Three Girls And A Wedding (24 page)

“That’s really nice, Kiki,” I told
her. “But flowers are expensive…”

Kiki just waved me away. “Like
she’ll ever use all those. Please.” She looked back at Ginny. “What do you
think? Do you mind if the flowers are homegrown?”

Ginny shook her head. “Kiki, that’s
really nice of you.”

“No problem!” Kiki trilled. “Okay,
what else?”

Everyone looked at me.
This is it, Jen,
I told myself.
The most important sales pitch of your life.
Time to get into the game.
I straightened my back and looked around at them
all. “We need tables and chairs,” I said. “And dishes and silverware.” I looked
over at Ginny and Josh. “I don’t think we necessarily need to find a bunch of
matching stuff. In fact, mismatched pieces might work better with the feel
we’re going for.”

“Oh, I know, I know!” Kiki shouted,
actually waving her hand in the air. “I’m sure we could borrow some spare place
settings from Daddy’s hotels and restaurants. I doubt I could get a hundred of
the same, but if you don’t mind them being mismatched, I bet I can come up with
enough.”

I looked over at Ginny. “Fine by
me,” she said.

“Kiki,” I said, looking at her
sternly. “You have about two dozen friends and family here from out of town.
Are you sure you should be doing this today?”

“Of course!” Kiki cried. “I don’t
even know half those people. Besides, this is so much more fun.”

Behind her, Annie was staring at
Kiki like she had never seen anything quite like her before. I looked over at
Matt, who nodded at me firmly. I could practically hear his voice in my head.
Let people help you
.

“Okay, Kiki, if you really and
truly don’t mind, we would definitely appreciate your help getting the place
settings.”

“I’m on it!” she said. She gave me
a huge hug, then hugged both Annie and Ginny in turn. I couldn’t help but laugh
at the expressions on both their faces as Kiki flounced out the door, Eric
following her.

“Okay, tables and chairs,” I said,
rubbing my forehead. “Any bright ideas?”

“If we don’t mind going for a
hodgepodge, I’m sure we can come up with enough,” Matt said.

“What if we just asked people?”
Josh said. “I mean, everyone has a table, right? If we just ask our parents
we’d probably have four right there. If they all seat, say, eight, we’re a
third of the way there.”

“Not everyone’s table seats eight,”
I told him. “But it’s as good a place to start as any. I say we try to get a
hold of as many as we can, then start hitting up thrift stores and Ikea.”

“I agree,” Josh said. “We can use
my truck to start transporting them down here.”

“Okay,” I said. “So we have a plan
for food, flowers, seating, and place settings.”

“What about a cake?” Annie asked. I
noted that she still wasn’t looking directly at me, but I couldn’t worry about
that right now.

“The cake is fine, I talked to the
baker and they can do it early,” I said.

“Oh, thank God,” Josh said
seriously. “That cake was delicious. I really did
not
want to lose that.”

I laughed. “So big things we still
need: photographer, alcohol, music, and centerpieces. I was
gonna
make the centerpieces anyhow, so let’s not worry about that yet.”

“Photography is set,” Ginny said.
“Josh’s friend from work was doing it, remember? He’s free on Friday, we
already called him.”

“Perfect!” I said, feeling even
more energetic. Could we actually pull this off?

“I don’t see that we really need a
DJ,” Annie said thoughtfully. “Why can’t we just make a bunch of playlists and
hook an iPod up to a sound system?”

“Yeah, but who has a sound system?”
Ginny asked.

“I bet I could get a hold of
something from the theater,” Annie said. “And I could do all the announcement
stuff that a DJ would do—I’d be good at that.”

“Okay, the next thing we need to do
is get in touch with all the guests,” I said. “That needs to happen, like, now.
Everyone needs to know the new address. I think you guys should head back home
and start making calls.”

“And we can also track down tables
and chairs,” Josh said.

“And I can figure out the food,” I
said. “Do you guys have any preferences?”

Josh shrugged. “Whatever you think
will be easy to make a lot of,” Ginny said.

“Okay,” I told her. “It will be
good, I promise.”

Ginny looked at me but didn’t
respond. I didn’t mind. I knew I had a long way to go to win her trust back,
but I was going to do it. This wedding was going to work, I could feel it. I
had messed up, big time, but I would make it right. I would fix this if it was
the last thing I did.

Chapter Twenty-six

‘The homestretch is
upon you! Hopefully this is an easy few days for you. If you’ve been making
plans and getting things done ahead of time, you might find that you have
little left to do while your wedding approaches. This is a good thing! Take
some time to relax, pamper yourself, and enjoy your family and friends before
the big day!’—
The Bride’s Guide to
a Fabulous Wedding!

Two days later I lugged the last
box of books into the wedding space.

“God, why do books have to be so
heavy?” I moaned to Matt.

“Well, why the hell did you have to
decide on a centerpiece that required this many books?” he countered, following
me with his own box.

The space was practically
unrecognizable from the first time I had seen it. All of the construction
equipment had been carted out. The floor had been cleaned and polished. Annie
had managed to borrow half a dozen original paintings from her more artistic
friends and they now graced the exposed brick walls.

Josh and Matt had been hauling
tables and chairs into the space for the past two days. We had a dozen of
various sizes. At that very moment, Josh was at Ikea using my credit card to
buy five more basic round tables and a dozen more chairs. I hoped it would be
enough.

I was quickly approaching the max
on my credit card. In addition to the necessities for decorating the site, I
had bought all the food to prepare and as much alcohol and (cheap) wine as I
could get my hands on. I was determined Ginny and Josh would not spend another
dime due to my mistakes.

I had spent most of the last two
days cooking non-stop. There was going to be a massive amount to do tomorrow
before the ceremony started, but I had managed to get all the prep work done.

We were twenty-eight hours away
from the wedding, and I thought we were in great shape. I had gone with Kiki to
the house that morning to pick flowers, which were now soaking in large buckets
in the kitchen. Sometime tonight I would put together three bouquets for us to
carry (assuming Ginny still allowed me to walk down the aisle as a bridesmaid)
and several more to be placed around the room and out on the patio.

We weren’t using just flowers for
the centerpieces. I had wanted something with a more personal touch—thus,
the boxes of books.

“Ginny and Josh are total book
nerds,” I explained to Matt. “Seriously, they read more than anyone I know.
I’ve been planning these centerpieces for months, and I think they’re
gonna
be perfect.”

“Okay, so what’s the idea here?”
Matt asked, pulling books from the boxes.

“Take a stack, maybe three or four,
and wrap this ribbon around it,” I directed, pointing at the pile of raffia I
had already cut. “We want the sizes and shapes of the books to vary, so don’t
think too much about making them look the same.”

“And that’s it?” Matt asked. “The
centerpieces are just stacks of books?”

“There will be flowers, too,” I corrected.

He didn’t look convinced. “Just
trust me,” I told him. “It’s unique—very Ginny.”

“How’re things going with the two
of you?” he asked, putting a stack together.

I shrugged. “We’re both so busy we
haven’t really talked. I just keep hoping that she’ll forgive me when she sees
how great the wedding is.”

“She’ll forgive you anyhow, Jen,”
Matt said. “She loves you.”

I sighed. “I hope you’re right.”

We worked in silence for a few
minutes. “You have the menu figured out?” Matt asked eventually.

“Yeah. We don’t have a wait staff
so I’m going for a buffet. I’m keeping it pretty simple, stuff I can have ready
ahead of time and just stick in the ovens to warm before the ceremony starts.”

“Good thinking. What did you make?”

“Tons of stuff—probably too
much. I’ve got salads, meatballs, stuffed mushrooms, wings, pasta, rice with
veggies, and barbeque pork for sandwiches. It’s not gourmet—”

“It sounds like party food,” Matt
interrupted firmly. “It sounds delicious.”

I smiled at him gratefully. “We’ll
see.”

“So what else do you have to do?”
Matt asked, looking around the space.

“String the lanterns, hang lights,
iron tablecloths, set the tables, put the flowers together. Oh, and make
seating cards. I think that’s it.”

“And finish the food,” Matt added.
I nodded. “Piece of cake,” he muttered. I sighed in response. “You’re
gonna
be here all night, aren’t you?”

“If I have to be. The girls and
Josh are coming this evening to help with all the set-up; maybe we’ll get lucky
and get out of here early.”

“Eric and Kiki said they were
coming too,” Matt said, tying another length of raffia. “And I’ve got nothing
else to do. So you’ll have lots of help.”

“You guys really don’t have to do
that,” I said, frowning at him. “The rehearsal dinner is tomorrow.”

“There’s not much to do,” Matt
said, shrugging. “See, this really anal-retentive chick planned the whole thing
down to the last detail weeks ago. All we have to do is show up.”

I nudged him with my shoulder, and
immediately regretted it. Why did I still have to feel that zip of electricity
every time I touched him?

My phone rang, distracting me. I
looked down at it and groaned. Jason.

To say he hadn’t been pleased when
I told him I’d be out of commission all week was an understatement. He
threatened to fire me on the spot. I told him he could go ahead, but he would
also have to inform Kiki I wouldn’t be involved in the wedding day. He
relented, but he kept calling me trying to persuade me to change my mind.

“Hello,” I said tersely into the
phone.

“Jen, I need to talk to you,” Jason
said.

“I’m busy,” I said distinctly, not
bothering to hide my annoyance.

“Listen, I’m right down the street,
I’m
gonna
stop by. It will just take a minute, okay?”

“Jason, you cannot come here,” I
snapped. Matt’s head snapped up.

“I’m coming, Jen,” he said firmly.
“And I’ll stand outside and knock until you let me in.”

“Jason!” I cried, but I knew it was
too late. He’d hung up. “Damn,” I said, tossing my phone side. Why had I been
stupid enough to tell him where I was working this week?

“What did he want?” Matt asked in
measured tones.

“He wants to talk,” I said. “No
doubt to try and convince me that I’m committing professional suicide.” I stood
up. “I guess I should go wait outside. No sense in making him feel welcome.”

Matt didn’t respond, so I slipped
away and headed outside.

It was a gorgeous fall day. The
warm weather was hanging on and I said a silent prayer that it would last
through the weekend so both Ginny and Kiki could have their outdoor ceremonies
without complications.

It was barely a minute before I saw
Jason’s black Audi pull up.

He jumped out of the car and I
noted that he wasn’t looking his usual put-together self. His suit was rumpled
and his hair looked disheveled. I felt a flash of satisfaction. It looked like
Jason was finally feeling the stress of this wedding. In that instant I knew I
couldn’t see him outside of work again. I felt too much hostility toward him to
ever have romantic feelings.

“Jen, you need to come into the
office with me,” he said.

I sighed. “Jason, seriously? We’ve
been over this. I’m not coming in. I’m not prepping for the rehearsal dinner.
I’ve done tons of work on it already, you can handle the rest.”

“How can you let Kiki down like
this?” he asked. I rolled my eyes. Like he cared about Kiki at all.

“Kiki is the one who told me that I
didn’t need to be there. I’ve seen Kiki every day this week. She knows she can
get in touch with me if she needs anything. And I’ll be with her all day
Saturday to make sure the wedding goes off without a hitch. If that’s all, I
have work to do here…”

“I can’t believe you, Campbell,”
Jason said. “Throwing everything away for a no-name event.”

“That’s why you and I are
different,” I shot back. “Unlike you, I understand that there are things more
important than names, than status. There are things worth doing even if it
doesn’t get you anywhere.”

“We’re
not
different Jen,” he said, stepping closer to me. “Don’t you see
that? Why do you think I’ve been dating you? We can help each other, push each
other.” He looked over at Matt’s beat-up truck. “You shouldn’t be with someone
like him. He’s not in your league. I am.”

I stepped back, feeling disgusted.
How could I have ever been on a date with this guy?

“No thanks,” I said.

“Jen, you have no idea what you’re
throwing away. I’m going places and I’m basically offering to take you with me.
Would you really turn that down?”

“What are you talking about,
Jason?” I said, impatient now.

“My meetings in New York,” he said,
grinning. “I wasn’t just trying to build up the client base for
NoLimits
.” He
rolled his eyes. “The biggest firm in Detroit. Big deal. Who the hell wants to
stay in this dump?” he asked, gesturing around.