Once Upon an Anniversary Party

By Diane M. Pratt

Brielle Duncan can hardly believe her boss has volunteered her to plan the company's fiftieth anniversary party when the most challenging things she's ever had to plan have been what outfits to wear to work, but there's no way she can get out of the assignment. And when she learns her co-planner is none other than Decker O'Leary, the company serial dater, she is beside herself. How is she supposed to work with this man to plan a party for over four hundred people?

 

Decker O'Leary knows his boss is a moron, but for once he's done something right in assigning Decker to work with Brielle Duncan. The fact Brielle makes her contempt for him obvious in the way she looks at him doesn't matter, because he knows one thing. He's going to find out just what it is he's done to make her feel that way, then he's going to change her mind.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diane M. Pratt
• Release date: Dec 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223834274

Diane M. Pratt

Diane M. Pratt lives on Cape Cod where she avoids the summer traffic by hiding at home with her trusty laptop, long-suffering husband, and all the chocolate she can find. Escaping from reality in a romance novel, the ultimate goal a happy ending, is her idea of a good read.  

Book preview

Chapter 1

When Brielle Duncan heard the double taps of a car horn, she headed out the front door of her cottage and jogged over to the Audi in her driveway. Pulling open the door, she climbed into the back seat behind Iris. Hi, guys. Is everybody ready for all the excitement coming our way this beautiful Saturday?

Hey, Brie, Jude Lennox said over his shoulder as he reversed down the drive to the street.

You didn’t even wear a coat, Brie? Iris Fisher said. It’s only in the forties.

It’ll warm up and I don’t know if they’re going to have any place for us to put our stuff, Brielle said. I’m probably going to have to wear my purse the whole time, which is why I brought this tiny one.

It’s only for two hours, Jude said. You can figure out how to live without that satchel of yours for two hours.

I’m just saying, if the need for cough drops or tweezers or band aids comes up today, don’t look to me for help.

Does anyone know where we’re going, exactly? Iris said.

I Google Earth’d it, plus Jude has it on the GPS. Brielle gestured to the dashboard. We’ll find it. The only tricky part is being there within the five minute window or we won’t be able to get in.

I don’t get that part, Iris said. We’re volunteering and you’d think they’d take us no matter what time we got there.

Jude glanced at Iris. They know what they’re doing. Maybe it will make sense to you when we see their operation.

Brielle grinned. And it is a bank, Iris. They need to protect what’s in there from marauders.

It’s a food bank, not a real bank, but I suppose you’re right. Iris shrugged. And it’s a great place to do some community service.

Jude met Brielle’s eyes in the rearview mirror. And we didn’t need to break any laws to be able to do it.

Brielle laughed. Have I thanked you guys for doing this with me? I really want to do it but I didn’t want to go there alone.

You can buy us lunch, Jude said.

Iris nodded. With dessert.

Brielle looked out the window at the passing scenery. The leaves had started turning color already, probably because of the summer they’d had, and Crafton, Massachusetts, was looking pretty spiffy, with the colors, the bright blue sky, and the sparkling Atlantic Ocean. She’d only had a glimpse of the water because of the direction they were headed, northwestward toward Braddock, a city of over two hundred thousand, which dwarfed their town of only forty thousand. Her trips to Braddock were infrequent and that was the way she liked it, but for community service, she was willing to make the trip.

After they compared how they’d be spending their weekends once they were released, Iris said, Anything new in the Ruddsen gossip mill?

Nada, Jude said.

It’s been pretty quiet for me, too. Brielle wasn’t surprised. For such a large company, or what she considered a large company, with over two hundred employees, there was seldom any good gossip. Maybe people were just too discreet. It is our fiftieth anniversary this year, though.

Have we been friends that long, Brie? Jude grinned at her in the mirror.

At least that. But Ruddsen’s is also turning fifty, Brielle said.

We’ll have to give it a birthday cake or something, Iris said. How long have you guys been friends, anyway?

You do the math, Jude. You were always better with numbers.

Seventeen years and counting.

That’s amazing, Iris said. I’ve only known you guys for four years. I feel like such a newbie.

But you catch on quickly, Jude said.

Brielle had shared many of the highlights of their friendship with Iris over the past few years, including having to tell Iris several times she and Jude had never been anything more than friends. They had shared a kiss, only one kiss, when they were teens, just to see if there was anything there, and they’d instantly agreed they could only ever be friends. Brielle had then qualified their agreement by saying they were best friends.

They had helped each other deal with the opposite sex through the years, and Brielle had been delighted when Jude found Grace, who he’d known was the love of his life five minutes after he’d met her, and Jude and Grace had recently become engaged and were in the midst of planning their wedding.

Brielle hadn’t found her true love yet, but she knew it would happen when it was meant to happen. Or so she kept telling herself. Along with the reminder thirty wasn’t all that far away.

When she heard the AI voice of the GPS say the word destination, she came out of her head. That looks like it on the right. That big brick building.

Jude pulled the Audi into the lot and parked with the few other cars there. We’ve got about five minutes until they let us in. Unless someone wants to go see if that door is unlocked.

We’ll wait until someone else gets out of their car and tries it, Iris said.

Brielle nodded. Good plan.

Once they were allowed inside with the two dozen other volunteers, Hal, their team leader, explained what they would be doing. Jude volunteered the three of them for box assembling, and Brielle wondered how hard making boxes could be.

Brielle realized pretty flipping fast how hard making boxes could be. Had she been able to work at her own speed, lining up the cardboard edges and taping them neatly, everything would have been great fun, but there was another team of box-makers, three guys, possibly college-aged, and they made it clear this was a competition to see who could make the boxes the fastest. Had it been only Brielle and Iris, they would have laughed off the idea, maybe, but Jude was all over the competition, and Brielle and Iris looked at each other, resigned to their fate.

You know I love you, Jude, Brielle said when they climbed, or fell, back into their seats in his car, your urgent need to beat those guys has resulted in multiple scrapes on my arms, not to mention some tendon tenderness, and if I never see another tape gun again I will live a perfectly happy life.

And that goes for me, too, Iris said. Why do guys have to be so competitive?

But we won. Jude looked from Iris to Brielle. We beat them. Injuries don’t matter when you’re victorious.

Let’s agree to disagree about the injuries. And I think they may have let us win because Iris is so gorgeous, with all that red hair and her blue eyes.

Iris laughed. They were looking at you, Brielle, not me. Too bad they weren’t a little older.

They didn’t let us win, we won because of skill and strategy. I admit it helped that they were hungover, Jude said. They had a slight age advantage, but only slight.

What if they’re there the next three Saturdays? Brielle said. Do we have to do this competition thing all over again?

We’ll see, Jude said.

Iris sighed. We know what that means, don’t we, Brielle?

Maybe next time we should skip the boxes and put the canned food into the boxes instead, Brielle said. And I don’t want to hear a peep out of you right now, Jude Lennox, because I’m talking to Iris.

Chapter 2

Decker O’Leary pressed the bell, wondering which of his family members would be opening the door. Both his sister and Teddy had told him he didn’t need to ring the bell, to just come in, but invading their space unannounced didn’t feel right, and this way he’d never accidentally see anything he didn’t want to see. His sister and brother-in-law had been married for seven years, but they still behaved like newly-weds, and their six-year-old, Amos, didn’t appreciate seeing the PDAs any more than Decker did, but Decker was the only one of them able to refrain from shouting, Ewww.

When the door was pulled open, he saw his brother-in-law’s smiling face. Afternoon, Teddy.

Hey, Deck. Come on in. Autumn is winding up the packing production. Teddy Gardner stepped aside, then glanced toward the staircase. I wish I was coming with you guys today instead.

Decker lowered his voice. Not feeling like shopping?

She’s not stopping today until she has everything on Amos’ list, which has been growing by the hour. I asked what she’s going to do if he comes up with something he really wants between now and Christmas, and she says he’ll have to wait until his birthday for it. You and I both know she isn’t capable of making him wait until June, which means we’ll be doing more shopping. And, really, the first week in October is too soon to be Christmas shopping. Isn’t it?

Laughing, Decker patted Teddy’s shoulder. You’ll get through it somehow, the way you do every year.

I guess. And I’m pretty excited about our date night. Thanks for taking the little man for the weekend. We both really appreciate it.

You kidding? We always have a great time, watching football and chugging beers.

Teddy laughed and said, I shouldn’t laugh. I have a cousin who might think that’s what babysitting is all about.

We’ll hit the playground and maybe run the track a couple times, get him worn out, go grab some dinner, then watch a couple of movies and hope I can stay awake longer than he does.

Sounds like you’ve figured out parenthood. So, you have a new girlfriend Autumn hasn’t found out about yet?

No girlfriend. Decker had had about enough of the lengthy dry spell he’d been in, but he wasn’t desperate enough to ask Autumn if she had any more single friends he might be interested in. The one time she tried to fix him up had been just shy of a disaster, and he wasn’t going to risk it again.

Let us know if we can help, Teddy said, then turned his head. Here they come.

Decker saw his nephew first, charging down the stairs, a backpack slung over one shoulder, grinning as if he couldn’t be happier. Amos was the cutest kid he’d ever seen, and Decker always enjoyed the weekends they spent together. Hey, Amos. You ready for our guys’ weekend?

Amos didn’t stop running until he’d wrapped his arms around Decker’s legs. Hi, Uncle Deck. When are we leaving?

Decker laughed at the look on his sister’s face as she joined them, a small suitcase in her hand. Hey, Autumn. He gave her a one-armed hug, Amos sandwiched between them.

Hi, Deck. Amos, let go of Uncle Deck so he can move. Smiling, she said, We really appreciate this, Deck, because we’re going to be running errands all day today, and Amos really isn’t a fan of running errands.

He grinned at her wide-eyed expression. Can’t blame him for that. I’m not a fan of errands myself.

Now give Daddy and me a hug and a kiss and you can get going, Autumn said.

Amos still tolerated hugs and kisses from his parents, and Decker wondered how many more years that would last. He’d heard about how fast kids grew for years but hadn’t really paid much attention until Amos came along, and now he found it hard to believe the kid was already six. Almost six and a half. Picking up the suitcase and backpack, he said, Okay, big guy. Let’s roll.

I’ll get the car seat into your Jeep. Teddy pulled out his keys.

Do I really need a car seat in Uncle Deck’s Jeep? Amos said.

Decker had heard that question a few times, and he always gave the same answer. Until you’re eight, buddy. Decker reversed down the drive and into the street, and after more waves, they were off. You have lunch yet?

I had chicken nuggets.

Course he did. They were his favorites. How about the playground now?

"Yeah. Let’s go to the playground. Can we stay there a long time?"

A long time was a relative term, Decker knew that. You let me know when you’ve had enough. Okay?

Okay.

And think about what you want for dinner. We can go to a restaurant if you want.

Do they have chicken nuggets?

We’ll make sure before we go there. Decker grinned as he drove the main street of Crafton, wondering just how many chicken nuggets Amos had put away in his short but action-packed lifetime. You think you’ll have room for dessert, too?

Yes. I always have room for dessert, Uncle Deck.

Same here, buddy. Not strictly the truth, but solidarity was vital during a guys’ weekend.

Chapter 3

D o you smell that fresh air, Iris? Brielle took another deep breath as she gazed around at the pine trees and the path through the woods ahead of them. Isn’t it delicious?

Iris jammed her gloved hands into the pockets of her parka. I’d rather be smelling a nice bowl of chowder.

We’ll get to that after our walk. It’s too beautiful a day not to be outdoors, and yesterday we were at the food bank when we could have been outside.

"I’m happy we’re doing something but I wouldn’t mind if the walk was only a couple of miles instead of about twelve."

It’s five miles, and we’re almost halfway, and we’ll have a nice lunch once we’re finished, Brielle said.

I’d feel better if more people were out here with us. We’ve only seen four others, and one of them was running.

Next Sunday it’s your turn to pick our fun activity. What are you thinking about?

Either shopping and lunch somewhere or a movie at home and a delivery, Iris said.

Brielle knew Iris wasn’t as into the great outdoors as she was, especially when it was so cold they could see their breath, but it was still fun to