A Camden Family Wedding

“How small?” Vonni asked cautiously.

“Maybe a hundred guests. Including family, which... I haven’t done a recent head count and it’s growing, but I’d say we’re about a quarter of that number. And GiGi doesn’t want anything too fancy or elaborate. Low-key, tasteful. She and her fiancé are seventy-five and neither of them wants a lot of hoopla. They just want something nice. And you won’t have to worry about the ceremony—that will be in the den with only family looking on—so that cuts down on the preparations, too.”

“But it’s you I’ll be working with?” Vonni asked, unsure if she liked that idea, since the man seemed to have a strange effect on her.

“GiGi is in Montana taking care of a friend who had surgery. She can’t get back until just before the wedding but this is the date they want—it’s when they started going steady in high school. I’ll be texting her and sending her pictures of everything, but yeah, you’ll be working with me because it goes hand in hand with the other part of what I wanted to talk to you about today, which is my special project....”

“The business proposition?”

“Really slick how I got that in there, wasn’t it?” he joked, laughing at himself. “Anyway, let’s talk about that. We’ve decided that we want Camden Superstores to offer wedding packages. It’s always been our goal to be a one-stop shop and now we’d like to introduce wedding departments to each of our stores to add that—”

“Wedding departments?” Vonni parroted, unclear about what this had to do with her. Then she became alarmed—did he want to learn from what she did for his grandmother’s wedding and use it for his own special project? Camdens was notorious for undercutting and driving other companies out of business.

“Are you talking about selling wedding gowns? Bridesmaids’ dresses? Tuxedos?” Things that she could recommend clients use Camdens for but that wouldn’t take any of her business away....

“I’m talking about everything,” he answered. “Clothes, yes, but the whole deal. Everything you do, too.”

Oh, wonderful. And then she could be up against all of Camden Superstores....

“We want to offer packages that range from inexpensive to very elaborate,” he continued. “From soup to nuts, including venues we can either contract with or that we might buy outright for rehearsal dinners and receptions. We’ll provide decorations, tables, chairs, plates and silverware, linens—whatever’s necessary. We can offer catering through our food departments. Cakes through our bakeries. Liquor through our liquor department. Flowers through our in-store florists—”

“Everything,” Vonni summed up.

“And because you’re known to be the best at what you do, we’d like to hire you to spearhead the whole thing.”

That had not been what she’d thought he was going to say, and Vonni wasn’t sure she’d understood correctly.

“First you want me—through Burke’s Weddings—to do your grandmother’s wedding in two weeks—”

“Right.”

“And then you want me to spearhead the formation of wedding-planning departments in Camden Superstores to put you in direct competition with us?”

He shook his head. “Well, yes, there would be competition, but Camdens wouldn’t be competing against you. I’m asking you to leave Burke’s Weddings to come on board with Camden Superstores. You’d be the division director, responsible for completely designing and developing wedding departments with us that would be uniquely you.”

“I’d come to work for Camden Superstores?”

“Yes. With the kind of contract we give our highest executives, including one of the best golden-parachute clauses around.”

Vonni went from worry to disbelief in a nanosecond.

“You want me to quit Burke’s Weddings—where I’ve been promised a full partnership—to become an employee of Camdens?”

Apparently her tone had alerted him to how unlikely she was to consider that.

“You wouldn’t just be an employee. What we’re talking about is making your name a signature brand. And you’ll be in an executive position,” he repeated. Then more somberly he said, “I know there might be some bad blood here.”

The unsavory dealings between the Hunters and the Camdens went all the way back to 1953. Vonni hadn’t been sure coming here today whether or not this generation of Camdens would know what she knew. Apparently Dane Camden did.

“But try to keep in mind that it wasn’t a Camden who did the dirty deed—” he said.

“It was the Camdens who benefited from it.”

“So did—”

“Yes, I know,” Vonni cut him off.

“I’m just pointing out that we didn’t have a hand in what went on,” he insisted. “So couldn’t you put aside what happened all those years ago? Especially since what I’m offering you is an opportunity for something much bigger and better than a potential partnership at Burke’s Weddings. What I’m offering is a bird in the hand....”

As if her partnership wasn’t.

Now he was making her a little mad, and the involuntary cock of her head must have alerted him to that fact.

“We want the best here,” he said before she had a chance to comment. “And when it comes to wedding planners, you’re it. We’ve all seen your work in weddings we’ve gone to. We know your reputation. And we know that you are Burke’s Weddings. But it’s Burke’s Weddings getting the real credit.”

“And with you it would be Camdens getting the credit.”

He shook his head. “No. With us, you’ll be the draw. People will have to come to Camdens to get a Vonni Hunter wedding. From high-end to lower-end—even couples who couldn’t otherwise afford a Vonni Hunter wedding will be able to get more conservative packages designed by Vonni Hunter, with Vonni Hunter’s eye, with Vonni Hunter’s taste, with Vonni Hunter’s expertise. Brides who can afford you will get more personal attention—and with us that could be not only Denver brides, but celebrities and European royalty that we’ll send you off to do first-class. What we want is to bring you into the spotlight, give you credit. And all the perks that go with it.”

Okay, so it was flattering. And an intriguing idea. Enough to rid her of that small wave of anger.

“So you’re going to put all the world at my feet as a wedding planner if only I can pull off a wedding in two weeks for your grandmother?” Vonni asked.

“The job offer is on the table no matter what. And we’re figuring that if anyone can pull off a wedding in two weeks, it’ll be you and me working together. I told you, around here I’m the guy who gets things done, and from what I understand, when it comes to weddings, you do, too.”

Reminding herself that planning a Camden wedding would look very, very good for her, Vonni said, “Doing any kind of wedding for any number of people in two weeks is a push. But since I already have long-standing relationships with everyone it will take to accomplish it, it can probably be done. But as for the other—”

It was terrifying to think of what could become of her existing job if Camden Superstores did what he was proposing. But it was also completely unnerving to think about turning her back on Chrystal and Burke’s Weddings to sign on with the Camdens and then ending up with nothing the way her grandfather had....

“Don’t say anything about the business stuff for now,” Dane Camden advised, interrupting her spinning thoughts. “We’ll have plenty of time to talk about it. You can grill me, and negotiate, and tell me everything about it that might worry you, and shape it into exactly the kind of deal you’d feel most comfortable with. And if you need to yell at me or slap me around to feel better about what happened with your uncle and your grandfather and the way things turned out on that front, you can do that, too.”

Oh, but when the man grinned it made her knees weak....

“You’re not afraid that slapping you around might be pretty tempting?” she asked impudently.

“Just say the word. I’ll get the gloves and you can beat the hell out of me.”

She couldn’t not smile at him. Although she made sure it was reserved. There was just something about him, and she could see how he got away with being the player he was.

“But you’ll do GiGi’s wedding with me one way or another?” he asked.

“That I’ll do,” she conceded.

“Then why don’t you come up with a get-started list and we’ll—” he shrugged one of those broad shoulders “—get started.”

“I have two weddings on Saturday and this week is my race to the finish line for them both, so I’ll have to do much of this after-hours—like this meeting.”

“I’m open to evenings if you are.”