The Wedding Plan

Chapter 45

The two couples and Larissa were together eating breakfast outside around a long wooden table with the vineyard under the sunlight as their landscape. As the countdown began, the bride and groom were getting ready to deal with the last arrangements for their wedding. Sebastian was planning to work, and as for Larissa and Eleanor, they were hoping to have a relaxing and quiet day.

'So,' — Lina interlaced her fingers and placed her chin on her hands as she focused her gaze on her brother and Eleanor — 'does one of you care to tell me how your office romance began?'

'We bonded over something that happened at Montgomery almost six months ago,' Sebastian said with a smirk.

'You two didn't meet at Montgomery,' Larissa said with a frown.

'We did, actually. Remember when I told you that I thought I had met her before? Turns out it was true. I just didn't recognize her at first because back then she had glasses and was covered in coffee.'

'Care to elaborate?' Lina asked with a wide smile.

'Don't you dare, Sebastian,' — Eleanor looked at Sebastian with her eyes wide open — 'I thought we had agreed on forgetting about the past and move forward.'

Sebastian smiled suspiciously, which let Eleanor know he would continue the story no matter what.

'She was interning there. I had a meeting and was late—'

'As usual,' Lina and Larissa said at the same time, glancing at each other.

'Moving on—'

'Sebastian, stop right there,' Eleanor warned.

Despite Eleanor's request, he continued, and she hid her face in her hands as everyone looked at her. Especially Larissa, that had such a lost look on her face.

'Fine,' — he sighed — 'I'll make it short to end your suffering. She bumped into me and spilled all the coffee cups on herself. I tried to help, she started walking away and ignoring but I noticed her ankle was hurt so I was her nurse for a couple of minutes and ended up being even more late than I already was.'

'You were the one that bumped into me,' she said with her voice muffled by her hands as she was still covering her face to hide her embarrassment, 'which is actually an understatement because bumping into you was pretty much the same as hitting a wall.'

The group all laughed about that and made Eleanor fell more at ease.

'Don't worry Eleanor, we all know that it was his fault,' Larissa said and winked at Eleanor.

'At first he didn't even remember me. Now he doesn't let me forget about that,' she said with a pout.

'I'm sorry,' Sebastian apologized, smiled, and placed a tender kiss on her hand.

'Why didn't you stay at Montgomery?' Lina asked. 'You didn't like it there?'

'That's not it...'

She didn't know exactly how to explain. Lina wasn't yet aware that the company belonged to Eleanor's father.

Larissa realized what was going on inside Eleanor's head and came to her rescue.

'Montgomery is a fantastic company, but it is a lot smaller than Crain. It does not have as many growth opportunities and career paths as we do.'

'Yes, that's true. But it's still pretty hard to get an internship there,' said Ian. 'Did you know anyone that worked there before applying?'

'My dad.'

'How long has he been working there?' Ian asked.

'Well. Since the beginning. I guess.' Eleanor sighed. 'He kind of owns the place.'

'Oh,' Ian and Lina said in unison.

'I just left because I wanted to do things on my own. I didn't want people to think that I had everything given to me just because of nepotism.'

'It's understandable,' said Ian, realizing how uncomfortable Eleanor was talking about it.

'Wait,' said Lina, 'isn't that the company that you wanted to buy?' she asked as she turned to her brother.

'Yes, I did. But Richard has already rejected me more times that I can bare. I'm thinking about giving up on that endeavor.'

'Did you know who Eleanor was? When you two first met?'

'No, I didn't,' he answered as he looked at Eleanor and smiled. 'If you haven't noticed, this is not something that she mentions very often.'

'Right,' Lina said, as she understood she was prying too much. 'So, what are you doing today?' she asked in an attempt to change the subject.

'I need to work,' Sebastian answered, ignoring everyone as he looked at his plate.

'You can't even take a week off? If Larissa can take a few days off, you should be able to do the same. You have been working every single day.'

'Don't drag me into this,' Larissa grumbled as she meticulously spread butter on her toast.

'I can, but there are some things I need to take care of. Some contracts have due dates and I want to get through them as soon as possible and I have more emails in my inbox that I can answer in an entire year.'

'Fine. Then I'll steel Eleanor from you, show her around and take her to the vineyard. I can't believe you've been here for a few days and haven't shown her. And afterwards she can help Ian and I with the rest of the wedding preparations.'