Planning Bliss (Bliss Series Book 1)

The Big Day

The Big Day

I parked my car right outside the club, where Chase stood waiting on the front steps. She ran to me when I looked up with tear-soaked eyes and practically ripped the door open to get to me.

Even though I thought I couldn't have any tears left, they wouldn't stop pouring out. And she just let me cry.

She didn't make any snarky comments. She didn't offer any words of comfort. She didn't have to say anything.

After driving a block from the Benjamin mansion, I had parked the car and called her. I had told her that he was leaving. She had asked me to meet her at the county club where she had been looking after the deliveries and preparations for tomorrow's big event.

Once I quieted down my sobs, Chase asked me to swing my legs over the passenger side so she could take over and drive me home. It was for the best, considering I could barely keep my eyes from the heaviness. Once we arrived, Chase walked me to my bedroom and helped me dress into a sleep shirt. I felt like I had been sucked dry.

Tomorrow would be the end of it all. Jake and Sandrine would be married. They'd go off on their month-long honeymoon. Isobel and her parents would go back to their normal lifestyle with nothing amiss. Natali would go back to France. And Levi... he would walk out of my life and I would find a way to move on.

I had been through this once after Paris, and I thought my heart would be used to it by now. But it wasn't. Tonight, before I left, he had to do that. He had to make me feel again. He had to call me that.

"Get some rest. Don't worry about getting to the club early tomorrow. We also don't have to go to the gym. Diego knows." Chase undid my messy braid off, and untangled my hair with her fingers. "I'll take care of everything. You can trust me on that."

This was why she and I were best friends. She knew. She understood. Even though she had never been in love before, much less committed to a relationship, Chase knew the repercussions of a heart break.

"I'll sleep in the other room. If you need me you know where I'll be." Before she stood, she hugged me through the blanket.

I nodded and closed my dried-out eyes, hoping that when I woke up I would find that everything was only a dream.

****
I dripped the eyedrops into my eyes, blinked a couple times, and replaced my glasses. I had forgotten to take out my contacts the previous night in addition to all the crying, and my eyes had suffered. Just as much as my heart had.

Hopefully, the makeup artist could do better with the red splotches on my face and with the dark circles under my eyes than I had. The used tea bags I placed while Chase drove us to the club hadn't made much difference. I walked out of the bathroom to once again check on progress.

Our company worked every kind of event there was, but my personal favorite were weddings. This was the biggest we'd taken on so far. And possibly the most elegant.

We had employed more than our usual amount of workers and contractors, and the result was a smoothly-run operation. The Sperry sailcloth tent stood proud on the northeast side of the club, and a clear frame tent representing as the entrance.

We would have chosen to have the reception inside the Beaux-Arts building, which would have avoided any issues with unpredictable weather, but it wouldn't have fitted the nearly five hundred guests.

With a hundred or so flower arrangements placed strategically inside and outside the tents, the glint of ten crystal chandeliers hanging above the square tables covered with purple silk cloths, the gold chivari chairs with purple velvet upholstery surrounding them, and the elegant stage built-- which would be holding the eleven-piece big sound band --in front of the dance floor, the reception area was close to completion.