Page 18

CHLOE

I had a list of all the extra rooms being offered to the priority guests, like Garrett Kingston and his friends. The four of them were separated into a few houses who had spare rooms. Their mother and fathers were housed in the big house, as well as a few of the other dignitaries. Mrs. Halloway’s bed and breakfast was booked up, along with anything else available in town.

Guests were starting to arrive, and my schedule was full. When I entered the big house, the kitchen was booming. The parental Kingstons, brother Kingston and his group, and Thomas, Declan, and Alex were all in the room, grabbing breakfast from the spread laid out buffet-style over every surface. It was a lot of food, but it had to be to feed this crowd.

“Chloe, grab something to eat. We’re just finishing, and then we can go over whatever you need.” Thomas handed me a plate, and Garrett, the youngest Kingston, offered his barstool. His friends, Sawyer, Nate, and Julian, all sidled up next to me.

I added a few things to my plate to be polite, but I didn’t go overboard. My stomach was churning from my brain running the last two days. Was I ready to give up Hunter and Kyle if Matt didn’t want this? I needed to find Matt and talk to him, but I also needed to focus on the wedding.

“So you’re the wedding planner?” Garrett asked, leaning against the counter just as I’d taken a bite of my crispy bacon. I glanced at him, then noticed the rest of his clan staring at me out of the corner of my eyes. I swallowed my food with a gulp of orange juice before answering.

“That’s me.”

Garrett nodded along with Nate and Sawyer like they were entranced by my words, but Julian had a gleam in his eyes I’d seen in Hunter’s.

“Which reminds me…” I pointed at Garrett. “We need to meet later. I want to make sure you have everything you need as the best man. If there’s anything last minute, I can work on getting that for you from town.”

“You know, I love a woman who takes charge. One who can handle her own in a place dominated by men.” Julian’s voice dropped an octave as he leaned in closely.

Declan smacked Julian and Garrett on the backs of their heads. “She’s taken, boys. Behave.” He winked at me and returned to his mother’s side, where he slipped right back into their conversation. I couldn’t help but laugh as they rubbed their heads.

“Sorry,” Garrett mumbled.

“It’s okay. I’ll still accept the compliment.” I smiled, and Julian’s face lit up.

“There’s plenty more where it came from. Maybe we can work on stealing you away from your man while we’re here.” The gleam in his eyes told me he was only partially joking.

Alex cleared her throat. “ Men ,” she said as she refilled her glass with orange juice from the jug on the counter in front of us then wiggled three fingers at the guys.

They all grimaced, and I laughed again.

“Or maybe not. I don’t think we have enough time this trip to take on three guys.” Nate tapped Julian’s arm, and they left the kitchen. This was just what I needed to get going today.

Mrs. Roberts came by and offered me a cup of coffee as the kitchen started to clear out. I greedily accepted it as I hadn’t had my caffeine kick.

“What do you have on the agenda today?” Thomas deposited himself onto the vacated stool next to me.

“Pay no mind to our brother and his friends. They are harmless.” Declan leaned against the counter.

I smiled as I chewed the last of my breakfast. “They don’t bother me. And I’m planning on running into town to stop by the various vendors for a final rundown. This way, there are no surprises. Then I want to stop by the lot and double-check the spaces I marked off for deliveries.”

“Do you need anything from us?” Thomas took a sip of coffee.

I went through my notes. “I dropped off the payments when I was in town getting the cupcakes for the tasting. Your tuxes are in Jessie’s closet.”

They nodded when I looked at them for confirmation.

“I’m just picking up the special-ordered bowties and pocket squares while I’m in town. I’ll meet with Garrett later today, so if he needs anything, I still have a few days to get it.” I added Garrett to my to-do list. “I don’t think I have anything for you guys… except greeting your guests.”

“Tori has the list of everyone, where they are staying, and when they arrive. She said she shared that with you?” Thomas’s eyebrow lifted.

“Yes, I have that here. But I’m not in charge of entertaining them. That’s your job.” I gave him a huge smile, making them laugh. After I finished my cup of coffee, I hopped in the ranch SUV and headed to town. This time alone. I didn’t need any of the boys tagging along.

I blasted the radio and sang at the top of my lungs. It helped me not dwell on the decision I needed to make.

Today was going to be productive. With a smile on my face, I parked the car and headed into the dress shop to pick up Alex’s dresses. We still had five days until the wedding, but I wanted everything in place so we didn’t have any last-minute snafus.

Except when I walked out of the shop, my heart rate wasn’t as calm as it had been when I entered. The alterations were finished, but staff had called out sick, and the garment steamer broke. She ordered a new one, but it hadn’t been delivered yet. I reminded myself we had plenty of time and this wasn’t going to be a huge blip on the radar.

I took a deep breath to calm myself. My phone pinged with messages, but I wanted to relax first before I picked up. I’d check those later, when I left the flower shop.

However, Mrs. Meadows’s face had my stomach dropping the second I stepped foot inside. The special-order flowers were delayed due to bad weather. She said we’d have to cross our fingers and hope we’d have them in time. For the next half hour, we came up with a backup plan in case they didn’t. It wasn’t perfect, but we had to work with what we had. And the alternative plan would still be beautiful. In the case of something like this happening, I had Alex pick out additional blooms she liked. It would work out just fine.

Even with positive thinking, my body tensed when I pushed open the door to the Cotton Jin.

“Hey, Chloe,” Oliver called out while restocking the bar.

“Hey.” I held my breath for a second and then released it. “Everything is a go for delivering the rest of the alcohol early, right?” He’d dropped off a few cases the night before, but he had more to deliver.

He nodded. “If the weather reports are accurate, we might be getting a lot of rain Thursday and Friday,” Oliver said, giving me the bad news. “But since we’d already planned to deliver the product early, that shouldn’t be an issue.”

The tightness in my chest increased, and I couldn’t catch my breath. Shit . If the rains were bad enough, it could wash out the field. The weather was usually so mild this time of year I hadn’t even thought of a backup plan.

What kind of event planner was I if I didn’t have a backup for an outdoor wedding?

This couldn’t be happening. It wasn’t even just my grade. Alex, Declan, and Thomas had put their faith in me to deliver the most spectacular wedding. If things didn’t go as expected, they’d be disappointed.

I waved goodbye to Oliver and headed to Kelly’s bakery.

“I haven’t started the cake yet, but I’m going to tonight,” Kelly explained when I asked for an update. I wasn’t an expert in cake making, but I thought it should have at least started by now.

“There was a large last-minute order my assistant took without asking, and it put me behind schedule, but I promise the cake will be ready for the wedding.”

With that, I couldn’t check the cake off my list yet.

Every time I left a shop, it seemed I had tasks added to my list. Today was supposed to be about checking shit off, not creating a mountain of more work. After such an awful morning, I needed to get back to the ranch and go to the location to see what preparations I could do there in case of inclement weather.

It wasn’t until I was leaving town that the weight of everything came crashing down on me. My chest felt heavy and my nerves frayed. This whole wedding was going to fall apart. No dress, no flowers, no cake. No graduation, no future jobs. And the text chimes from my phone buried at the bottom of my purse weren’t helping.

I stopped on the side of the road and took a deep breath, willing myself not to cry. Everything was going to be fine. I could handle this. My professor would call these little tests. I knew if I truly wanted to be part of this profession, I needed to learn to roll with the punches. This is why people hired someone to create their event for them. No one wanted to deal with all these issues if they didn’t have to.

I hadn’t been parked for more than five minutes when I noticed the flashing lights coming up behind me. I peeked in the rearview mirror just in time to see Duke hop out of his car. Rolling the window down, I swiped my hands across my cheeks to wipe away the tears that escaped.

“Chloe? You okay?” Duke leaned against the window frame. He was still looking out for me, just like he always had growing up.

“Just on my way back from town,” I sniffled.

“Is something wrong with the car?” he asked.

Tears filled my eyes again. I hated that I was so upset over this.

He leaned his arm on the window. “How can I help?” He really was a good guy.

“It’s nothing, Duke. I’m just a bit overwhelmed, and nothing’s going right today.” I let out a frustrated huff.

He pointed behind me toward town. “Is there anything I can help you with?” I wished there was something he could do, but there wasn’t anything that could be changed today.

“No, but thanks.” I patted his arm. “I appreciate the offer. It’s just last-minute issues I wasn’t expecting, but that’s part of the job. I needed a few minutes to feel sorry for myself.”

“It’s not safe for you to be on the side of the road like this. Do you need me to follow you to King’s Ranch, or could I give you a lift and have someone return for the car?”

I took a deep breath. God, it would be embarrassing if Duke drove me back. Then everyone would want to know why, and I’d seem like I couldn’t do the job I was hired for. “I can drive.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Seriously. I just needed a second. I’m feeling much better now. There is a lot to do today, and I don’t have time to waste.”

“Then get on the road. I’ll be right behind you if you need me. I’m heading to the ranch myself.” He tapped on the roof of the SUV before heading to his vehicle.

I started the engine and turned onto the road in the direction of King’s Ranch. Instead of pulling into the drive, I stuck my hand out the window and waved to Duke as I continued to the turn-off for Blake’s property. I needed to double-check the marked areas at the location.

I was only halfway through with the markings when I realized I couldn’t concentrate. So I returned to the ranch and paced the barn, wishing I could find Matt and speak with him.

I needed his advice.

I needed his support.

I needed him .