Page 45 of Stuck With the Billionaire Grump

“You literally have the exact same lighting system in the restaurant.”

“Yes, but I paid somebody else to install it, obviously.”

Lucy scoffs as Liam approaches, hands held up in surrender.

Before she can leap on him like a snarling tiger, I step forward. “I can do it.”

Liam halts, noticing me for the first time. He gives me a polite smile, even though he clearly has no idea who I am. “You good with tech?”

I nod. Lucy sighs again.

Liam grins. “It’s all yours, man. Lucy, I’m gonna go do some heavy lifting. I think I’ll be much more useful that way.”

“Yeah, you do that,” she grumbles.

Then, without another word, Lucy hops down from the chair, grabs my wrist, and practically drags me over to where Liam was messing around with some wires and a digital tablet.

“Bluetooth string lights,” she explains, pointing up at the ceiling.

I squint my eyes and notice thin strings of delicate wire draping in elegant, nearly imperceptible arcs from the ceiling and then spiraling down the columns and spreading across the floor. It’s easy to imagine that, when they’re turned on, it’ll look like this conservatory is glowing with a thousand fireflies.

“The glass panels can be dimmed,” Lucy continues, talking more to the equipment on the ground than to me. “When Josie walks down the aisle, we’ll dim the sunlight and turn on the stars. Blah, blah, blah. But, clearly, even though Liam told me he knew how this system worked, he can’t manage it. I know you’re, like, a coder or whatever, but can you…?”

I snort. “‘A coder or whatever.’”

“I don’t actually know what you do. All I know is that you went to Caltech.”

“I design apps, so you’re technically correct.”

“Right, well… can you help?”

“Absolutely.”

She nods once, takes a step away, then pauses and opens her mouth as if she wants to say something else. I wait, but then she simply shakes her head and marches away.

“Joshie!” she barks. “Whyare you still in here?”

I get to work. It’s easy enough to program the lights. After a few minutes of messing around with the tablet and switching a few wires, I run a test and turn them on. In the early morning light, they twinkle to life and engulf the staff in a soft white glow. Appreciative murmurs rumble throughout the space.

A delighted squeal from the other side of the conservatory tells me that Lucy is pleased. She comes bounding over. My stomach flips at the smile on her face.

It must be the first time she’s ever truly smiled at me.

“What else do you need?” I ask.

She doesn’t hesitate. “Follow me. I have a projector that needs to be set up in the ballroom with photos documenting Josie andElijah’s love story from, like, infancy. It’ll be on a loop while they cut the cake, have their first dance, and all that.”

Like a duckling, I follow after her. I get the projector squared away in less than fifteen minutes. After that, Lucy drags me back to the conservatory, where she needs me to confirm the mic system is working. Since there will be so many people in attendance, she wants to make sure everyone can hear the officiant, bride, and groom all the way in the back.

And, apparently, the silver-haired woman named Miss Maisie is officiating the wedding.

“Who is she?” I ask Lucy.

“What do you mean?”

“Maisie. She seems… important.”

I tap on the microphone cleverly disguised in the flowering arch over the altar to test it. A clear buzz of feedback tells me it’s functioning perfectly.

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