Page 30 of Yours, Finally

"Of course," I said. "We’ll look at them."

Joanna glanced between Vi and I. "Are you… siblings? You said it's your parents' anniversary and you grew up together?"

Vi's laughter was explosive. "Us? Siblings? No."

"No, we're… we are…" I frowned.

"We're in charge of the venue and decorations," Vi offered.

I pushed my lips to the side and tried to accept her words. They were wrapped in sandpaper, and it roughed my edges out on their way. While Vi's parents called me an adopted sonsometimes, and I was a brother-friend to Gabe, I didn't know what that made me in relation to Vi.

Joanna smiled and took a couple of business cards out of her pocket, along with a pen. She wrote something on the back of one of them. "Well, I understand that planning these things takes time, and that you're on a tight schedule. I'd love to help out."

She gave me and Vi one card each. On the back of mine, it saidpersonal number if you need it, and it listed her digits.

"Anything you want, just give me a call." She smiled my way.

"We will." I smiled back at her. "We will chat and let you know."

Vi shifted on her feet.

Joanna kept her smile. "You should go for a walk in the garden. It's beautiful, and maybe it will inspire you to have the party out there."

I thanked her and guided Vi out with a hand on her back. We took a stroll in the warm noon sun.

Large, old trees surrounded the property, all lined behind big and colorful flower bushes. A main paved path led us to the main terrace; from there it broke down into smaller trails leading to secondary outdoor spaces. Giant terracotta pots were placed strategically at the corners, with varied tones of green spilling out of them. Bushes I would never be able to name framed the different spaces.

"It's really beautiful out here." I walked side-by-side with Vi, taking in the place. "The flowers aren't in bloom yet, but they will be at their peak by the time of the party."

She crossed her arms with mild irritation.

"I don't know," she said. "The idea of organizing a big party outdoors makes me nervous. What if the weather doesn't cooperate? I'd hate having to rush inside because of rain, or have our guests sweating and swatting insects away."

I chuckled. "When you put it that way, the risk is too high."

We crossed the terrace onto a small, ornamental creek bridge. She stopped at the top and, with elbows on the railing, gazed down at the running water.

"Not this place, then?" I mirrored her. "You don't look like it's a winner."

"It's not. As gorgeous as this is, I think Remington Estate is the winner."

"Claire will be thrilled. She got excited about your ideas."

"I'll call her and make the booking official."

We should have left it there and gone back to work, but she didn't move and neither did I.

I gazed at her profile. "Should we let Joanna know we made a decision?"

"You can call her later. She'll be thrilled."

I frowned. "Thrilled? She just lost our business."

Vi snorted and looked away. "Still. There's a reason why she gave you her number, Jake."

"What?" I drew back my head in surprise. "She was giving us good service."

A mild snort escaped her nose. She still didn't look at me. "You noticed she was flirting, didn't you?"