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TWENTY-ONE
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I stoodbefore the mirror in my office, snapped the black suspenders over my white pleated tux shirt, and donned the coordinating white jacket.
When was the last time I’d been this nervous?
Maybe it’d been during my college exams. I hadn’t really needed to pass them—I would have inherited Ever After Sweets regardless. But Dad had insisted I do my best work, and I’d wanted to for myself as well.
Maybe it’d been after I’d signed The Pact. I’d signed without a second thought—and yet afterward, that decision had haunted me. I hadn’t been able to figure out why.
Marriage was never something I wanted. Having a relationship fail and then passing on that legacy of failure was a hard pass. My whole viewpoint had been focused on school and on inheriting Dad’s business.
Signing my agreement to lifelong bachelorhood hadn’tseemed like a big deal—not until Will had gone loco and started attacking people.
I hadn’t heard anything from Ella since her call earlier, but I was dying to see how her makeover went.
Me: Any luck?
She didn’t answer.
Nervousness shot through me, making my shoulders tense. Had something gone wrong?
I’d been okay with handing things over to Faye, but the more time passed, the more I kicked myself. I should have gone with her. I should have been there.
It would be okay, I told myself. She would come. I had to focus on something else.
My plans for putting a makeshift Ever After Sweet Shoppe in Harmony Children’s waiting room were taken care of. I’d told my parents I’d be over tomorrow afternoon once the morning’s excitement was over.
Though I didn’t like the coldness and fakeness of their relationship with one another, that coldness and fakeness didn’t extend to Gemma and me, at least. They were still my parents.
I locked my office and took the once-dreaded elevator to the second level. The bright hallway welcomed me, adorned with swags of pine set off by festive wreaths in the center and punctuated with holly berries.
Each swag arrangement made an archway, a veritable forest of pine branches to wander through.
The ball had been relocated in my corporate office’s adjoined conference rooms after I’d decided to add more people to the guest list. With the increased invites, the team and Clary had been good about making the necessary adjustments.
It was too bad Ella didn’t have a team at her disposal as well. Then she wouldn’t have to worry about setbacks like the pillowcase thing.
Man, I couldn’t wait to see her.
Me: You done yet?
Ella: On my way.
An expanding feeling took over my chest. Anticipation escalated everything. My movements were more rapid, and I quickened my pace, more eager to see her than ever.
The notion gave me pause. I hadn’t felt this way for any other woman before, and in light of the thoughts I’d just had about my parents, about marriage, that was saying something. I’d never thought I’d pursue a woman as relentlessly as I had Ella.
I should have read her standoffishness and kept my distance, but she’d presented a challenge I hadn’t been able to ignore. I’d fought hard for her. Now that she’d finally given in, what was I going to do?
Normally, when things got too serious with a girl, I ended it. Not just because of The Pact—I always felt the need to safeguard myself from the vulnerabilityand pain that seemed inherent to the romantic relationships I’d witnessed in my youth and my parents’ social strata.
Now? Now, the thought of being in a relationship was appealing rather than repulsive, and I didn’t know how to handle that.
Probably because that relationship includedher.
What was going on? I liked Ella. I liked her enough that I didn’t want to end things like I usually did. The idea was unsettling, to say the least.
