Love Me Tomorrow
WILDE CITY PRESS
Love Me Tomorrow © 2015 Ethan Day
Published in the US and Australia by Wilde City Press 2015
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, situations and incidents are the product of the author’s imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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Published by Wilde City Press
ISBN
:
978-1-925180-74-9
Cover Art © 2015 Wilde City Press
LOVE ME TOMORROW
Ethan Day
Acknowledgements
I'd like to thank the following people for helping me get this book completed and ready for release.
Thank you to Stephani Hecht, Lisa Edwards & Hannah for your help with all things paramedical.
To Jambrea Jo Jones—book-title-giver and beta-speed-reader extraordinaire—many thanks for once again appeasing my neurosis by reassuring me that I don't suck, lol.
My eternal gratitude to Ally Blue who has helped me with all things medical over the years, from Boone & Wade to Fox & Tucker to Levi & Jake. I can't thank you enough for having generously given your time over multiple years and multiple books—your friendship and support is greatly appreciated.
Further thanks to Lisa Edwards for your support and attention to detail over multiple manuscripts and for always letting me know when I've made you laugh!
To JP Bowie who has been an incredible friend and supporter since our first meeting back in 2010, many thanks for helping me write this book by imparting some of your own wisdom and personal history. Next drink is on me, Dewar's Lad!
To Kris Jacen, who has assisted me in bringing so many wildly fun and entertaining characters to life across the pages of multiple books—there are a great many things I have likely never fully thanked you enough for over the years and for that I am truly sorry. In the event I've never said it before, many thanks for always being there, beyond your work as an editor, with a kind word, a sympathetic ear and the occasional offering of friendly advice. You have been an incredible friend and you are much loved.
Finally, my heartfelt gratitude to anyone and everyone out there for purchasing and reading my books. I cannot ever fully put into words what that means to me, so I will simply say, thank you.
Chapter One
“A little to the right, please.” Levi Goode took several steps backward as the two men on ladders shifted the eight by six foot canvas backdrop featuring a vintage Carnival-themed bearded lady, wearing a Victorian era costume including all the frills and ruffles. It was the last of nearly eighty in total showcasing various Carnival-themed attractions of yesteryear which now hung throughout the tent.
“That’s it, right there—that is perfect guys, thank you so much.”
They nodded their appreciation for the gratitude and the younger, hunkier one of the two dramatically sighed his relief as he started down the ladder.
Levi let it roll off his back, aware he’d been a bit a tyrant the past few days. He wasn’t typically this high-strung, but his stress level had been at DEFCON Five for weeks and it had begun to make him a little rough around the edges. He had gambled his entire reputation, not to mention a small chunk of his own savings, on this one event. His entire future hung in the balance and this one night was a make or break moment for his business, Goode City Event & Party Planning.
All in all, he was currently in charge of wrangling hundreds of volunteers, not including his own people and all the staff from the catering company. Beyond that, were the entertainers and a small army of service staff that had been hired—the bartenders and waiters—to work the event, serving the over nine hundred guests who had paid upwards of $2500 a plate to attend tonight’s benefit.
Surveying the monstrous three-ring circus sized tent which stood nearly four stories high at the tallest peak, Levi made mental check-marks on the forever-long list inside his head: the portable bars scattered throughout were all set up and ready for service; the pristine tablecloths covering the tables; and the elegant centerpieces were being put into place.
They had hours to go, yet the amount of work that was still left to do felt insurmountable. The stage appeared to be alive, now crawling with roadies and technicians setting up for the big band orchestra. Everything was coming together and Levi was cautious and excited and…
“…scared shitless all at the same time.”
Chastising himself for using profanity, Levi sighed, thinking it was already October and he was still struggling to remove that language from his vocabulary. It was the lone New Year’s resolution he’d made for 2014 and considering the year was almost over, it was beginning to feel a bit futile.
He decided to cut himself some slack, deciding it was the stress talking.
The culmination of the past nine months’ worth of planning and hard work was only a few hours away and despite his somewhat frayed nerves, Levi was certain it would all pay off in the end—it’s what he kept telling himself at any rate. The Cancer Prevention Charity Ball was one of
the
influential society events in Wilde City each year and had raised millions of dollars in the past. This was the first year in over a decade that the event planning had been opened up to outside bidding.
Until her collapse from a heart attack at the Silverman-Bingley wedding last winter, event planner Libby Washington had enjoyed a decade-long stranglehold over any and all of the major society events in Wilde City. She was a ruthless woman, so diabolical, that anyone who attempted to venture out and hire anyone else wound up regretting it.
Everyone feared Libby, and rightfully so, as her vengeance was legendary. Restaurants she deemed worthy of her benevolence, that turned around and worked with any other party planners, found themselves shut down due to health code violations. Hotels that didn’t give her priority over event space rentals suffered horrible reviews and rumors of bed bugs, shingles outbreaks and the like. Then there was legendary, long-time and well-beloved Mayor Frances, considered to be a shoo-in for re-election several years back, who found himself voted out of office when he had the gall to ask a family member to organize his inaugural gala.
Libby was still a force, in spite of the heart attack that nearly claimed her life all those months ago. However, a crack in her armor had been exposed and she no longer had the pull she once did. The fact it had been medically confirmed that she actually had a heart had been her undoing, so to speak. Everyone she’d ever intimidated or bullied into subservience was now all too willing to step over her bloodied corpse.
“You reap what you sow,” Levi mumbled to himself as he scrolled down the itinerary on his tablet, checking to ensure things were ticking along as intended.
The only damper on the evening’s event was the fact Libby was expected to attend the gala—the one dark stain on the horizon that no amount of scrubbing could possibly alleviate. Levi had hired outside security as a result. It would be just like her to attempt some sort of sabotage. He couldn’t keep that hag from coming to the party, but he could damn well make sure she remained under constant surveillance while she was inside his tent.
Someone really needs to drop a house on that witch.
Levi winced at the shriek of a microphone sound check gone wrong. His phone began chirping, as did several others around him. He then noticed bells chiming and ringtones were going off all throughout the tent. He began reaching for his own phone when he heard several whooping sounds being shouted all around him. His curiosity evaporated the instant he saw his assistant, Valerie, running toward him at a breakneck pace.
Something was terribly wrong and Levi’s chest began to tighten, making it difficult to breathe.
What I get for thinking bad thoughts about demon-Libby.
“Levi Goode,” Caroline Sparks called out, her sweetly seductive voice all but licking the stress away as she strode toward him with a huge smile on her face. “I knew hiring you was the right call. Just look at this place!”
He took a very brief moment to glance around, double checking for any fires, imagined or otherwise, that needed to be put out. Then her words sank in, and he realized her smile combined with the phrase ‘right call’ were positives.
“Thank you, Caroline. I’m so happy you’re pleased.”
The caterer had told him that Caroline had pushed for him to get the contract; that made him especially keen to see she was happy with his services. She’d been on the city council since the late eighties and was well-respected amongst the community. Dressed in a grey pant suit, she looked like a politician—well-pressed and professionally coiffed—though Levi had never picked up any indications that she was anything less than sincere.
She’d no doubt stopped by to check in on his progress on her way home from work.
He noticed two of the bartenders on the other side of the tent high-fiving one another as people’s cell phones continued to chirp and bleep all around them. Valerie was now standing at his side and looked like she was about to explode.
“Pleased?” Caroline said, looking around the space. “I’m practically gleaming. It’s just beautiful, stunning, really, Levi, it’s more than I’d even hoped for.”
He let out a little sigh and she reached over and gave his arm a squeeze.
“Not for nothing and despite the fact I’m fully aware it’s not polite to speak ill of the dead, I have to say that you, my boy, are so much easier to deal with than that dreadful Libby Washington.”
It took several seconds and seeing Valerie completely deflate before the words sunk in. “Libby passed away?” The reason behind the phone bleeping and chirping became clear. Word of Libby’s demise was making the rounds and the people who’d suffered under her reign over the past ten years were apparently ready to celebrate.
Caroline smiled evilly while nodding her head. “Which means my
very
good friend, Julia Freeman-Kingsley, will be in
desperate
need of a new party planner for her annual anniversary bash in December.”
Levi’s mouth fell open and Valerie let out a tiny squeak. Snagging a senator’s daughter as a new client would be quite the coup.
“I’ll make sure Julia manages to find you later this evening.” Caroline began walking away, nodding politely at Valerie. Then she began spinning around in a circle and giggling like a little girl. “You’re a revelation, Mr. Goode, I just love it—I love everything.”
“That one needs to adjust her medication,” Valerie blurted, the instant Caroline was out of earshot.
Levi shot her a nasty look and she smiled up at him.
Valerie was at least a foot shorter than his six-foot frame, with pale skin and hair dyed black as night, styled in that retro Betty-Page-with-bangs kind of way. She had a dangerously curvy physique and she enjoyed wearing borderline inappropriately tight clothing.