One Week With The Best Man

“Ten thousand dollars?” Gretchen nearly choked. “Are you kidding?”

“No,” Ross said. “I’m very serious. Can you provide what we’re asking for or not?”

Natalie took a deep breath and nodded. “Yes. We’ll make arrangements and have someone in place to meet with Julian when he arrives in Nashville.”

“Very good. He flies into Nashville tonight and he’s staying at the Hilton.” Ross reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a leather wallet. He extracted a handful of cash and pushed it across the table to Natalie. “This should cover the incidentals I discussed. The full payment will be provided after the wedding is over.”

Without elaborating, he stood up and walked out of the conference room, leaving the four women in stunned silence.

Finally, Bree reached out and counted the money. “He left two grand. I think that will buy some really nice highlights and a couple fancy outfits, don’t you, Amelia?”

Amelia, the caterer and resident fashionista, nodded. “It should. But it really depends on what we have to start with. Who can we possibly get to do this?”

“Not me,” Bree insisted. “I’m engaged, and I’ve got to be able to take all the pictures. You’re married and pregnant,” she noted.

Amelia ran her hand over her rounded belly. She had just reached twenty-two weeks and found out that she and her husband, Tyler, were having a girl. “Even if I wasn’t, I’ve got to cook for five hundred guests. I’m already in over my head on this one, even with Stella’s help.”

They both turned to look at Natalie, who was frantically making notes in her tablet. “Don’t look at me,” she said after noticing them watching her. “I’m the wedding planner. I’ll be in headset mode keeping this show on track.”

“There’s got to be someone we could ask. A friend?” Gretchen pressed. “You grew up in Nashville, Natalie. Don’t you know anyone that wouldn’t mind being a movie star’s arm candy for a few days?”

“What about you?” Natalie fired back.

“What?” Gretchen nearly shrieked in response to the ridiculous question. They’d obviously lost their minds if they thought that was a viable solution. “Me? With Julian Cooper?”

Natalie shrugged off her surprise. “And why not? He said they wanted a normal, everyday woman.”

“Just because he doesn’t want a supermodel doesn’t mean he wants...me. I’m hardly normal. I’m short, I’m fat and never mind the fact that I’m horribly awkward with men. I clam up whenever Bree’s musician fiancé comes by. Do you really think I can act normal while the hottest star in Hollywood is whispering in my ear?”

“You’re not fat,” Amelia chastised. “You’re a normal woman. Plenty of guys like their women a little juicy.”

Juicy? Gretchen rolled her eyes and flopped back into her chair. She was twenty pounds overweight on a petite frame and had been that way since she was in diapers. Her two sisters were willowy and fragile like their ballerina mother, but Gretchen got their father’s solid Russian genes, much to her dismay. Her pants size was in the double digits, and she was in a constant state of baking muffin tops. Juicy wasn’t the word she would use.

“You guys can’t really be serious about this. Even if I wasn’t the last woman on earth that he’d date, you forget I work here, too. I’ll be busy.”

“Not necessarily,” Bree countered. “Most of what you do is done in advance.”

Gretchen frowned. Bree was right, although she didn’t want to admit it. The invitations had gone out months ago. The programs and place cards were done. She would need to decorate the night before, but that didn’t preclude her from participating in most of the wedding day activities. “I handle a lot of last-minute things, too, you know. It’s not like I’m sitting around every Saturday doing my nails.”

“That’s not what I’m implying,” Bree said.

“Even so, it’s ridiculous,” Gretchen grumbled. “Julian Cooper? Please.”

“You could use the money, Gretchen.”

She looked at Amelia and sighed. Yes, Gretchen was broke. They’d all agreed when they started this business that the majority of their profits would go into paying off the mortgage on the facility, so they weren’t drawing amazing wages. For Amelia and Bree it didn’t matter so much anymore. Bree was engaged to a millionaire record producer, and Amelia was married to a rare jewels dealer. Gretchen was getting by, but there wasn’t much left over for life’s extras. “Who couldn’t?”

“You could go to Italy,” Natalie offered.

That made Gretchen groan aloud. They’d found her Achilles’ heel without much trouble. She’d had a fantasy of traveling to Italy for years. Since high school. She wanted to spend weeks taking in every detail, every painting of the Renaissance masters. It was a trip well out of her financial reach despite years of trying to save. But Natalie was right. With that cash in her hand she could immediately book a flight and go.

Italy. Florence. Venice. Rome.

She shook off the thoughts of gelato on the Spanish Steps and tried to face reality. “We’re overworked. Things are slower around the holidays, but I don’t see a three-week Italian vacation in my future. He could give me a million bucks and I wouldn’t be able to take off time for a trip.”

“We close for a week between Christmas and New Year’s. That would cover some of it,” Natalie said. “Or you could go later in the spring. If you work ahead with the printing, we can get someone to cover the decorating. What matters is that you’d have the money in hand to go. What can it hurt?”

“Yeah, Gretchen,” Bree chimed in. “It’s a lot of money, and for what? Clinging to the hard body of Julian Cooper with a loving look in your eyes? Dancing with him at the reception and maybe kissing him for the cameras?”

Gretchen tightened her jaw, choking down another argument, because she knew Bree was right. All she had to do was suck it up for a few days and she could go to Italy. She’d never have another opportunity like this.

“Besides,” Bree added, “how bad can faking it with a sexy movie star really be?”

* * *

If Ross hadn’t been personally responsible for Julian’s career success, Julian would throttle him right this second.

“A date? A fake date? Really, Ross?”

“I think it will be good for your image.”

Julian sipped his bottled water and leaned against the arm of the chair in his Nashville hotel suite. “Do I look that pathetic and heartbroken over my breakup with Bridgette?”

“Of course not,” Ross soothed. “I just want to make sure that her management team doesn’t outsmart us. She’s already been seen out with Paul Watson. If you don’t move on fast enough, you’ll get painted as lovesick for her.”

“I don’t care,” Julian exclaimed. “Despite what everyone thinks, I broke up with Bridgette six months ago. We only went out publicly because you insisted on it.”

“I didn’t insist,” Ross protested. “The studio insisted. Your romance was a huge selling point for the film. They couldn’t have you two break up before it even came out.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Julian said dismissively. “If I ever even look twice at one of my costars again, you haul me off and remind me of this moment. But now it’s done. I’m over Bridgette and I’m way over dating someone just for the cameras.”

Ross held up his hands. “It won’t be like that. I swear. Besides, it’s already done. She’ll be here to meet you in about five minutes.”

“Ross!” Julian shouted, rising to his full height to intimidate his short, round manager. “You can’t just do stuff like this without my permission.”

“Yes, I can. It’s what you pay me to do. You’ll thank me later.”

Julian pinched the bridge of his nose between his finger and thumb. “Who is it? Some country music singer? Did you import an actress from Hollywood?”

“No, none of that. They tell me she’s one of the employees at the wedding chapel. Just your everyday girl.”

“Wait. I thought after what happened with that waitress you didn’t want me dating ‘regular’ women. You said they were a bigger security risk than another star with her own career to protect. You said I needed to stick to women that didn’t need my money or my fame.” Julian had been dealing strictly with high-and-mighty starlets the past few years at Ross’s insistence, but now, a regular girl was okay because he said so?

“I know, and normally that’s the case. That waitress just wanted to dig up dirt on you to make a buck with the tabloids. There are a million women just like her in Hollywood. But in this scenario I think it’s a smart choice. Women in Nashville are different, and it’s an unexpected move. Your female fans will like it, of course, and so will the studios. I’ve been trying to get you a role as a true romantic lead. This could do it.”

Julian didn’t really want to be a romantic lead. At least not by Ross’s definition. His manager’s idea of a romantic film was one where the sexy blonde clings to his half-naked body while he shoots the bad guys. He’d already played that role again and again. When he’d pushed Ross on the topic a second time, he got Julian the “romantic” lead in a movie about male strippers. Not exactly hard-hitting, award-winning stuff. Hell, he’d be thrilled to just do a light romantic comedy. Something without explosions. Or machine guns. Or G-strings.

“I should fire you for this,” Julian complained as he dropped down into his chair. It was a hollow threat, and they both knew it. Ross had made Julian’s career. He might not be creatively fulfilled by big-budget action films, but the money was ridiculous and Julian needed every penny.