Sweet on You (The Bridesmaids Club Book 4) (14 page)

Jacob crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Do you know how much money I have?”

“Most of Bozeman knows how much money you have, but it’s not going to make any difference. I’m not accepting the silly amount of money you gave me. If you pay everyone such extravagant wages, you’ll soon be as poor as the rest of us.” Molly glanced at her laptop. “You still haven’t told me if you’ll be using the presentation I created.”

“Of course I’ll use it. It’s incredible.”

Molly grinned at the growl coming from deep inside his chest. “I’m pleased. It was a privilege being part of your project. Would you like some raspberry cheesecake to celebrate our success?”

Jacob blinked. “Do you always change the subject so fast?”

“Only when it’s in my best interest. And I’ll not be banking your check.”

Jacob muttered something under his breath as Molly disappeared into the kitchen. He was a stubborn man, to be sure. But one with a heart of gold and pockets to match, if what she’d heard was true.

She took two pretty plates out of the pantry and lifted the cheesecake out of the fridge. It didn’t matter how much money Jacob Green had. She wouldn’t be taking his check and the sooner he agreed with her, the happier he’d be.

CHAPTER SIX

“Oh, my Lord,” Molly said as Rachel pulled a bright pink monstrosity out of a box. “Is that a bridesmaid’s dress or a pink parachute?”

Sally giggled. “It’s so frilly that I can’t see where Rachel’s gone.”

“Enough of the short jokes. I can’t help it if you were all born with stilts for legs.” Rachel yanked the last of the dress onto the floor. “How are we going to hang this up? It’s huge.”

Molly picked up the dress and draped it over the back of a chair. “I don’t know if it fits into any of our collections.”

Sally glanced at the other dresses stored neatly on the racks around them. “It’s definitely not from the Grace Kelly or Exotic Collections.”

“And not the Winter Romance Collection, either,” Rachel said. “What about the Cinderella Collection?”

Molly glanced at the gowns that had been squashed onto the Cinderella racks. “We’d not be fitting a gown of this size onto a hanger. It’s large, to be sure, but someone will love it.”

Rachel frowned. “I can’t see that happening in a hurry. Maybe if we leave it in the closet in the changing room, we could pull it out when we need to?”

“Great idea,” Sally said. “Who’s going to wear it for the catalog photo?”

Molly, Rachel, and Sally all looked at each other.

“I’d be taking the photo,” Molly said with a smile. “It’s such a shame that I won’t be able to help.”

Rachel grinned. “Well, I’m too short, so that only leaves one person.”

Everyone looked at Sally. “It’s too big,” she said. “I’m getting married soon. I have a reputation to protect.”

Molly picked up her camera. “I have some safety pins I could use to make the waist smaller.”

“And if you turn your face to the side, no one will know it’s you,” Rachel added.

Sally frowned at the dress. “I’m doing this under protest. You both owe me big time.”

Molly laughed. “I’ll buy you a hot chocolate next time we’re at Angel Wings Café. Do you need help getting changed?’

Sally lifted the dress off the back of the chair and dragged it into the changing room. “If I suffocate under all of this tulle, you know who the police are going to blame, don’t you?”

Molly picked up a letter from inside the box. “Geraldine Potter from Wisconsin. She has beautiful writing and a lovely message for the next person who will wear her dress.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” Sally grumbled. “This might take a while.”

While Sally was getting changed, Molly put her camera on its tripod and opened the reflective umbrella.

Rachel brought a cup of hot tea across to Molly. “What did Jacob say about Marsha and her fiancé?”

Molly looked at her blankly before she realized who Marsha was. She remembered the fire at the Emerson Center, a bride-to-be who couldn’t find a venue with wheelchair access. “He’s thinking about it.” Her cheeks grew warm under Rachel’s gaze.

“When will he give you his answer?”

Molly fussed with her camera. “He didn’t say. We didn’t spend much time talking about Marsha. I’ve finished his real estate photos and we discussed those.”

Rachel stared at Molly’s face. “Maybe you should call him now? I told Marsha we’d get back to her in a couple of days.”

“I’ll try, but I don’t know if he’s in Bozeman.”

“You wouldn’t be hiding something from me, would you?”

Molly sighed. “There’s nothing to hide. Our relationship is strictly professional.”

Rachel didn’t look as though she believed her. “Did he like the photos?”

“I think so. He’s a hard man to understand.” Molly was used to working with all sorts of people. But sometimes Jacob baffled her so much that she wondered if anyone truly understood what went on inside his head. And then there was his heart.

He’d bought Emerald Lake as an investment property. Somewhere along the line he’d fallen in love with the little cottage by the water. But as close as he’d become to his land, he was willing to sell it for a building in New York. She couldn’t understand why, and she shouldn’t care.

Jacob Green would soon be gone from Bozeman and gone from her life.

“You should call him now.” Rachel pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and held it toward Molly.

“I’ll take Sally’s photos first and then I’ll give him a call.”

Rachel looked down at her phone, then slipped it back into her pocket. “You like him, don’t you?”

Molly put the reflective umbrella opposite the window. “Don’t be daft. Jacob Green is the exact opposite of any man I would take a liking to.”

“Are you kidding? He’s everything you need. What more could you want?”

Molly had been asking herself the same question for the last couple of days. Jacob didn’t flaunt his wealth like her ex-husband. He didn’t abandon his family when they needed him or flirt with every pretty woman he saw.

She picked up her light meter and took a reading. “I’d be wanting a man who’ll be living in Bozeman a little longer than Jacob intends to.”

“You could always move to New York?”

“No you can’t,” Sally said from the changing room. She held the skirt of the pink dress in her hands and pushed the hooped petticoat through the doorway. “You’re not allowed to move to New York. We’d miss you too much.”

Molly smiled at Sally. “Look at you. You’re a fairy princess in the making.” The bridesmaid’s dress was far too wide, too long, and too frilly. But with some careful pinning and a pair of high-heels on Sally’s bare feet, the dress would be perfect for their Cinderella Collection.

Sally looked down at the dress and sighed. “I feel like a Barbie doll.”

Rachel held a box of safety pins toward Molly. “By the time we’ve finished, you won’t recognize the dress.”

Sally looked uncertainly at Rachel. “Molly’s good, but she’s not a miracle worker.”

“But I do have the luck of the Irish on my side.” Molly put the first pin in place. “And sometimes, a little bit of luck is all you need. Now tell us about this wedding of yours…where are you up to in the planning?”

As Sally told Molly and Rachel about the venues she’d been looking at, Molly thought about Marsha and her fiancé. She’d need more than the luck of the Irish to convince Jacob to let them use his land.

He’d had quite a few questions about Marsha and her fiancé, and most of them Molly couldn’t answer. Without Jacob meeting them, she didn’t know if he’d ever say yes.

She had less than four weeks to help him see the error of his ways. A wedding at Emerald Lake would be a grand way to say goodbye to the prettiest piece of land Molly had ever seen. And maybe, if she could manage it, another way to market the property.

***

Jacob opened the door to Angel Wings Café and stared at Molly. She was sitting on the far side of the room, away from the people that were waiting at the front counter.

She had her laptop open on the table and her head tilted to one side. Whatever she was looking at was holding her attention.

He’d agreed to talk to her about using Emerald Lake for a wedding. He couldn’t see how it would work, especially with the groom being in a wheelchair. But Molly had convinced him to meet her and figure out the details.

“You look busy,” he said as he stood beside her table.

Molly’s big green eyes shot to his face. He’d startled her, taken her from where her mind had been wandering. “Oh, Jacob. Hello.”

“Can I sit down?”

Heat hit Molly’s cheeks. “Of course you can sit down. What would you be wanting to order?”

Jacob looked at the empty silver tea service and knew she’d been here for longer than a couple of minutes. “Long black coffee with a chicken pot pie. What would you like to eat?”

Molly frowned and looked at her watch. “Where does the time go? I’ll order one of Annie’s pies as well, but it’s my turn to buy you lunch. You paid last time.”

Jacob knew it was useless arguing with her. She had the same stubborn look on her face that she usually did around him. “I’ll order lunch for us.”

“Make sure you don’t pay.”

Jacob didn’t have to walk far. The part-time waitress that Tess employed met him halfway across the café and took their order.

He pulled a chair out from the table and sat down. “What are you working on?”

Molly closed the lid of her laptop. “I have an exhibition in Los Angeles soon. I’ve been sorting the images into the order I want them displayed.”

“Can I have a look?”

Molly frowned, but opened her laptop. “The gallery will be printing a catalog of the photos. I’d be interested in your thoughts.”

Jacob watched the first photo appear on the screen. “Is that Doris Stanley?” Jake and his wife were minor celebrities in Bozeman. Everyone knew them, knew their family, and knew where to go for the best gossip in town.

He’d never been interested in hearing what was being said. But thanks to his brother, he knew when his name made the gossip grapevine.

Molly leaned closer to Jacob. “Jake wanted a photo of Doris working in their hardware store. She didn’t know I was taking the photograph.” Molly looked at the image and smiled. “It’s one of my favorites.”

Doris was walking into the store from the back room. There was a plate of scones in her hands and a wide smile on her face. The shelves behind her were filled with power tools and other merchandise that Jake’s Hardware was famous for.

Jacob saw strength and humor in the photo, a rightness that gave Doris’ presence a sense of purpose. “It’s a great photo. What did Doris say when she saw it?”

Molly laughed. “She wished she’d worn a different dress.”

Jacob glanced at her and watched her smile disappear. “What’s wrong?”

Molly pushed the space bar on her laptop. “You need to be careful how you look at a woman. It might give her the wrong idea.”

He swallowed the lump in his throat. “How did I look at you?”

Molly sat back, scowling at the image on the screen in front of her. “As if I’m a mystery you’d like to be unwrapping. There’s a hunger in your look that needs to be filled.” Her eyes locked with his. “I’m not the person for you, Jacob Green. There’s no mystery to be found. I am what you see. No more and no less.”

“I’m not looking for a mystery.” He watched Molly’s eyes widen, soak in who he was and what he meant. “I want you to know me better, to trust what we could have together.”

Molly crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You’ve got a fine way with words, but it doesn’t change what is. You’re a man who’s driven to be better than the next.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. I’ve always enjoyed being challenged, but I’m not driven. Not anymore.”

“I don’t believe you.” Molly nodded at the next image on her laptop. “I took this photo of Mr. and Mrs. McGill last month. They’ve worked hard for what they have. Nothing has come easy, but through thick and thin, they’ve stayed together. That’s what I want to find.”

Jacob looked at the elderly couple in the photo. He knew the McGills, knew their children and grandchildren as well as he knew his own family. They were neighbors of sorts. Ten miles may have separated their ranches, but over the years they’d spent a lot of time on each other’s properties.

In the photo, Evan McGill had his arm wrapped around his wife’s waist, staring into her eyes with a smile that held more than fifty years’ worth of love. “Everyone wants to find someone who loves them,” Jacob said softly.

Molly’s gaze connected with his and something important passed between them.

Caitlin came across to their table. She left Jacob’s coffee and another pot of tea sitting on the table between them. “I’ll be back soon,” she said with a quick smile. “Kate’s heating your pies now.”

Molly smiled at Caitlin, then pulled her tea out of Jacob’s way. “Have you had time to think about Marsha’s request?”