Page 53 of Love You Always

“C’mere,” I say, standing up behind my desk and going to her. I walk her to the large paned window and stand behind her, looking over her shoulder. “Look at that view,” I instruct, pointing at the miles of vines creeping up Buttercup Hill to where they disappear in the morning mist. The sun shines through the watery air in silver sheets, lighting up the grape leaves and casting a glow on everything in view. “You can’t be upset about anything in the world when you look at that view, right?”

She laughs and turns in my arms. “Are you honestly asking me that, Grumpy Grape? I seem to remember you scowling your waythrough the fields with this exact view when we met. More than once.”

“What can I say? I’m a changed man. And I’ll admit, the view is much, much better when you’re standing here in my arms, looking at it with me.” I lean down to kiss her. It’s a can’t-get-enough-of-her kiss.

A throat clears behind us and Ella looks over my shoulder and grimaces. I turn around and we both face Beatrix, who stands with her arms crossed and a quizzical look on her face. “You called a meeting,” she says, not moving from the doorway.

“I did.” I beckon her in, but she doesn’t move. Neither does Ella, feet rooted to the floor by the window. I walk slowly around to my desk and take a seat. “Do you want to come in?”

“No,” she corrects, pointing at Ella. “Youcalled a meeting. I was headed to the restaurant to see you, but I had a question for Archer.”

“Right. About that. I was about to go to the restaurant too.”

“What is this?” She points between the two of us.

Ella steps forward and smooths her hands down the front of her skirt. Holding her shoulders back, she speaks slowly, unapologetically. “I’m no longer engaged to Callum, so I need to cancel the wedding here. There’ll be a press announcement about Callum, but I wanted you to hear it from me. Whatever you need to charge me for time already spent, or losses if you can’t re-rent the venue, I’ll cover. And I so appreciate all the time you put in on details. I know it would have been the loveliest event, but not with the wrong man.” Ella gives her a polite smile and turns to me.

I beckon her closer with a nod. She walks over and hugs me around the shoulders, before walking to the door of my office. “I guess we don’t need to meet at the restaurant,” she tells Trix. “Thanks for understanding. I wanted to tell you in person.” Nodding again, she looks at me before walking out.

I turn to my sister. “Obviously, we’d have preferred to talk toyou before you saw that,” I say, pointing at where we were standing by the window.

Trix looks like her brain might explode. She shakes her head and wags her finger at me. “Is this why the wedding was ‘postponed indefinitely’? You’re the reason it’s now canceled?” Her gaze flits from the doorway to me. “I told you not to torpedo this for us, Archer, so why did you?”

I hold up a hand. “It’s not what you think.”

“No? So what is this? Younottrying to torpedo the wedding by sleeping with the bride?”

“Hey, cool it.” I point to the chair in front of my desk. “If you sit down, I’ll explain.”

Slowly, stubbornly, she walks to the chair and drops into it. “Explain.”

“I love her.” I can’t keep the smile from flooding my face. “I know what I said about hating her and not wanting the wedding here, but then my stubborn ass got to know her. She’s so different. So special.” I can’t believe I’m confessing these feelings to my sister, who will undoubtedly give me shit about them later, but I feel how I feel. “I’ve never met anyone like her and she’s…changed me. I feel myself getting lighter, being easier about life. Starting to reconsider things I was never willing to think about before. And if I could have avoided falling for her, I would have. But it was impossible. She’s amazing.”

I wait for my sister to yell at me some more about screwing up her plans for the magazine spread about the wedding of the decade, but instead, I find her smiling at me.

“Really?”

“Really, what?” I’m confused.

“You’re in love? My grumpy brother is in love?” She stands from her chair and comes around the desk. “Screw the wedding of the decade. I’m just so happy for you.”

I’m too stunned by her reaction to say anything.

“Really. So happy. Will you bring her to hang with us? Bring her to Dash’s taco fest.”

“I’ll…I can see if she wants to go.”

“Bring her.” She wags a finger. Then she leans down and whispers in my ear, “And I’m going to keep that wedding date open. No pressure because I know you’re a guy and you have to do your guy brooding about everything. Just saying…it’s there if you should happen to know anyone in need of a wedding.” She hugs me and practically skips out the door of my office.

CHAPTER 26

Ella

“I’ma little bit embarrassed for dragging you here,” I tell Tatum, who sits on the love seat at the foot of the hotel room I rented so I don’t overstay my welcome at her house. She sits patiently as I wheel an entire rack of clothing that my stylist sent over.

At first, after I broke up with Callum, our publicists resisted, and Callum begged me to reconsider. I refused, but it’s taken a while for everyone to agree on how to frame our uncoupling. Until I talk to my adoption lawyer, I don’t want to say anything that might derail my plans. It’s meant that Archer and I have spent our time at Buttercup Hill, out of public view. I don’t need prying eyes wondering what we are to each other. Especially when I’m not sure myself. I just know I really like him, which means I want to make a good impression on his family members at their taco fest later on.

Behind Tatum, my bed is unmade, and the bright morning sun feels like it’s pointing a finger at the messy beige blanketsafter a poor night’s sleep. I adjust the blinds so it’s not quite so glary, but nearly everything in the room is white or cream, so it still screamsbrightin here.

---