“That should have been obvious,” Penny murmured. “But yes, I remember that.”
“She was a nightmare and for a while there, the way she kept calling and complaining bordered on harassment,” Becca commented. “I thought we were going to have to get some sort of order of protection to keep her away.”
“I don’t think it was quite that dramatic. However, if we had a style consultant on staff, we could avoid things like that and offer brides appointments with the salon to discuss all of these things,” Hailey expanded. “And if it were someone who had a working knowledge of the gowns, then all the better.”
Wait a minute…was she saying that this person – this…this…dream-stealer already worked here at Enchanted? She looked over her shoulder toward the showroom and glared at Melanie. Not once had the girl ever mentioned having a cosmetology license and now she was going to have her own glam squad? How was that fair? All of this was exactly the kind of stuff she had wanted to do! And it sucked that someone else – Melanie - was now going to get to do it!
“Anyway,” Hailey went on, “the new owner of the shop is here and I know this is asking a lot, but we’d really appreciate it if you could take a few minutes and talk with them.”
Penny’s eyes went wide with disbelief.
Meet with them? Was Hailey serious? Why not just bring Melanie back here when this whole damn meeting started? Why make such a dramatic production out of it?
“We realize that – all things considered – you might not be comfortable doing it,” Mrs. James said sympathetically, “but your vision for it was just so spot on and as much as I think this new person gets it, it would be helpful if maybe you could just…talk about how you saw things going.”
Getting up and storming out wasn’t an option.
No matter how appealing it was.
She’d kick and scream and cry later when she got home. She’d call Spencer and tell him and then do everything she could to start the moving process as soon as possible. With her stomach clenching and her heart racing, Penny forced herself to look at each of the women as she said, “Sure. If you think that will help, then that will be fine.”
Immediately, she stood up, smoothed down her skirt and waited. Everyone else rose and Becca and Ella were the first to walk out. Followed by Angie.
“I’m just going to go grab us some fresh tea,” Mrs. James said. “Hailey? You’ll show our guest in, right?”
Guest? Couldn’t they just say Melanie? And just like that, Penny was alone in the office with her head spinning. She had dropped both poster boards to the floor earlier and she bent down to pick them up so she didn’t seem disrespectful.
Even though right now what she wanted to do was tear them both up.
And maybe light them on fire.
Then spit on them.
“I was hoping you’d have on the red heels today,” a male voice said from behind her.
Spinning around, she was shocked to find Spencer standing there.
And Hailey smiling as she closed the office door.
“Spencer,” she said breathlessly. “What are you doing here?”
He gave her a sheepish grin as he stepped further into the room. With his hands in his pockets, he let out a breath. “Well, something’s happened.”
Her stomach dropped. She reached out and placed a hand on his arm, thinking the news had to be bad for him to be here like this with no warning. “Oh my God? What’s happened?”
“I lost my job,” he said, his voice and expression somber.
“Wait? What?” she cried. “I mean…how? You’ve been working so hard and…and…is it because of me? Is it because of all the time you’ve been spending in Raleigh?”
He nodded. “It was.”
And then she felt terrible. Could this day get any worse?
“Oh, Spencer, I am so sorry!” She stepped in close and hugged him. “I don’t even know what to say. What are you going to do now?”
He sighed as he wrapped his arms around her. “Well, I had some time to think about it and…I think it’s all going to be okay. I’ve invested in a business. You know, something to hold me over until I find a job.”
She pulled back. “You invested…? Wait…um…what? I’m totally confused.”
Spencer released her and walked over to where she had dropped the plans on the floor. Again. He picked them up and placed one back on Hailey’s desk and then studied the other. He leaned on the desk and asked her to join him.
“I’m trying my hand at something new,” he began. “I realized that there is a lot more to the architectural and design field than what I’ve been doing.” He studied the plans again and smiled. “I had forgotten how much fun things like this were.”
“Wait a minute,” she said. “Are you telling me that you designed this?”
He nodded, and it took Penny a minute for all the pieces to come together.
A slow smile played at her lips. “And is this particular salon the business that you’ve invested in?”
He nodded again.
She took the designs from his hand and sighed dramatically. “It’s an interesting design. The colors are good and I think it’s a great use of space.”
“Thanks,” he said, sounding very pleased.
Then she sighed dramatically. “I sure hope you can find someone to run this place, because I’m moving to Atlanta so…”
The plans were quickly taken away from her and she found herself in Spencer’s arms and his lips claimed hers before she could even blink. Nothing had ever felt sweeter. She melted against him as the enormity of what he’d just told her started to sink in.
Then she broke the kiss.
“Holy crap! Are you telling me that you bought the space and that it’s for me?”
He laughed, a deep, rich sound that had her tingling all over. “Actually, I thought I was kissing you and pretty much telling you that I love you, but…before that…yes. That’s exactly what I was saying.”
“Oh my God!” she cried excitedly as she moved away. “Oh my God! I was sitting here with the girls and thinking that they were the meanest people ever for making me talk to the person who was going to own my dream! You have no idea how upset I was!”
He chuckled and reached for her hand. “We thought you might feel that way, but I knew once you realized what was happening, you’d be okay.” Then he studied her. “Are you? Are you mad that I did this? I remember how you turned the girls down, but I was hoping if it were me and it was something for us – for our future – then you wouldn’t mind too much.”
“Are you kidding me? I…I’m so incredibly blown away by this, Spencer,” she began. “But seriously, what about your job? If we do this, then I’m staying here. And if you’re in Atlanta then…”
He squeezed her hand. “I really did lose my job.” When she gasped, he continued. “It was by choice,” he explained. “I talked to my bosses about what was going on and they were sympathetic to a point, but ultimately we thought it best if I came here and…worked on other projects.”
She looked at him curiously. “Other projects? What does that mean?”
Tugging her in close, he kissed her again before answering. “It means that there is a division of my company that works right out of this area and on top of that, my father is selling his firm and they’re hiring as well.”
“Wait…wouldn’t that be counterproductive to what you both wanted? You’d still be working there, so why not own it?”
His arms tightened around her. “Because I don’t want to own it. I don’t want to work sixty-hours a week or more the way he has. I want to have a life and I want to be able to do the kind of work that I love and by working for someone else, I can. Actually, I’m kind of a big deal right now. Big demand,” he teased.
“Yes you are,” she purred and rested her head right over his heart. “Can we go and look at the space now? I’ve been totally patient about it, right?”
“In a minute,” he said and held her close for a little longe
r. “Actually, there’s something rather important that we need to talk about.”
Raising her head, she said, “We do?”
Nodding he replied, “We do.”
Penny looked at him expectantly.
“Do you remember the day I dropped you off at the Atlanta airport?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Do you remember what we said?”
She looked at him oddly. “Um…about how much I didn’t want to leave, how I didn’t want to wait on that long security line…I asked to stay…”
He chuckled softly and tucked a finger under her chin. “That day we said I love you for the first time.”
Gasping, she said, “We did?”
“We sure did.” Smiling down at her, he caressed her cheek. “And we’ve been pretty much saying it regularly and we never made a big deal about it. And we should have.”
“Oh,” she said with a breathy sigh.
“Penny Blake, I love you so much. We’ve spent a lot of time getting to this place – and not just here at Enchanted, but here together,” he said softly. “I feel like after all the stopping and starting, we always came back to this. To us. I don’t want to stop again. I want this to keep going. You have always been it for me, always the girl for me. I wish I had said it to you sooner and not waited until we were in the middle of a crowded airport.”
Tears streamed down her face at his words. “I think I waited my whole life to hear you tell me you loved me,” she admitted, “and I can’t believe that it came so naturally and at such an odd time that I didn’t even realize it. Maybe because it’s how I always felt that it came out like that.” Pausing as he wiped away her tears, she smiled at him. “And I agree, no more stopping. You and I were always meant to be and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world right now. I love you.”
She didn’t get to say another word because he was kissing her and if they weren’t in the middle of Hailey’s office, she would have let it go a lot further. When Spencer lifted his head, he grinned at her. “They may not have cameras in here, but if we stay in here much longer, I’m pretty sure they’re going to know what we’re doing.”
Laughing, she swatted at him playfully. “Spoilsport.”
“You’ll thank me later when no one is giving you knowing looks,” he teased. “Now come on, I thought you wanted to see your new business space. Geez…how long am I supposed to wait?”
With another laugh, he led her from the office and they were met by Hailey, Angie, Becca, Ella and Mrs. James who were all smiling from ear to ear. After a round of hugs and congratulations, Hailey stopped them before they could leave.
“There’s one more thing we need to do before you go down and inspect your spot,” Hailey said and grinned when Angie handed her a large flat box, which she, in turn, handed to Penny.
“What’s this?”
“This is just a little gift that we got for you to welcome you and Glam to the Enchanted Bridal family.”
Curious, Penny opened the box and found a large mounted poster with the logo she had designed for her business. Looking up at the five of them – and Spencer – she was overcome with emotion. “I…I don’t even know what to say. This is one of the most thoughtful gifts I ever could have asked for.”
“Come on,” Spencer said. “Let’s go see where we can hang that.”
Then they all walked together to Becca’s coffee shop which would soon be the home of Penny’s glam squad studio.
She was home.
Epilogue
Six months later…
I kind of feel like we shouldn’t be doing this.”
“Nonsense. It’s totally fine.”
“It’s a little unnecessary.”
“Unnecessary or…sexy?”
Spencer laughed as he let Penny tug him along through the darkened mall of Enchanted Bridal. It was after hours and everything else was closed, but tomorrow was the grand opening of Glam by Penny and she wanted to come in and look over everything one last time and wanted him here with her. They were on their way for a late dinner when she asked if they could stop by.
“Sexy?” he repeated. “I thought I was just here to make sure there wasn’t any lingering construction dust.”
“Silly man,” she murmured as she unlocked the gate to her shop.
Their shop.
Ever since that day six months ago when he’d presented her with the plans for the salon, things had moved at a frantic pace. Work on the new coffee shop had started immediately and they were lucky that Angie’s husband was in construction and was able to get a crew in to get started. Once they had stripped the shop, Spencer moved in with a hired crew to start working. It made more sense to have two crews working at the same time rather than waiting to get started.
The end result was the salon of Penny’s dreams.
She opened the gate and stepped in, then motioned for him to follow before she closed it behind him. There were just a few security lights on but even in the dim light he knew the place was spectacular – nothing out of place and beyond clean. They had a cleaning crew in there earlier in the day, which is why he had to ask…
“Why are we here again?”
She sighed. “I told you. I just want to make sure everything’s in its place and ready for tomorrow.” She was practically bouncing on her toes now. “Look at this place! It’s perfect!” Then she flung herself into his arms and kissed him until he was completely breathless. When she broke the kiss, she grinned at him. “And it’s all because of you. You made this happen!”
But Spencer shook his head and put a little space between them. “Nuh-uh…we made this happen. You had the dream and the vision; I just helped put it in motion.”
Penny smiled at him. “We make a great team.”
He nodded. “Yes, we do. And this place? This is going to help secure our future.”
She waved him off. “I don’t know about that, but I think it’s going to be a great start.” Turning, she looked around the space again and when she turned back to him, he was down on one knee. Gasping with surprise, her hands flew to her mouth before she said. “Ohmygod…”
“Penny Blake, I said my vows with you for the first time when I was eight years old, and I’m hoping that you’ll say them with me again. This time, in front of all of our family and friends and not just my sister.”
“Spencer,” she said shakily, sinking down to her knees in front of him. “What are you doing?”
Pulling out the ring he’d had in his pocket all day, he held it out to her. “I love you. I’ve always loved you. And as we’re getting ready to start this new chapter of our lives with Glam, I thought tonight would be the perfect night to do this.” He gazed at her lovingly. “I had planned on doing it at dinner, but now that we’re here, I thought it was fitting to ask you – in this space – to be my wife. This is where we realized we make great business partners, and I know we’ll find that we make even better lifelong partners – husband and wife.” He paused and took her left hand in his. “Will you marry me?”
She nodded her head vigorously as her eyes filled with tears. He slid the ring on her finger before rising. “Spencer Buchanan, I have waited a lifetime for you and I would love to be your wife.”
Then pulled her closely to kiss her.
Minutes later, breathless, they broke apart.
“Um…do you remember the night you came in for your tux and lost your keys?” Penny asked softly.
A slow grin crossed Spencer’s face. Remember it? Hell, it was still one of his hottest dreams of her. “Of course I do.”
“Well…I was thinking…maybe…we could christen this space tonight. You know, really make it ours.”
He quickly jumped to his feet and grabbed one of her hands and immediately tugged her to her feet. “I know just the spot.”
Laughing, they made their way to the small office space Penny had set up in the back room and thoroughly christened the space.
And it marked the beginning of just one of many adventures ye
t to come.
Where did the Enchanted Bridal series begin?
Read an excerpt from
THE WEDDING SEASON
– available everywhere now!!
The Wedding Season
Prologue
Fifteen years ago…
Tricia Patterson nervously approached the closed classroom door. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest and she had to stop and take a few steadying breaths. This wasn’t anything new. The way her family moved around, you’d think she’d be used to this by now.
New home.
New school.
And repeat.
Unfortunately, it never got any easier. The anxiety, the nerves, the fear of not fitting in. Most of the time it worked out all right. She’d make new friends, but in the back of her mind she knew it wouldn’t be long until she had to pack up and move again.
But not anymore.
Thanks to her parents’ divorce, Tricia wouldn’t have to move again. She and her mom had found a place in a small town on the east coast of Long Island and they wouldn’t have to pack up and move unless they wanted to.
She really hoped they wouldn’t want to any time soon.
It had taken a couple of days to get unpacked and settled in, and today her mom had finally brought her to the local high school to get registered. Secretly, Tricia had hoped to drag out the process a little bit longer, but no such luck. She was here, registered, had her locker assigned and her schedule freshly printed out.
There was no turning back.
Looking down, she stared at the schedule for at least the tenth time in as many minutes. “It’s just homeroom,” she muttered. “Nothing to do except sit and wait until the first bell. You can do this.”
With a steadying breath, she reached for the door, turned the handle and opened it.
Twenty-five pairs of eyes were instantly on her and her breakfast threatened to make a reappearance.
Glam Squad & Groomsmen Page 15
