I frowned. “He was fine with it.”
Julian smiled. “Wyatt’s a good man.”
I raised my brows. “Is that your way of telling me you approve, sugar?”
“Uh-oh.” Julian started to laugh. “You called me, sugar. I’m in big trouble now.”
“Oh, shove it Julian.” I said, with a laugh.
He stood up from his desk. “Come on, cousin, let’s go see what Willow is up to.”
“Hell’s bells!” Guiltily, I jumped to my feet. I’d been so engrossed in our conversation that I’d forgotten. “I hadn’t meant to leave Willow with Nina for so long. I hope Nina isn’t angry.”
“She won’t be,” Julian predicted.
I hustled out of his office and down the stairs, and Julian fell in step with me.
“I promised Willow we’d go out for lunch today,” I said. “Maybe I’ll ask Nina to bring Isabel, and we can make it a girl’s outing.
“Would you have room for one more?” Julian gave me an elbow nudge, making me laugh.
“Of course,” I said. “If you’re feeling brave enough to go out with two women, a four-year-old, and a baby?”
“Sounds like fun to me,” Julian said with a smile.
The two of us moved directly outside and around to the herb gardens. Nina knelt at the edge of the flowerbed, contentedly adding yarrow plants, and Willow was busy pushing a gurgling Isabel around in her stroller.
Nina tipped her face up to us. “Did you two have a nice talk?” She was all smiles.
“I’m sorry I was gone so long,” I apologized.
“Don’t be. Willow kept Isabel happy and I got a lot of planting done.”
“Hi Mama! Hi Julian!” Willow waved and steered Isabel over to us.
Isabel spotted Julian, and the baby let out a happy squeal.
“How do you feel about going out for lunch?” Julian said to Nina, before I could.
“I feel very happy about that. It’d be nice to eat someone else’s cooking.” Nina said, gathering up the empty pots. “Give me five minutes to wash up and change Isabel, and we’ll be ready to roll.”
“Can I have french fries?” Willow wanted to know.
“Of course you can.” Julian passed his hand over Willow’s hair.
“Hooray!” Willow shouted.
I considered Julian’s clothes, and wondered about whether my casual cotton shirt and jeans were appropriate. “Should I change? Is this a formal restaurant?”
“No. It’s family style.” Julian grinned. “Trust me. I know the perfect place to take all my best girls out to lunch.”
I smiled at his cheerful words. As he stood there talking to Willow, I began to understand that Julian Drake was as hungry for family connections as I’d been. Maybe even more so, considering everything he and his father had been through.
***
The week after the family wedding, things began to settle down. My schedule loosened up allowing me a bit more free time. I met with a few prospective brides and grooms. As expected they’d been recommended to me by guests from Autumn and Duncan’s wedding, and one of the couples was interested in having a barn reception at a local farm/wedding venue within the next four weeks.
With her wedding looming so quickly, the bride, Caroline, had begun to panic and had decided she needed professional help to organize her rustic style wedding. While I quite understood her nervousness, I was still a might surprised at how last minute they’d decided to hire an event coordinator. The bride was about to graduate from the university with her Master’s degree, and her fiancé was a science teacher at the local high school. The wedding was scheduled for two weeks after she received her degree.
With the timeline so short, I wasted no time in driving out to the McBriar family farm to meet with the owner and to inspect the setup on my own. The farm was picturesque, and the barn had been cleverly decorated with a mixture of rustic and antique pieces. I could see why Caroline and Lee were interested in the venue, but before they signed a contract I wanted to check the space out for myself.
After speaking to the owner, Diane McBriar, she’d disclosed that their wedding bookings had been down for the past year or so. This was the first time in months anyone had even been interested in booking their venue.
I found that surprising as rustic weddings were very much en vogue at present. Diane began to subtly ask if I felt their décor, and the packages they offered their wedding clients, were up to snuff. She was obviously very concerned that they were either overcharging or not offering the sorts of amenities that brides were currently expecting.
Basically the woman wanted a free assessment of her venue, and it wouldn’t be the first time I’d had that happen to me. With a smile, I politely informed Diane that if she wanted to hire me as a consultant for her venue that we could sit down and work up a contract.
She blinked in surprise, and I steered the conversation back to the plans for Caroline and Lee’s big day and decided that the venue bore close watching.
After the meeting, I had a couple of hours to kill before picking up Willow from preschool. I drove down to the adjacent McBriar farm stand and checked out the perennials and annuals they had for sale.
It might be nice to plant up a strawberry pot full of herbs for myself. I decided, as I considered the plants. If I placed it on the sunny back porch of the cottage, I’d have culinary herbs close to hand for cooking.
With that thought in mind, I picked out a large pot, loaded it in the cart and began to select my herbs. A man’s voice drifted over to me as I shopped.
“Are you serious?” His voice carried clearly. “You asked the snooty Southern wedding coordinator for her advice and she actually said that you’d have to offer her a contract to be a consultant before she’d discuss it?”
My back stiffened. I straightened up from where I’d been perusing through the culinary herbs and focused on the person who was speaking.
A rugged
