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A hasty reception after a hasty marriage, though, was a little easier to make the relatives happy.
“Okay, I think we can manage that,” I agreed at last.
“Good. I’ll start setting things up,” she chimed, that same old energy I knew so well in her voice. “A lot of the family is in town already for another get-together, so I can have things ready next weekend.”
“Next w-” I nearly choked on my coffee, eyes going wider. “Does it need to be that soon?”
“Did your wedding have to be this soon?” she fired back, and I knew she had me.
“Alright, fair enough, Mom.”
“I’ll send you the details as soon as I have them,” she chimed again. “See you soon, hon.”
As soon as she hung up the phone, I stared at it ruefully. With everything else that was going on with the renovations on the other resorts besides the Peppertree, setting this up last minute and finding time for it was going to be a challenge, to say the least.
And I hadn’t even told Haley yet.
Deliver bad news early and often was a philosophy that had served me well in the past, so I called up Haley immediately as I swirled what was left of my coffee around in my cup.
“Hey,” her voice purred the moment she picked up the line. That voice made my heart skip a beat.
She didn’t have to talk like that when we weren’t together. There was no chance we were about to try for the baby that held this fake marriage together, so there was no reason for her to get me turned on like that.
“You enjoy tormenting me like that when I can’t get close enough to tear your clothes to shreds again?” I murmured in a low whisper, making sure nobody in the shop was in earshot.
“Maybe I do,” she teased. “How else do you expect me to get you to hurry back here?”
I cocked a smile and opened my mouth to say something back just as teasing, but I paused and took a breath.
“Actually, you’re going to be the one coming to me, this time.”
It was her turn to pause. “What do you mean?”
“We’re having a wedding reception.”
“Come again?” There was some sudden anxiety in her voice.
“I don’t like the idea either, but my family found out about our wedding,” I explained. “They’re upset that nobody was invited, so they want to have this so I can introduce you to the family and let you meet everyone.”
“Oh my God,” she groaned, and I could hear her put her elbow on her desk, and I could picture her resting her head in her hand. “Chase…”
“I know.”
“Chase, that’s going to make things so much harder for the divorce,” she complained, and she had a point. “I cannot tell you how much I hate disappointing people. This is just going to be us lying through our teeth to a room full of your family.”
“They’re nice enough people. And you definitely won’t be the only divorcee-to-be in that room.”
She groaned, obviously not comforted by that.
“I’ll tell you what,” I offered, using the most reassuring tone I possibly could. “If you do this with me, I’ll pull some of the best designers I have from my other projects and assign them to the Peppertree for the year. These are top-notch architects from the Sorbonne in Paris. What do yo
u say?”
There was a long pause from the other end of the line. I felt bad for Haley that she couldn’t drink at a time like this.
“Deal,” she agreed at last.
I smiled. “The plane will pick you up on Friday.”
