Chapter 138: Old Friends?
Chapter 138: Old Friends?
Jaycee’s P.O.V.
I Couldn’t believe it, two of Bradley’s members standing in my building. (what do they want from me) I thought to myself as I back up into Ace.
“Baby?” Ace says with worry etched into his voice. He wraps his arms around me. “What brings you here? If you are here just to torment her you can leave.” Ace tells them as I am frozen in my spot, and nothing will come out of my mouth.
“We are not here to cause any trouble, Jaycee. You must be Ace?” Justin speaks.
“Then why are you here?” He asked them.
“We heard Jaycee was able to make her dream come true and since we are getting married, we decided to come here and have her plan our wedding.” Contessa explains.
“And... To formally apologize to you, Jaycee. Sorry, we didn’t step in when we knew what Bradley was doing to you. You must understand he threatened anyone who interfered in his plans of isolating you from your family so he could have full control over you would die with his hands. We were selfish and only thought about ourselves. I guess the only one who had true guts was Drake.” Justin explained.
I finally relaxed my body and gently pulled myself away from Ace. I started to reply to them.
“Yes, this is Ace. I do understand because it was almost too late for me if I didn’t leave when I did. I don’t know where I would be if it wasn’t for Drake always being there for me when I needed someone. If you are serious about me planning your wedding, then I would be honored.” I say hoping that I am doing the right thing.
“Yes, we are.” Contessa says with a strained smile on her face.
“Baby, are you sure?” Ace asked.
“Yes, I’m sure. If you want, you can stay with me if that would ease your mind.” I say trying to reassure him that they will not cause me any harm. “If you both follow me, we can get started.” I say turning around and leading them to my cubicle.
Going over to the file cabinet, I pull out the information packet, two manila folders, two pens and a wedding planning book from the two-story shelves behind my desk. I placed the items on my desk and sat down motioning for them to do the same. Ace comes in with his own chair and place to sit next to me and sat down getting ready to watch the situation if one was to arise. Then I begin to explain to them what we will be doing today.
“First this meeting there will be no charge, my fee is $50.00 dollars an hour, the price for the ceremony and reception which my employees and I will be there making sure that everything runs smoothly, an estimated invoice will be made and if you agree to the payments then you both will sign along with the packet. Any questions so far?”
“None.”
“Ok, let's begin.”
I gathered all the needed information; they picked to view three out of the five churches, so I placed the brochures in the planner and wrote down the names and phone numbers of those churches on a sticky note. They want to have the reception at one of my brother’s hotels, so I also wrote that down on the sticky note, so I won’t forget to call him. The florist that they chose was the one that my family usually uses, and Carmella and Ricardo are using for their wedding, so I noted that down as well, along with the three bakeries which I put their brochures into the planner as well.
“Here is the estimated invoice if you could just look that over.” I say hading them the sheet of paper that I just printed out.
“Everything looks good. Do you by any chance take credit cards?” Justin asked.
“Sure, but we do have a program for testing it to make sure that when the time comes, we will get paid. Is that ok with you?”
“Yes.” Just says as he pulls out his credit card. I click on the credit card to check and swipe the card on the side of my monitor.
“Ok. You're all set. Now you could pay for the planner today along with the photo album that we sell, or you can wait until it is all finished and pay at the end. You are not bound to buy the photo album if you want to buy it elsewhere. What would you like to do?”
“I think it would be wise if we paid as we go so we can pay it off without going into debt. You see we just bought a building ourselves and it was a bit pricey and didn’t come up with an apartment like yours did. With business just starting out and not many clients we are a bit short on cash.” Justin explains his financial difficulties with us.
“No problem. Let me just total up the planner.”
“And the photo album.” Contessa says.
“Ok, I’ll set it aside with your folder.” I totaled the two books up. And swiped their credit card. I then printed out two receipts giving them one and keeping the other one. “You know I could talk to my brother about giving you two a loan, but you would probably have to be on retainer for him when needed, Ace could also give you the number to the realtor that we used.”
“Jaycee?” Ace whispered but I ignored him.
“If you could that would be helpful. Thank you.”
“No problem. When do you want to schedule your next appointment? I will try and have the appointments' by then.”
“Wednesday at the same time?”
“So, Wednesday at four?”
“Yes.” Justin says I had him a folder with their invoice estimate and packet along with my business card and the two pens.
“Ok, I’ll see you then.” I say as Ace gets up, letting me know that he will show them out. Ace comes back.
“Do you really think that it is wise to involve your brother?”
“I don’t see a problem. What is the worst that can happen? He’ll say No?” I then pick up the office phone and dial his cell phone, I know he’ll be on his way home now or be home.
\[Hi Jaycee. How are you doing? I assume this is a business call since you’re calling me on your office phone?\]
\[Yes, there are two things I need to go over with you.\]
\[Ok go ahead, I’m listening.\]
\[first, a couple was here to plan their wedding and would like to rent out one of your hotels. They are interested in the one with the works. They want the ballroom and restaurant rented out for their reception and a honeymoon suite for a week’s stay.\]
\[What is the date and time?\]
\[Teh date is November 30th, not sure on the time yet until we visit the churches and find out what they have opened for that day.\]
\[Ok, I’ll get in touch with my manager. What’s the other thing?\]
\[Would you be willing to give them a loan for their business if they agree for you to have them on retainer?\]
\[Jaycee, I don't know. Have them come into my office tomorrow morning at nine and I'll see what I can do.\]