Snowdrop Kisses Part Sixteen
A Christmas love story featuring a plucky florist and a tall dark and handsome entrepreneur
Previously… in Part 15 James has a heart to heart with Harry and turns down another woman. Wendy and Vivienne arrive at Stonehaven to prepare for the party.
Chapter 31
James came over to Wendy’s window, which she unrolled further. “You can park around back and unload there.” His tone was clipped, and he didn’t meet her eye.
He was so formal and controlled she doubted he had spent the week since Saturday torturing himself with What Ifs about their awkward meeting outside Chronic Pain. She nodded and followed his directions.
“He makes us park at the servants’ entrance, eh? Rich jerks. Remember Mrs. Westhaven? She kept referring to me as ‘girl’? ‘Have the girl bring the magnolias.’ I was the same age as her,” growled Vivienne.
“Mrs. Westhaven was a nightmare,” Wendy soothed. She was still distracted by James’ manner — he must think she was a total flake. Who tried to kiss a guy while on a date with someone else?
“Not just a nightmare,” Vivienne snapped back, “but an example of the capitalist’s dehumanization of the worker.”
Lately Vivienne’s rants were moving from feminism to Marxism. Wendy decided it wasn’t the time to engage in a debate about economic models. “It’s probably easier to unload our stuff back there.”
The driveway curved around the house, and Wendy parked near a small door. A couple of outbuildings made of the same limestone dotted the surroundings. Wendy grabbed her purse, double-checking to see she had remembered all her lists. Vivienne was already opening the trunk by the time James reached them. He stood for a moment, as if undecided, and then approached Wendy’s car door. He gave a tug at the handle, and a smile crept across his face. “Is it still stuck?”
Wendy smiled, thrilled at this opportunity to return their relationship to its usual footing. “Yeah, I’ve been a bit busy these past couple of weeks. No time to fix it.”
“You could crawl out the window like a Duke of Hazard.”
Wendy laughed, some of the tension leaving her body. “I’ve never heard them referred to in the singular. That sounds wrong.”
She unbuckled her seat belt and heaved her body over the stick shift. At the critical seat-shifting point she realized Vivienne had moved the seat as far forward as it would go, and Wendy found her face mashed up against the windshield, one eye staring at James. His look of astonished amusement nearly made her lose her momentum. She wiggled through the door, expecting to be teased.
Instead he asked quietly, “You don’t let anything stop you, do you?”
His tone made her heart flutter, and she opened her mouth, not sure how she was going to respond. She was saved by Vivienne.
“Hey, Wendy, do you want all this twine?”
“We’ll bring everything in, and what we don’t use, you can take back to Ottawa.” Wendy called back. She turned to James. “I haven’t introduced you to Vivienne.”
James nodded at her assistant, who was holding a watering can. “Nice to meet you. I’m James.”
Vivienne shot him an assessing look. “I’ve heard all about you.”
Wendy could have kicked her. Thanks to Minna’s friend Dorothea, James already thought Wendy gossiped about him.
James raised an eyebrow, but thankfully didn’t comment. “I hope you found the place without any problems.”
Wendy was delighted they were going to pretend the weird nose-sucking interlude outside Chronic Pain had never happened. “It was easy. Kim gave us very clear instructions. It’s a gorgeous drive.”
“It’s nice this time of year, isn’t it? The fields blanketed in snow, the sky such a clear bright blue. Sometimes when I finish up at the office, I can’t stand the thought of staying in the city, so I come out here. Although I regret it the next day when I’m up at five a.m. to get back to work.”
“Come on, you’re the boss. No one’s watching the clock… Sleep in.”
Vivienne was unpacking the boxes from the back of the car, but her loud snort could still be heard. “You should talk. You’re always at work at the crack of dawn.”
James laughed. “Busted, Wendy! You’re as driven as me.”
They smiled and a feeling of happiness washed over Wendy. She looked away.
James grabbed a heavy box of vases. Wendy was distracted by the bulge of his bicep, visible through his sweater, as he lifted it. She and Vivienne followed James to the house.
“This is the first time I’ve seen a client help out. Either the guy’s all right, or he’s a total control freak.” Vivienne’s voice was loud enough for Wendy to glance nervously at James’ back. He didn’t seem to have heard.
They went through the small back door, and stepped into a cozy foyer with tiled floors below and exposed wood beams above.
“This is the mud room,” James’ voice softened as he spoke of the house. “It’s much less imposing than the main entrance. It’s the one I use all the time.”
They discarded their coats and boots and walked to a large, sunny kitchen with state-of-the-art, stainless steel appliances and long marble countertops. It was so clean and modern looking it could have been a laboratory. Wendy barely had time to absorb it, before James opened a door at the far end of the kitchen, beckoning them over.
The room was small and had probably been the cold storage pantry at some point. A little window looked out over the lawn, which ended in woods. A counter ran down one side of the room, with a sink at the end.
“I’ve put you guys in here. I thought you’d need lots of counter space and this room is cooler than the rest of the house, so I figured it would be good for the flowers. It’s quite close to the ballroom , so you won’t have far to bring all the arrangements.”
“It’s perfect,” Wendy said.
“Yeah,” Vivienne chimed in. “Usually our clients are too busy changing their minds and screaming at us to think about what we might need.”
“I guess I’m just a bit of a control freak,” James said, quoting Vivienne’s words back at her.
Vivienne looked flustered. “Sorry.”
James’ smile was genuine. “Don’t worry about it. I bet most of my employees would agree I can be exacting.”
“Well, I probably shouldn’t have run my mouth off back there,” Vivienne admitted. “People may have told me, once or twice, that I might possibly need an attitude adjustment. Usually I tell them exactly what they can adjust, but I was out of line.”
Wendy watched this exchange in bemusement. She’d never heard her hardened assistant apologize before. What kind of magical power did James Crofton have over women, and what chance did she have of withstanding it?
Chapter 32
James left them to get to work and as soon as he was gone, Wendy turned to Vivienne, “If I didn’t know better, I would think you actually liked Crofton? ”
The older woman chuckled and shrugged. “You almost sound jealous.”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Wendy busied herself pulling the scissors and shears from a box. The problem was that she had been jealous at the easy conversation between James and her assistant.
“Anyway, was he serious?” asked Vivienne. “Does this place have a ballroom?”
“I guess,” said Wendy remembering her conversation with James at La Maison. “The house has been in his family for generations.”
She and Vivienne had unpacked the shears, floral wire, tape and most of the other equipment, when a chubby woman of about fifty-five entered.
“Wendy? I’m Kim. How do you do?” She held out her hand.
“Hi, Kim. It’s so nice to finally meet you in person.”
Wendy introduced Vivienne and suggested to Kim that they go to the ballroom to chat, since she needed to take some measurements .
Kim’s smiled warmly as they walked to the ballroom. “I’ve been curious about you since we started talking, what is it… Three years ago now?”
“About that,” Wendy agreed. “I’ve made up a lot of bouquets for your boss since then.”
Kim laughed. “Yes, James has been busy, but he’ll settle down eventually. I bet a long-term relationship is just around the corner for him.”
Wendy wasn’t going to be caught chit chatting about James’ love life, so despite her curiosity, she said nothing.
Kim wasn’t put off by her silence, and continued. “It’s a question of finding him the right partner. Someone with substance and heart.” They stopped before a set of tall, double doors. “Here we are.” Kim opened them with a flourish.
“Wow!” breathed Wendy.
The room had a cathedral ceiling and a row of tall windows stretching along three walls. On the far side French doors led outside. A gigantic chandelier hung down in the center, its thousands of crystals gleaming in the sunlight. The rich hardwood floor shone warmly, and the lemony scent of polish pervaded the space. Apart from the chandelier, the room was empty. Their footsteps echoed and the air was cold.
“The caterers are bringing tables and chairs,” explained Kim. “They’ll have everything ready by two p.m., which is when you can put the centerpieces on. The band and DJ will set up the stage and organize the sound system. Catriona has told me that everything should be done by five p.m.”
Wendy had forgotten about Catriona. “When is she arriving?”
Kim checked her watch and her mouth thinned. “Any minute now.”
“Has Catriona worked at LCC for a long time?” Wendy despised herself for the question, but she wanted to know what Kim thought of the Communications Director. Besides, she didn’t feel bad about gossiping about Catriona.
“Yes, she’s been with James almost from the beginning. I think she feels that the company is hers, in some ways.”
“Oh?” Wendy prompted.
It was all the encouragement Kim needed. “Catriona is devoted to the company. She wants to control all aspects of how it is perceived, and that often means controlling our top asset: James.”
Wendy nodded. Kim thought Catriona’s interest in James was purely professional. Recalling the cozy photo of the two of them in the press, Wendy wasn’t so sure.
Kim pointed to another door. “I’ll show you the entrance foyer when we’re done here. I think your designs included a floral garland for the main stairway?”
“That’s right. Let me just take some measurements.” Wendy had already seen pictures of the room and used those to come up with the design for the tables’ centrepieces. She’d done some preliminary sketches for the rest of the flowers, but usually got more inspiration from being on site.
She looked around in assessment. The room’s grandeur demanded enormous bunches of flowers. She would do up two huge bouquets of ranunculus with ferns and lots of ivy. She would make the wreaths bigger than she had first intended, layering in more greenery, scarlet anemones and a sprinkling of holly berries for an extra splash of red. The floral wall was already created and would look perfect by the stage. Isaiah would be bringing extra flowers when he dropped off the arrangements.
“This party is going to be beautiful.” Wendy could envision how the room would be transformed. “You’re going to have a great time.”
“Yes, it should be a lovely. A thank you to employees, investors and the wider community. Hopefully it won’t be the usual dull corporate event. If I have to smile politely through another golf joke, I might scream.”
Wendy laughed. “Yeah, when you put it like that, it sounds less appealing.”
A look, almost of panic, passed over Kim’s face and she spoke quickly. “That’s not what tonight’s going to be like, though. You’ll have a great time.”
Wendy laughed. “Me? No, I’m not invited.”
“Nonsense! This party is for LCC employees as much as for the big wigs and media people. Everyone’s invited.”
At that moment, James walked into the room, Catriona Hunt hanging off his arm.
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