The next day, I was fatigued and yet excited about Serena’s visit. I was in real trouble.
I was filling a second cup of coffee when there was a knock on the door. I made my way to open it, checking my dress. Jeans. T-shirt under an open button-down. No shoes. Casual. Maybe seeing me in something other than a suit would make her more comfortable around me.
“Serena,” I said opening the door.
“Devin.”
At least she was using my first name. “I have coffee and some baked goods from the local French bakery. Want some?”
“I’d love coffee.”
I showed her through the house to the kitchen where I poured her a cup. “Want creamer or something.”
She shook her head and sipped. Her eyes closed as if she was savoring the dark brew.
“Let’s go out back.” I motioned toward the sunroom with the view of the ocean.
She followed me, putting her purse on the table and pulling out a notepad. “I guess we can start with what you envision for your parents’ anniversary party.
“Because of my dad’s illness, it will be small. Just close friends and family. I’d like to maximize this sunroom and maybe the deck if it’s not too cold. Plus, the living area inside. That’s the largest space.”
“Do you want a sit-down dinner or more of an hors d'oeuvres and drinks thing?”
I hadn’t thought of that. “What’s usual?”
She shrugged. “It depends. If you’re having more than twenty people, perhaps not a sit down unless you have a large dining room.” She looked back at the house. “How many does the dining room sit?”
“Ten or twelve. I’m not sure.” We rarely had dinners at the beach house. In fact, as a family, we hadn’t been out here since I was in high school. I’d made plenty of use of the home when I was in college, but my friends and I didn’t use the dining room either.
“Do you have a theme in mind?”
I shook my head. “What do you recommend?”
“Well, there are a couple of options. Thirty years is pearls so we could work off that. We can have a pearl color scheme. We’re on the beach so seafood would work with that. Oysters.”
“I don’t need my parents getting horny,” I said as a joke.
She quirked a brow at me, but didn’t respond. Instead she said, “Or we can work off your Irish background. The pearl idea is probably more elegant, but the Irish theme might better fit your parents. The goal is to celebrate them and their relationship. We should probably have pictures of them and you to show off thirty years of life together.”
“I’ll ask Bri to get those.”
“Bri?”
“My sister. I’m sure I mentioned her before.”
“Oh yes.”
I leaned forward. “It’s weird how close I felt to you but now I realize, we never met our friends or family.” I felt guilty for not taking a greater interest in her life outside of me back then.
She squirmed slightly and looked out toward the ocean.
“Unless you’ve met my parents through the course of your event planning work,” I said.
She shook her head.
“I can’t remember if you have a brother or sister.” All of a sudden, I felt the need to know her better.
“Just me and my parents.” She turned her attention to her list. “So, the pearl theme, you think?”
I sat back, annoyed that she was going to make this all business. Even if we weren’t going to see if we could rekindle the past, we could be friends.
“Pearl sounds nice.”
“We’ll need to get invites out asap because we don’t have much time.”
I pulled out my phone. “I’ll have my assistant get me a list.” I typed the message to myself.
We continued to hash out ideas about the party, then I showed her the areas of the house that we could use for the party.
Serena walked through each room with the eye of a planner, but every now and then I saw awe, maybe even envy. I realized that in our short time together, I’d never brought her to the beach house.
“If we’d had more time together, I’d have brought you here,” I said.
She had her back to me as she looked out the kitchen window toward the beach. “I’d have never fit in.”
“What are you talking about?”
She gave herself a little shake as if she was getting rid of a thought or feeling. She went to her pad of paper. “Do you have a caterer out here you prefer? We have a few we’ve worked—”
“What did you mean that you wouldn’t fit in?” I moved closer to her. I wasn’t going to let her finagle her way out of this discussion.
She sighed. “Your parents wouldn’t have accepted me.”
“How do you know?” I turned her to look at me, leaving my hands on her shoulders.
She kept her eyes down, like she was hiding. “I’m not part of your world, Devin. And your world likes to keep to itself. That’s how we met, remember?”
“I do remember. I was lamenting how shallow and boring my world could be. I wanted to experience something real.” I hooked my finger under her chin, tilting her head to look up at me. “But that doesn’t mean my parents wouldn’t like you.”
She gave me an expression that said I was feeding her bullshit. I suppose I was. The truth was, my parents probably wouldn’t have liked her. At least not as a potential wife for me. Evelyn was their pick for that spot.
“What my parents think doesn’t matter.”
“You’re fooling yourself.” She scoffed.
I shook my head. “I’m my own man now. When they summoned me home, I was clear that I’d only come if I was given free rein to make decisions.”
“In business,” she said.
I dropped my hands. “Why am I bothering?”
Her brows furrowed. “Bothering with what?”
“Trying to convince you to
