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“Sure thing,” Bree said. “I won’t tell a soul.”
“Me, neither,” Gretchen agreed. She looked up at the clock on the wall and sighed. “We’d better get back to it. I’ve got the future Mr. and Mrs. Edwards coming by to pick their invitations on their lunch break.”
All four of the women stood and started back to their various tasks. Mondays were Amelia’s Fridays. She was off the next two days, so she needed to get things in order for the upcoming weekend. That meant submitting her grocery order to the food suppliers. She also needed to email the finalized reception menu to a couple doing a ’50s rockabilly-themed wedding. There wasn’t time to sit around and mope about her situation for long.
Life went on. And so must she.
* * *
Tyler was pretty certain today might qualify as one of the longest days of his life. Probably because he hadn’t slept since he arrived in Nashville and the two days had blurred together into one. By the time Tyler rang the doorbell of Amelia’s apartment to pick her up for their dinner date Tuesday night, he had been awake for forty hours straight.
He’d learned early on that sleep was for the guy who came in second. He’d accomplished a lot since he dropped Amelia back at the chapel. He’d made arrangements to manage his business dealings from Nashville. He got some of his employees to take on more business travel to free up his calendar. There was still a trip to London on his schedule in a few weeks, but he would play that by ear. He really needed to be there for the Sotheby’s auction. Perhaps he could talk Amelia into joining him for that trip.
Work handled, he met with a real estate agent and toured half a dozen potential homes. He was pretty certain he’d found the one, but he wouldn’t decide until Amelia had seen it. He’d also turned in his rental car and picked up something more suitable for the next few weeks.
With the logistics in place, he directed his attention toward more romantic pursuits. He made dinner reservations and set out in search of a nearby florist that carried her favorite flower. She’d said she wanted romance and that she expected him to know exactly what she would like. Well, mission accomplished.
Amelia opened the door of her apartment. Before she could even say hello, her gaze dropped to the bouquet of roses in his hands. Not just any roses—green beauties. They were a pale-green-and-ivory rose with darker green edges. The flowers reminded him of tiny cabbages, really, but she’d always loved them. Her favorite color was green after all.
“Wow,” she said. She looked up at him with a wide smile brightening her face.
“I was about to say that same thing.” Amelia looked amazing. She was wearing a plum-colored dress that popped against the ivory of her skin. It almost looked like strips of fabric wrapped around her body. It had cap sleeves with straps crisscrossing over her collarbones. It molded to her shape, making her incredibly voluptuous figure even more outrageous. She had the kind of dangerous curves that required two hands or a man could lose control. “You look beautiful tonight.”
“Thank you. This is a Herve Leger bandage dress I saved up to buy, and I’ve never had the opportunity to wear it. It’s on the snug side to begin with, so I figured I should wear it tonight while I can. If I could get away with it, I’d wear it every day until I hit my second trimester, but it’s just not that practical.”
Fashion before comfort with Amelia, always. “I would vote for that. I wouldn’t get anything done staring at you the whole time, though.”
“You’re sweet,” she said, a rosy color rising to her cheeks. “I can’t believe you remembered my favorite flower.”
“Of course I did,” Tyler said as he held the bouquet out to her. “For you.”
“Come in,” Amelia said as she took a few steps back into her apartment.
He followed her into the cozy one-bedroom corner unit she called home. Golden overhead lighting shined down from an antique-looking fixture. It illuminated every detail she’d worked hard to put in place. It was a cute little apartment, spacious by New York standards, and very much Amelia. The furniture was shabby chic in style, mixing older, worn antiques with a few newer, brighter pieces. There was a mishmash of throw rugs, embroidered pillows and candles scattered around the space.
She had always had a keen aesthetic eye, be it for fashion, furniture or food. Even back in high school, when Tyler’s daily uniform had included jeans and a T-shirt, she had always gone above and beyond when it came to her style. To her, decorating an apartment was like getting her place dressed up to go out. He couldn’t be bothered. He wanted things to be functional and not too fussy. Like his clothes.
He watched Amelia disappear into the tiny kitchen and put the green roses in a tall crystal vase filled with water. She had been right when she said there wasn’t room for him to live here with her. It was comfortable, welcoming, but not really big enough for more than one person. And she certainly would have difficulty raising a child here, too. There was no room for a nursery. No yard to play in. A couple toys on the floor could create a treacherous obstacle course.
“What?” she asked, coming toward him with the vase in her hands. “You look disgusted about something.”
“Not disgusted. I was just thinking of how small your place is. Reminds me of the first apartment I rented when I moved to New York to apprentice at Levi’s jewelry store.”
“It suits me just fine.” She placed the flowers in the middle of her square white dining room table. “It’s quiet, I have reserved parking and the price is good. I’m really not home that much anyway.”
“Well—” he frowned “—no matter what happens with us, we’ll need to find you a new place. Either you’ll move in with me or we’ll get you something bigger for you and the baby.” He raised his hand to halt her protest. “Don’t start. You and I both know you’ll need more space when the baby comes.”
Amelia shrugged and scooped up her purse. “I had been thinking about getting a townhouse before all this started. But there’s no sense in worrying about it now. We’ve got time to figure out things like that.”
“Absolutely. Right now, we need to focus on not missing our reservation.”
“Where are we going?”
“The Watermark, downtown.”
Amelia smiled as she picked up her jacket and followed
him outside. “Nice choice.”
