Breaking All The Rules (Book 1 - Second Chances Series) (13 page)

After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and headed to “Weddings and More”. We arrived ten minutes before the store opened. I couldn’t stand Ethan’s sour disposition, so I opted to escape the chill in the car.

“I’m going to wait outside.” I pointed in the direction of a bench in front of the store. I thought Ethan was going a bit overboard in the pissed off department, but still, I had a big “G” for guilty on my forehead. He probably knew I was faking sleep when he came in last night.

After five minutes of reading a book on the Kindle app on my phone Ethan joined me on the bench. “Did you find a caterer?” he asked. His jaw line was noticeably softer.  I guess he’d tossed my sins into the sea of forgetfulness.

“I might have,” I replied. “It’s a popular restaurant in Atlanta. The price isn’t bad and they have a good reputation.”

“So, what do you have to do to get the deal done?”

“They’ll give me a call this afternoon to let me know if they can accommodate us. If it’s a yes, I’ll probably drive in tomorrow and sample some of the items on the menu.”

Ethan rested his back against the bench and stretched his arm across the back of it. “You don’t want to do that today?”

I hesitated, refused to look him in the eye. “I didn’t want to ask you for anything else.”

“I don’t mind. I like,” he paused, “…I don’t have anything else planned today.”

I didn’t respond. The “G” that had been on my forehead was now over my mouth.

“We’ll already be in the city, so –” he paused again. “Look, Nectar, I’m sorry about last night.”

The shock I felt had to show on my face. I was the one who had done him wrong. “Sorry about what?”

“Sorry that I was trying to turn our down time into an opportunity.”

I raised an eyebrow, curiously. “An opportunity?”

“To get to know you better. You’ve been pretty clear that you’re not interested in me, and I keep pushing.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but I wasn’t sure what to say that wouldn’t contradict what I’d been saying.

“I’m cool with us being friends. I can’t expect you to break all your rules just because I want you to. Rules are in place for a reason right?” he smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

I hesitated and replied, “Right.”

“Plus, I didn’t even ask you if you involved in a relationship. Kind of presumptuous of me to assume that you’re not.”

I shook my head. “Ethan.”

The closed sign in the window was flipped over to open and we could hear keys in the locks. 

“Really, I got the message last night,” he said. “You go do your shopping. I’m going to browse in some of the stores.” He stood and walked away.

We were obviously not cool, because yesterday he seemed to enjoy helping me pick out every item I needed and didn’t seem to mind the painstaking process.

I stood just as the shop door opened.

“Good morning,” the shopkeeper said. She removed the handwritten note about the early closing. “How nice to open the door to a customer.”

I swallowed the disappointment of not having Ethan with me, put on my game face and introduced myself. The woman was the owner and she recognized me from all the e-commerce business I had given her over the years. We made some small talk about the industry and then about my upcoming event and proceeded to fill my shopping cart. The owner knew her inventory, which made the process go quickly, but it wasn’t nearly as fun as it had been yesterday when I was explaining to Ethan what the various items I was picking out were for. By the time she and I were done, I had all the items I needed to create the perfect setting for the sanctuary and reception hall.  Tulle, tea lights, a fuchsia floor runner, candy tins, ribbon, the list of items was nearly endless.

She and I closed the trunk on the rental SUV just as Ethan exited a store down the street. “All set?” he asked, opening the passenger side door so I could slip in.

“Yes,” I said, noticing he didn’t have any bags. “You didn’t find anything while you were shopping.”

He shrugged. “Nothing I couldn’t get in Atlanta. I was just killing time.”

Just putting distance between us,
I thought.

We made the forty minute trip to the airport. To Ethan’s credit, he did ask me about my purchases and genuinely seemed interested in my finds. He also told me a cute story about an elderly couple in the bookstore.

“I love to read,” he said as he wrapped it up. “One day I’m going to find a woman who likes to read too and we’ll lie in hammocks in our backyard and read to each other.”

OMG! Was he for real or was this man so good at running game?

“Sounds like a nice afternoon, right?” he asked.

I swallowed. “It does. I’m guessing that hammock is hanging up in Argentina or Africa somewhere?”

“It’ll be where ever she wants it to be. I’ve seen the world. I can settle down,” he said. “With the right woman.”

“I’m told every man settles down with the right woman.”

“You’ve heard that right. If a man won’t make a serious commitment then he’s not serious about the woman.”

“So does that explain why you broke that supermodel’s heart last year? What was her name? Concei?”

“Concei and I had a great relationship. She just wasn’t the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I’m not setting myself up for drama. I don’t care how fine she is.”

“But you can date her?” I said, gruffly.

“Uh, yeah, I can definitely do that,” he chuckled. “You know all of my business, because the paparazzi are taking pictures. I still don’t know if you have a man.”

I reached for my soft drink and took a sip. “I’m not seeing anyone right now.”

I stole a glance at him. He nodded and raised an eyebrow. “It’s a shame I’m so young, because I make a really nice boyfriend.” He turned off the rental car and climbed out.

I pressed my head against the window and sighed deeply. My instincts told me he was telling the truth about that, but I had no idea what I was supposed to do about it.

Janette’s bridal shower was held in our backyard on late Sunday afternoon. We decided to do a barbeque since the weather was forecast to be gorgeous. The caterer provided chopped barbeque pork and chicken and yummy side items that included potato salad, macaroni and cheese, baked beans and a few other casseroles and vegetables. I’d ordered a cupcake tower from the bakery and it turned out beautiful. They’d created ten different designs of white and dark pink cupcakes and filled the centers with raspberry colored pudding. We served dark pink colored drinks – lemonade, sangria and even tinted the Sprite.

I rented a huge canopy and decorated it with fresh pink heather and used white taffeta as a drape. It served as the place for Janette’s chaise, which the girls and I covered, in a glittery fuchsia fabric. We strung tiny gold lights through the canopy and across the back of the chair. 

The decorations were beautiful. Unable to contain her joy, Janette stepped out of the house and burst into tears. The makeup she’d spent so much time making perfect for the pictures was ruined.

Mother Wright and I stood near the rear end of the canopy enjoying Janette’s reaction. “Just think, this is the shower. I can’t imagine what you have in store for the wedding,” she said.

“The vision is gorgeous. Hopefully we can pull it off.”

Mother Wright took my hand. “I’m sure you’ll far exceed the idea you have on paper.” She smiled at me. “You know, I always thought you’d be my daughter-in-law.”

I took a deep breath and shook my head. “Not meant to be, apparently.”

“But I wasn’t wrong. I know my son. You were close.”

“We were,” I said with a nod of my head.

“Terrance can be private, but I sensed a deep heartache when you left after your father’s funeral.”

“I think it was a hard time for both of us. We realized that we weren’t going to be together. I was going back to New York no matter what.”

Mother Wright didn’t say anything. I suspected she didn’t understand a woman like me. One who put career ahead of marriage. Not when she’d sacrificed everything for her husband and children and their church.

“Janette is better suited for him,” I added.

“It’s not the ideal way to begin a marriage, but Lord knows they’re not the first to go this way and they won’t be the last. I just hope they know each other or even if they don’t, that they’ll find a way to work through their individualities,” Mother Wright said. “My son can be stubborn.”

“So can my sister, but I’m sure they’ll find their way.”

We were interrupted by Ethan. He squeezed between us and put an arm around both of our shoulders. “Deniece did a great job with the decorations, didn’t she Auntie?”

“We were just talking about it,” she replied.

“My truck was packed from front to back,” he said.

“I’m sure Deniece appreciated having your help.” Mother Wright swept a look between us and smiled at me. “I’m going to get some lemonade. Can I bring some for either of you?”

“I’m fine.” Ethan and I both said at the same time.

Mother Wright looked amused by that. She wagged a finger and walked away.

I looked over toward the grilling area. The men had refused to be left out of the festivities. Terrance, Ethan, and a few of their friends, manned grills that smoked with the scents of steak, shrimp, chicken, hamburgers and sausage links. I was glad to see Ethan. I’d been busy, but I still missed him much more than I cared to think about.

Hands on my hips I turned to him. “I thought you were on shrimp duty. We don’t want it blackened by mistake.”

“I delegated,” he said, authoritatively. “Leaders do that.”

“Always the funny guy. So, I haven’t seen you in a few days. You’ve been busy.”

“I decided to get started on my kid’s fitness center. I threw myself into the business plan.”

“Is the business you and Terrance have not going to keep you busy enough?”

“I’m an investor. Terrance’s going to run the day to day. I don’t want to get in his way.”

“So, it was all about helping your cousin.”

“And bringing some jobs to Garrison. That plant has been in trouble for years. You never know when it’s going to start laying off folks. Terrance is wise to have a backup plan.”

“He’s always been a planner.”

“I guess you two had that in common.”

“Obviously that wasn’t enough. We’re here,” I said. “I don’t want to talk about my relationship with Terrance. Tell me, have you decided where you want to put the first gym?”

“No, it’s up in the air.”

“Is Atlanta on the short list?”

“I’m not telling.”

“What about the name?”

“Working on that too.”

“Two days of planning and you have no launch city and no name. What exactly have you decided?”

“It’s top secret stuff, but I can tell you something else I decided.”

He stepped closer to me. I stepped back. My heart began racing. “What’s that?”

His voice dropped to a husky murmur. “That I’m nuts about you. I figured that one out the other night after I dropped you off, but I was sure of it by Saturday morning.”

My breath caught in my throat.

“Ethan, your break is over,” Terrance called.

“I’ll talk to you later.” He returned to man his grill.

My heart pounded. He thought he’d missed me. My emotions had put the “m” in missed. Getting through the day without hearing his voice had been horrible. What had I done? Come to Garrison to fall in love with another unavailable man? Was I wrong to want to live in New York City and build my business? Was God trying to show me that by pulling me back here and practically beating me over the head with Ethan?

I felt so unsure about everything. Love is supposed to be something positive and right. I wasn’t supposed to be this confused. But was it me? Was I making it hard for myself by questioning everything? Was I supposed to go with the flow? I didn’t know how to do that. I wasn’t a go with the flow type of gal. I planned everything. That’s who I was.

The photographer called the women together to take some pictures before the food was served. I joined my sister and the girls under the canopy. He took some fun pictures of the group and then some shots of Janette and me.

My smile had a little more “happy” in it because of Ethan’s words and then because of the look he was giving me as I posed for the camera. It was so amazing to me that he looked at me like I was the only woman out here when he’d dated so many gorgeous women over the years. I wasn’t bad looking, but I was no Victoria Secret model. I hid the twenty pounds I needed to lose in my height and a good body shaper, but I knew they were there. Ethan was used to physical perfection. When he wasn’t dating a model it was a female athlete. I wasn’t sure how to compete with that. One could argue that I could work at losing my twenty pounds, but once you started making changes for a man it never ended. I was not going to be that girl. It was all wrong.

After the food was served, the men begged to steal a few minutes in our living room to catch the end of the football game. We ladies had cupcakes and drinks while Janette opened her gifts. She received some pretty sexy lingerie; a few gag gifts and a couple of toys that made Mother Wright blush. Claiming fatigue, Janette retired inside and the ladies and I cleaned up. The men came out, folded the chairs and put them in the back of Terrance’s truck and then they cleaned their grills and rolled them onto the backs of their respective pickup trucks. Every man in Garrison had a pickup. A truck was required to keep a man card.