Page 98 of Bless My Body

Especially when you aren’t exactly welcome.

The woman looks up at me and smiles. “Is everything ok?”

“Yeah. Just needed some air.” She nods in understanding.

“I hear you. Sometimes these parties can get a bit stuffy.” I take in her appearance. She’s in black

pants and a black blouse. She looks nice, but definitely not like the other guests. As if she can read my

thoughts, she extends her hand and says, “I’m Gwen. The event coordinator.”

“I’m Celine,” I introduce myself. “Event coordinator?” I hope that doesn’t sound like a stupid

question, but I’ve never thought of that as being an actual job. Ezra said his Mom planned the party, so

I assumed she did it without any help. Now that I think about it, that doesn’t make much sense. She

doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would do too much work on her own.

“Yeah. Mrs. Sanders is a loyal client of mine. She always calls me when she’s planning a party.”

“So you… what? Help with decorating?” God, that sounded rude, but I didn’t mean it like that.

I’m genuinely curious as to what she does.

“Well, yes,” she smiles. “But I also schedule the vendors like caterers and flowers and furniture

rentals. I send out the invites and also make sure the party has a schedule we stick to as strictly as the

clients ask us to.”

“And you like doing that?”

She nods, “Yeah, I do. I started my own company a few years ago. I’ve got a few people working

for me now. It’s great being my own boss, and I love seeing the parties come together and make my

clients happy.”

“Is it hard?”

She thinks about it for a minute before answering. “It’s not the easiest job, but as long as you stay

organized, it’s usually not too bad if you have good clients. I’m just running on fumes tonight because

one of my employees had her baby. This is my third event in three days, and I’m tired.”

“Oh, wow.” My eyebrows raise in surprise. I couldn’t imagine going to that many parties in that

little amount of time. And not even just go to the parties but plan them. “Well, you did a great job.”

“Thanks,” she says. She looks me up and down curiously. “I don’t think I’ve seen you at one of the

Sanders’ parties before.”

“Yeah, it’s my first time. I’m here with my friend. This kind of party isn’t usually my thing.”

She smiles at me. “You’ll get used to it. I didn’t know anything about parties like this until I