Green Tea (25 page)

Morgan was obviously surprised. “But I didn’t even invite them to the wedding. I can’t ask them to do that.”

“Darlin’ most of them will be workin’ while you’re getting married. Don’t you worry about a
thing.
I already told them that if you ever have a chance to return the favor, or you could use them in your brochures or whatever you’re creatin’ you’d be sure to give ‘em a call.”

“I promise.”

“Then let’s go over to get us some of that rehearsal dinner.”

We all caravanned back to my parent’s. As we got out of the car, Mom handed me some oven mitts and a couple of hand towels and told me to go get the roast. She repeated the directions several times. Each of the O’Flynns was headed to one neighbor or another to collect our dinner.

I think it took Morgan’s family back a little to see so many of us swarm and I know a couple of her girlfriends just shook their heads, but it seemed pretty normal to us.

My parents were among the first people on the block and most of my neighbors have been my neighbors since before I was born. It’s like a family. We do the same kind of stuff for them. When I was younger, I spent a lot of time feeding fish and watering grass and running to the store for eggs or milk or whatever was needed. That’s how a neighborhood is supposed to be. I miss it.

When we got the food back to the house, Morgan’s dad started to carve the roast, Daddy started in on the ham, Teagan and I drained and mashed potatoes, rolls were put in baskets, veggies were steamed, it was like both halves of the family had been working together for years.

It can be dangerous in a small kitchen with everyone holding something hot or something sharp, but without a single injury, the buffet was arranged, kids were served, everyone was settled, and the dads were joking around about a summer BBQ.

We had a nice time. Ate too much. Got things cleaned up and got home early enough for me to take a shower and find just the right gown to reintroduce AJ to my evening rituals.

In the morning, AJ and I went out for breakfast.

Great minds think alike, we ended up in the same place Teagan and Jessie did. Probably only because Teagan lives so close, and it’s the closest place that serves breakfast, but I prefer to look at it as kismet.

We sat at the same table. Of course things turned to Jerkface and friends. Nothing new on that front. Jessie explained that he talked to his sister, a lawyer, and she said that things in the legal world move pretty slowly. Don’t expect anything earth shattering. It might be months, or even years, before we have any involvement again.

I liked the sound of that.

We talked about our upcoming cruise. AJ and Jessie decided they would go deep-sea fishing while we were gone. Good, cause that doesn’t appeal to me at all, so I won’t feel like I missed out on anything.

I desperately wanted to ask Jessie if he was going to relocate, and how he could do that to my sister, and why was he still in town, but Teagan would kill me, and I don’t mean that in the empty threat kind of way most sisters would say they would kill their sister, I mean she would actually kill me. The girl has been reading about serial killers for a while now, she probably has it all figured out.

Teagan pulled a beautiful necklace out of her purse. She said she’d been carrying it with her because she forgot to give it to me last night.

It will go perfectly with my dress.

I asked what she was wearing, but she played it coy. Told me that Sinead was wearing a royal blue V-necked dress with a chiffon overlay with beading at the empire waist. Hair up. Silver heels.

“Sinead can wear blue, because blue is the color of purity. That’s why you can’t wear blue. Red maybe Teagan?”

“Don’t start. Besides, those rules apply to the bride, not the guests. Mom’s wearing blue. She has eight kids.”

“True, but she’s pure of heart. Ask her. She’ll tell you.”

We all laughed.

We chatted about nothing, ate our breakfast, and headed our separate ways.

AJ took off early. He was in jeans and a t-shirt, with a suit bag, and his shoes thrown in the trunk and more camera equipment than I can lift with help.

He’s meeting Morgan and her parents at her condo for the before pictures. Jovana will go over to my brother Rory’s house, that's where Jordan and Liam are getting ready. Then, Morgan and her parents will head over to the ballroom early, my parents will meet them there, lots of pictures, each of us O’Flynn kids has an assigned task, then we’ll all meet at the ballroom and go from there.

Normally, it would be all hands on deck for the decorating and cooking, but Jovana and the girls from the bar, with the help of a couple cooks and such, are taking care of all those details. That’s why Jovana is taking the guy pictures and AJ is taking the pictures of Morgan. Jovana will have more time to whip around the kitchen and make sure the details of the ballroom are all taken care of.

I admit it openly, this whole experience is a little more she-she pooh-pooh than I am accustomed to.
 
Normally it is the O’Flynn way to rush around and do everything at the last second, doing the cooking and the cleaning and everything else that needs to be done, so sitting around with little to do makes me nervous.

I puttered around the apartment,
then
decided to go ahead and get ready.

I took a shower, put all kinds of chemicals Teagan has supplied me with into my hair, blew it dry with the diffuser thing, it was nice and fluffy. I spritzed my hair lightly with more chemicals, put small hot rollers in, and went about putting my face on.

I did a whole face, unusual for me, and short of false eyelashes, because I am not even going to try that, I think I did every bit as well as a professional could. Pink and gray eye shadow always makes my eyes pop, and I did more eyeliner than usual, deep gray on top, and deep purple on the bottom. Three coats of Falsies mascara, and I was good to go.

I remembered to put some rice paper in my purse, in case my nose gets shiny, put the Bernie brooch in there as well, since I got busy and forgot to ask Mom about it. In went all the other wedding necessities. A lovely hanky, lip stain and gloss, a few bobby pins, a few safety pins, some Band-Aids, travel size deodorant, one of those little disposable tooth brushes, some peppermint Lifesavers, a pen, a packet of modeling tape, a tiny mirror, a tiny clear nail polish, emery board, a couple of earring backs, and a couple of dryer sheets. Sounds like a lot, but really doesn’t take up much room. I had just enough space to cram my phone in there, took my car key off my key ring and put it in the zipper section. I’d leave the rest of my keys in my car.

My hot rollers were cooled. I pulled the rollers out, fluffed with my fingers, sprayed with lightweight hairspray and left it to calm down.

I put on my dress, my shoes didn’t hurt at all, grabbed a pair of ballet flats to keep in the car just in case, and went back in to finish my hair.

I sprayed it again, waited for the spray to dry. I took a section at the crown of my head, and did a big pin curl to get it out of the way. I then took a chunk of hair from the right nape, swept it under the rest of my hair, up to the left crown area just under the pin curl and pinned it. Took a chunk of hair from the nape area on the other side, swept it under the rest of my hair, attached it on the right side, just under the pin curl. Took out the pin curl, teased it a bit, sprayed the teased part so it would stay there, broke the curls up, and let it mingle with the part that was now forming a loose updo. Sprayed it almost to the point of petrification, but since it was all loose curls it still looked age appropriate, not helmet-like. Looked great.

Put on Teagan’s necklace and some simple hoop earrings, and called myself stunning.

I wanted to get to the ballroom early-ish, but not too early. I’d already been told that we were going to be allowed in the bar, or in the reception area downstairs, but no one was going into the ballroom until Morgan and Liam had seen it all put together.

Wonder if they’re going to see each other before the ceremony. I hope not.

After they see it, the doors to the wedding area will be opened. The area used for the reception will be differentiated, not sure how they’re going to do that either. This being on the outside looking in, sucks. A lot less work, but still, it sucks.

I jumped in my car, got the assistance of my Australian GPS friend, and hit the road.

“Dear, you look lovely.”

“Thank you. You look fabulous. Is it that you are back to one hundred percent healthy, or is it the hair, dress, and skillful makeup? No wonder AJ is a photographer, look at who he has had to study all these years.”

“Cara, what a lovely thing to say.”

“Good, cause now I’m gonna stomp all over it and point out that you’ve set a rather high bar to meet. Look at you. On my best day…”

Nana smiled, “Oh stop.”

We both had a laugh. Nana walked through the condo and made sure everything was turned off and locked up tight.

“It was so kind of Morgan to call me personally and invite me to the wedding.”

“She’s a nice lady. AJ, and by extension your family, has done a great deal for her. We all hope that you will join in all future family activities.”

“I would like that.”

“You would think so, but I’ll warn you, we are a weird but wonderful bunch. We are loud. We are annoying at times. We are always in each other’s business, and occasionally in each other’s way, but if you can put up with that, the payoff is pretty good.”

“I’ll look forward to it. Shall we go?”

I offered to drop Nana off at the door, but she preferred to walk from the public lot with me. We were well early so I figured there was no harm in a nice little saunter. The woman left me in the dirt. So much for respecting your elder’s frailties.

We walked into the reception area at the bottom of the big round staircase. AJ was taking pictures of the flower girl and Jordan sliding down the grand staircase in fancy dress and tux. It would be a great picture.

“Hi.” He turned at the sound of my voice.

“Damn! You look… Nana?” His attention had obviously drifted away from my near perfect self.

“Hello, Sweetheart.”

“I’m surprised to see you. You look great.”

“Morgan graciously invited me at the last moment. Cara was kind enough to pick me up. I thought I’d surprise you.”

“You mean you thought you would sneak behind my back so that I wouldn’t rush around here and run over there to pick you up.”

“That too.”

“I’m glad you’re here.”

“Me too.”

My parents appeared from nowhere. I couldn’t believe how nice they looked together. Like real people! Okay, I didn’t say that right, but my parents usually look like, well, like parents. Today they look like, well, like real people. Someone separate and apart from me. It was weird.

I’ve seen my parents dressed up before, it isn’t like they hang out in sweats at formal occasions, but still, there was just something very different about today. I’ll have to think about that.

More and more guests arrived. Jovana had opened up one of the big downstairs conference rooms behind the staircase. Bottled water. My guess is they figured the better part of good planning was not providing anything guests were likely to spill on themselves that would show in the pictures. There would be children there. What is a family celebration, without the best part of a family?

Jordan came zipping up to my mom. “Grandma, Mom needs you.”

I grabbed my mom before she could get away. “Did you give her the box yet?”