Page 36 of Love Me Ever After
“I’ll come with you. I need a pee,” added Darcy.
If I’d have had the presence of mind, I should have gone with her. But now I was stuck with Sonya. I glanced around to see if I could find Mason, but he wasn’t at the bar with Fraser and Alex. My heart sank, I could have done with his protection.
“How did Melody’s lunch go?” Sonya broke the awkward silence. “Did you get my checklist?”
I sipped my drink, trying to restrain myself from downing it all in one go like I wanted to. “Fine. There was a small hiccup when the kitchen staff couldn’t find the cake, but everything got sorted in the end. Although they were a little late leaving.”
Sonya spread her hands wide. “Well there wasn’t anyone coming into the room after them and they’re paying customers. You couldn’t exactly kick them out.”
If I had been able to, I’d have had more time with Mason before leaving the house. Maybe then there wouldn’t be this strange atmosphere between us because I hadn’t immediately said yes to going to see his parents.
“And what happened to the cake? I know Melody had it made especially for the occasion.”
“A slight oversight from someone in the kitchen. It had nothing to do with me.”
“You should have checked everything was in place before they started lunch.” Sonya pursed her mouth.
My free hand balled into a fist, the one holding my glass threatened to break the stem if I put too much pressure on it. How dare she tell me how to do my job? I knew I’d screwed up this week, but if she carried on treating me like I had no clue what I was doing, picking up on tiny, petty mistakes, I was going to lose it big time.
“You ladies look like you need a drink.” Mason smoothed in beside me, handing over a full glass of Prosecco and taking the empty one from my hand. He passed the other one he held to Sonya. “Everything okay here?”
Neither Sonya nor I spoke.
Mason turned to Sonya. “Look, I know what happened earlier this week was wrong, but you can’t blame Ems forever. Sure, she made a mistake, but it was a spur of the moment decision, fuelled by the passion and excitement of the situation. Nobody got hurt by what she did, except now you’re holding it against her. Ems doesn’t deserve that.”
My jaw fell slack at his speech. This wasn’t the guy who had left me, this was a smooth and confident man who clearly had my best interests at heart. I practically melted with his words.
“I appreciate your comments, Mason. But what she did could have risked the reputation of the hotel withyourcompany. I’m sure you know all about client relationships and how important it is to keep them as friendly as possible.” She took a sip of her drink.
“That I do. And I also know about the importance of keeping your team around you happy too, which is something Ems hasn’t been since you sent her home on Thursday.”
I placed a hand on his arm, not wanting him to go too far. The last thing I wanted was for him to fracture the fragile boss-slash-employee dynamic Sonya and I currently had. Plus, I didn’t need him fighting my battles for me.
Sonya’s gaze settled on me. “I may have overreacted, but it was only because I care about our reputation,yourreputation. Having people gossiping about you wasn’t something I wanted to hear. We make a good team and that’s something that doesn’t need to change.”
It was the closest I was going to get to an apology. “Thanks, Sonya. I appreciate it.”
“Shall we put this behind us and move on?”
“I’d like that.” I smiled.
We raised our glasses and clinked in agreement, just as Marcus Goldstein called for everyone’s attention. Mason slid an arm around my waist as we turned to listen to what he had to say. I leaned into his chest, comforted by his support.
“Evening everyone,” Marcus called. The assembled crowd clapped and cheered. “I wanted to say a few words before getting you to taste everything we’re going to be having on our menu. First of all, to my business partner, Georgie. This hasn’t been an easy path and we’ve hit some pretty major obstacles along the way. Everything you guys see before you is the result of a lot of hard graft, negotiations and begging. Mostly me begging Georgie to help get us out of a hole again.”
A ripple of laughter went around the room. It was clear they made a good team. He went on to thank the new chefs and waiting staff, then told us to enjoy the rest of the evening and fill our bellies.
Sonya turned to Mason and I after Marcus had finished speaking. “I think they’re going to make a great success of this. Ealynn Sands needs more businesses like theirs.” She waved at Alex across the room. “I’m going to chat with my son and his girlfriend. Ems, I’ll see you on Monday.” With that, she made her way to Alex and Georgie, stopping to talk to people on the way.
I watched her go, almost open mouthed at her sudden change in attitude. If it hadn’t been for Mason’s intervention, this silly feud would probably have gone on for weeks.
“Hey,” I said, moving to face him and looking up into his gorgeous brown eyes. “Thank you for standing up to Sonya for me. You really had my back.”
His hands slid to my hips, fingertips meeting in the small of my back. “I’ve always got your back.” He leaned down and brushed the tip of my nose with his own.
Butterflies quivered down my spine, pooling between my legs. Even the faintest touch had me melting for him.
“I never got to answer your question about going to see your parents.” I tilted my head so that my lips skimmed his. “I’d love to.”
