Page 54 of Finding Chloe

“It’s okay. I’ll still accept the compliment.” I smiled, and Julian’s face lit up.

“There’s plenty more where it came from. Maybe we can work on stealing you away from your man while we’re here.” The gleam in his eyes told me he was only partially joking.

Alex cleared her throat. “Men,” she said as she refilled her glass with orange juice from the jug on the counter in front of us then wiggled three fingers at the guys.

They all grimaced, and I laughed again.

“Or maybe not. I don’t think we have enough time this trip to take on three guys.” Nate tapped Julian’s arm, and they left the kitchen. This was just what I needed to get going today.

Mrs. Roberts came by and offered me a cup of coffee as the kitchen started to clear out. I greedily accepted it as I hadn’t had my caffeine kick.

“What do you have on the agenda today?” Thomas deposited himself onto the vacated stool next to me.

“Pay no mind to our brother and his friends. They are harmless.” Declan leaned against the counter.

I smiled as I chewed the last of my breakfast. “They don’t bother me. And I’m planning on running into town to stop by the various vendors for a final rundown. This way, there are no surprises. Then I want to stop by the lot and double-check the spaces I marked off for deliveries.”

“Do you need anything from us?” Thomas took a sip of coffee.

I went through my notes. “I dropped off the payments when I was in town getting the cupcakes for the tasting. Your tuxes are in Jessie’s closet.”

They nodded when I looked at them for confirmation.

“I’m just picking up the special-ordered bowties and pocket squares while I’m in town. I’ll meet with Garrett later today, so if he needs anything, I still have a few days to get it.” I added Garrett to my to-do list. “I don’t think I have anything for you guys… except greeting your guests.”

“Tori has the list of everyone, where they are staying, and when they arrive. She said she shared that with you?” Thomas’s eyebrow lifted.

“Yes, I have that here. But I’m not in charge of entertaining them. That’syourjob.” I gave him a huge smile, making them laugh. After I finished my cup of coffee, I hopped in the ranch SUV and headed to town. This time alone. I didn’t need any of the boys tagging along.

I blasted the radio and sang at the top of my lungs. It helped me not dwell on the decision I needed to make.

Today was going to be productive. With a smile on my face, I parked the car and headed into the dress shop to pick up Alex’s dresses. We still had five days until the wedding, but I wanted everything in place so we didn’t have any last-minute snafus.

Except when I walked out of the shop, my heart rate wasn’t as calm as it had been when I entered. The alterations were finished, but staff had called out sick, and the garment steamer broke. She ordered a new one, but it hadn’t been delivered yet. I reminded myself we had plenty of time and this wasn’t going to be a huge blip on the radar.

I took a deep breath to calm myself. My phone pinged with messages, but I wanted to relax first before I picked up. I’d check those later, when I left the flower shop.

However, Mrs. Meadows’s face had my stomach dropping the second I stepped foot inside. The special-order flowers were delayed due to bad weather. She said we’d have to cross our fingers and hope we’d have them in time. For the next half hour, we came up with a backup plan in case they didn’t. It wasn’t perfect, but we had to work with what we had. And the alternative plan would still be beautiful. In the case of something like this happening, I had Alex pick out additional blooms she liked. It would work out just fine.

Even with positive thinking, my body tensed when I pushed open the door to the Cotton Jin.

“Hey, Chloe,” Oliver called out while restocking the bar.

“Hey.” I held my breath for a second and then released it. “Everything is a go for delivering the rest of the alcohol early, right?” He’d dropped off a few cases the night before, but he had more to deliver.

He nodded. “If the weather reports are accurate, we might be getting a lot of rain Thursday and Friday,” Oliver said, givingme the bad news. “But since we’d already planned to deliver the product early, that shouldn’t be an issue.”

The tightness in my chest increased, and I couldn’t catch my breath.Shit. If the rains were bad enough, it could wash out the field. The weather was usually so mild this time of year I hadn’t even thought of a backup plan.

What kind of event planner was I if I didn’t have a backup for an outdoor wedding?

This couldn’t be happening. It wasn’t even just my grade. Alex, Declan, and Thomas had put their faith in me to deliver the most spectacular wedding. If things didn’t go as expected, they’d be disappointed.

I waved goodbye to Oliver and headed to Kelly’s bakery.

“I haven’t started the cake yet, but I’m going to tonight,” Kelly explained when I asked for an update. I wasn’t an expert in cake making, but I thought it should have at least started by now.

“There was a large last-minute order my assistant took without asking, and it put me behind schedule, but I promise the cake will be ready for the wedding.”

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