Page 36 of Wanting Happily Ever After

“More?”

Brody nodded. “And by more, I meanall.”

“You want to caterallof the weddings at Ever After Ranch?” She’d be lying if she said it wasn’t a surprise. Taking on the catering for all of her events would be a ton of work, which was why she’d always used a variety of vendors to spread the work around. The last thing they wanted to do was burn out a caterer and risk future events.

“I do.” He nodded and then laughed at the realization of what he’d said. “I mean, we can work out a deal. If you give me an exclusive contract, I’d be able to offer you a discount and…”

“It would benefit both of us,” she finished for him.

“Absolutely.” He grinned. “Do we have a deal?”

This was the kind of decision that Hope would have made, but Hope wasn’t around and she’d left Faith in charge, which theoretically meant that she trusted her. “Let’s sit down next week and work out the details,” she said. “But I don’t see why not. If you have the capacity for it, it could be a perfect relationship.”

“Happily ever after, right?” He laughed and his eyes lit up, giving Faith an idea that she hoped he would agree to.

“But there’s just one more thing…”

ChapterEleven

“You said I’d do what?”

Brody hadn’t been sure how Amy would take the news, but he’d agreed to it as part of the deal with Faith, so he needed to make her okay with the fact that he’d signed her up to be part of a photo shoot for Faith’s upcoming ad campaign.

“It’s just a few pictures.” He tried not to make it sound like a big deal, but when Faith had asked him to be agroomin the shoot, and supply his ownbride, he really hadn’t known who else to ask. Obviously Faith would have assumed that he’d ask Sarah, and of course that’s who he’d want next to him in a white gown, pretending to be his blushing bride—or in real life maybe one day—but she wasn’t talking to him.

It had been two days since they’d…well, since the lake and their subsequent activities at her house. He didn’t know how to think of it. At the time, it had been perfect. Better than perfect. Being with Sarah had just felt right. Better than anything he’d ever experienced.

And when she’d fallen asleep with her head on his chest, he’d lain awake, stroking her hair and taking in every second of his time with her. All Brody had been able to think about was how going forward, everything would be different between them. They could finally be together, and he could give her everything she’d ever deserved. But then there’d been the nightmare, with her screaming out Josh’s name and the subsequent chaos when she’d kicked him out and then…nothing.

Sarah had effectively ghosted him, as if they hadn’t shared the most intense night together. As if she hadn’t felt the things with him that heknewshe’d felt. He knew it. So, yes. He would have liked to have asked Sarah to be his bride in the photo shoot, but that wasn’t going to happen. Which was why he needed Amy to agree.

“You’re kidding, right?” His head chef leaned against the counter and rolled her eyes. “You know I’m not into you.”

He had to shake his head. “It’s not real.”

“I got that.”

“Please, Amy. I know it’s not in your job description or anything, but I promised her that I’d help and she gave me the contract. We’re going to be doing all of the Ever After weddings.”

That got her attention. “Allthe weddings?”

He nodded. “All of them.” Brody couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face. Getting the extra catering events would be challenging, for sure—he might even need to hire on some part-time help—but it would be huge when it came to cash flow. Especially considering the day before, Amy had informed him that she couldn’t get all the burners on the stove to light. Which would mean yet another service call from Al the appliance guy, which would mean another, bigger dip into his savings. The extra catering gigs would help, but he still needed to come up with a bit more cash to give him some breathing room.

Because if he couldn’t make a go of this restaurant, he would be in trouble. Real trouble. Brody didn’t even want to think about what that would look like, but it might mean leaving Glacier Falls—and Sarah—for good. And even if she currently wasn’t speaking to him, that wasn’t a risk he was willing to take.

“Okay,” Amy said after a few minutes.

“Okay?”

“Okay, I’ll do it. I’ll take the stupid pictures.”

Brody didn’t bother trying to hide his smile.

“But I’m not doing them with you. You’re totally not my type.”

“Awesome, Amy. Thanks.” He did a double take as Amy’s words caught up with him. “Wait.” He turned to look at her. “What do you mean?”

“About not being my type? I didn’t think I had to explain that one to you.” A slow, sly grin crossed her face and she crossed her arms over her chest. “I want to do the pictures with Nicole.”

---