Three Girls And A Wedding (25 page)

“What did you do, Jason?” I asked,
feeling suspicious.

“I interviewed with top New York
firms. And I had a lot of interest. When I get my recommendation from Mr.
Barker I’m a shoo-in to get the hell out of here.”

I looked at him incredulously. “You
went out there on the Barker’s dime and used the opportunity to interview for
jobs in New York? And you seriously thought I would be impressed by that?”

Jason sighed. “Spare me the moral
crap, Jen,” he said. “I wanted something and I went for it. Isn’t that exactly
what you did with the Barker wedding? You didn’t care what it cost you, you saw
the opportunity and you did what it took to make it happen. At least, you did
until this recent lapse in sanity.”

I thought about that for a minute.
It did sound awfully close to my thinking all these long months working on the
wedding.

“Think for just a minute how things
could be if we were together, Jen,” Jason said softly. “We could get out of
here, go to a real city. Being with someone who has the same goals, never
needing to feel guilty for putting work first. Think of how successful we could
help each other become, the two of us working together. Think about that life,
Jen. Nice cars, designer clothes, the most exclusive restaurants. Isn’t that
what you want?”

I could picture that life with
Jason, or some faceless guy just like him. Finally getting all the nice things
I had been working toward for so long, all the things my mother had always told
me I deserved. But then I thought of my mother’s life—working non-stop,
always fighting to get ahead, no time for friends or family—hell, no time
for herself. She had always told me it was the only way to live, the only way
you could be sure to be safe.

But I didn’t want it. I didn’t want
that life.

“I’m not like you,” I whispered,
and as I said the words a feeling of immense relief crashed over me. Because it
was true: I wasn’t like Jason.

I was a girl who loved my friends
more than anything. A girl who liked to drink too much wine and dance around
the living room. A girl who would just as soon curl up in
PJs
with take-out as go to a fancy restaurant. I wasn’t a perfect girl—in
fact, I was a girl who could make huge mistakes. But I was also the type of
girl who would do whatever it took to right those mistakes.

I thought of Matt, waiting inside
for me. Matt, who had put his whole life on hold to help me and my friends.
Matt, who liked to build things with his hands, who hated wearing suits, who
never tried to impress people or be someone he wasn’t. Somehow, I knew I fit
better with a guy like him than I ever would with someone like Jason.

Jason was looking at me like I was
crazy. “When this wedding is over, you do what you want to,” I told him,
squaring my shoulders. “But the life you just described is not one I’ll ever be
interested. So good luck, but no thanks.”

“You’re so not who I thought you
were,” he muttered, glaring at me.

I smiled. “Jason, I couldn’t have
said it better myself.”

Behind him, an SUV was pulling into
the parking lot. I could make out Eric in the driver’s seat, Kiki next to him.
Before he’d properly parked the car, she was out of her seat and running toward
me.

“Jen, we have all the dishes. I
found
really
good stuff!” she cried.
She noticed Jason, and stopped short. “What are you doing here?” she asked, not
entirely nicely. “I thought you were supposed to be picking up the tuxes for
the groomsmen?”

Jason went from sour-faced to
smarmy in two seconds flat. “Just on my way now,” he said, smiling. “Jen and I
were just going through some details since she won’t be with us tomorrow.”

Kiki waved this away. “Jen’s done
everything for the rehearsal already,” she said flatly. “She’s worked her ass
off. Now we’re working on
this
project together, so give her a break until Saturday, okay?”

I had never loved Kiki more than I
did in that moment. Behind that exterior of silly girlishness, she didn’t mess
around.

Jason’s smile faltered, but only
slightly. “Sure, Kiki,” he said. “No problem. I was just leaving.” Without
looking at me, Jason turned and got in his car. I was very happy to see him go.

“Was he giving you a hard time?”
Kiki demanded.

“A little, but I doubt he will
again after that. You’re pretty tough, Kiki,” I said, grinning at her.

She winked. “Being sweet only gets
you so far. Now.” Kiki put her hands on her hips. “We
do
need to address a problem with the rehearsal dinner.”

I looked at her, confused. “What’s
wrong?”

“You’ve booked far too many staff,”
she said seriously. “It’s wasteful and they’ll be tripping over each other at
my parents’ house.”

“Kiki, I only booked the
standard—”

She held up a hand. “Eric and I
have talked it over and we’ve decided the best thing would be to send a
bartender and two busboys over here to Ginny’s wedding tomorrow night.”

My mouth dropped open. “I can’t let
you do that,” I said, shaking my head.

“She actually wanted to send the
entire staff, all the waiters, too, but her parents said it wasn’t fair to ask
her ninety-three-year-old grandmother to serve herself and do her own dishes.”

I stared at them both,
open-mouthed.

“Jen, we have plenty of staff to
help us,” Kiki said, her voice low and serious. “The very least I can do is
send someone over to make drinks and handle the dishes after dinner. It would
be a shame for you or Annie or anyone else to miss the reception because you’re
clearing dishes and stuck in the kitchen.”

“Kiki…” I didn’t know what to say.
It was such a nice offer, but I couldn’t possibly accept. Her parents had
already paid for all the staff we’d arranged.

“Consider it a wedding present for
Ginny,” Kiki said. “You can’t say no to a wedding present.”

I hugged her impulsively. “I
couldn’t have done any of this without you,” I whispered in her ear.

She pulled back, beaming at me. “I
should say the same to you! Okay, enough of that; I have the place
settings—I got eighty just in case. I found some vintage-looking ones and
a few really funky ones. I think they’ll go great in the space. Eric, honey,
will you start unloading?”

Before he could get the trunk open,
Josh’s car pulled into the lot, closely followed by Annie’s.

“Oh, good,” Kiki said, clapping her
hands together. “Now everyone’s here. Oh, I can’t wait! Tonight is
gonna
be so much fun!”

I looked over as the girls and Josh
climbed out of the cars. I had a feeling Kiki was right.

 
Chapter Twenty-seven

‘With so much on your
mind, it’s sometimes easy to forget the true purpose of a wedding. It’s not
really about having the perfect dress or the most expensive venue. It isn’t
about gourmet food or extravagant flower arrangements. A wedding is about the
love you share with your fiancé, the love you share with your friends and
family. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, take a moment to remember that. Your wedding
is no more or no less than a celebration of love.’—
The Bride’s Guide to a Fabulous Wedding!

“You look perfect,” Annie whispered
as she joined Ginny and me in the ladies’ room. I had to agree with her. Ginny
was the perfect bride.

Her hair looked soft and lovely
pulled back in a low chignon. Wavy tendrils escaped around her face and neck. A
vintage comb I had found at an antique store was placed low in her hair holding
the veil. It was long, lace-trimmed, and gossamer-fine. Perfection.

I glanced at Annie. She didn’t look
too bad herself. For our bridesmaid’s dresses, Ginny had picked out tea-length
cocktail dresses in spring green. Annie and I each had our hair pulled up in
loose twists with a spray of daisies above our ear.

“I can’t believe it’s actually
here,” Ginny said, stepping toward a mirror and peering at her reflection. “How
does it look out there, Jen?” she asked.

“It’s ready whenever you want to go
check it out,” I told her.

“Yay,” she said. “Let’s go.”

As we left the bathroom (our
makeshift dressing room) and headed out into the main room, Ginny took my hand.
I felt slightly calmer, but still nervous. I so badly wanted her to love it.

We stepped into the space and I
heard Ginny’s breath catch next to me. The room was lit softly by lanterns and
candles. Though the chairs were all arranged outside (pulling double duty for
the ceremony), the mismatched tables were scattered throughout the room,
dressed in various hues and styles of linens. The centerpieces looked
perfect—ribbon-wrapped stacks of books were placed amongst several jam
jars filled with wild flowers and baby’s breath. The same flowers could be seen
throughout the room, spilling out onto window ledges, shelves, and in corners
of the room. I had opted for an array of vases, jars, and buckets—some
borrowed from Kiki’s house, some found at an early-morning trip to a thrift
store on Wednesday.

At each place setting was the favor
Kiki had designed—and spent hours putting together. She had made a CD of
love songs for each guest. The impressive thing, to me, was how she packaged
them—each CD case was wrapped in brown paper and tied with raffia. She
had taken a single gerbera daisy and slipped it between the paper and the
ribbon. The effect was perfect for the setting.

In my opinion, the whole room was
exactly right. Unique and eclectic. It wasn’t fancy or glamorous, but it felt
like Ginny and Josh. I turned to my best friend expectantly.

Ginny had tears in her eyes. “This
is perfect,” she whispered. “
Perfect
.”
She threw her arms around me. “Jen, thank you so much.”

I squeezed her back. “We wouldn’t
have had to do all this work if it wasn’t for me screwing up so bad,” I told
her.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said,
still not letting go. “I love this. It’s so much more like me and Josh than any
restaurant. This is, like, designed for us.”

“It was,” I told her as she
released me. “Just for you.”

She wiped her tears away. “You’re
gonna
smudge your makeup,” I told her, sniffing.

“No biggie, makeup can be redone,”
Annie said, holding out a Kleenex. She looked me in the eye. “If it can be
fixed, it’s nothing to stay upset about.”

That was all it took. I totally
lost it, blindly reaching for her through my tears while Ginny threw her arms
around both of us.

“I love you guys,” I wailed.

“You’re my best friends,” Annie
agreed.

“I can’t believe I have to go and
live with boys!” Ginny cried.

“What the hell is going on in
here?” Josh asked, standing in the doorway.

“Get out, get out!” Ginny screamed,
pushing Annie and me in front of her. “Are you crazy? You can’t see me in my
wedding dress!”

“Gin, I think we used up all of our
bad luck,” Josh said.

“You don’t know that,” she said,
hiding behind me. “Now get out!”

“Fine, fine,” Josh said, backing
out of the room. “But the guests are starting to arrive so you guys should get
out of sight.”

“Crap!” I said, automatically
looking down at my wrist. But I had taken off my watch when I put on my
bridesmaid’s dress. “What time is it? I need to get the food in the ovens!”

“We’ll go wait in the office,”
Annie said.

“I’ll come get you when it’s time
to go,” I said, turning to go.

“Jen,” Ginny called, stopping me. I
turned to look at her. “Thank you. Seriously.”

I nodded, determined not to cry
again, and hurried to the kitchen.

***

Twenty minutes later, we were ready
to go. The courtyard was filled with guests, the candles were lit, and Annie’s
friend (and most recent crush) was playing soft music on his acoustic guitar.
Annie and Jen were waiting in the little office off the foyer while I stood
with Josh and his two groomsmen, ready to give them the signal to walk out and
start the ceremony.

“You guys look great,” I told Josh,
adjusting his tie. Josh had elected for the guys to skip the tuxes. Instead,
they were all dressed in light brown pants, dress shirts, brown vests, and green
ties. It was a little quirky, but it worked for the setting and the feel of the
day.

Danny, standing beside Josh on his
wobbly legs, started to fuss. “Hey, hey, big guy,” I said, pulling him into my
arms. “You have to walk Daddy down the aisle. It’s a big job.”

Danny looked up into my face,
grinning and showing me his little baby teeth. I felt my heart turn over. I had
missed so much in the last few months. I promised myself that no matter what it
took, I was going to be around for this baby.

I peered out into the courtyard.
Everyone was settling in and it looked to be about full. “Okay, Josh,” I said.
“You ready for this?”

He smiled at me. “I’ve been ready
for a year,” he said. I was impressed by his coolness. He didn’t look the least
bit nervous; instead, he looked excited.

I handed Danny to him. “Okay,
guys,” I told them all. “You just walk to the end of the aisle and wait. As
soon as you go out I’ll go get Ginny and we’ll be right behind you.” They all
nodded. I turned back to Josh. “Annie’s mom is in the front row. You can hand
Danny off as soon as you get down there.”

“I think I want to hold him while
Ginny’s walking down,” he said.

“That’s fine. I’ll grab him when we
get down there and pass him off. But if he starts fussing again, I suggest
giving him to Mrs. Duncan. You want to focus on Ginny—she looks amazing.”

Josh smiled. “I’m sure she does.
And Jen…thank you.” Josh reached out and grasped my hand. “For the wedding and
for being on my side from the beginning.”

I smiled back. “No problem. But if you
ever hurt her again, I
will
rip your
balls off.”