Page 16 of The Trouble with Runaway Brides

Will comes out of the office and Nico’s face is all red. His eyes find me, but Will turns around fast and puts one of his hands on Nico’s shoulder and one between them. Nico shakes his hand. After their exchange, Will catches my eye and tries to stare me down, but I don’t find him intimidating at all.

Once Will leaves, Nico saunters through the tables, asking people how their food is and chatting until he reaches me. He slides into the booth next to me.

“What’s the word?” I ask.

“I have until the end of the week to pay, otherwise they’ll charge interest. He comes in here acting like I made a deal with the mob. I’ve been a good tenant for all the years they’ve owned the building.”

My beer and my meal come, and I thank the waitress. After she walks away, I say, “I’m interested in investing.”

Nico’s eyes bulge out. “Whitmore Hotels wants to invest?”

I shake my head, sipping my beer. His furry eyebrows crinkle.

“I want to invest.”

“But—”

“You don’t need a corporation, you just need money, and I can provide that. So, what do you say I talk to my lawyer and we figure this out?”

“Are you going to buy me out? Because I can’t agree if that’s the case. I can’t give up my family’s legacy.”

“No. I’m going to partner with you. You’ll always own the majority. But I’m not going to lie, I want to expand.”

“Really?” His eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. “Thank you, Mr. Whitmore.”

“Lance,” I say.

“Thank you so much.” He raises his arm for the waitress, who rushes over. “Mr. Whitmore drinks and eats for free whenever he’s here. You understand?”

“You don’t have to do that,” I say.

“Yes, I do. You’re saving me from failure.”

Just like that, I get my thirty-dollar lunches for free in exchange for investing what I imagine will be hundreds of thousands of dollars. But I remind myself, as my stomach sours, that Nico’s a good bet.

Six

Kenzie

“Destination weddings gone horribly wrong is the topic for today,” I say into the microphone. Blake and I had picked this topic a long time before I decided on one myself. “And let me say, based on everyone who reached out, some of you had a rough go. But a lot of you sure did make lemonade out of lemons.”

“Cliché alert!” Blake presses the button for the sound effect that’s become a staple of our show. He ribs me and says he thinks I say too many clichés and should come up with my own phrasing. I don’t really in normal conversations, but it seemed like a fun thing to do when we were starting our podcast and listeners seemed to like it, so we’ve kept it going.

“Yeah, yeah, I couldn’t think of anything else this early in the morning.” I sip my coffee. “You hear that, folks? It’s me fueling myself with caffeine because I have a long day of wedding preparations.”

“Dress fitting,” Blake says excitedly. “And don’t be jealous, listeners, but I get to go.” He rubs his hands together. “I can’t wait to have her try on every dress in the store.”

“Um… no.”

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime moment unless you’re like our guest who won the spot on today’s podcast.” Blake is always great at the segue.

No one wants to hear about me marrying into one of the richest families in Manhattan. Our worst-rated show was when I announced my engagement. The minute I did, some of our followers stopped listening.

“Yes, Jenny’s from the Midwest—Iowa, to be exact—and thought a beach wedding sounded perfect until fear got the best of her, and she walked right past her groom into the ocean and swam.”

Blake and I laugh.

“Can I just say I’ve been waiting to hear this story from the horse’s mouth ever since we booked her?” Blake says.

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