Page 71 of April

“Did you and Bryce take care of Sophie’s surprise?”

“Yeah,” Linden said simply and didn’t appear to want to elaborate.

“Good. Okay.”

“Yeah,” Linden repeated.

“Do you happen to know a place where I could go that’s close but no tourists? I don’t want a local dive, either. A nice place,” Asher said.

Linden walked into her office and asked, “What for?”

“A date,” she replied. “Well, a meeting more than a date. Maybe we’ll do the date after. I don’t know.”

“Oh,” Linden let out, crossing her arms over her chest. “Stephaniaisreal.”

“I think so, yes. She sent me a video and used my name in it. She pointed out the studio behind her. She’s here.”

“Cool,” Linden said.

“Her schedule opened up, and she’s free tonight.”

“Tonight? Oh. Cool,” Linden said again.

She was saying,‘Cool,’a lot.

“So? Know anywhere I can take her where she’s likely not to get recognized?”

“Oh. No, not really,” Linden replied. “I guess just go somewhere in CBD. Maybe that diner that’s over by Bridgette’s office. She said it’s pretty local.”

“The Central Business District? A diner? You want me to take a supermodel to–”

“You asked,” Linden interrupted her. “I’ve got to run.” She hooked her thumb toward the door. “I have a meeting.”

Asher looked down at her laptop and said, “Shit. I do, too.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes. Carolyn wanted to talk to me about something,” Asher said, standing up. “I’ll have to get back to Stephania, I guess. I’ll see you later?”

“Sure,” Linden replied.

Asher walked past her, carrying her phone and laptop, to meet with her boss, the owner of the company, who had requested a meeting that morning out of the blue. Typically, when that happened, it meant that Carolyn had a high-profile client for her to meet with because, as one of her top earners, Asher was often the first choice in wedding planners.

“Hi,” she said as she walked into Carolyn’s office.

“Oh, hey. Can you close the door?”

Asher stopped in place for a second. These meetings always went the same way. She’d walk in, sit down, Carolyn would tell her about the client, and Asher would leave with her marching orders. In all her time at the company, she could only remember her boss telling her to close the door a couple of times, and both of those times had to do with someone else getting fired and Carolyn needing her to take over their clients or some of their other work.

“Sure,” she replied and closed the door. “What’s up?”

“Have a seat.”

WasAsherabout to get fired? No, she was the number one planner. She was the most requested planner. She made this company a lot of money and never had any complaints. There would be no reason to fire her. She sat down, holding her phone and computer in her lap, and tapped a foot on the carpeted floor.

“When I first created this place, it was just me on the floor of my living room in my one-bedroom apartment.” The woman shook her head. “I had a list of people who I knew were getting married from someone who’d stolen it for me from another wedding planner.” Carolyn laughed to herself. “Not exactly ethical, but I made the calls and got a couple of them to agree to let me plan their weddings. I’d gotten the bug when I helped my sister plan hers, and the rest is history.”

Asher had heard the origin story of the company before when she’d first interviewed for the job, as well as at every holiday party since and at every big company meeting.

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