Page 3 of Been There Dragon That
“What’s first?” Rylee inhaled deeply. She could do this. Everything would work out. If she said it enough, maybe she could convince herself.
“Your fiancé’s lawyer is outside. I told him to wait. Something about a beneficiary paper that didn’t get signed a few weeks ago. Then I have a car to take us to see the ballroom and chapel set up for final approval.”
Rylee slapped her thighs and stood. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Sarah tapped her iPad. “Everything is ready, Ms. Florence. All the way down to the purple napkins with the My Little Pony outline embossed in silver. They came out really cute.”
“Excellent. Shall we?” Her mother held out a hand, beckoning, and Rylee grabbed hold.
“We shall.”
The second they stepped outside into the cool overcast October afternoon, a large man in a dark gray suit stepped forward. He was familiar. Rylee remembered meeting him, but she couldn’t recall his name.
“Forgive me, ladies. I do apologize. I promise I only need a couple signatures, and I’ll be out of your hair forever.”
“What did we miss?” Rylee asked.
“A couple of the beneficiary pages from the will. When my assistant proofread the full document, they were blank. Nothing out of the ordinary.” He held out a heavy leather folder and handed her a pen. Then he pointed. “Here.”
She signed the blank line.
Then he pulled up the top page and revealed another signature line. “And here, Ms. Florence.”
Rylee signed the second line and handed him back the pen. “Anything else?”
“No, ma’am. Enjoy your wedding and honeymoon, Ms. Florence. I hear Jeff is planning to fly you himself to a cabin in the mountains.”
Rylee gave the lawyer a polite smile and then dismissed him with a nod.
She and her mom got into the waiting black town car. Her mother looked out the window at the lawyer, her lips flattening into a disappointed thin line. “Jeff needs to hire your father’s lawyer.”
“Mom?”
“I don’t like him.” Her mom said and turned her head away from the window to meet Rylee’s gaze. “You shouldn’t work with him again. There’s something about him I don’t trust.”
“Done.” Rylee didn’t particularly care for the lawyer either, but she hadn’t been willing to argue with Jeff. The two men had known each other for years. Her mother’s opinion, though, was a stamp of approval or dismissal. She trusted her judgment explicitly.
Her mom’s face relaxed, and a smile of victory curved on her lips. “Good.”
* * *
The restof the day went off without a hitch. The ballroom was beautiful. The chapel looked like a dream. The purple napkins with the outline of Sweetie Belle were amazing.
Rylee had taken one and folded it up and tucked it into her pocket. Even if her marriage would not be exactly as she’d envisioned, the wedding would be perfect and beautiful.
She fidgeted with her phone in the car. Typing out a text to Jeff and then deleting it three times. She needed to see him. She needed him to look at her and smile and kiss her, and all this worry and doubt would fade away.
“Can you stop at Jeff’s office on our way back. I want to remind him about the gala tonight. Tell him I’m going over to your place to get ready and that I’ll meet him there.”
“Of course, sweetie.”
The town car pulled to a stop in front of a contemporary glass office building. It was the senator’s campaign office. Jeff was the campaign director. He knew everyone. And while his goal was to get Mitchell Hollins elected this year, he’d already begun planning out how to follow in his footsteps and ultimately supersede him in the future.
Jeff was ambitious, and he worked hard and possibly … ordered people’s murders?
Rylee mentally cleared the worry from her mind and climbed the steps.You have to stop thinking about it. You have to move past it. You are strong and capable, and telling your parents that youthinkJeff might be a criminal isn’t an option. There’s no proof. You’re ruining a good thing.
She punched in her code and pushed open the door, surprised to find the main area empty. The lights buzzed annoyingly above her head, making the silence all that more profound. She walked across the still office, her footsteps muffled on the carpeted floor.
