Not Quite Sheer Happiness Read online

  *~*~*

  “Go ahead, tell me how much you love me,” Craig exclaims. He sits down and puts his feet up on my desk again. I give him a skeptical look.

  “What did you do?” I ask curiously. When Craig begins a conversation like this, I can’t help but be concerned. Despite his creativity and often brilliant ideas, a lot of times it becomes a mess that I have to go in and clean up.

  “Last night, I was out at the 4th Fighter, just having drinks and making friends. You know me . . . I can make friends anywhere I go. I think it’s because I’m so easy to get along with, people just naturally gravitate toward me and . . .”

  “Get on with it,” I interrupt. I continue working because who knows how long it will take him to get to the main point.

  “Oh yeah.” He shakes his head. “Anyway, so I’m sitting there having drinks when this girl sits down at the bar. Poor thing looked miserable, not to mention her ombre was really starting to fade, so I gave her Madison’s number.”

  “Craig,” I yell exasperatedly.

  “Sorry.” He smiles. “So, it turns out that this girl, Lisa, is in charge of planning this huge grand opening event for her law firm. They’re connected with a lot of heavy hitters, so it’s a no-brainer. She had an event planner that just up and left town with no notice. She’s in a real bind and her boss is ready to pay top dollar to get this done . . . so, we have a new client and another huge boost for business.”

  I breathe a sigh of relief. This doesn’t sound as bad as I was expecting it to be.

  “One catch,” he says, interrupting my thought. Damn, spoke to soon.

  “The event was originally scheduled for three weeks from tomorrow, and they would like to stick to that date if at all possible.”

  Three weeks. I glance at my master calendar. We have an anniversary party next week and then a two-day convention the following weekend. Craig must see my distress.

  “Come on, we got this. Nicole comes back Monday, right?” he says. I nod my head. “A lot of the preliminary planning is done, so we just need to step in and put everything into action. We are the dream team, remember?”

  I like when this Craig shows up to work. He’s motivated and excited and it rubs off on me. I stand up and add the event to the master calendar. I smile. “This is why I started this company. Okay, let’s do this.” Craig jumps up and holds up his hand, we give each other a high five and get to work.

  *~*~*

  I refuse to have a nervous breakdown. I should have known this would happen. One of these days I will learn my lesson and do more research before agreeing to one of Craig’s, ahem, brilliant ideas.

  I just got off the phone with our new client, Lisa Simmson, and I want to stick my pencil in my eye. Craig left to go to a dentist appointment, so he’s not here for me to yell at him. I know it’s not all his fault because Lisa told him everything was pretty much done. The only consolation is that she does have a lot of good connections, so it could pay off for us at some point. I already know she’s going to be very difficult to work with, so I need to make Craig do all the day-to-day communication with her. I glance at my calendar and realize that it’s Friday. I smile to myself; tomorrow is my night out with Ace. I still need to find something to wear.

  I force myself to direct my attention back to work. I look at my list for our next event. The Carsons’ 50th Anniversary party: this couple is absolutely adorable. They still hold hands and whisper to each other when they think no one is watching. I hope someday I will have years with an everlasting love like that. I hear my phone buzzing from my bag; it’s a text from Ace. Speaking of everlasting love. Maybe it’s a sign?

  There my mind goes again, thinking crazy.

  Hello my love. I hope your day is going well.

  Okay, so what are the chances that I’m thinking about this sweet couple and then Ace texts me? I remember when I was in high school and if a certain song came on the radio at that exact moment it meant that Billy Wilson was in love with me. And how could I forget those love quizzes that were in Seventeen Magazine. I’m absolutely giddy from his text. I send him a response.

  It’s better now after hearing from you.

  Our flirtatious texting goes on for a while as I tackle my Friday to-do list. I even stay late at the office to get ahead for next week. I have no intention of working tomorrow—my plan is to relax and pamper myself before Ace picks me up. I’m amazed at how much work I get done when Craig is not in the office. When I finally leave for the day, I’m feeling great. I almost feel like the old me—like I can conquer the world. Well, maybe I will conquer the world Monday—for now, I’m going to enjoy my weekend. I practically skip to my car.

  Chapter 3

  I live for days like today. I slept until seven o’clock, which I count as sleeping in. I got up and actually went for a jog. And now I’m sitting on my couch drinking coffee, talking to my friend Abby on the phone. What a glorious day.

  “He’s so thoughtful,” Abby says softly. “When he was at lunch with Matt, he gave him the most adorable outfit for little Ace. It’s some soccer outfit; I don’t know who the player is but Matt does. Ace refuses to take it off. He threw a tantrum when I changed him last night.”

  “That’s so funny,” I say with a giggle. “He is really thoughtful. He came to see me straight from the airport the other day. I could tell he was exhausted. I can’t wait for tonight.”

  “Oh, it’s going to be amazing,” she says. “Shhhh . . . Shhhhh.” I can hear baby Charlotte crying as she tries to soothe her.

  “What do you mean ‘it’s going to be amazing?’” I ask. “Do you know what Ace has planned?”

  Charlotte starts crying louder and Abby doesn’t answer me. I’m not sure if she didn’t hear me or if she’s avoiding the question.

  “Abby?”

  “I’m sorry, I have to put Charlotte down for a nap. Can I call you back?” she says abruptly.

  What? She can’t drop a hint like that and leave me hanging.

  “Sure. But you better call me back,” I demand. Abby hangs up so fast that she barely says good-bye. She knows what he has planned. I know I should just let him surprise me, but I’m dying to know. It’s only a few hours away, I remind myself.

  I make the horrible mistake of checking my email. I don’t know what I was thinking—habit, I guess. I have six emails from Lisa Simmson. I’m going to kill Craig. I manage to step away from the email without opening any of them because I promised myself I would take the weekend off. I will forward them all to Craig and let him deal with it on Monday.

  *~*~*

  I feel like I’m a new person. I actually took a nap. A nap! I take my time getting ready and finally decide on my outfit: a black cami with a silver sequin maxi skirt. Just as I finish dabbing some perfume behind my ears, Ace arrives, right on time as always.

  “Love, you look stunning,” he says as he kisses my hand. Yes, he actually kisses my hand. Who still does that? For a long time, I wondered if Ace was for real; honestly, no one is that perfect, no man especially. The only thing I can think of is that he and his mom (or mum, as he calls her) are very close and his parents sent him to prep school when he was a teenager. The school was very proper and he definitely learned his manners. Anyway, he was obviously taught how to treat women and whoever is behind that should be proud. I haven’t met his mom, being that she still lives in Australia, maybe someday.

  “Thank you,” I reply. “Is this okay? I didn’t have much to go off of being that you wouldn’t tell me anything.”

  He smiles wickedly. “You’re perfect.”

  He holds my hand as he leads me out to the sleek black car that’s waiting for us. “What kind of car is this?” I exclaim.

  “It’s a Rolls-Royce Wraith. I know this is rather cliché, but I thought why not,” he says, shrugging his shoulders.

  “I can’t believe there’s a Rolls-Royce parked outside my quaint little apartment.” This shouldn’t surprise me; it’s no secret that Ace is extremely successful and ext
remely comfortable financially. I’ve never come out and asked him the specific details but I can only imagine. One night, Madison searched him on Google, and I dropped my coffee mug when I saw just how successful he really is. He’s brought it up a few times, but I never wanted him to think I’m some gold digger.

  Ace opens the door for me as I slide into the car—I’ve never sat in a Rolls-Royce before, but I guess there’s a first time for everything. Ace holds my hand firmly in his hand as we drive.

  “Did you have a good week?” he asks. “Your office seemed a little chaotic the other day.”

  I know what he’s doing, trying to distract me from asking him where we’re going.

  “It’s always chaotic. But, I guess I asked for that by starting my own company.” I glance out the window and remind myself not to think about work tonight. “So, now will you tell me where we’re going?” I beg.

  He smiles.

  “Are you comfortable?” he asks.

  What kind of question is that? I’m riding in a Rolls-Royce; I feel like I’m floating on a cloud.

  “Yes, very,” I reply. “Why?” The suspense is killing me.

  We turn down a familiar road, and right away, I know where we are going. “Are we going to Venice?” Venice (not Venice Beach) is a dazzling restaurant, similar to the supper clubs of old. The place holds many memories for me, but it’s also the place Ace and I met, so I’m not surprised that he would take me there.

  “We are, but only briefly,” he says. What does that mean? I’m doing it again, overthinking everything. I know I need to calm down and enjoy the evening. Ace must read my mind.

  “It means we’re making a stop here and you need to stop asking me about every detail,” he says firmly. We pull up to the valet and he turns to me. “You know I have no intention of giving you a rundown of our entire evening, so promise me you’ll just enjoy yourself.” He’s right.

  I smile sheepishly. “Okay. I promise.” He leans into me and takes my chin in his hand. My heart starts to race. “Good, because I want you to remember every detail of this night for the rest of your life.” Just then my door opens, interrupting our moment.

  “Good evening, madame.”

  I want to scream. Why does the stupid valet guy have to ruin the moment?

  Ace joins me on the passenger side of the car and holds out his elbow. I gently take his arm and we walk toward the massive doors of Venice. We are seated at a corner table upstairs overlooking the band, our menus are personalized and they include all my favorite appetizers. Ace knows the head chef, so this is no surprise that he would arrange this.

  Apparently, this is the first stop of our evening, so I’m assuming we will be having dinner somewhere else. I certainly don’t ask. We chat a little about life and I tell him about baby Ace throwing a tantrum when Abby made him take off the shirt he gave him. He laughs.

  “Sienna, I hope you aren’t disappointed that we came here,” he says a few seconds later. “I do have my reasons.”

  I shake my head. “Why would I be disappointed? You know I love this place.”

  He smiles. “I do, but we’ve been here dozens of times.” He pauses. “Let me explain . . . we came here first because a few years ago I remember standing right down there near the entrance when I saw you for the first time. Granted, I was caught off guard when I realized you were with Luke.” I groan. That is not my favorite topic.

  “I was mesmerized by you immediately. Your smile, your joy, and your spirit all captivated me within those first few minutes. Of course, I stepped back, being that you were unavailable.”

  I nod as he continues talking. “But then time and time again our paths crossed and it became more apparent that I was meant to find you. So, that’s why we’re beginning our evening here at the same place we began our journey.”

  I think I stopped breathing for a few seconds. I finally take a take a deep breath. “Wow,” I whisper. Did someone turn up the heat? I’m feeling a little light-headed. I notice that Ace and I are millimeters apart. I admit it’s a good thing we’re in a restaurant.

  “Are you ready for the next stop?” he whispers. I nod my head, still unable to speak. Ace takes my hand and kisses it again, and we head toward the door. I wish someone was videotaping this because I have no idea how I will describe this night to my friends. Although, maybe I shouldn’t, it may be too intense for them. In fact, the past few minutes make me feel as if I’ve had an out-of-body experience.

  We hardly say anything in the car, but we don’t need to, and Ace still hasn’t let go of my hand.

  “Are you enjoying yourself so far?” he asks, breaking the silence. Of course, he already knows the answer; he looks very proud of himself.

  “It’s only the most amazing night of my life,” I reply. “If you took me home now, I would be perfectly happy.”

  He shakes his head. “That’s not happening; there is still much to do.”

  Our next stop is a private dinner on the cliffs of Laguna Beach, overlooking the ocean. The sun is starting to set and the view is unbelievable. The menu is personalized, and again, it includes all my favorite foods.

  “I suppose you’re curious as to why I chose this location?” he asks after we finish our dinner.

  I look out over the ocean and take a deep breath. “Honestly, I’m speechless.” I pause. “Everything is so perfect that I’m just so happy being here with you. I don’t even need to nag you for every little detail anymore.”

  He laughs. “That’s good.”

  I hit him on the arm playfully. “Are you saying that I nag?” He doesn’t answer the question but the corner of his mouth curls up.

  “Very funny. Have you been talking to Craig?” Not that I’m denying anything, I can be pretty relentless at times, but I’m certainly not going to admit that to him.

  “I didn’t say a word,” he says innocently.

  He takes my hand again and I can tell that he’s about to say something.

  “I brought you here because I don’t think there is another place more romantic than by the sea. When I look out over the ocean, I think of the possibilities for the future, and there are so many. You underestimate yourself. When you left Carrie’s and started your own company—I was so impressed. I want you to look out over the sea and consider the possibilities.”

  Okay, when am I going to wake up? I am in a dream right. I look out at the water and I wonder how I got so lucky to have Ace. We sit in silence for a few minutes and everything seems so calm and peaceful. It’s a nice change from the normal chaos of life.

  “Time for dessert. Are you ready?” he asks eagerly, interrupting my thoughts.

  I’m so full; I doubt I can eat anything else. But I’m not going to ruin his plans.

  “Sure.”

  He gets up and whispers something to the waiter, and I watch every move he makes. I’ve never felt this way in my life, and to think, at one time I would have married Luke. I still remember the night I met Ace. I was on an anniversary date, so it was extremely awkward when I couldn’t stop staring at him. I learned that Luke and Ace were good friends and then had some kind of falling out—over a woman of course. Luke became really paranoid that there was something going on between Ace and me; looking back, I guess our connection was pretty obvious. At the time, we were strictly friends despite our attraction. Of course, it wasn’t long after that when I found out Luke was sleeping with my boss. Needless to say, that was the end of our relationship.

  “Let’s go,” Ace says, interrupting my thought.

  “Wait, I thought you said we were having dessert?” I will never turn down a dessert.

  “We are.” He leads me to the car. Okay, so we aren’t having dessert here. I guess we’re making another stop.

  When we pull up at the marina, I’m about to ask Ace what we’re doing here but he holds his finger up to my lips.

  We walk across one of the docks toward a beautiful boat. I stop. “You didn’t.”

  “I didn’t what?” he asks innocent
ly.

  “Did you charter a boat?”

  “I thought you weren’t going to ask me anymore questions?” He winks.

  As soon as we get on board, I see a table set up with candles already lit. Ace takes my hand and leads me to the aft where there is champagne waiting for us. We sail out, and I watch the shore fade away. All of a sudden, a server appears with two plates of mini-desserts. I don’t know what comes over me but my eyes start to fill with tears. I do not cry—well, hardly ever—but I guess I’m just overwhelmed.

  “I’m sorry,” I say, dabbing the corner of my eyes, and then I start laughing. “I just don’t know what to say.”

  Ace shakes his head. “Don’t apologize.”

  He moves his chair closer to me and pushes a piece of my hair behind my ear. “You don’t have to say a word. I want you to know that I’m so in love with you, and when I’m away from you, I feel like my life is incomplete. I’m ready for my life to be complete. So, I have to ask you an important question.”

  Wait. What’s happening? I guess I should have suspected something like this, but I’ve learned from experience not to expect too much. It keeps me from being disappointed.

  Ace kneels down on one knee and reaches in his pocket.

  I think I’m going to pass out.

  “I spoke with your father yesterday and he gave his blessing.” He clears his throat. “I should have done this months ago, but I wanted it to be just right. Sienna Harris, will you spend the rest of your life with me? Will you marry me?”