Page 108 of The Plus One Professional
My phone rang. I saw it was Jean, the florist, who owned The Wild Rose. She’d messaged me about changes my bride wanted to make. Penny, who was getting married this Saturday, wouldn’t approve the new invoice with the added expense. I’d spoken to the bride earlier, and she didn’t have the extra $800 in the budget.
I held up my phone to Trevor. “I gotta take this.”
“See ya tomorrow.” Trevor kissed me on the cheek and gave me a wink as he walked out of the automatic doors to the parking garage.
I answered the call and was able to suggest a few substitutions, including paring down the bridesmaids’ bouquets, to make the new centerpieces viable within the already approved budget.
Crisis averted, I thought as I hung up the phone. As soon as I started walking toward the glass doors, I realized I had another crisis. I didn’t have a car here. I’d come to the hospital with Ben and Olivia. Trevor met us here, but he’d already left. I’d have to Uber home.
I was busy ordering my ride when the elevator doors beside me opened again. In my peripheral vision, I could see several people exiting the elevator, but I didn’t look up.
“Bailey?”
When I heard my name, I lifted my head and saw a young girl. It took me a second for my brain to remember who she was.
“Carly? What are you doing here?”
“My mom is here having some tests done.” She smiled widely as she gave me a quick hug.
I knew it was ridiculous to feel any sense of pride that an eleven-year-old was happy to see me, but that didn’t change the fact that I absolutely did.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“My friend is having a baby. Olivia, actually, who owns the matchmaking service.”
We’d planned on hanging out two weeks ago but had to postpone it because she’d had cheer tryouts. She made the squad, and we’d scheduled a time for next week. I was going to take her to Ever After Matchmaking. She said she wanted to see the behind-the-scenes of a real-life matchmaking service. Olivia, clearly, wouldn't be there, but I knew Trevor would impress; he always did.
“Oh, cool.”
“Is your mom okay?” I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to ask, but I felt like I had to address the situation.
“Yeah, there’s just some tests they’ve been putting off that she needed to get done.”
In the information I had on Carly’s home life, I knew that her mom was ill, but it hadn’t gone into detail, obviously, to protect her privacy.
“Are you here by yourself?” Even though I knew she was eleven, she was so tiny that it made me feel extra protective of her. “I can wait with you if you want.”
“Yes!” Her face lit up, and again, I felt an unearned sense of pride that she wanted me to stay with her. “My uncle’s here! I want you to meet him.”
“Oh, um… I don’t know.” I didn’t want to encourage the matchmaking idea she’d had about the two of us. My head was definitelynotin the right space to meet anyone.
All I could think about was Cole and how, according to both Billie and Trevor. I’d made a big mistake. Big. Huge.
“Please!” She folded her hands together as she begged.
“Okay, sure. Yeah.” I canceled my ride and got back onto the elevator with her.
As we rode up, she talked about cheer. She was going to be a flyer, apparently.
“How’s Dylan? Have you heard from him?” she asked as the elevator stopped at floor two, and a couple who had been riding with us got off.
“He’s touring, so I haven’t seen him. But I think he’s doing good.” I realized I’d never really asked my sister about him. They’d been together for so long. He’d been touring since they started dating and had always been on the road eight to ten months out of the year.
I used to worry about her and ask her if she was lonely, but she always said she was great. She’d always been very self-contained. As a child, she would sit drawing, reading, and doing crafts for hours by herself. She lived most of her life in her head, in the wonderful worlds she created there.
“Have they set a date yet? For the wedding?”
“I’m not sure,” I lied. As much as I liked Carly and wished I could tell her that my sister was going to be getting married in the summer, I couldn’t because I knew she was only asking since she was a huge Chaos Collective fan and wanted the inside scoop. And they hadn’t announced publicly that they were going to have a destination wedding next August.
