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Over the next hour, we discussed all things theme and function. The beauty of Seraphina—aside from her indisputable outward prettiness—was her non-judgmental eagerness to help. I had no problem voicing my worries to her and asking for her opinions on various styles and etiquette. The woman had the fine breeding of a debutante and the grooming of American royalty.
“Don’t worry about a thing, Rayne. I’ve got you. The first thing we need to do is hire you a coordinator.”
“Oh, Hale’s already hired a wedding planner.”
She waved away my words. “A coordinator’s different. They come in during the final months, which—ta-dah—we’re here. The coordinator arranges meetings and handles the bride’s schedule to make sure you have plenty of time to attend every tasting, fitting, and approval that’s needed before the big day. I have someone perfect in mind and I’ll have them reach out to you tomorrow. Then you’ll need a point person for the week of the wedding. Someone at your beck and call in case there are any last-minute requests.”
She turned to Hale. “I assume you’ll be staying at the Plaza?”
“I haven’t thought that far ahead yet?—”
“Well, Hale, the wedding’s less than three months away. You need to make these decisions now.” She turned back to me. “Daddy has the most divine suite. You’ll love it. There’s twenty-four-seven butler service and the view is sensational. You’ll be right in the heart of Manhattan.”
My head was spinning from more than the champagne. “Whatever you think.”
“I think Fifth Avenue is a must. Have you finished your guest list yet?”
“We’re almost done.” I currently had eleven people on mine. Hale had close to three hundred.
“That needs to be your main focus. Now that we have the location, I’ll work on the looks and come up with some options for a theme. You two focus on the guest list and I’ll have Devyn—he’s the coordinator—set up some appointments to interview musicians and whatnot. Then that should bring us to phase four: The Design.” She steepled her fingers, wiggling them excitedly in front of her mischievous grin. “At that point, you should probably be staying in the city full-time.”
My smile fell. “Wait, what?” I looked at Hale. “We’re moving to the city?”
“Only temporarily,” Phina said.
But I needed to hear this news from Hale.
He took my hand. “You know what my schedule’s like over the next two months. I’ll be traveling non-stop for work. Think of this as a vacation, a chance to enjoy the full bride experience.”
That sounded absolutely horrific. It sounded like I was being shipped away to curate his ginormous wedding and all of this had been decided without even consulting me. I suddenly empathized with all those trust fund kids that got transported to boarding schools when their bazillionaire parents were busy building empires with no time to take care of their family responsibilities.
There was suddenly a totem pole and I was not at the top.
My eyes narrowed. “How long would I be here?”
Was it going to be just me and the butler? What about Elara? I didn’t want to be a bride without the groom. Weddings were supposed to be together affairs.
“Just a few weeks.”
“A few weeks?” Why was this necessary? And why had this been arranged assumed without my knowing?
The waiter appeared with a glass cart and hot plate that he proceeded to flambé. The slivers of bananas went up in flames like my prior calm, and I stared at my future husband wondering why he was suddenly trying to pawn me off on his little sister.
“Rayne,” Hale leaned close and whispered, interrupting the fancy banana show.
I ignored him because I didn’t want to argue in public.
“Stop ignoring me.” His hand settled on my thigh and squeezed affectionately. “I haven’t even made arrangements for your stay yet.”
I pushed his hand away and buried my own in my lap. “I’m not a child.”
He frowned. “No one said you were.”
“You didn’t even ask what I wanted.”
“You didn’t give me a chance.”
I glared at him as the flambé flames shot into the air. Seraphina’s attention was on the server. “It’s bad enough I have to spend weeks apart from you because of business. I’m not leaving Elara for that long.”
