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)
“Liz came in earlier,” Tamara said, racking her brain for ways to make casual conversation. “Sounds like you guys have a really exciting new wedding booked?”
“Yeah, although this one is going to be kind of complicated.”
“Maybe you’re going to need more coffee than usual for this project. Should I double my order for your special blend?”
Nate nodded and gave her a small smile, but she could tell his thoughts were elsewhere.
She said, “So what makes it so complicated? And I promise I won’t tell a soul any top-secret details.”
“The groom wants the wedding streamed online. My brain’s already buzzing.” He smiled then, a more genuine smile, and Tamara could see how much he loved his job.
“That kind of project sounds right up your alley,” she said. Though she wasn’t technologically inclined, she had a fairly good idea of how smart and talented Nate was. He’d rescued her when her business website had been hacked. She’d been so impressed by how quickly he’d fixed the problem, but he didn’t think he’d done anything special and had shrugged off the praise. He didn’t get as much of the limelight as the other staff at Married in Malibu, but without Nate she knew the weddings wouldn’t be half as great.
She said, “I imagine it will be a lot of work, though.”
“Yeah, that’s for sure, but it’ll be a great challenge. And, like you say, I’ll need a lot of coffee.” He laughed. “I’ll probably be over here twice as much.”
“Sounds great,” Tamara said. Better than great, actually, since seeing Nate twice as often was a thrilling prospect.
Even if it was going to kill her to just serve him coffee and chat as if they had never kissed.
Chapter Three
Nate wasn’t in the greatest mood as he walked back to Married in Malibu. Although he truly did believe that his friendship with Tamara was too important to risk, he was unpleasantly surprised to learn just how okay she was with staying in the friend zone. He’d never gone from hot kiss to done so quickly before. The disappointment was palpable.
Kate was outside in the garden, as always, weeding. She was wearing a broad sunhat and gardening gloves, and a navy-and-white-striped T-shirt in her typical French style.
She smiled as Nate approached. She yanked out a dandelion weed with surprising force, then said, “You must be excited about the wedding. The livestreaming sounds like a fun challenge.”
He nodded. “It’ll be so great to work with Zach Jarrs and a honor, really, to make his digital wedding dreams a reality.”
Though Nate and Kate couldn’t have more different jobs, they’d found common ground on several projects. Nate had set up an automatic ordering system for the flowers she most often needed so she could spend more time in the garden and less sitting behind a computer. And when he’d needed to film the garden to showcase it on the Married in Malibu website, she’d made sure he went out at the perfect time of day for the lighting to look just right. She’d even directed him to the most beautiful clusters of flowering plants on the property.
Kate nodded. “I’m excited about combining the Japanese and Western elements for their wedding,” she told him. “There’s a long tradition of bringing Japanese plants, flowers, and trees to North America, like the Japanese maple we have near the lily pond in the back.”
“That’s one of my favorite trees on the property,” he said with a smile.
Though Kate was always friendly, she didn’t normally chat this much. He couldn’t help but think something was on her mind, which she confirmed a moment later when she said, “I keep thinking how weird it is that it’s just you and me left now that everyone else here has paired up.”
“I was thinking the exact same thing this morning during the meeting.”
“Even Tamara seemed a little dreamy when I was over at her café getting tea this morning,” Kate noted. “Has she said anything to you about a new guy?”
Nate swallowed. “Tamara? A new guy?” He shook his head so hard that his neck twinged. “No, I haven’t heard anything about her kissing anyone.”
Kate frowned. “Wait… Who said anything about kissing?”
Nate silently cursed his accidental reference to their kiss. Thankfully, Liz appeared and came to his rescue.
“Nate, there you are, just in time!” Liz normally looked the epitome of the calm professional. Now, however, she looked seriously stressed as she hurried over to him.
“Is something wrong?” Nate asked.
“No, nothing’s wrong,” Liz said, “but Zach Jarrs just messaged me to ask if we could have a Zoom meeting about certain aspects of the wedding. He wants to talk now, and I’m guessing a man like him doesn’t always have a lot of free time.”
In fact, none of their clients had much free time, but Nate suspected that for Zach Jarrs the problem would be twice as bad. Apart from operating in multiple time zones, Nate knew what tech startups were like. Zach’s life would probably involve meeting after meeting, call after call, missing lunch and suddenly finding it was midnight. Married in Malibu couldn’t afford to risk its reputation by not being available when he wanted to talk. It was probably just as well he’d made a hasty exit from Tamara’s shop. He’d probably be declaring his passion for her right now and making an ass of himself.