Only You

Chapter 14 The Rebel

Rena sat pensively waiting on the impending doom – surely Courtney must have heard about the kiss. Her feet tapped the floor nervously. She was shocked to hear a perky response.

"I'm so glad that you followed up with me. You must be wondering why I'm calling. I asked Ian for your number yesterday because I got a call from Blake saying that you couldn't do the wedding planning." A wave of relief washed over Rena. "I'd like you to reconsider."

"I've got an awful lot going on right now and I just won't be able to do it."

"Well, I'm in a bind right now because I'm in Atlanta on a very important business deal. It came up unexpectedly and I just can't bear the thought of postponing the wedding again."

Rena sat up straight as a pencil. "Your wedding was postponed? What happened before?"

"I hate to say it, but it's the same thing. Our schedules are crazy and with all that we've done trying to help Clarissa, we don't have time to plan it or to get someone else to help us plan it. So when you volunteered I thought you needed to stay busy to keep your mind off Clarissa's illness and that we'd found our answer."

Rena sat on the edge of the bed shaking her head. If Blake and Courtney postponed the wedding again, everybody in town would think that she was responsible for it. She wanted to kick herself for opening that door. The last thing she wanted was tongues wagging. Ian had created enough of that already and yesterday's open blow-up didn't help matters any. Rena was silent on the phone for a long time, thinking.

Courtney finally spoke up. "Just a small wedding... I saw some wonderful things about you on the Internet. I know you could make it great. You can call me if you need anything. From what I've seen of your work, you'd be perfect."

"Yes, Courtney, I'll find a way to work it in. You're right, it will take my mind off Clarissa." I'm going to kill Ian for giving her my phone number.

***

Blake was pleased when he walked in the restaurant around noon and saw Mrs. Madison sitting at one of the tables observing Ian. Avery was making her rounds about the dining area and Ian was serving orders to the customers. When he saw Blake, he glared.

Blake chuckled and went to talk with Mrs. Madison. "So, how's our hostile worker?"

"He was here at 5:45. He's been grumbling all day but he's doing well. Clarissa was shocked to see him doing so much work. Don't think he didn't try to get her to undo the situation. She just laughed and said, 'Follow Blake's directive.'"

"If he gives you any trouble, just pick up the phone."

"I'm going to keep him so busy he won't have time to make any trouble."

"That's just what I like to hear. So, where's Clarissa?"

"She's in the office. When the staff didn't let her in the kitchen this morning, she was hotter than steam on a southern street.

"Did the staff do what I asked them to do?"

"It was marvelous. I wish you'd been here. They all said at one time, 'Calling Eldred - (912) 873-5587.' She was red in the face, but she left the kitchen and has been sitting in the office ever since. I'll be praying for you to come out alive."

Blake laughed. This was good. After his confrontation with Clarissa, he knew he only had one more rebellious Blackshear to deal with today. He might as well get this done.

He walked into the office and there she was, looking quite lethal. "So you just expect me to twiddle my thumbs all day?"

"Nope. That's not what I had in mind at all. You can greet customers. You can walk around and chat with them about the weather, books and babies. You can work the cash register and you can review the accounting and payroll. You just can't go in the kitchen and you can't work anybody's shift like you did yesterday."