Page 6 of Free to Dream
“Uh, Ry. You realize you should be talking with Jared, right? I mean, I know I have pretty decent taste, but it’s his wedding too,” I tease.
He rolls his eyes at me and mutters “asshole” under his breath before taking another drink of coffee. Setting down his mug, he looks me in the eyes. “Stand up for me, Caleb. Be my best man.” He smiles and my mind goes blank. I’m unable to answer him. “You’re already the best man I know. But stand with me when I marry the man I plan to be with for the rest of my life.” His complete trust and faith in me is overwhelming.
I swallow hard. Jesus. This is like a sniper attack—one shot and I’m down.
Rolling myself into a standing position, I walk around the table and pull my brother to his feet. Since he had his mug of coffee in his hands, it predictably went sloshing everywhere. As he’s sputtering about the mess, pulling his wet T-shirt away from his stomach, I nab him for a one-armed hug. “Nothing would make me prouder.” My voice is barely a whisper because I can’t swallow over the knot lodged in my throat. “I love you, Ry. And I love Jared for you.”
“Thanks, Caleb.” Looking into eyes that mirror my own, there’s something there. I’ve seen it for the last few years—a secret he can’t or won’t share. I know he’s hiding something because the same look reflects back in the mirror every morning when I shave.
My thoughts and memories are wrapped up in government clearances that can never be shared.
“And as my first act as best man, I will forsake my workout,” I joke to lighten the mood. “I’ll go to the office on a sacred day off to research this firm you want to hire.”
Ry laughs. “Right. Like if your laptop was working, you wouldn’t be on it today.”
Busted.
Ignoring the comment, I ask, “What’s the name of the firm?” Now, I’m actually curious. I knew Ry had planned on proposing to Jared for some time, so I figured he’d been giving this some thought. Our family is wealthy and well-known, but I could not imagine a wedding planning firm requiring a deep level background check unless it was on an employee.
“An event planning company in Collyer, Connecticut. Amaryllis Events,” Jared, Ry’s fiancé, says from behind me as he makes his way over to Ry. The two of them share a kiss, murmuring their good mornings to each other while I lose myself in thought.
Amaryllis Events. It conjures up ideas of elegant tea cups with pinkies out, not the psychological warfare combined with lion taming required for events like this wedding is going to need…wait. Did he say Connecticut?
“Connecticut? Fucking Connecticut? Are you serious? You’re going to have the wedding there?”
Ry turns from his fiancé to face me with steel and determination in his eyes. And if I’m reading my brother right, vengeance. “I refuse to let her keep me from doing what I want. And if Mommy Dearest doesn’t like it, she can get her ass the fuck off my property. Despite the fact I’ve never wanted to live there, I do own and pay to upkeep the place.”
“And you’re hiring a company called Amaryllis Events? You should be hiring armed guards, Ry,” I fire back.
He sits back in his chair, where Jared wraps his arm around his shoulders. “Everything I’ve heard about this company tells me this is the way to go. The CEO and event planner apparently could negotiate a truce in the Holy Lands and make them think it was their idea.”
Humored by his response, I ask, “How’d you hear about them?”
“Remember Austin’s wedding? Right after his dad married his personal admin?”
Austin is one of our friends from high school. I nod as a snort escapes me. “You’re kidding. They organized his wedding?”
I remember how stressed Austin had been about that wedding. There was talk of sex tapes being released to the media by Austin’s vengeful mother. Board members threatened to vote his father out as chairman of their company, and the press circled like vultures. About a month before the wedding, it was like someone had given Austin a Xanax salt lick. “Hell, why do you need the background investigation? Hire them. That wedding was a catastrophe waiting to happen and you would never have known it.” Literally, I attended with multiple pairs of handcuffs, thinking I might need them to keep the peace. But it went as smooth as honey.
Ry and Jared exchange a look.
“Wait,wassomeone drugged?” I demand.
Jared laughs, while Ry says, “Nothing like that. I just happen to have an indirect connection to the owners. Before we sink twenty-five percent of the cost of the wedding with the potential for acrimony, I’d like to know more about the business.”
Twenty-five percent? I’m thinking even I don’t charge my clients enough when the rest of his sentence penetrates. “What acrimony?” My eyes narrow on my brother, trying to siphon the things out of him that he’s not telling me.
“I’ll let you know after tonight’s dinner, if there’s one at all,” Ry waves off my concern. “So, could you run the background check?”
I sit for a moment and think it over. “Yes. I’ll head downtown in a while. It shouldn’t take too long. What time is your dinner?”
“It’s at five.”
“I’ll call you if it’s a no-go.”
* * *
I manageto get in a run and a boxing workout before hitting the showers to head into the office.
