Page 195 of Bridesmaid for Hire
“What are you…oh fuck, did he get you pregnant?”
“What? No…no, it’s not that. It’s my business.”
“Oh.” He pauses and then asks. “What’s going on with your business?”
“Well, I haven’t really told anyone this besides Hattie because I honestly don’t know what to do, but…” I take a deep breath. “At the wedding, Reginald pulled me to the side on the dance floor and sort of blackmailed me.”
There’s silence, then what sounds like a lot of scrambling and shuffling around.
“Gary?”
“Yeah, sorry, just…ouch—” More silence and then Gary clears his throat. “Stubbed my toe.”Okay, he’s being weird.“What do you mean he’s blackmailing you?”
“He found out that Haisley and I were talking about different partnerships with our businesses and well, he said that he wanted me to bringthat partnership under Hopper Industries.” Gary whispers something that I can’t quite understand. “What, Gary?”
“Sorry,” he says, voice strained. “Patricia is trying to pull my pants down.”
“What?” I ask.
“No, I’m not,” Patricia says in the distance.
“She wants me, I can’t help it.”
“Ew, Gary,” I say.
“Yeah, just, uh…one second.” Then, I can hear his voice, but it’s muffled, which means he must be covering the phone. After a few seconds, he comes back on the phone and says, “Okay, took care of her. Maggie, are you serious? Reginald Hopper intends to blackmail you?” And for the first time, I can hear absolute rage in my brother’s voice.It’s what I needed. Validation about how wrong this is.
“He does.”
“Fuck,” he growls.Never heard him growl before either.
“He also told me he knew why I was there in the first place—to basically infiltrate the wedding. I didn’t confirm or deny anything, but he did tell me that I have two options. Since he’s opening up a new wedding branch, he said I could either work with him or against him, meaning if I don’t bring Haisley over to Hopper Industries, then he’s going to put me out of business.”
There’s silence for a second and then…“He fucking said that to you?”
“Yes,” I answer as I feel tears well up in my eyes. I try to hold them back, but this is my future, my livelihood.Stolen from me by a pretentious, entitled prick.“I don’t know what to do, Gary.” I sniff and wipe my nose. “I know how important it was for Haisley to establish her own business. I value her as a businesswoman and a friend. I can’t imagine trying to carry out Reginald’s demands, but…what doIdo? I’ve put everything into my business, everything, and for it to just be crushed by some awful man who needs control over his family? How is that fair to me?”
“It’s not,” Gary says. “This isn’t fair at all.”
“What should I do?”
“Have you thought about talking to Haisley? Maybe if you told her what was going on, she might talk to her dad.”
“I don’t want to do that,” I say softly. “She told me that things were strained between them because of her business. Lately, they’ve improved, and she believes he’s proud of her. They’ve been rebuilding their relationship. I can’t ruin that.”
“But he’s the one ruining it,” Gary says. “It’s wrong of him to ask that of you. He’s manipulating the situation and taking advantage of you.”
“I know, but I just don’t know how to proceed. He could also turn it around and deny everything, say I’m a liar. That I’m just trying to pit him against her and tell her my motivations for being at the wedding in the first place. I don’t want to lose that friendship. I don’t want to hurt her…and this all just sucks, Gary. I don’t know what to do.”
He lets out a deep breath. “Yeah, I don’t know what to tell you either.”
More tears stream down my cheeks. “Maybe…maybe I just throw in the towel.”
“Maggie, no.”
“Just hear me out, Gary. I…I thought I was killing it, but my accountant told me that I haven’t made enough to afford the storefront. Without the storefront, I don’t know how viable this business is for me in the long term. Especially with Hopper Industries moving in on the space. They’re going to take clients, they probably already have—I lost two bids in one week. If I want to succeed, I need to spend all my time promoting myself at events and on social media, but I don’t have the time to do that because of the weddings I’m already planning. It’s just…it’s too much, Gary.”
“You can’t give up, Maggie,” he says softly. “Just…let me think about this, okay? I know we can come up with a solution. Why don’t you come over for dinner tonight?”
