But the newest event planner on the team, Giselle, was gunning for both of them, and she had no plans to help any of the women she worked with—especially Hannah.
Hannah had never had a nemesis before Giselle, and she wasn’t yet sure if the other woman was worthy. It was as though someone took Regina George from Mean Girls and mixed her with Cruella de Vil in a blender, then poured the resulting concoction into a Natalie Portman skin suit.
Sasha might have a mini floral-dress wardrobe, but Giselle needed a full-on closet for her floral dresses. She needed one for every Junior League fund-raiser, all the better to rule that organization with an iron fist. Hannah might look like a bitch, but at least she had friends who liked her. Even Giselle’s husband seemed afraid of her, and he was twice her size.
Hannah often wondered if flowers died whenever Giselle walked through the Garfield Park Conservatory. Certainly the animals at the Lincoln Park Zoo scurried away if she ventured too close.
But the worst thing about Giselle? Annalise loved her. Thought she could do no wrong. If she asked for an event, she got it.
With Sasha looking rough because of the weight of collective male douchery, Hannah glanced over at Giselle. She had her tongue pressed to the corner of her mouth in this predatory way that told Hannah that the senator’s daughter’s wedding was about to slip from Sasha’s grasp.
Before Giselle could say anything, Hannah raised her hand. “I’m helping Sasha scout venues today.”
“I thought she asked Sasha about the wedding, didn’t she?” Giselle gave Hannah a death glare disguised as a smile. “It’s her assignment.”
“It is.” Finally, Sasha spoke up. “But the senator’s daughter has a wild past, and she wants some rather—outlandish—features for the reception. I thought that Hannah’s perspective would be useful on this one.”
Annalise pressed the tips of her fingers together in front of her face and squinted her eyes as she often did while making a decision. The weight of Hannah’s and Sasha’s professional hopes bared its neck before Giselle’s sharp axe. A few seconds felt as though they stretched out into a minute. The whole time, a smile was spreading across Giselle’s face and a rock of disappointment was forming in Hannah’s gut.
Under the conference table, Hannah squeezed Sasha’s forearm. She’d done the best she could to cover, and it wouldn’t be her fault if Annalise reassigned Giselle to the event. Sasha needed to buck the hell up. It was just one dick pic, and she knew her friend could hang on until their after-work wine.
“I need to think about this.” The boss’s words were like scattershot bullets, and even Hannah’s nemesis looked like she’d taken a direct hit. “Hannah, please see me after the meeting.”
She slapped the table with one hand like a gavel, and the meeting was over. Hannah was out of her chair in an instant, breaking stride toward the door only to raise her fist to Sasha. She was going to save both of their asses if it killed her.
Even though she was four inches taller than Annalise, she struggled to keep up in her heels. But she maintained a furious clip for fear of being intercepted by Giselle’s ass-kissing brilliance.
She only let herself take a deep breath when she and her boss were both in the relative safety of her corner office. Annalise motioned for Hannah to take a seat. Hannah lowered herself slowly, like the classy bitch she was trying to be.
“So.” And then nothing. Hannah wondered for a moment if this was one of those silences she was meant to fill, or one of the ones she was meant to leave blank for the sake of her boss’s sense of drama. “We have a problem.”
Deep breath in. Don’t seem too thirsty. “Sasha and I can handle the wedding. It’s not even the highest budget that either one of us has handled on our own.”
“But you don’t do weddings.” Annalise’s ice-cold blue gaze roved over her as though she were a speck of lint on the chair. As much as Hannah hated being looked at like that, as much as she craved her boss’s approval, she didn’t let the hurt show. She sat up straighter. “You’re my booze-and-beer-and-boobs girl.”
“I do sports, too.” That was her best answer? She might as well kiss her promotion goodbye. “And, in this day and age, politics is sort of like sports. This is going to be a glossy magazine event. Not just featured on Style Me Pretty or The Knot. The New York Times isn’t just going to run an announcement; they’re going to do a feature in the Style section. And maybe the magazine. Deals are going to be made at this wedding.”
She mentally gave herself a high five when Annalise sat back in her chair and raised her eyebrows as though she was ready to agree internally but not ready to admit defeat.
“And Sasha and I are the perfect team for this.” Hannah felt her heart beat faster, knowing that she was about to take down the gazelle. She could be just as predatory as Giselle, but she wasn’t a sociopath. She knew that she and Sasha were the best team for this wedding—she’d known it as soon as she’d opened her mouth at the staff meeting. “I’ll bring the flash and pizazz, and Sasha will bring the class. It will be perfect.”
“And it has to be.” Annalise looked down in an uncharacteristic avoidance gesture.
Growing frustrated, Hannah asked, “What is it?” She would do anything to convince her boss she was the right woman for this job—and for the promotion she knew she deserved.
“You’ve just never shown any interest in weddings before.”
“They’re a big part of our business, so of course I’m interested.”
“You roll your eyes whenever the other planners talk about their weddings.”
“No, I don’t.” She thought she’d hidden her disdain for frilly shit from her boss.
Annalise leveled a look that said, Come on.
“Well, I’ve changed my mind.”
“How am I supposed to believe that?” Her boss clicked on her mouse and glanced at her monitor as it came to life. Hannah knew that the blue light from the computer hitting Annalise’s face was a bad sign. She was about to be dismissed. “It’s not like I haven’t heard about your little man embargo.”
“What does that have to do with planning a wedding?”
Annalise shifted her focus back onto Hannah. “Whether it fits with your modern, feminist sentiments or not, a wedding is quite often the most important day in two people’s lives together. It’s monumental for the families that become joined. And it has to be perfect. I just can’t trust that someone like you, who disdains the idea of weddings or commitment, can throw all your energy into making a wedding fabulous. And this is the biggest event we’ve ever planned.” She paused, and her face softened. “I have half a mind to plan it myself.”