Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Alpha Males (138 page)

“I don’t know exactly.”

“Well, we need to figure this out,
Nicole.”

“I feel like you really don’t give a shit
about our wedding,” she said.

“Of course I care.
 
But I told you that I’m entrusting that
process to you, so I can concentrate on getting my business on track.
 
That’s the thing that pays for the
wedding, you know.”

“I know.
 
Of course I know.”

He sighed.
 
“I’m not sure why you’re upset with
me.
 
I told you we can do it how you
want, spare no expense.
 
You said you
wanted traditional, but small—about fifty people.
 
Great.
 
And now it’s like you need more, more,
more from me.”

“I need some time to actually start
getting it all arranged.”

“Fine.
 
Let’s find you a replacement so you can
focus on the wedding planning.”

She thought about it.
 
“So I’m fired?”

“No,” he laughed.
 
“I’m not firing my partner and my wife.”

“Then what?”

“You’re taking a temporary leave, a
sabbatical.
 
Once the wedding and
honeymoon are over, you come back into whatever role you want to come back to.”

She looked at the floor.
 
“Why do I feel as though I let you
down?”

“Come here,” he said, bringing her close
and hugging her.
 
“You’re not
letting me down.
 
I love you more
than life itself and you could never disappoint me.
 
I’m sorry if I’ve been distant about the
wedding.
 
I’ll do better.”

She laughed as he smooched her
cheek.
 
“I’m being wedding obsessed,
which I know is annoying.
 
I’ll tone
it down.
 
And now that I’m going to
have plenty of time to get ready for it, I already feel calmer.”

“Good,” he smiled.
 
“So it’s settled then.”

“Yes.”

They walked out of the conference room
together and Nicole wondered if things could ever really be settled in this
fast-paced world they lived in.
 
But
she knew they were both trying, which was all she could ask.

***

Marcie Tilly was a firecracker of a
woman, and Nicole had to admit that she liked her right away.
 
She was a big, blustery woman with a
booming laugh that could shake the room when she unleashed it, which was often.

“Oh my goodness, I just love this house,”
she shrieked as she came inside with her huge purse and her binders and bags
and assorted wedding planner gear.
 
It even seemed like she had one of those Paula Dean Southern twangs to
her accent—except Nicole was fairly certain that Marcie had grown up in
Syracuse.

“Thanks, Marcie,” she said, laughing.

“So where’s the man?” Marcie replied,
looking around.
 
“He is one hot
tamale, honey.
 
I am so proud of you
for snagging a prime piece of meat like that.”

Nicole laughed into her hand, feeling both
embarrassed and also relieved that it wasn’t going to be some stuffy, boring
consultation.
 
Knowing her mother,
she would have expected Marcie to be uptight and rule conscious to the extreme.
 
In fact, Marcie seemed not to care much
what Nicole thought of her.

She seemed to be interested in having a
laugh and planning a kick ass wedding, which was what Nicole truly wanted.

They went to the living room and sat down
together, and Marcie proceeded to ask Nicole a series of sharp, intelligent
questions about what kind of wedding she wanted.
 
It was a relief, Nicole thought, to not
have to come up with the questions and the answers all on her own.

When she got tense, Marcie sensed it and
lightened the mood with a silly joke.
 

And Nicole got tense when they started
discussing the guest list.

“So,” Marcie said, chuckling.
 
“How many people do we want at this
fiesta?”

“I was thinking fifty.”

The wedding planner’s eyes widened.
 
“Fifty.”

“Is that bad?”

Marcie shrieked laughter.
 
“Bad?
 
Honey, nothing’s bad or wrong when it
comes to weddings.
 
I’ve seen people
go to the alter dressed as cartoon characters.
 
These days, it definitely isn’t one size
fits all.”

“Oh,” Nicole said, relieved.
 
“It’s just—you looked surprised.”

“The thing is this,” Marcie said.
 
“I know from talking to your mom that
you have a big family.
 
And lots of
family friends.”

Nicole took a deep breath.
 
“Mom talked to you about my guest list?”

Marcie laughed.
 
“Honey, does your mother ever not talk
when she has an opinion?”

“She always has an opinion, but I’m not
comfortable with you being swayed by it.”

“Enough said.
 
I will make sure to put her on ignore
when she starts going on a big wedding tangent.”
 
Marcie smiled.
 
“At the same time, I’m just going to
tell you that you’re in a unique position.”

“Okay…”

Marcie clapped her hands together.
 
“You said that you’re not on any
particular budget, and that your husband trusts you to put this wedding
together and just not bother him about it so he can work.
 
Am I right so far?”

“Yes.
 
I mean, I’m not comfortable spending
ridiculous amounts of money just to spend it, just to show off.”

“And I’m not saying you should,
sweetheart.
 
Not at all.
 
What I will tell you is that you can
afford to invite your family, your extended family, and friends.
 
Most of the time when people do a small
affair, its at least in part due to the prohibitive cost of feeding folks and
serving alcohol and having seats and room for so many people.”

Nicole licked her lips, suddenly
uncertain.
 
“I guess.”

“The other reason to have a really small
wedding is if that’s just what makes you comfortable, and you want an intimate
affair without all of the bells and whistles.
 
People often choose this when they do a
destination wedding or if they elope.”

“I suppose I’m sort of in the middle.”

Marcie’s expression grew serious.
 
“Oh, honey.
 
When it comes to weddings, you better
not be in the middle, you better know what you want.
 
Being undecided when it comes to your
guest list is like standing in the center of a bull ring and swinging a big red
cape around and hoping the bull don’t come stampeding right over you.”

Nicole laughed at the image.
 
“I don’t see how.”

“Because,” Marcie said, her voice falling
to a whisper.
 
“People want to be
offended and they want to find things to complain about and blame you
for.”
 
She pointed at Nicole.
 
“When you’re weak and indecisive, the
vultures sense it and they come circling.
 
You need to be strong and you need to know what you want and why you
want it.
 
If you want a small, fifty
person wedding, you should already know who you’re inviting and why.
 
But it seems to me that you just
basically picked that number out of a hat.”

Nicole sat back, surprised.
 
Marcie might have been large and brash
and loud, but she was more perceptive than she’d led Nicole to believe at first
glance.
 
“I suppose I did just pick
it at random.
 
It sounded small and
intimate and understated.”

“Nothing wrong with any of that.
 
But why are you going to exclude so many
people?
 
Do you not want to declare
your intentions before friends and family and community?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then why so small?”

Nicole sat there.
 
“I—I really have no idea.”

Marcie smiled brightly at her and patted
her purse.
 
“Listen, I don’t want to
take up any more of your time.
 
I’ve
had an absolute blast coming here and talking with you.
 
Of course this is a free consultation.”

“I appreciate that, Marcie, and I so
appreciate you coming all the way out here just to chat with me.”

“It’s my business,” Marcie replied,
standing up with some trouble.
 
“Why
don’t you think over what we talked about today, and then you can let me know
what you’ve decided?
 
I’d love to
work with you and help make your wedding exactly the kind of day that you dream
it will be.
 
And if you decide to go
in a different direction, I will sincerely wish the best for you.”
 
She started for the exit.
 
“Of course, I’ll be sad that I never got
to lay eyes on that big hunk of man meat you call a fiancé.”
 
She roared with laughter again as they
left.

They hugged outside the house and Nicole
watched the large woman hoisting herself into her station wagon.
 
“You call me anytime, day or night,
honey!” she yelled out, before starting the car and driving down the private
way and out of sight.

Nicole stared after her, smiling but also
puzzled.
 
Half of her positively
loved Marcie’s energy, but there was something about the woman that made her
distinctly uncomfortable as well.
 
She couldn’t really put her finger on it.

Maybe I just need to talk to Red, she
thought.
 

But when Red came out of his meeting, he
was with two of his new employees.
 
Talking, laughing.
 
He saw
Nicole and waved her over.
 
“Hey,”
he said, obviously in full-on business mode, as usual these days.
 
“Are you finished with the wedding
planner?”

“Yeah,” she said.
 
“She was really surprisingly cool!”

“Oh, good.
 
You have time to run with me to the
office and conduct a few interviews for your replacement?”

The two employees looked uncomfortable,
as if he was telling her she was being let go right in front of them.

“You mean my temporary replacement.”

He nodded.
 
“Yeah.
 
Yeah.
 
Do you have time to come with me right
now?”

“Sure.
 
Can we have a talk on the way about
wedding stuff?”

He glanced at his co-workers.
 
“I was hoping me and the guys could keep
riffing on the way to Hartford.
 
We’re on a roll.”

“Come on, Red.
 
I just want a little time.”

He sighed.
 
“Sure.
 
Of course.”

So the two employees got in their own car
and Red and Nicole took Red’s car into the city.
 

Red was staring straight ahead at the
road.
 
Nicole felt completely
distant from him, and frustrated that he’d pulled away from her once
again.
 
“I really like Marcie,” she
said, as they approached Route 84.

“The wedding planner from Syracuse,” he
said, doubtfully.

“Yes, she’s from Syracuse.
 
That doesn’t mean she’s a total
rube.
 
I think you’d like her.
 
She’s hysterically funny.”

“What about the planner I told you
about?
 
The one who does all the
celebrity weddings?”

Nicole tried to find room in her mind for
that possibility.
 
“I could talk to
her, I guess.”

“Don’t do me any favors.
 
I was just thinking it might be best to
go with a known quantity.
 
I mean,
other than your mom recommending her—what do you really know about her
ability to do the job?”

“I’m just going off my gut instinct.”

He glanced sideways at her.
 
“She’s going to be dealing with one of
the most important days of our lives, so I hope your instincts are on target.”

“You keep saying you trust me, but
sometimes it doesn’t feel like you do.”

“I do, I’m just giving my input.
 
Like you keep asking me to.”