Page 1 of Sweet Surrender
1
ALEXANDRIA SHERIDAN
“Ijust have one question: How did you get roped into this again? Are you sure that you want to go through with this, babe?”
“That’s two questions, and I have answered that first question a million times. You know how I got roped into this. No, I’m not sure that I want to go through with this. Hell, I know that I don’t want to go through with this, but what am I going to do? It’s my company.”
“Girl, you can have one of your associates do this for you. You don’t have to be there.”
“But I do. I have a signed contract saying that I need to be there.”
Kelli sighed and kicked her long, honey-colored legs up and down from her seat on my bed.
“I’m just saying . . .”
“What are you saying, Kell?”
“That you’ve already given more than anyone has the right to ask of you. After all, you planned the whole damn wedding.”
“Again, I couldn’t turn it down.”
“Yes, you could have.”
“Princess was so excited when she walked into my shop with her mother. I could see it in her eyes, and when she learned that I had the one weekend available that she needed, you would have thought that child had won the lottery.”
“Well, you are usually booked out for a year in advance.”
“I would have been that weekend, too, if another couple who booked it hadn’t called it quits.”
Kelli snickered. “Still can’t believe they broke up because his mother was moving in and expected foot massages.”
I rolled my eyes. “Still can’t believe his ass told his wife-to-be that was the least she could do for his mother. I don’t give a damn if she was a massage therapist for a living. Don’t nobody want to rub your mother’s crusty ass feet, sir.” I snickered along with Kelli.
“Still, you should have told Miss Thang the minute you knew who she was.”
“It was too far gone by then. We hit it off instantly, and she took the highest package that I had to offer after discussing my services.”
“And you found yourself in bed with the devil. Chiiiile.”
“What?”
“I’m just saying, all money ain’t good money, girl.”
“I couldn’t help myself. When her mother said that money wasn’t an option, and it was a no-brainer that they wanted me, I was all in.”
“Right. Because you’re the best wedding planner in Cherokee Springs, hell, in the state of Georgia.”
“Right,” I agreed, not because I was arrogant, but because I had won several awards thanks to my wedding planning business, Wedded Bliss.
I didn’t just specialize in planning weddings, but I had a focus on destination weddings. I created the entire experience for the wedded couple, including fun activities and events fortheir families and friends. I planned regular weddings as well, but those came few and far between.
“Once you drafted that damn contract and saw his name on it, you shouldn’t have signed. You should have said, ‘hell no, I won’t go,’ right then.”
“I know, and you’re right. Even when she learned that he and I were exes, she was still so sweet. I wanted to do it for her, not him. She deserves the wedding of her dreams. Just because she’s marrying the spawn of Satan doesn’t mean she deserves to be penalized.”
“Honey, the minute you learned his daddy’s name was Jacob, and Jacob had twelve sons, your ass should have run out the door.”
I giggled. “He does not have twelve sons, just eight.”
