Page 82 of Boss from Hell
I squeezed her hand. “Let’s go to dinner somewhere nice with that money, huh?”
She grinned. “Deal.”
The venue took us twenty minutes to get to so Maggie and I caught up with our news.
“How’s your mom doing? Is she thawing?” she asked.
“Not yet.”
Then I told her about Rose and her new job and how it had done wonders for her general happiness. I wished I could say the same for myself. I had a sense of foreboding as if I was waiting for something bad to happen. It reminded me of the period just before my mom finally confessed that she was in financial difficulties.
In my gut, I already knew something was wrong, but I refused to acknowledge it. I wanted it not to be true. In my gut, I already knew there was something very wrong with my relationship with Max. I just didn’t know what it was.
We found the cocktail hour going on and as soon as we entered the ballroom, Max spotted us and came over. “Max, this is Maggie Childs. Maggie, Max Frost.”
“We finally meet,” Maggie said as she shook Max’s hand warmly. “Thank you for all the business you’ve given us.”
Max smiled distantly. “I have a feeling I’m the one who should be thanking you for putting up with me… and for bringing this little minx into my life.”
“Come, let me introduce you to Jennifer.” He took my hand in his and led us to where the bride and groom were standing.
The bride was a very pretty brunette. She beamed at us happily.
“I’ve heard so much about you, Lillian. And it’s so great to finally meet you. The photos from the stag party are amazing. I absolutely adore them. Almost makes me wish I could have been there. We have to go out for a drink when all this is over,” she gushed. Then she turned to Maggie. “You must come too. A girl can never have too many friends.”
Chris had a huge smile on his face throughout. It was sweet and touching to see how in love with each other they were.
Then something peculiar happened.
Chris got a message on his phone. He looked at it, then turned to Max and said in an excited voice, “The fish has taken the bait.”
A strange expression crossed Max’s face, then his head whirled around to look at me. For a few seconds we stared at each other, and then he looked back to Chris and with a smile said, “That’s good news. Very good news.”
But his smile was sad as if it was not good news at all.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe this. You two are talking about business on my wedding day,” Jennifer complained.
Chris switched off his phone and put it away with a sheepish grin. “Phone? What phone? Business? What business? I’m getting married to the most beautiful woman on earth.”
Jennifer smiled. “Quite right.”
The wedding planner came hurrying towards us. “We’re almost ready to start. Groom and best man over there. Jennifer, please come with me.”
“I thought the groom wasn’t supposed to see the bride before the ceremony,” Maggie commented when we were alone. “I definitely wouldn’t want Martin to see me until I walk down the aisle.”
“I guess it depends on the couple. Maybe they’re not so heavy on tradition,” I said distractedly, my eyes on Max.
He looked so sexy in his tuxedo.
Soon the master of ceremony was asking us all to proceed to the garden where the official part of the wedding was taking place. Maggie and I sat in a strategic spot where we had a nice view of the front where the groom and bride would be exchanging their vows, but I only had eyes for Max.
“I don’t care what you say. That man has fallen for you, Lillian,” Maggie whispered to me as the ceremony progressed.
“Why do you say that?”
“He just gave you ‘that’ look.”
I grew hot all over and fervently wished it was true. When the time came for the couple to exchange vows, Chris cried, reminding me that love did change a person. Max had said that Chris had been a die-hard in the bachelor world, but clearly meeting the right woman had changed his thoughts about marriage.