Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 53349 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 213(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53349 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 213(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
“If you’re Kate Bryson,” Mitch said, “then that means you did the flowers for the wedding.” He obviously caught Kate’s look. “I looked over Married in Malibu’s website before I came. I wanted to see what I was getting myself into.”
“You’re not a fan of weddings?” Kate asked.
“I’m a fan of this wedding,” Mitch said. “The flowers are particularly beautiful.”
“That was smooth,” Kate said with a smile.
“I’m generally smoother,” Mitch assured her.
Kate wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. He really was the kind of guy she’d have normally avoided like the plague, but there was something about Mitch that made Kate feel like doing anything but running away.
“What’s it like, producing the flowers for so many amazing weddings?” Mitch asked.
“It’s wonderful,” Kate assured him. It was what she usually said when people asked her, because it was and because it was really all that they wanted to hear. They wanted to have a vague idea that her job was great, that everyone involved in producing their wedding loved doing it. They didn’t want to hear all the details.
“But what does ‘wonderful’ mean?” Mitch insisted. “I’ve never had the chance to talk to someone who does what you do. I’d like to know.”
Kate had never had anyone say that to her before. They’d always taken her assurance at face value. They’d never been interested before. Given that, she suddenly found it was easy to start talking.
“Are you sure you want to know more?” Kate asked.
“Absolutely,” Mitch said. “You seem like a very interesting person.”
So Kate told him. She’d meant to give him only the basic details, but somehow it spilled out into more than that. What it was like to try to keep all the gardens in order in the heat, what it was like to try to produce flowers on demand, and how she created arrangements that fit with the themes of the weddings.
“You must have to fight your corner with some of your colleagues,” Mitch guessed.
“Maybe, occasionally,” Kate said, “but mostly, it all works really well. Sometimes, the tricky part is getting things right from the start with new clients.”
“Do you ever have any clients who are just nightmares to work with?” Mitch asked.
“Mitch!” Kate laughed at the suggestion, but then she shook her head. “No, they’ve all been great. The main problem can often be how little time they have to spare. I mean, our first wedding, for Amber and Drew, we didn’t see either of them face-to-face until the wedding day. Or often the clients don’t know enough about flowers to be able to make decisions. Quite a lot of the time, I’m flying blind.”
“And yet, you manage to produce such amazing results,” Mitch said. They were still dancing, probably closer than they should have been. It was impossible not to, with a man this gorgeous and this easy to talk to. “What about all the secrecy?”
“I can handle not talking to people,” Kate said. “Actually, I’m good at not talking to people.” She laughed.
“You’re talking to me,” Mitch said. “Seriously, though, how does it work? I mean, how do you find clients if no one is allowed to talk about what goes on here? Is it all secretive meetings in parking lots and bundles of cash?”
Kate had to laugh at that image. She couldn’t imagine Liz ever doing anything like that. “Clients mostly find us through word of mouth. I think it’s helped that we’ve already put on some great weddings.” She paused for a moment, looking around at the party. “Just think how many people will have seen this one.”
“You sound a little scared,” Mitch said.
“I’m excited, I guess,” Kate replied. “It’s just… That many people, all looking at the things we’ve done? I really hope the flowers are perfect.”
Not for the first time, she wondered how many millions of people would have seen Zach and Yuriko’s wedding. How many would have looked at her flower arrangements? Oh, they wouldn’t be the main focus for anyone but serious gardeners—probably not even for them. It was just… weird to think of so many people looking at anything she’d done. At least she could be in the background. That was one of the great things about Married in Malibu. She got to do what she loved without ever being the one in the limelight. She got to do great work, while all the privacy that protected the guests kept her feeling comfortable too.
“I thought it was very brave of the happy couple to broadcast their wedding to the world like that,” Mitch said.
“I couldn’t have done it,” Kate assured him. “The really hard part was trying to make it feel intimate at the same time. It turns out that cameras really do get in the way.”
“They can,” Mitch agreed. “And you’ve certainly succeeded in making some parts of the day feel intimate.”