“I think I can handle that. I’ll add that I want to see you in a beautiful gown that showcases all those luscious curves. I want flickering candles all over to make your skin glow like flawless ivory. And after we eat all that amazing food, I want to dance with you under the stars. This spring, I’ll have a month off between filming. How does May sound to you? We can get married and then spend a few weeks exploring every nook and cranny Italy has to offer.”
“Perfect,” she said, and she meant it. She couldn’t imagine a wedding or a husband any more wonderful.
A sound caught her attention. Looking around Julian’s broad shoulders, Gretchen noticed three women hovering in the doorway of the ballroom, not working like the others. A blonde, a redhead and a brunette. Even from this distance she could hear the high twitter of their fevered discussion of Julian’s return. He’d probably slipped in the back door, but it didn’t matter. You couldn’t get anything past those three. She also knew that they wouldn’t go away until she told them what they wanted to know.
Raising her left hand in the air, she flashed the sparkling diamond at them and wiggled her fingers. It was a large enough setting that even from across the ballroom, the gesture was easily decipherable. A whoop and a few squeals sounded from the entrance.
Gretchen turned away to look up at her fiancé and smiled. “Block a week off the calendar next spring, ladies,” she shouted while she focused only on him. “We’re all going to Italy for a wedding!”
Epilogue
“Christmas is coming.”
Gretchen’s brow went up at Natalie’s morose declaration. “You sound like a character in Game of Thrones. Of course Christmas is coming. It’s almost December, honey, and it’s one of the more predictable holidays.”
Her friend set down her tablet and frowned. Gretchen knew that Natalie didn’t like Christmas. She’d never pressed her friend about why she despised the beloved holiday, but she knew it was true and had been since back when they were in college. Every year, the chapel would shut down for the week or so between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day. Natalie claimed it was a built-in vacation for everyone, but Gretchen wondered if there wasn’t more to it.
Natalie was a workaholic to begin with, but when December rolled around, she redoubled her efforts. She claimed that she wanted to get a head start on the accounting and taxes for the end of the year, but Gretchen was certain that she was trying to avoid anything to do with Christmas.
While Bree might stroll into the office wearing reindeer antlers that lit up and Amelia might try to organize a holiday party, Natalie did not participate. She insisted they not exchange gifts, arguing they were just passing money around and it was pointless.
Natalie wasn’t a Grinch, per se. She wasn’t out to stop everyone from having a good holiday. She just didn’t want others to subject her to their merriment. That usually meant she hid in her house and didn’t leave for a solid week, or she went on a trip somewhere.
Even then, she couldn’t avoid everything. Always the professional, Natalie usually had to coordinate a couple winter-or holiday-themed weddings this time of year. There was no avoiding it. Especially when one of this year’s weddings was the wedding of Natalie’s childhood best friend, Lily.
Natalie leaned back in her office chair and ripped the headset off, tossing it onto her desk. “It’s bothering me more than usual this year.”
“Are you taking a trip or staying home?” Gretchen asked.
“I’m staying home. I was considering a trip to Buenos Aires, but I don’t have time. We squeezed Lily’s last-minute wedding in on the Saturday before Christmas, so I’ll be involved in that and not able to do the normal end-of-year paperwork until it’s over.”
“You’re not planning to work over the shutdown, are you?” Gretchen planted her hands on her hips. “You don’t have to celebrate, but by damn, you’ve got to take the time off, Natalie. You work seven days a week sometimes.”
Natalie dismissed her concerns. “I don’t work the late hours you and Amelia do. I’m never here until midnight.”
“It doesn’t matter. You’re still putting in too much time. You need to get away from all of this. Maybe go to a tropical island and have some kind of a fling with a sexy stranger.”
At that, Natalie snorted. “I’m sorry, but a man is not the answer to my problems. That actually makes it worse.”
“I’m not saying fall in love and marry the guy. I’m just saying to keep him locked in your hotel suite until the last New Year’s firecracker explodes. What can a night or two of hot sex hurt?”
Natalie looked up at Gretchen with her brow furrowed painfully tight. “It can hurt plenty when the guy you throw yourself at is your best friend’s brother and he turns you down flat.”
* * * * *