When Jacob had first suggested bringing dinner with him, she’d said no. But with Becky in Billings at a florists’ convention, Tess on her honeymoon, and Sally and Annie getting ready for their own weddings, it was nice to have company.
She took the wine and orange juice out of the fridge and walked back into the living room. “Here you go.” She popped the cork off the wine and held it toward Jacob. “Would you be wanting a glass of this fine Chardonnay?”
He nodded and Molly poured him a glass.
“You’re not having any?” he asked.
Molly shook her head. “Wine makes me as giggly as a school girl. I need a sober head when I’m doing business. What have you been doing today?”
While they were putting Chinese food onto their plates, Jacob told her about a meeting he’d had with a local businessman. He was interested in one of the parcels of land and asking all the right questions for a quick sale.
“Which one would he be interested in?” Molly asked. She hoped it wasn’t the property with Jacob’s house on it. Each was grand, but the log house overlooking the lake made her feel connected with the land like none of the others. It was peaceful and pretty, everything she’d be looking for in a place to call home.
“He’s looking at the land closest to Big Sky Resort. He’s got a young daughter, so he wants to be a little further back from the lake.”
“You must be pleased?”
Jacob nodded. “I am, but he hasn’t signed a contract yet. I’ll be happier when I have four unconditional sale and purchase agreements in my hand. What about you? Have you been working on anything special today?”
Molly smiled. “You could say that. Your photos have taken up most of my time. I’ve put the finishing touches on them and arranged them in a way that I hope is pleasing to the eye. I’ll be interested in your opinion.”
Over sweet and sour pork, and combination chop suey, they talked about their families, the things they’d done in their lives. The time passed quickly, quicker than Molly thought it would have. Jacob was easy to talk to. He surprised her with his sense of humor and insight into the ways of the world.
He’d made his fortune buying and selling property, but he hadn’t stepped on anyone in the process. He was kind and generous, exactly the type of person she needed to be careful around.
Jacob wiped his face with a paper napkin and pushed his plate away. “Have you tasted the chicken and ginger stir-fry? It’s good.”
Molly shook her head. “I’m fit to bursting. If you’ve finished eating we could put the food aside and look at your photographs? I’ll bring out dessert once we’re done.”
Jacob’s smile dimmed. “Sure. I’ll give you a hand to put everything in the kitchen.”
“You don’t need to do that. There’s not much to move.”
Jacob didn’t listen. He picked up the empty containers and stacked them in a neat pile. “Where would you like these?”
“If you rinse the containers, you can put them in our recycling box. I’ll show you where it is.” Molly picked up two containers that were almost untouched and led Jacob out to the kitchen.
It was a small space. Big enough for Molly and Becky, but definitely not big enough for Jacob. “How did you get to be so tall?”
Jacob smiled. “Beats me. Mom and dad aren’t tall. I must be a throwback to another generation. What about you?”
“My gran was tall. She stood six-foot when she was my age.”
“Did you ever think of being in front of a camera instead of behind it?”
“Modeling wasn’t for me. I like eating too much.” She thought about some of the young girls that had come and gone from the international modeling scene. “It’s a tough career if you’re not used to it. The pressure on the models is immense, far more than they should have to endure. You have to have a firm sense of who you are, or you get hurt by the pressure.”
“Is that why you left?”
“Some of it,” Molly said quietly. “Let’s look at your photographs. There’s no point dwelling on what was.” She walked back into the living room and put her laptop on the table. “I decided to add some soft classical music to the background for today. You can change it to whatever you like.”
Molly’s fingers flew across her keyboard. She found the file she was looking for and pulled a chair out from beside her. “Sit for a while, Jacob, and enjoy a presentation like no other.” She pushed play and watched his face.
The opening scene had been filmed from Victor’s helicopter. Molly hadn’t been brave enough to do it herself, so she’d called a friend who’d worked with her on another project. He’d strapped a safety harness to his body and leaned out of the helicopter. Victor had swept low, making Molly feel weak at the knees by the time filming was over.
The next series of photos were of each property, the dips and curves in the land, the building sites and access points that Jacob was so fond of.
Then came to shots of his home, the lake, and the breathtaking scenery.
Jacob glanced at her when a video of a young woman replaced the still photographs. She was walking along the edge of the lake with a basket of wildflowers in her hand. “I didn’t know you were going to use a model?”
“Keep watching. We can discuss the details later.”
Jacob turned back to her laptop and frowned when the next film segment appeared on the screen. The same woman was sitting on a ridge overlooking Emerald Lake. They’d filmed at sunset with the lake shining like a curtain of amber silk. A man wrapped his arm around the woman’s waist and she rested her head on his shoulder. It was beautiful and touching. A fine ending to a presentation that Molly was proud of.
“What did you think, Jacob?”
“I need to watch it again.” He pushed play and leaned forward, watching the presentation with an intensity that worried Molly.
He hadn’t smiled, hadn’t shown any flicker of emotion as the images had come and gone. Molly had kept the story simple, unfolding it in small parts that could become a new life for someone else. “If you don’t like the film, it can easily be removed.”
“Why did you add it in the first place? I only asked for photographs.”
Molly took Jacob’s question at face value. She had to. Otherwise, she’d worry herself silly. “The lake will draw people to your property. You need to bring their dreams to life, create a sense of movement and magic. My photographs did that, but it needed more. Your land deserves more.”
“And the film taken from the air?”
“Did you like it?”
Jacob looked surprised that she’d asked. “It was incredible. How did you do it?”
“A friend took the film. I’m not comfortable with leaning out of helicopters.”
“What?”
Molly frowned. “You don’t need to raise your voice.”
Jacob took a deep breath. He didn’t need to say anything - his glare said it all.
“We were perfectly safe. Victor supervised Simon while he put the safety harness on.”
“What about you?”
“I didn’t need a safety harness. Victor made me sit in the front with him. It was an experience I don’t want to repeat.”
Jacob stared at her for so long that she thought she must have grown three heads. At least he looked a little less stressed than he had a few minutes earlier.
“You paid for Victor, your film friend, and a model from the money I gave you?”
“Not quite. You’d already booked Victor for another fly-over. We just modified his flight instructions.”
Jacob’s eyebrows shot upward.
Molly cleared her throat and kept talking. “Simon owed me a favor, so his time didn’t cost anything. He also doubled as the male model at the end of the presentation, so that was a bonus. Caitlin, the young woman with the flowers, goes to college in Bozeman. She works part-time with Tess at her café. She was grateful for the extra money.”
“Did you make anything out of the money I gave you?”
&nbs
p; Molly squinted at Jacob. “You gave me far too much money. I refuse to bank your check until you change the amount.”
Jacob’s mouth set in a stubborn line. “You’ve earned every cent I paid you. Bank the check, Molly.”
“No.”
“I’m not writing another check.”
“You can please yourself, Jacob Green. But I’m telling you now that I won’t be accepting anything more than this project is worth. I had a grand time and have full use of the images. You’ll not be changing my mind, so you might as well give in gracefully and do as I say.”
Jacob crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Do you know how much money I have?”
“Most of Bozeman knows how much money you have, but it’s not going to make any difference. I’m not accepting the silly amount of money you gave me. If you pay everyone such extravagant wages, you’ll soon be as poor as the rest of us.” Molly glanced at her laptop. “You still haven’t told me if you’ll be using the presentation I created.”
“Of course I’ll use it. It’s incredible.”
Molly grinned at the growl coming from deep inside his chest. “I’m pleased. It was a privilege being part of your project. Would you like some raspberry cheesecake to celebrate our success?”
Jacob blinked. “Do you always change the subject so fast?”
“Only when it’s in my best interest. And I’ll not be banking your check.”
Jacob muttered something under his breath as Molly disappeared into the kitchen. He was a stubborn man, to be sure. But one with a heart of gold and pockets to match, if what she’d heard was true.
She took two pretty plates out of the pantry and lifted the cheesecake out of the fridge. It didn’t matter how much money Jacob Green had. She wouldn’t be taking his check and the sooner he agreed with her, the happier he’d be.
CHAPTER SIX
“Oh, my Lord,” Molly said as Rachel pulled a bright pink monstrosity out of a box. “Is that a bridesmaid’s dress or a pink parachute?”
Sally giggled. “It’s so frilly that I can’t see where Rachel’s gone.”
“Enough of the short jokes. I can’t help it if you were all born with stilts for legs.” Rachel yanked the last of the dress onto the floor. “How are we going to hang this up? It’s huge.”
Molly picked up the dress and draped it over the back of a chair. “I don’t know if it fits into any of our collections.”
Sally glanced at the other dresses stored neatly on the racks around them. “It’s definitely not from the Grace Kelly or Exotic Collections.”
“And not the Winter Romance Collection, either,” Rachel said. “What about the Cinderella Collection?”
Molly glanced at the gowns that had been squashed onto the Cinderella racks. “We’d not be fitting a gown of this size onto a hanger. It’s large, to be sure, but someone will love it.”
Rachel frowned. “I can’t see that happening in a hurry. Maybe if we leave it in the closet in the changing room, we could pull it out when we need to?”
“Great idea,” Sally said. “Who’s going to wear it for the catalog photo?”
Molly, Rachel, and Sally all looked at each other.
“I’d be taking the photo,” Molly said with a smile. “It’s such a shame that I won’t be able to help.”
Rachel grinned. “Well, I’m too short, so that only leaves one person.”
Everyone looked at Sally. “It’s too big,” she said. “I’m getting married soon. I have a reputation to protect.”
Molly picked up her camera. “I have some safety pins I could use to make the waist smaller.”
“And if you turn your face to the side, no one will know it’s you,” Rachel added.
Sally frowned at the dress. “I’m doing this under protest. You both owe me big time.”
Molly laughed. “I’ll buy you a hot chocolate next time we’re at Angel Wings Café. Do you need help getting changed?’
Sally lifted the dress off the back of the chair and dragged it into the changing room. “If I suffocate under all of this tulle, you know who the police are going to blame, don’t you?”
Molly picked up a letter from inside the box. “Geraldine Potter from Wisconsin. She has beautiful writing and a lovely message for the next person who will wear her dress.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” Sally grumbled. “This might take a while.”
While Sally was getting changed, Molly put her camera on its tripod and opened the reflective umbrella.
Rachel brought a cup of hot tea across to Molly. “What did Jacob say about Marsha and her fiancé?”
Molly looked at her blankly before she realized who Marsha was. She remembered the fire at the Emerson Center, a bride-to-be who couldn’t find a venue with wheelchair access. “He’s thinking about it.” Her cheeks grew warm under Rachel’s gaze.
“When will he give you his answer?”
Molly fussed with her camera. “He didn’t say. We didn’t spend much time talking about Marsha. I’ve finished his real estate photos and we discussed those.”
Rachel stared at Molly’s face. “Maybe you should call him now? I told Marsha we’d get back to her in a couple of days.”
“I’ll try, but I don’t know if he’s in Bozeman.”
“You wouldn’t be hiding something from me, would you?”
Molly sighed. “There’s nothing to hide. Our relationship is strictly professional.”
Rachel didn’t look as though she believed her. “Did he like the photos?”
“I think so. He’s a hard man to understand.” Molly was used to working with all sorts of people. But sometimes Jacob baffled her so much that she wondered if anyone truly understood what went on inside his head. And then there was his heart.
He’d bought Emerald Lake as an investment property. Somewhere along the line he’d fallen in love with the little cottage by the water. But as close as he’d become to his land, he was willing to sell it for a building in New York. She couldn’t understand why, and she shouldn’t care.
Jacob Green would soon be gone from Bozeman and gone from her life.
“You should call him now.” Rachel pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and held it toward Molly.
“I’ll take Sally’s photos first and then I’ll give him a call.”
Rachel looked down at her phone, then slipped it back into her pocket. “You like him, don’t you?”
Molly put the reflective umbrella opposite the window. “Don’t be daft. Jacob Green is the exact opposite of any man I would take a liking to.”
“Are you kidding? He’s everything you need. What more could you want?”
Molly had been asking herself the same question for the last couple of days. Jacob didn’t flaunt his wealth like her ex-husband. He didn’t abandon his family when they needed him or flirt with every pretty woman he saw.
She picked up her light meter and took a reading. “I’d be wanting a man who’ll be living in Bozeman a little longer than Jacob intends to.”
“You could always move to New York?”
“No you can’t,” Sally said from the changing room. She held the skirt of the pink dress in her hands and pushed the hooped petticoat through the doorway. “You’re not allowed to move to New York. We’d miss you too much.”
Molly smiled at Sally. “Look at you. You’re a fairy princess in the making.” The bridesmaid’s dress was far too wide, too long, and too frilly. But with some careful pinning and a pair of high-heels on Sally’s bare feet, the dress would be perfect for their Cinderella Collection.
Sally looked down at the dress and sighed. “I feel like a Barbie doll.”
Rachel held a box of safety pins toward Molly. “By the time we’ve finished, you won’t recognize the dress.”
Sally looked uncertainly at Rachel. “Molly’s good, but she’s not a miracle worker.”
“But I do have the luck of the Irish on my side.” Molly put the first pin in place. “And sometimes, a little bit
of luck is all you need. Now tell us about this wedding of yours…where are you up to in the planning?”
As Sally told Molly and Rachel about the venues she’d been looking at, Molly thought about Marsha and her fiancé. She’d need more than the luck of the Irish to convince Jacob to let them use his land.
He’d had quite a few questions about Marsha and her fiancé, and most of them Molly couldn’t answer. Without Jacob meeting them, she didn’t know if he’d ever say yes.
She had less than four weeks to help him see the error of his ways. A wedding at Emerald Lake would be a grand way to say goodbye to the prettiest piece of land Molly had ever seen. And maybe, if she could manage it, another way to market the property.
***
Jacob opened the door to Angel Wings Café and stared at Molly. She was sitting on the far side of the room, away from the people that were waiting at the front counter.
She had her laptop open on the table and her head tilted to one side. Whatever she was looking at was holding her attention.
He’d agreed to talk to her about using Emerald Lake for a wedding. He couldn’t see how it would work, especially with the groom being in a wheelchair. But Molly had convinced him to meet her and figure out the details.
“You look busy,” he said as he stood beside her table.
Molly’s big green eyes shot to his face. He’d startled her, taken her from where her mind had been wandering. “Oh, Jacob. Hello.”
“Can I sit down?”
Heat hit Molly’s cheeks. “Of course you can sit down. What would you be wanting to order?”
Jacob looked at the empty silver tea service and knew she’d been here for longer than a couple of minutes. “Long black coffee with a chicken pot pie. What would you like to eat?”
Molly frowned and looked at her watch. “Where does the time go? I’ll order one of Annie’s pies as well, but it’s my turn to buy you lunch. You paid last time.”
Jacob knew it was useless arguing with her. She had the same stubborn look on her face that she usually did around him. “I’ll order lunch for us.”
“Make sure you don’t pay.”
Jacob didn’t have to walk far. The part-time waitress that Tess employed met him halfway across the café and took their order.
Sweet on You (The Bridesmaids Club Book 4) Page 10
