Page 5 of Beau & Autumn

I put on my best skirt suit, blouse, high-heels and set my hair in rollers. I’m lucky my thick, dark hair is easy to tame. The suit color is a pastel blue. I realize I look more like Martha Stewart than a hard-hitting businesswoman, but this suit has always been lucky for me. I wore it the day the shop lease came up out of nowhere. Trust me when I say that shops for lease don’t come up very often in Stoney Creek. It’s a one-horse town with a vibrant atmosphere and it’s full of people who are adorable as much as they are gossipy; that’s small towns for you. But shop rentals? Forget it. Most of the shops in the Main Street have been there forever, like Stone’s Throw café; it’s third generation and shows no signs of slowing down. Then there’s Verne’s bakery; it’s practically famous. Keith Urban once stopped by on the way to Nashville and the bakery went viral on TikTok. Now Verne has to employ two staff members to keep up with demand for her cupcakes, pie and pastries that she has shipped all over the United States. Think big, that’s what I always tell myself.

Eden successfully runs her business from home, it’s called Bloom Weddings and Events, and she has a small space at the Bassett Distillery for when she runs weddings out of the barn; that’s the new outbuilding the Bassett’s have spent this last year remodeling and renovating, ready for the wedding season.

The barn is gorgeous. It’s old — over a hundred years — and now it’s fully restored with big, heavy, double doors, a wrap-around patio, a mezzanine level upstairs for storage, and gorgeous rich oak floors with wood used from around the property. It’s rustic but also elegant. I’ve never quite seen a space like it.

Now they’re going to cater for weddings and events too; Callan, Beau’s cousin who does all the repairs around the property, has worked over the entire winter with contractors to fit out a commercial kitchen which is located in one of the out-buildings just across from the barn, so everything will be in-house. So far, they have ten spring/summer weddings already booked in, and they’ve barely done any advertising. That’s because Georgia-Blue is a marketing whizz and handles all the social media. It’s why I came on board and now have the contract for wedding photography. The Bassett’s are amazing people; for someone to book a wedding, they have to buy the entire package which includes Eden for planning (flowers, the cake, decorations, invitations). Then I handle the photography and videography, and finally their catering company for food and beverage. If you want to just come and get married here, that’s a no-go unless you plan on purchasing a package.

Bassett Brothers Bourbon Distillery is set on a huge property of around two hundred acres where the whole family live in separate housing spread across ‘the farm’, as they affectionately call it. I can honestly say that it is one of the prettiest views I’ve ever seen, with fields of barley and wheat, a backdrop of oak trees running parallel to the far side of the landscape where the sun sets. Then Stoney Creek runs through the middle of the property. The creek, which is more like a lake, is stunning in itself. The grounds are immaculately kept with full-time grounds people. The trees on the farm alone range from oak, maple, poplar and dogwood with its pretty pink flowers; the changing colors in the leaves alone make the surroundings iconic for wedding photography all year round. Hudson, Grayson’s best friend, sometimes helps out on the farm too. He runs a cotton farm on the neighboring property, something I absolutely adore because the cotton is so pretty with its pink and white flowers in bloom. I’m trying to convince him to let us shoot some wedding photography there, but he’s a bit of a grump. In fact, he’s earned the nickname GP — Grumpy Pants — from Georgia; something he’s aware of but chooses to ignore.

I climb into my SUV and take a few sharp breaths. “You can do this,” I tell myself. “You are a strong, capable woman who can achieve anything.”

It’s better than running into the bank and begging my bank manager to give me a loan so I don’t have to be forced to get married; something I’m sure would spread like wildfire around town, not to mention sound absolutely atrocious. My grandmother isn’t a horrible woman; in her eyes, she just wants what’s best for me and my brother. She loves us, I get that. But we’re not in the dark ages where people had no choices and didn’t know any better. I mean, my parents followed suit with the arranged marriage situation, and while they’re still together, they’ve never acted like they’re in love with each other. That’s a hard thing to admit and it used to upset me a lot, but they make it work in their way. My father is shrewd and knows how to make money, he’s kept the family in the lap of luxury and has always worked hard; my mom has wanted for nothing, neither have us kids. He’s not affectionate, but he’s also never been horrible. He’s a good dad in every sense of the word, but it's like we have to fit into his world, not the other way around. Also, unlike my mom, he pretty much stays out of the meddling. As long as I get married soon and have babies, he’ll leave me alone, but the fact is, I don’t even know if I want kids. I’ve never really been maternal. I was kinda hoping my brother would cover things there, but so far at thirty-five he’s showing no signs of settling down or having children. I wonder why he’s not being hassled all the time. Maybe because I’m the girl and it’s kinda expected.

Then I think about Mom and her expectations. I’ve never felt like what I do is quite good enough for her. She would’ve loved me to be a lawyer, or a doctor, or a neurosurgeon. A photographer is too flighty for her and I couldn’t possibly earn enough to support myself. My mom doesn’t believe in doing anything for the love of it. You do a job to get paid and get paid well. You buy a big, huge house with ten bedrooms and twelve bathrooms and spend your entire life decorating it. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, or with how my mom chooses to live her life, but that isn’t for me. I don’t want a butler, a cook and a chauffeur. I just want to do what I love and enjoy my life every single day, and if a guy comes along that wants to sweep me off my feet, I’m not opposed to that.

I want that. I just don’t want to give up on my hopes and dreams like I did with my exes.

I’ve done that so many times and when we finally break up, I’m left with nothing.

I’m always left picking up the pieces because my life revolved around their life and what they’re doing; just like my parents. That’s how they live. My mom is a trophy wife and she loves it. She loves having prestige and pretty things. She enjoys her charity dinners and events and wafting around Memphis like she was born to rule, and that’s fine, but that life isn’t for me.

Every time I go home to visit, all I get is questions asking when I’m coming back for good, and Mom’s trying to set me up with a friend's son who has a well-paid job and can keep me in the lap of luxury. It doesn’t matter how many times I tell her luxury isn’t important to me — I want so much more than that. She doesn’t listen. She doesn’t get me. In the end, I just give up or we end up in an argument.

At least being here in Stoney Creek gets me away from being badgered in person. Though, my mom’s disapproval is only one haughty text away.

I sigh.

My life isn’t that bad.

I have so much to be grateful for.

I just let those few little annoyances get to me, especially in times of stress like right now when my entire life and career depends on this one appointment. If I can’t get my videography equipment, then I can’t video weddings. And if I can’t get my roof fixed, if we have any more unplanned rain this spring, I’m going to be canoeing around my living room.

Take the bull by the horns. That’s what Beauster would say.

So that's what I’m going to do.

I’m going to take the bull by the horns and shake it. Goddammit will I shake it.

I hold my head high as I exit my car and head toward the doors of the bank. My destiny is in their hands now…

3

Beau

I turn on Discord and punch a message out to everyone. We keep this channel for business purposes only, but I’d be lying if I said it isn’t because I know Autumn is an avid texter and she always makes me laugh. Between her and my sister, I don’t know who is more crazy. They’re always scheming. But Autumn always tries to make everyone happy. Every morning there's a message to the group which ranges from:

AutumnLeaf

Boom Boom Shake Shake The Room. Who’s up for pumpkin spiced lattes this morning?

Or

AutumnLeaf

I had a dream last night that we were all stuck on a desert island and we could only bring one item with us. I know you’re supposed to pick flares or a life raft, but I picked watching The Witcher reruns on a portable TV screen that never runs out of battery… Is there something wrong with me? I mean, it was only a dream…

So she’s a big Henry Cavill fan, which female isn’t? I found myself chuckling at that, not before my sister jumped in and said she’d take Henry Cavill with her to the desert island, which encouraged all the girls on the chat; Mom, Aunt Patti, Hartley, Skye, Eden, Celeste — Callan’s girl — and Jodie — Eden’s assistant — to start a chat about their secret crushes. Of course, it took good old Gabriel to remind everyone this chat was for WORK PURPOSES only. If they wanted to chat about hall passes and cute asses, they could go start a chat all of their own… which they did. But I still wait for Autumn’s message every morning.

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