“Oh, right. Guess he’d be equivalent to the dark side for you.” Tony patted my shoulder. “Seems like a nice guy. Kind of serious, though.”
I glared at the motorcycle. “No wonder he was hesitant to tell me his last name was Stetson. He was probably afraid I’d recognize his profession.” And too late, I realized that he hadn’t said much about himself earlier today.
“He’s a nice guy, Adri,” Tony repeated in a soothing tone. “You have to admit, you come off kind of strong. He was probably afraid he’d get a tongue-lashing.”
My head jerked up. I caught Lorea shaking her head and giving Tony a pleading look. She stopped and said, “You know, this day isn’t getting any better standing here. Let’s grab some chocolate before we go back to work.”
“I’m a wedding planner, Tony. You know, as in people getting married—that ’til death do us part sort of thing.”
Tony held up his hands. “I get it. I’ll let you know if we find anything new.” He retreated a few steps. “Good luck with the chocolate.” He smirked and hurried inside.
I growled. Tony knew he could tease me because I’d grown up with my brother, Wes, and him tormenting me. But if I ever saw Luke again, he’d find out exactly what I thought about his silence regarding his profession.
The shop was quiet that afternoon. I could tell Lorea was upset about the damaged gowns, but she went right to work, only surfacing when the door opened at three o’clock. I glanced at Colton and swallowed my grin as Lorea leveled a cool stare in my direction that I was sure meant “Keep your mouth shut.”
“Hi, ladies.” Colton carried in two boxes. “Sorry, I don’t have any news on the shipping inquiry.”
He had anticipated my question, but his news wasn’t surprising as I knew the investigation was going through the corporate offices. I frowned. “That’s okay. I kind of figured we wouldn’t find the dress. When I talked to the supervisor, he said to expect at least six weeks before they can come to a conclusion.” I didn’t mention that my contacts in China had said the same thing. My focus had shifted from the botched shipment to the stolen gowns, anyway.
“Yeah, that probably will be the case, but you never know.” He shifted the boxes, and the larger one dropped with a thud on the floor. I flinched, hoping everything inside was packed tightly. He set the smaller box on the counter and handed over his electronic pen. “What do we have today?”
Colton always acted interested to know what was inside our boxes. Today it rubbed me the wrong way because I was in a bad mood over the dresses and in a lesser way the revelation about Luke. Besides, delivery guys weren’t supposed to be nosy, anyway. Deciding to let Lorea answer, I smiled and reminded myself that Colton wasn’t at fault—a certain fried-pickle-eating divorce lawyer was my problem. The silence stretched on, and I hesitated, leaning back to watch Lorea pull back the tape on the large box.
“Don’t sign for that, Adri. This box is damaged.”
“Just the outside corner. I’m sure the stuff inside is okay.” Colton crouched beside Lorea as she opened the box and moved aside some crumbled Styrofoam.
“Uh-oh.” She lifted out a jagged piece of cream-colored ceramic.
My heart sank as I realized what was in the box. “The cupcake stand for Sylvia’s bridal shower!”
Lorea held up another piece with a scalloped edge. “The one she wanted to hold those cupcakes with the magic glitter. Please say this wasn’t one of a kind.”
“I’m going to have an ulcer for sure. I ordered that six weeks ago.” My nerves were buzzing, and I shoved the signing device back at Colton, clenching my teeth together because my training at Bellisima would never let me forget: a wedding planner always exhibits self-control.
“Hey, I’m sure the company will get you a new one.” He held out the pen again. “Just sign here.”
“It’s broken. I’m not signing. I need a claim slip, or whatever. Your company will have to take care of the damages.”
I turned back to Lorea and heard Colton swear under his breath.
“Excuse me?” Lorea stood up, holding the broken cupcake platter in her hand. The fire in her eyes put Colton in his place.
His shoulders slumped. “Sorry, I’m under a lot of pressure. Boss threatened to change my route if I couldn’t take care of the boxes. He expects me to look the other way and let things slide. I’m supposed to encourage the customers to sign no matter what.”
“Do you have a lot of damaged boxes?”
“We’ve been getting our fair share.” He rubbed his hand across his forehead. “I’ll get you some paperwork.” He hurried out to the van.
“I don’t buy that,” I said. “They have insurance for these types of accidents.”
“Maybe his boss is trying to cut through the red tape.” Lorea put the broken pieces of ceramic back inside the box.
My frown deepened. “I guess he found out what was in the delivery again.”
“What do you mean?”
I shrugged. “Just thinking it was kind of odd how Colton always asks us what’s in the boxes.”
“Isn’t he just making conversation?”
“I don’t know. Can you take care of this?” I motioned to the box and then to Colton returning with a handful of papers. “There must be one similar online I can get here with expedited shipping. As long as it doesn’t get broken too.” I glared at Colton, and his eyes went hard in return. I hurried to my computer. I’d never seen him act that way before. Maybe his boss was on his case, or maybe he felt embarrassed about the damage because he thought Lorea might blame him. It was obvious he liked her. With a deep breath, I pushed down my anger and began clicking through
