Page 44 of The Attack Zone

“Oh, I see,” he says, shaking my hand. “Well, I’m Gabe.”

Stacey seems to be unable to speak, so I say, “And this is Stacey.”

“Hello,” Gabe says, reaching out his hand to her. “You must be the wedding planner.”

That seems to snap her out of whatever getting-caught-kissing-in-a-car-like-teenagers induced haze she was in. “Yes,” she says. “Well, we both are.”

Just like Angela, Gabe looks me up and down, completely gobsmacked by my existence. He’s a man in the wedding industry too, so I’m not sure what the holdup is other than how different we look.

“Great,” he says with hesitation. “Let’s get started.”

“I just think it’s important that we highlight the natural beauty of the venue. Caleb and Cassie aren’t over-the-top people,” I explain to Gabe. He’s shown us some examples of his work, and while they’re all beautiful, most of them aren’tCaleb and Cassie’s vibe. They’d suit Stacey and I better, come to think of it.

“I totally hear you,” he crosses the room and grabs another book. He sets it on the table and flips it open to reveal a beautiful, classic arrangement. “What about something like this?”

“That’s perfect,” Stacey says. She’s barely said anything this entire meeting, so I know we’ve finally hit the right tone when she’s able to get over her embarrassment from what happened earlier and speak up. On the bright side, at least Gabe knows I know my shit now.

“I agree,” I say. “This is exactly their style. With a few tweaks, it’ll be perfect in the reception space too.”

“Excellent. I think I have a good idea of what you all need, but feel free to send me more photos if anything comes up that you think I should see,” Gabe says.

“Thank you so much for your time. I’m ...” I pause. “We’re excited to work with you.”

“Yes,” Stacey says. “Thank you so much.” They shake hands and I can’t help but feel bad for the whiplash Gabe is going to experience when the real Stacey comes back to life and has a million questions and opinions.

“See you both soon,” he says with a wave as we both turn and leave his office. We get into the car and Stacey, once again, just sits there, staring off into space.

“Earth to Stacey,” I wave a hand in front of her face.

“What?” She looks at me, still dazed. “Oh, sorry.”

“Look,” I say. “I know you’re embarrassed, but Gabe really didn’t seem to mind.”

“I’m not embarrassed,” she says. But she doesn’t sound defensive, she sounds honest. “I was just thinking ...”

“About ...?” I ask as I start the car.

“Nothing important,” she says.

“Stacey ...” I start.

“Just that time you got photographed making out with amodel at a bar and that Instagram account posted it,” she says quietly.

I let out a little chuckle as I turn onto the street. “Are you jealous?”

“What? No, that’s not it,” she says. Now she sounds defensive. “I just ... how do you handle being in the spotlight like that? I panicked when we got caught kissing in a car by one person.”

“I dunno,” I say. “It’s just how it’s always been. I guess I’m used to it. For the record, though, I didn’t make out with her—that’s just what they made it look like—and she wasn’t a model.”

“She looked like one,” Stacey mumbles, looking out the window.

“You sure you aren’t jealous?” I ask.

I can see her glaring at me out of the corner of my eye now. It’s adorable.

“Just a little?” I continue, a smirk forming on my lips. If you’d told me two weeks ago that Stacey Anderson would be jealous over something I didn’t even do, I would have thought you had completely lost your mind. But that’s exactly what’s happening, and I can’t help but want to revel in it a bit.

“Shut up,” she says under her breath.

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