside Jackson’s apartment. “It’s bad luck.”
I roll my eyes. “It’s only bad luck if the groom sees you — not my boyfriend.”
“Same difference,” she yells back.
He cracks a grin. “I’ve been instructed to tell you that it’s five minutes until start time.”
“Well you go back down there and tell him I’ll see him in ten, has he not heard of being fashionably late?” Tillie hollers at Jackson.
Mr. February: A One Night Stand Romance (Calendar Boys Book 2) Page 12
