“What are you saying? Do you think it’s too much?” I laughed, but quickly silenced myself so that I wouldn’t wake Cooper. “Don’t worry. He’ll be the only one in the office at this hour, and he’ll be so buried up to his elbows in work of some kind that I doubt he’ll even take notice of the fact that I’m in a wedding gown. So yes, I am going to wear this. I need to talk to him before we do anything else to make sure it’s alright that I start the job early.”
For the first time since all of the wedding madness began a few days earlier, I thought about the new job. Mr. Perdie had come into my office literally an hour before I was due to take off for the next two weeks for my wedding.
Apparently, an anonymous Scottish land owner had called Perdie, willing to donate a large sum of money to the magazine under the condition that we would do a lengthy piece on Scotland in an upcoming issue.
The call must have come as quite a shock to my boss. Not only did our readership seem to decline daily but, unbeknownst to the anonymous donor (or perhaps he knew quite well), our small travel magazine neared the brink of death, with only five more issues guaranteed. His donation would ensure that we could all keep our jobs for at least another five years.
Even more stunning, and the fact that had caused me to spill my sacred cup of coffee, was that the donor requested that I do the article. All of it. Writing. Photography. He specifically wanted me to author the piece.
I worked hard, but being one of the newest photographers at the magazine, I’d never been given a piece of significant value. I was usually assigned articles like, How To Pack Everything You Need For 10 days In A Carry-On, and, Best Airport Restaurants. As of yet, the only photography I’d been assigned by the magazine had been photos of the inside of a suitcase and airport. Why the man would request that I do the article was beyond me.
After I’d overcome my initial shock, Perdie and I scheduled my trip for right after my honeymoon, but seeing as that would no longer happen, I saw no reason to wait another second. I imagined that Mr. Perdie would feel the same, especially since the receival of the donor’s money was contingent upon my flight information being sent to him directly after its booking.
“Hey…where’d you go?” Jeffrey pulled into the parking garage below my office building and grasped my hand lightly to pull me from my reflective trance. “We’re here.”
“Sorry, I was just thinking about all of this. Crazy, isn’t it?”
The corner of Jeffrey’s brow pulled up quizzically, much like Cooper’s had done earlier. They were so much alike in behavior and outward appearance that even I often had a hard time believing that they weren’t actually biologically related.
“Which part, Grace? The ‘you and me’ bit, or this work stuff?”
I shrugged a bit, unbuckling and facing him as he slid into a parking spot and stilled the car. “All of it. Everything that seems to be going on.” I reached out to grab both his hands. “I’m so sorry, Jeffrey. I can’t express to you,” I suddenly found myself quite choked up. “What it means…what it means that you’ve allowed me to pull you into all of this. And I don’t just mean now. Always. Our whole lives it seems like I’ve been dragging you into one mess or another.”
He frowned, pulling his hands free so that he could cup both sides of my face. “You dragged me into nothing, Grace. Ever. Your father did, when it came to law school and then joining his practice, but you never did. You’re my best friend, and I consider you my closest family. There is nothing in this world that I wouldn’t do for you.”
“Clearly.” I smiled into his palms thinking of the attire we were both wearing now. No matter how platonic our love for one another, he’d been willing to marry me at my father’s request. “I love you, too. And gosh—Coop and I, we just couldn’t do without you. Are you sure you’re fine with me taking him along on the trip?”
Jeffrey released my face and glanced lovingly into the backseat of the car. “Absolutely. I’d come too, but I have one last case I have to finish before I rid myself of your father’s firm. Coop will love every minute of it and, since we’re going to delay his entry into kindergarten for a year, I have no problem with it.”
“Good. Well, I guess I better go talk to him. Shouldn’t take me long. Be back shortly.”
It took me a good minute and a half to swing my feet out of the vehicle and gather the train and fabric that surrounded my legs and ankles. I moved rather self-consciously through the parking garage, although I went unseen. While I had no qualms about Mr. Perdie seeing me in my wedding regalia, I didn’t really want anyone else wondering who the nut was roaming around in a gown.
I found him in his office, as expected. His glasses set a bit crooked, a mustard stain on his tie. Looking at him, I worried a bit that he hadn’t changed his clothes in the last three days. He was a kind enough man, but just glancing around his office caused a slight rise in my blood pressure. It was surely no wonder that the magazine struggled with organizational skills such as his. How many things that needed to be attended to fell through the cracks in the black hole that seemed to be Perdie’s office?