Page 58 of Party Favors

“Yes.”

Her mouth dropped slightly and she blinked rapidly. “He doesn’t share that with anyone. Not even me.”

“Really?” He had given me all the details the first night we’d met.

She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “So, you were saying?”

Feeling like I’d ruined things before I’d even started, I tried to get the pitch back on track. I’d had this whole bit about her Californian upbringing and how I wanted to bring that casual and, well, sunny vibe to her party, but we had gotten off course.

I decided to just go straight for the jugular. “We can do what’s always been done. We could have tea and finger sandwiches on bone china with everybody wearing their pearls and twin sets. Or we could do something truly unique, something you—bright and upbeat and colorful.”

The smile was real this time. “Like what?”

“You’re a teacher, and I thought it would be fun to incorporate your love of kids into this celebration. I was thinking an upscale carnival.” I turned around Adrian’s computer screen so that she could see the images I’d selected. “We’ll have a focal point here and will drape white linens to look like the inside of a fancy big top. We’ll string pastel flags and white lights, have pastel balloons hanging here, and make arches at the entrances. We’ll use this circus font to print the signs, and we will have upscale carnival food—funnel cakes, sliders, cotton candy, popcorn. Maybe we could get some performers like jugglers and magicians to work the room.”

I paused, wondering what she thought. Or if this was so far from what her mother-in-law had envisioned that Sunny would say no.

“And the best part—we’ll set up carnival games. A ring toss, balloon pop, maybe Skee-Ball or something like it. And there will be prizes for your guests to win, but we will be asking them to make a donation to Max’s charity for mothers of newborns instead of giving you a gift. Whatever prizes they win, we’ll have donation bins for the charity and they can donate those as well. And the prizes will be like, onesies, stuffed animals, packages of diapers, blankets.”

Sunny put both of her hands over her eyes and I worried that this was all going very wrong. “How did you know? I didn’t say anything to Max.”

“About what?”

She put her hands down. “Whenever I mention I need something, my husband orders it online because he spoils me. We already have everything we need for the baby, and I’ve been dreading the idea of getting things we wouldn’t have any use for. This whole shower felt like a gift grab. So your idea is perfect. Absolutely perfect. That I could use my baby shower to help other moms and for it to be fun and light and ... so me? Yes to all of it. Yes, yes, yes. Where do I sign?”

I laughed at her enthusiasm, just as thrilled as she was. “I will set up some shared documents tonight so that you can see everything I haveplanned, the vendors I recommend using, and the contract. But you should know that it will just be me, and not Elevated.”

“That’s totally fine.”

“Good. And the sooner you sign off on everything, the sooner I can make sure you have an absolutely perfect day.”

“Done. You know, Max said you were amazing, but I had no idea.”

My heart stopped beating as a buzzing noise filled my head. Was that hyperbole? Or had Max actually told her I was amazing?

Friend amazing? Or something else amazing?

“He did?” I croaked the words out.

Sunny nodded enthusiastically and then threw a wet blanket over my excitement. “Yes! He also said I would like you and he was right. He told me that you’re a very down-to-earth and simple person.”

The joy flooded out of me. That was a death knell if ever I’d heard one. He might as well have said that I was boring and had nothing interesting going on in my life.

This was supposed to be what I wanted, but it still hurt that Max had made it so clear to his cousin that he wasn’t interested in me.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

My pulse seemed to be throbbing in my head, blocking out all sound. I realized that Sunny had said my name and forced myself to pay attention. She asked, “Does Max know about the charity part of it?”

“No, I wanted to run it past you first to see if it was something you wanted to do.”

“I do. And he’s going to be so happy when you tell him,” she said.

WhenItold him? She said it so casually, like he and I were in constant contact and of course I’d be filling him in.

Like we were dating or something.

Before I could ask why she wouldn’t tell him herself, someone walked into the office who almost made my jaw drop to the floor. I jumped out of Adrian’s chair, standing there awkwardly.

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