Page 52 of Dreaming of You

Chapter Eleven

For the next two days, Kate was kept busy with clients, venue tours, and cake tastings. Her meeting with Candice and her mother Olivia Hunt went well, but there were a lot of questions—pointed, probing, and somewhat aggressive questions, some of which she still needed to answer.

Olivia seemed determined to catch her off guard in some way. She also pushed for things that clearly Candice was not interested in having at her wedding. But while Candice spoke up, she usually acquiesced in the end to her more dominant mother.

Kate still had no idea if they were going to retain her services or not. She needed to present a complete proposal by Monday, and then the Hunts would make their decision.

She had a small backyard wedding tomorrow, which fortunately had not required a rehearsal and dinner celebration, so she had a little time tonight to work on her proposal.

Shari came into her office just before five on Friday, a rather odd look in her eyes as she perched on the chair across from her desk. "Are you ready for tomorrow's wedding?"

"It's all set. Vivian and Charles are easy."

"Well, it is the second time for both of them."

"And they're so happy they found each other, they're not too worked up about the wedding."

"That's good," Shari said in a distracted way.

"What's up?" she asked.

"There's something I need to talk to you about, Kate."

She stiffened at Shari's tone. "You sound serious. Please don't tell me you're quitting. If you need a raise, if you need time off—"

"I'm not quitting," Shari said quickly.

"Good. Because I really don't think I could do without you."

"That's nice to hear. What I need to talk to you about doesn’t involve work; it's personal. It's about me and Todd."

"What about you and Todd?"

"We haven't been getting along for a while. Our trip to Tahoe was a desperate effort to try to find time to communicate and figure things out, but it didn't really work. I'm meeting with a divorce attorney tonight."

Her heart sank. "Oh, Shari, I'm really sorry to hear this. Are you sure you want to go for a divorce? What about counseling?"

"Todd won't go. I've been begging him for weeks. He said he doesn't need to pay a shrink to tell him what he already knows, that he's not happy. The truth is, Todd is really depressed, and I think it's about more than our marriage, but he won't talk to me, so I can't help. I don't know what to do anymore. I feel like I'm out of options." She drew in a nervous breath. "And there's a bit more."

"What?" she asked warily.

"My appointment is with Barrett. I know you two are at odds, but since he helped with your grandparents the other night, I'm thinking you're not so down on him?"

"I'm not down on him," she said. "I just feel like you're rushing a little, Shari. You haven't even mentioned anything before today."

"I was going to talk to you the day that Barrett moved in downstairs, but you were all worked up about him telling you that your weddings contribute to divorces, and you were so proud that Todd and I were going well. I didn't know how to bring it up."

She sighed. "I had no idea, and I'm sorry you didn't feel like you could talk to me. You have to do what's right for you, and that does not involve worrying about my record as a wedding planner whose couples don't get divorced."

"For the record, our divorce has nothing to do with our wedding."

"I know. And I'm sure Barrett will be a good representative for you. He actually does seem to care about his clients."

"It's just a first meeting. I didn't want you to walk by and wonder what we were talking about."

"Got it. Is there anything I can do?"

"You're doing it. You're being my friend."

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