Page 84 of Protecting Bianca

“Here?”

“Why not? We’ll need to bring them tomorrow so, might as well do them here.”

“We do have to assemble the swag bags here,” said Tanya. “Jeremy can help me with those.”

Jeremy smiled. “I’d love to be of service, Tanya.”

Tanya’s smile faltered. Despite his words, there was something creepy in his tone.

“Do them out here,” I said. “There’s more room.”

And I wouldn’t want Tanya alone with him in some back room. “In fact, we’ll all help you.”

I called Troy and Jackson over and we opened the boxes containing water tumblers, phone chargers, earbuds, and other merchandise to be included as gifts to our attendants.

“Ms. Rimoli,” one of the hotel staff appeared at the door. “The artificial grapes and vines you ordered have arrived.”

I wiped my brow with the back of my hand. “Thank God. I was worried they wouldn’t arrive in time. You can bring the boxes into the room.”

“Will do.”

I went to grab my phone for the décor inspiration I had saved to my photos. “Shit. I left my phone in my office. Jackson, can you access the drive from your laptop? I think I may have saved a copy of the photo on there.”

“I think so. Let me check.”

Jeremy looked up at me, but quickly dropped his gaze. I moved onto the next box and emptied that one until the hotel staff returned with the new delivery. “You can set them here. Thanks.”

Troy walked over beside me. “Jackson was able to access the drive. He’s just pulling up the photo now.”

“Ok great.” With my hands on my hips, I surveyed the room. The ceilings were high, so it would be difficult to place the vines over the tables. But I had ordered an arch, just in case. “Let’s setup the arch at the entrance doors so people have to walk through the grapevines as they walk into the event.”

“I like that,” said Troy.

We assembled the arch together. I’d been assembling furniture at home for years, so using an Allen key was second nature to me.

After about an hour, we were nearly finished with the arch and the décor.

“How does it look?”

“Great,” said Tanya.

I stood back and walked in a circle. The white chairs blended in with the white tablecloths, making the green foliage and grapes stand out on the tables and archway. It looked beautiful.

I smiled with relief. My smile faltered when a man appeared at the door. “Mr. Walsh. We weren’t expecting you, sir. Is everything all right?”

Grapevine’s VP walked in wearing a blue suit and a yellow tie. I never liked that combination. I should find a way to suggest he wear the gray shirt he wore to the holiday party last year for the event.

“Everything’s fine. I just wanted to pop in and see how everything looks for tomorrow.” He crossed his arms and looked around the room. I held my breath as he pursed his lips.

“It looks good, Bianca. Very good.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Now, where will I be when I give my speech?”

“At this podium. Here, let me show you.” I walked Mr. Walsh over to the front of the room where the head table was set up. “You’ll speak first, as we discussed, and introduce Mr. Towers.”

He nodded while inspecting the podium and adjusting the height of the microphone to his mouth.

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