Page 21 of Breaking Emily's Rules
“Yep. I’m expanding. We have a weddings package now.”
“Okay, but Emily, are youseriousabout this? Because this is the biggest day of my entire life. Bar none.”
“Right.”
“And I want everything to be perfect.”
“Oh, of course and it will be.”
“I mean, I went to that company party you guys gave last year where you ran out of meat. I can’t have that.”
Oh, sigh. Don’t remind me. While half of the staff had claimed to be vegan, many had changed their minds at the party. Hence the lack of preparation.
“That was not our fault. It—”
“Uh-uh. No excuses.”
I bit my lower lip. “I promise to give your wedding my undivided attention. I’ll handle every aspect of it myself.”
There was a long, silent pause on the other end of the phone.
“I’ve decided to trust you with my wedding day,” Trish finally spoke.
“I’m honored.”
“I’ll call you in a couple of days with my list of demands.”
“Um, what?”
“I meant, all the little tender touches and personalized effects that I’ve decided will make this day special. Beyond compare. Oh, Emily, I can hardly wait.”
I swallowed. I had a bad feeling about this. But no. This was Trish, for crying out loud. No, it would be fine.
When I finally got back to the ranch, I recognized the out-of-place vehicle parked next to the barn immediately. The same silver luxury sedan he’d insisted he had to buy for appearance sake, because an engineer who worked for one of the software giants in Silicon Valley had an image to maintain. The last thing I needed right now.Greg.
He was still sitting in the car, no doubt because Grammy wouldn’t let him inside. She’d once said her hospitality could be pushed only so far, and that would include ex-fiancés who cheated on her granddaughter. I’d spent the better part of a year crying over the idiot, and now the sight of him churned emotions I didn’t want to have. Regret and shame, to mention two, but anger and hostility might win the day this time around.
I marched over to the sedan as Greg rolled down the window. “What are you doing here?”
“I need to talk to you.”
“There’s nothing to say.”
Greg got out of the car and shut the door. “Can’t we talk about this?”
“Now?”
“You walked out the door and stopped taking my calls.”
“And that was a year ago. What’s there to talk about? Nika’s been your maid for over a year, so the transition to live-in girlfriend shouldn’t be hard.”
“Okay, I guess I deserve that.”
“And so much more.” I’d never realized before how close together his brown eyes were—made him look a bit like a weasel.
“But some couples survive these kinds of…bumps in the road.”
“Bump in the road? Is that what you call her?”
