Three Girls And A Wedding (7 page)

“What exactly are you looking for,
dear?” she asked politely, her voice soft with a slight southern accent.

“I’m not sure,” Ginny said, looking
at me with a panicked expression.

“Ginny is having a somewhat casual
wedding,” I explained. “We don’t want to see anything too fancy—no ball
gowns or princess dresses. I think, personally, with Ginny’s figure an a-line
or a sheath would be perfect.”

“Stand please, dear,” Carol said.
Ginny complied and Carol looked her up and down. “Hmm,” she said, nodding her
head. “I think you’re right…are you a size six, dear?”

“Um…yeah?” Ginny said, clearly
bewildered.

“I thought so. All right then, I’ll
bring a few silhouettes in and we can go from there, sound good?” I noticed
that Carol was addressing me now, much to Ginny’s obvious relief.

“Perfect. Thank you.”

“Oh, one more thing,” Carol said,
turning at the door. “How do you feel about lace?”

Ginny looked at her blankly.

“She loves it,” I promised.

“Wow,” Ginny said once Carol had
left. “I so was not born with this gene.”

“You’re doing fine,” I assured her.

“When I get married, I’m not going
for any of this crap,” Annie declared. “I’m going to get married in a white
leather tube dress in Vegas. No muss, no fuss.”

I snorted. “Are you a porn star
now?”

Annie sighed. “If I don’t land a
role soon, it might come to that.” In addition to her work with the youth
theater, Annie was an aspiring actress. Paid gigs had been hard to come by,
unfortunately.

“What about you, Jen?” Ginny asked.
“What’s your dream dress?”

I shrugged. “I plan weddings for
other people, not myself,” I reminded her. “I’ve never given it much thought.”

Lies. Total lies. No one thinks
about her future wedding as much as me.

Carol returned with five different
gowns, and I felt a rush of excitement.

“Ready, Ginny?” I asked, looking at
her with a smile.

Ginny shrugged. “Let’s get this
show on the road.”

***

Few things in life can compare to
the sight of one of your best friends in a wedding dress for the first time.

Ginny was beautiful in every gown
she tried on. I could tell as soon as the first dress hit her body, she was
hooked. She’d always been a
fashionista
, Ginny, and
as soon as she could get over the weirdness of this being for her wedding, she
got really into it

So did Annie and I. By the end of
the afternoon the two of us were practically skipping around the store, picking
up veils and tiaras, necklaces and brooches, anything and everything to enhance
and perfect the vision of Ginny in a white gown.

Carol did a good job. All of the
dresses were flattering, all appropriate for the kind of wedding I was
envisioning for Ginny. After four dresses I was completely in love with two: an
organza strapless a-line with delicate beading on the waist and a chiffon
empire waist sheath with lace cap sleeves.

“Okay, ladies, one more,” Carol
said, ushering Ginny away from the floor length mirror where she had been
preening for a quarter of an hour. I hoped we weren’t annoying Carol too
much—admittedly, we were being childish, like little girls in the
ultimate dress-up game. But this was so much fun!

Annie and I decided to see how
we
would look in tiaras and veils, thus
when Ginny walked out a few minutes later in what would be The Dress, we
regrettably looked pretty silly.

“Oh. My. God,” Annie whispered.
“Bitch. That’s it.” (Annie had a tendency to swear when she got excited.)

“I love it,” Ginny said simply.
“This is the dress I want to wear when I marry Josh.”

The dress was phenomenal. Fitted
ivory lace hugged the curve of her hips before flowing out slightly below her
knees. The bodice, too, was completely lace, stretching up into thick straps
and dropping away into a low v-neck. A silk champagne sash wrapped around her
tiny waist.

“How did you have a baby ten months
ago, you whore?” Annie muttered.

“Jen?” Ginny asked. “What do you
think?”

My throat was too tight to speak.
Ginny looked perfect. Ridiculously, heart-
breakingly
beautiful. My best friend—a bride. It took my breath away.

“It’s perfect,” I finally managed
to murmur. “You’re perfect.”

I wrapped my arms around her,
loving her so much in that moment, and Annie soon followed suit. We stood there
for a minute, the three of us hugging, before Ginny finally pulled away.

“Um, guys,” she said, wiping the
tears away from her eyes. “Why the hell are you wearing veils?”

***

I was pretty proud of myself as we
drove home. I had helped Ginny to find the absolute perfect dress. I had done
it without high-end salons or thousands of dollars—in fact, Ginny’s
designer Jim
Hjelm
gown set her back exactly four hundred
bucks.

Kiki may have a glamorous
lifestyle, I decided firmly, but I was more certain then ever that those
trappings, in the end, weren’t the only things that mattered.

When I got home, there was a
message for me on my phone. Kiki had decided to continue her shopping
elsewhere. Her daddy was going to lend her his private jet after the engagement
party. She wanted me to join her for a weekend shopping excursion in New York
City.

On second thought, maybe there was
a place for glamour in my life after all.

Chapter Ten

‘Choosing your venue
can be a very complicated undertaking. There are many factors to
consider—location, atmosphere, amenities, food—and don’t forget the
all important matter of price! It is important to consider each of these
factors, but it’s also important to trust your gut. When you find the perfect
place, you’ll know!’—
The Bride’s
Guide to a Fabulous Wedding!

I was not looking forward to the
venue selection day. If my experience with Kiki at the dress shops was anything
to go by, that girl couldn’t make a decision to save her life. To make matters
worse, Jason would be joining us. The prospect of spending an entire day with
him made me shudder. But Kiki’s parents would be there today, and I knew Jason
wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to seem vital to the process in their
presence.

We were supposed to meet at the
Barker house at nine. Jason had arranged for us to tour six different venues,
ranging from a country club to a yacht club. It was going to be an exhausting
day.

Shortly before nine I pulled up
into the driveway—which was so long it felt more like an actual
street—of the most gorgeous mansion I had ever seen. The house was
sprawling, massive, and very opulent. I suddenly felt incredibly self-conscious
of my somewhat battered Jeep.

The Barkers and Jason were waiting
beside a sleek black stretch limo. Of course, we would have to travel in style.
I parked and got out of the car, determined not to show how awkward and out of
place I felt. My mother had taught me, long ago, that the key to success was
believing you deserved it. Usually I was pretending more than actually
believing, but the effect was the same.

“Jen, Jen, hi!” Kiki was shouting
before I could take a step toward her. I marveled, not for the first or last
time, how a grown woman could act so much like a ten-year-old, but I forced the
thought out of my mind and smiled brightly as I approached the group.

Predictably, Kiki hugged me as soon
as I was within arm’s reach. “Oh, Jen! I’m so excited about today. Aren’t you
excited?”

“I am!” I agreed. “Jason has some
really great places for us to check out.”

“And you’ll get to meet
Matty
!”

I knew from our discussions that
Matt was Eric’s older brother, the best man, but I had yet to meet him.

“You’ll love him. He’s, like, so
awesome.” Kiki leaned closer to me and whispered, “I actually think he’d be
perfect for you. You’ll see.” She winked at me.

I managed not to roll my eyes. Just
what I needed, Kiki trying to play matchmaker.

“
Oooh
,
here they are! Oh yay, we can get started!”

I glanced in the direction Kiki was
pointing and was surprised to see a very old, battered-looking Ford truck pull
up behind my own Jeep. Eric was climbing out of the passenger seat and Kiki was
running toward him, throwing her arms wide for a hug, before I caught sight of
Matt.

I noticed several things
simultaneously. I was struck, immediately, by his size. Matt was tall, much
taller than his brother, but it was more than his height. He was broad, clearly
muscular under his soft grey sweater. His hair was thick, wavy, and brown.
Though his jeans and sweater looked suitably nice, I noted there was a bit of
caked mud on his heavy work boots.

He was beautiful.

Like, seriously beautiful. There
was something about his height, his size, his obvious manliness, that just
grabbed me. He was totally not the type of guy that I usually went for, but
man, something about this guy was causing me to react in a very physical,
visceral way.

I could see Kiki watching me from
the corner of my eye, and I managed to pull myself together. This was
ridiculous. I had a job to do, a very important job, and there was no way I was
going to let some guy get in the way of that.

Kiki made the introductions—I
was relieved that Matt stood back, nodding at Jason and me in our turn rather
than shaking our hands. I could really do without any physical contact from the
disturbingly gorgeous man.

“Well,” Jason said, in his most
charming camp-counselor, isn’t-this-going-to-be- great voice. “Now that we’re
all here, let’s get started!”

We filed into the limo and I found
myself at the far end, near the driver. Jason, of course, had situated himself
as close as possible to David Barker, but I was fine with it—let him be
the kiss-ass all day. Kiki and Eric sat on my immediate right, with Matt on their
other side. I determinedly didn’t look in his direction.

As we headed to the first venue,
Kiki kept up a constant stream of chatter. She was so excited about the
wedding, about the trip to New York, about the fact that we were all together
today. Had I gotten that e-mail that she sent regarding the custom made cotton
candy cocktail that she wanted for the engagement party?

“Oh,
Matty
,”
she said suddenly, the segue between her previous stream of consciousness and
this one lost on me. “Did you know that Jen lived in Chicago during college?
Didn’t you live in Chicago once? You guys totally have so much in common!”

Inwardly I cringed. How obvious
could she be? Not to mention the fact that I really did not need this kind of
distraction today.

But I was determined to be
friendly, to make Kiki happy, so I smiled winningly at Matt and said, “Oh,
really? Whereabouts in Chicago did you live?”

“Nowhere you’re familiar with, I’m
sure,” Matt muttered, looking away. I was shocked by the disdain clear in his
eyes when he looked at me. It was as if he had decided already that nothing I
could say would be of any interest to him.

I felt my cheeks flush slightly at
his dismissal, but I was determined not to let the sting of it show.
You’re lucky,
I told myself.
It doesn’t matter how gorgeous he is; if
he’s an asshole you can move right along and not give him a second thought.

“Oh
Matty
,
stop being such a grump,” Kiki said easily, but there was an edge to her voice
I had never heard before and Eric was clearly glaring at his older brother.

Not relishing the thought of
causing any discord, I quickly changed the subject, asking Kiki if she’d had
the chance to start compiling the guest list for the engagement party yet. We
spent the rest of the ride discussing details while Matt sat in silence.

The first venue on Jason’s list was
a country club in Birmingham. The grounds were beautiful and sprawling, and the
clubhouse was the kind of place that was so ritzy I felt uncomfortable.

As the concierge showed us around,
and Jason babbled about his vision, I couldn’t help but notice that Matt also
looked completely out of his element. This clearly was not the kind of place he
was used to spending time in.

As Jason and Mr. Barker questioned
the concierge about the wine list, Kiki put her arm through mine.

“Jen, what do you think?”

“About what?” I asked, alarmed. Was
she seriously asking me about Matt when he was standing two feet away,
obviously watching us from the corner of his eye?

“The venue,” she said, looking at
me strangely.

“Oh, the venue, of course,” I
stammered, pulling myself together. “To be honest, Kiki, I’m not feeling it.
It’s beautiful and all, but it’s kind of…”

“Generic?” she asked.

I looked at her in surprise. That
was exactly what I had been thinking, and it was the first time that Kiki had
expressed anything other than her absolute delight at any aspect of the
wedding.

“It’s just not…special. You need a
place that’s more you, more unique.”

She beamed at me. “You and I are
totally on the same wavelength.”

Over Kiki’s head, I saw Matt roll
his eyes.

***

By the time we had seen three more
sites, I was feeling pretty bored. I could tell Matt and Eric were feeling the
same way. Even Kiki was lacking much of her usual enthusiasm.

The sites Jason had picked—a
yacht club, a restaurant, and a hotel ballroom—were beautiful, very
swanky, very elegant. There was nothing wrong with any of them—on the
contrary, most girls would kill for the chance to get married at these places.
But none of them really screamed Kiki to me. As I had told her about the
country club, they just weren’t special.