“Nothing?” he asked. “Seriously? Not even a consolation hug?”
“There, there.” Mal patted him on the back. “Now you know how all those women you loved and left felt.”
“I didn’t love and leave. It was always a mutual decision.”
“Is that what they thought?”
The conversation had taken on a serious tone and Owen was glad when Stef moved to the other end of the bar to check on her customers.
“Of course they did.” Just because there hadn’t been long, drawn-out discussions on the topic didn’t mean they hadn’t been in agreement.
“You sure?” Mal tapped a finger against the side of her glass. Her gaze drifted. “Sometimes you might think you know the other person’s feelings only to realize at the worst possible moment that you were wrong.”
And they were veering again. Owen absorbed her words fully, then asked, “Are we talking about you now?”
Mal sat up, her attention snapping back into place, that raw emotion he’d briefly glimpsed ducking back under a neutral look. “No, I’m simply pointing out that getting shot down might be good for your personal growth.”
“Not that I’m admitting to anything, but I think I’ve done enough growing.” And if Grace wanted to pretend that this sizzle between them wasn’t there, she was certainly within her rights to do so. Didn’t mean he wouldn’t be available should she change her mind, but then he was good like that. Always looking out for the happiness of others.
Owen smiled at his sister. “So what brings you out here tonight? Boredom? Ennui?”
Mal smirked. “You know those words mean the same thing.”
He slid onto a bar stool, keeping one eye out for a patron who might use it instead. “Yes. But one is all fancy and French.”
Mal glanced around. “Someone you’re trying to show off for?”
“Just practicing.”
* * *
GRACE KNEW THE engagement party would go perfectly. At least, on the surface, which was all that mattered.
No one cared if the DJ’s car broke down or if the fish they’d selected for the entrée was unavailable due to a typhoon last week. They didn’t care if there weren’t enough seats for everyone or if there was one lone bathroom for three hundred guests and someone had just thrown up all over it. All they cared was that Grace took care of it.
Her job was as much about minimizing damage on the day of the event as the actual planning. And she took great care to control as many variables as possible. Like her attraction to one Owen Ford.
She’d managed to plan the engagement party, including another visit to Elephants, without running into him. Some people might think her cowardly or even unprofessional by choosing to schedule her visit when she knew he wouldn’t be there. But Grace saw it as taking advantage of opportunities.
She’d been meeting with Julia and Donovan about their wedding and Julia had mentioned that Owen was working at the restaurant all week. Was she supposed to ignore the snippet of information? Purposely delay her visit by a week so that she wouldn’t appear to be avoiding him?
And she wouldn’t avoid him tonight, either. She’d be too busy to chat with all the various jobs and duties she and her team would be attending to, but she wouldn’t avoid him.
She was already at the wine bar, preparing the initial setup even though the party didn’t start for another four hours. Her team of three would arrive in forty-five minutes, but for now it was just Grace and a pair of Elephants staff members prepping for tonight.
Grace was glad for the solitude. Glad Owen wasn’t here to grab her attention and refuse to let go. She hadn’t gotten to bed until almost four in the morning after a wedding the night before. The bride and groom had wanted to party, as had everyone else in attendance, and Grace had been required to negotiate a time extension on the fly while her team checked to make sure the caterers wouldn’t run out of food and drink.
When she’d finally crawled between her clean sheets, she’d been so exhausted that she almost forgot to set her alarm. And when it had gone off at six this morning, she wished she had forgotten. But she had her Pilates class at seven and she never missed that unless she was out of town.
Being tired and having a headache were not good excuses. So she’d slipped into her workout gear, grabbed a bottle of water from her tidy fridge and was warming up in the gym ten minutes before class.
But keeping to her routine didn’t fill her with any sense of clarity or moral satisfaction. She just felt more tired.
She would be glad when tonight’s event was over, though no one would ever know. On the surface, she’d be poised and friendly, her exhaustion hidden beneath a polite veneer.
By the time her team arrived, Grace had moved the tables and chairs into her preferred groupings and downed two bottles of water to keep hydrated.
It had been a warm day and was promising to be an equally warm night. Her thin silk T-shirt was beginning to stick to her back. “Hayley, will you check on the AC, please?”
Nothing would put a damper on a party faster than having guests uncomfortable.
“Right away.” Hayley scampered off to do as she was bid while Grace went over the event plan with the other two members of her team. They all knew the plan, but Grace made a point of holding a quick overview on-site at every event she threw.
While it was usually unnecessary, those rare occasions where they caught something that had been overlooked made it a worthy practice. Hayley returned and Grace doled out jobs so they’d be ready come showtime.
The staff Owen had handpicked for this evening were beginning to trickle in. Grace took a moment to speak to each of them personally, making sure they knew that, while technically this party was for Julia and Donovan, in fact it was for all the Fords, so any problems or issues should come directly to her. All part of the full-service experience she provided.
The staff were cheerful and quick to lend a hand to transform the room into an elegant space. It helped that Elephants had good bones, with its long white bar, dark flooring and sleek furniture.
Grace had chosen to forgo a traditional tabletop flower arrangement, those blooms that sprang up and demanded to be seen. Instead, she’d gone for something a little smaller, a little less typical and a little more Julia and Donovan. She’d found beautiful white birdcages with a white stone bird perched atop and stuffed them with small blue flowers that poked out from between the bars. The effect was cheerful containment on the tables covered in pristine white cloths. She trucked in some fake trees, leafless and dark, and strung them with small fairy lights. She’d created some temporary chandeliers out of wire, wrapped in a feathery material and strung with the same fairy lights. With the lights in the wine bar turned from their usual pinky hue to soft white, the space turned from a hip see-and-be-seen establishment to one of classic elegance with a modern twist.
Grace stepped back from fixing a light string that was drooping instead of artfully swooping and surveyed the room. A swell of pride filled her chest.
