Page 20 of Independence Bae

“I wonder if Ivy would let us use the Hursh plane? It seemed like it could hold most of the wedding guests.”

“Umm seriously, Ted?” Raven’s face looked as if she’d just discovered a rank piece of garbage that had somehow been forgotten. “Overreach much? We’re literally in the process of asking them to move our start date to the new calendar year, equip both of our homes with state of the art broadcasting technology for when we need to work from home, have two paid trips a year included in our annual promotional spend plus the right to pursue outside opportunities and promotional contracts—and now you want to call up Ivy and be like ‘so we know we’re bleeding your bank accounts dry but hey can we also use your private jet so Bear can get married?’”

“She said if there was anything she could do to help in any way or speed along the negotiations to ask. Vroom Vroom, Raven.”

My eyes rolled so far to the back of my head I feared they’d be permanently stuck.

“No, Ted. We’re not going to act like demanding jerks just to get use of a private plane. We’ll just cut the guest list down and pay for the flights. Penn, thank you so much for all of this. You’re my hero.”

Chapter Sixteen

As a numbers and mergers guy,I didn’t get to be a hero that often. Most of the time I was the bad guy, holding the purse strings and telling people no—a lot. Being able to not only tell Marley yes, but also to say the sky is the limit just tell me what you want, was a great way to kick off wedding week.

Ted insisted he didn’t need a bachelor party. His radio friends, the ones not married, partied too hard for Ted these days, and the ones that were married had strict family schedules they needed to adhere to. Instead, we decided to make the trek down to Barren Hill and the Echo Creek Resort a day ahead of the girls.

Gemini and her boyfriend Finn co-owned a bar near the resort property that sat on a gorgeous spring fed lake surrounded by trees and mountains. It checked off every dream Marley had for a scenic outdoor wedding venue. The wedding would be much smaller than originally anticipated, as many people in North Pole hadn’t been able to get the time off to travel down to Barren Hill. A few of Marley’s close friends, some of her mom’s friends and a handful of people from the station were planning to make the trip.

“Guys! You are impeding my prep work. How does standing in the middle of my kitchen prevent any wedding details from being missed?” Gemini flicked a towel at my ass, ushering me and the other guys out of her kitchen.

“Finn and Emmett are going to take you out on the boat for the day. It’s your day to just kick back, have a few beers and enjoy Barren Hill and Mammoth Slope.”

She’d dated my brother for a blink in college. But she and Bryce fell out faster than tight rolled Z Cavaricci’s. Despite the two of them becoming incommunicado, she and I stayed in contact. When it was time to employ a chef at the Hotel de’Fleur she came through in the biggest way, helping find the perfect chef. She was revered in the industry having worked beneath one of the best chefs in the world. The gastropub appeared to be quite popular with locals and tourists. There was no question her happiness hovered in the blissful territory. But I worried that she was squandering her talents. I had some asshole running Echo Creek’s restaurants and would hire her in a fucking heartbeat if she ever said she wanted to be challenged more. Unfortunately, given all the notoriety their little pub was already receiving and how popular their “One Armed Mick & An Ornery Prick” TikTok and YouTube channels were—they were already over two million in just six months—I didn’t think she’d be getting bored any time soon.

“If you get overwhelmed, tired, cranky, hot—anything—you radio the boat and I’m back here in ten minutes.” Finn had Gemini by the ponytail, holding it back just tight enough that she had to look up at him. “It’s hot especially once those ovens get going. Drink your water and make sure you’re sitting every once in a while.”

He kissed her with unabashed passion.

“Stubs,” she playfully shoved at Finn’s shoulders, “please tell your best friend that his mother hen routine is totally unnecessary and perhaps a little overbearing. He seems to forget that I worked twelve hour shifts cooking, serving, and directing the flow of an entire kitchen for thousands of meals every night for easily twenty years.”

Finn and Gemini had a moment. To be perfectly frank the heated way he looked at her had me getting feelings below the belt.

“I fucking love you, Gemini Tate.” He swatted her on her ass before backing away. “Good luck with all of this.” He swept his hand over the various prep stations laid out all over the kitchen. As I took it all in, honestly, I was a little surprised she was undertaking the whole endeavor by herself as well. There just seemed like so many details.

“Gem’s the best chef I know.” I turned to Ted as we backed out of the boat slip and Finn pointed the nose towards the mouth of the lake. “I guarantee you will want for nothing tomorrow.”

“You two made her entire month,” Finn’s friend Emmett chimed in. “While neither of us would say she’s unhappy owning the gastropub with us, this wedding has allowed her to pull out all her fancy chef skills and really show off.”

“I have offered her special chef nights up at the hotel for months.” I jokingly held up my hands in defense. “She turns me down every single time.”

“Probably because she can’t stand Duane—I meanChef Le’Sant,” Emmett adds.

“Just give me a reason guys. I can’t just term him because he’s a pompous asshole. Give me an actual violation and I’ll gladly hand him walking papers.”

Emmett and Finn had a moment between themselves laughing about my Chef de Cuisine. He was a royal pain in my ass and so knee deep in pretention you could practically smell his shit from the driveway of the hotel. Ted looked totally lost, though seemingly satisfied sipping his beer and enjoying the view.

“He’s a prick,” I explained to Ted who smiled politely. “But unfortunately, he’s a good chef and I have a full reservation book nearly every night at that resort. Gemini knows she just needs to give me the word and she’s the new Chef de Cuisine—the offer is open if she ever wants to.”

After the general getting to know you, formalities passed, the four of us were able to settle into a fairly amicable day swimming in the lake—which was freezing, passively “fishing,” in that our poles were in the water as we sat there and drank beer and enjoyed the sunshine, and generally spent the day not worrying about a singular thing. With the exception of Ted—the one who needed to relax the most. He couldn’t stop checking his cell phone.

“We’re in the middle of a mountain fed lake.” I point towards his cell phone with my chin. “You’re not going to get any service out here. Besides, Ivy and your agent surely can leave the two of you alone for one weekend?”

He still continued to futz on it, choosing to ignore what I said.

“Actually, I hired a detective for Marley, and I still haven’t heard from him.”

“Marley?”

There was absolutely no masking my surprise. While she wasn’t exactly a “kid” at twenty-eight she certainly was younger than the rest of us. Her life up in that mountain town had been quintessentially small town. She didn’t have a shady bone in her body. Ted must have seen my total consternation and quickly clarified.

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