It was right here at this very table where, more than a year ago, Ginny had gone into labor. We’d had to force her to leave with us to go to the hospital; she’d been in complete denial, trying to convince us she was just having heartburn.
We sat down, all smiling now at the memory. “How crazy is it that that was only a year and a half ago?” Annie asked, opening her menu. “I mean, think of everything that’s happened since then.”
“Very true,” Ginny agreed. “All these months with Danny…”
“Josh coming back,” I pointed out.
“You getting engaged, finding an apartment, all this wedding stuff,” Annie finished. “It seems like a hell of a lot longer than that.”
I looked at the girls, feeling a swell of affection for both of them. We’d been through so much together. When I had moved to Royal Oak, they were the first people that befriended me. Mom and I’d had such a rough time of it and I was missing my dad like crazy. The two of them opening their arms to me had been, literally, life-changing.
“I’m sorry I haven’t been a good friend lately,” I suddenly said, feeling my eyes fill with tears. “Seriously, you guys. I know I’m crap, and I’m so sorry.”
The waiter chose that minute to show up for our drink orders. “Bring us martinis,” Annie said, looking over at me. “Big ones.”
When he was gone, Ginny reached over and grabbed my hand. “We’re worried about you, Jen. You’re working so hard.” Annie cleared her throat and Ginny looked over at her. “And yes, we’ve missed you.”
“I know,” I said, wiping my eyes. “I don’t know why I can’t just cool it with this wedding, but I feel so much…pressure. I know I need to be around for you guys more, especially with the wedding. I just feel—torn. And I can’t make it go away, no matter how hard I try.”
I was relieved to be finally having this conversation with them. It was past due.
“Jen, I think we understand, better than anyone else, about the pressure you place on yourself—and why.” Ginny gave me a meaningful look and I knew she was talking about my mom, about both of my parents and what we had been through.
“But that doesn’t mean you should just give in to it,” Annie said firmly. “You’re a stronger person than you realize. It drives me nuts when you don’t see it.”
“So what am I supposed to do, Ann?” I asked, feeling anger start to rise. “Say ‘fuck it’ to a job I’ve always wanted? This is my chance to get away from all those lame parties I used to get stuck with. My chance for a promotion and some real money. How can you not see that?”
“We do,” Ginny said in a placating voice.
“I’m not so sure you both do,” I said, looking hard at Annie, who met my glare head on. “What would you do, Ann, if you suddenly had a chance at the role of a lifetime?”
“I suppose I would go a little nuts,” she admitted. “But I would hope I was doing it for the right reasons. And I would make damn sure I still made time for my best girlfriends, particularly if one of them was getting married.”
Luckily the waiter appeared right then with our drinks—otherwise I might have said something to Annie that I would regret. Instead, I took a long gulp of the martini, relishing the burn in my throat as it went down. We ordered food and then we were alone again.
“Look,” Ginny said, glancing between Annie and me. “I know things have been tough lately, okay? We’re all under a lot of pressure. But I want us to have a good time tonight. It’s my bachelorette party and I want us to enjoy each other’s company.” She looked meaningfully at Annie. “Okay?”
“Fine,” Annie said easily, holding up her hands. “I’m not the one who brought any of this up.”
“Sorry to bring you down, Ann,” I said, unable to keep an edge from my voice. “Believe it or not, I really was just trying to tell you guys how much I love you.”
“Great,” Ginny said, and I thought I heard her kick Annie under the table. “We love you too. Okay?”
“Okay,” I said, scowling.
Ginny stared hard at Annie. “Okay,” Annie said sweetly.
“Great,” Ginny said again, looking at both of us and sighing.
It was looking like it might turn into a rather dismal evening, until Josh called and saved the day. Apparently, he had been drinking for the past several hours and was now very drunk—and very sentimental. Ginny, a huge grin on her face, waved us both over to her phone so we could listen in on Josh’s teary proclamations of love and devotion to Ginny and Danny.
We were all laughing silently, Annie with tears of mirth streaming down her face as Ginny assured Josh she loved him too and so did Danny, and agreed that yes, they were going to be very happy and maybe one day would get a dog.
When she finally managed to get him off the phone, we all howled with laughter. “You’re marrying a giant baby!” Annie said, wiping her eyes. “Oh my God, I wish we could have taped that so we could play it back for him later.”
“That was priceless,” I agreed happily.
Making fun of Josh boosted all of our spirits and we ordered another round of drinks before our food came out. As we raised our glasses, Annie smiled broadly. “Now I’m having fun.”
***
It was a great night—what I can remember about it anyhow. Annie had arranged to have our waiter bring over the gifts we got for Ginny (lots of sexy lingerie she would probably have little chance to wear with a one-year-old keeping her awake half the night—but still) along with a crown and sash for Ginny to wear and lots of “naughty” themed necklaces for us.
We ended up pretty tipsy before we even left the restaurant, and after that, all bets were off. I know we went club-hopping and dancing and I had a vague recollection of teaming up with another bachelorette party and joining them on their party bus.
Apparently when we got home we thought it would be a good idea to have a slumber party, because I woke up the next morning on a blow-up mattress in the living room, with Annie snoring next to me. Somewhere in the course of the night I had acquired a pink feather boa.
I had some work to get done that day—Jason wanted to see a sample of the gift baskets we would place in the hotel rooms of out-of-town guests—but looking over at the girls, makeup smeared and hair mussed, sleeping soundly, I just couldn’t bring myself to get up and leave. Would this be the last sleepover we would ever have together? Ginny and Josh were all set to move into their new place when the honeymoon was over. We certainly wouldn’t have many more nights like last night.
I adjusted my pillow so I was more comfortable, and gazed over at my two best friends. In a little while I would get up and make them breakfast—maybe pancakes, Annie’s favorite. We could drink mimosas to help fend off our hangovers and have a lazy morning around the table before Danny was brought home.
We would do all those things, and soon. But for now I was content to lay there, watching the girls as they slept.
Chapter Twenty-Two
‘Are you having out-of-town guests come in for your wedding? Giving them a special welcome is a great way to start your celebration off right. Some brides choose to put a special welcome gift in their hotel rooms—this need not be expensive! Try to think of something unique that represents your hometown. If time and budget allow, it might be fun to host a special welcome dinner for these guests. You can never have too many parties!’—The Bride’s Guide to a Fabulous Wedding!
Just three more parties, I told myself. Three more. Welcome dinner, rehearsal, wedding, and we’re done. Then I can concentrate on Ginny and everything will be fine.
I hadn’t actually seen Ginny, or Annie, in more than a week. I’d been working pretty much non-stop, trying to wrinkle out all the last-minute disasters that seemed to be never-ending. I’d been getting home well into the morning hours, and leaving the house before seven every day. There was just so much to do, and I had no idea how it would all get done.
Now that the week of the wedding was upon us, it was almost pointless to go home anyway. I was so n
ervous I was barely sleeping at all. On the rare occasions I did manage to fall asleep, I would wake up in a panic, convinced there was something I was missing, something I had forgotten.
I looked at my watch, pacing in front of the locked door to the restaurant. I was supposed to be meeting Kiki, Eric, and Jason here so we could go over the final details for the welcome party the next night. It wasn’t the most complex event we had to plan, but I still wanted to make sure it was nice. In addition to family, a lot of important business associates of Mr. Barker’s would be at this dinner. It would be their first impression of the wedding and I wanted it to be perfect.
I heard the sound of an engine and I scanned the empty parking lot eagerly, expecting to see Eric’s car. I was therefore quite shocked to find Matt’s pick-up pulling up to the building, Kiki’s sleek SUV close behind.
“Hi, Jen, hi!” Kiki called, jumping out of her vehicle and running toward me. Eric and Matt climbed, at a much more normal pace, out of the truck and made their way to me.
“Hi,” I said brightly, determined to hide my disquiet at seeing Matt. We were a week away from the wedding and he was the best man—of course I would be seeing him. It was really no big deal. Really.
“Have you seen this place yet?” Kiki asked, throwing her arms open for a hug. “I haven’t. It’s brand new, never even been used!”
“So I heard,” I told her, hugging her back. “Talk about exclusive!”
Kiki laughed. “Well, its one of Daddy’s newest developments. He thought it would be perfect for our party.”
“Hey, Jen,” Eric said as he and Matt joined us.
“Hi,” I said, smiling at them both.
“Here, let me open that,” Matt said, gesturing me away from the door as he pulled out a set of keys. “Mr. Barker gave me these when I saw him at my work site today.”
Matt unlocked the door and we all filed through the lobby, which looked really chic—lots of ivory and silver with minimal decor.
“Ooh,” Kiki sighed. “Pretty.”
Matt led the way toward a set of stainless steel doors, which he threw open to reveal a large room with a few dozen low tables and cozy booths. Much like the lobby, the room had a chic, almost night club feel. Unlike the lobby, the room was not painted with cool white tones. Instead, the walls were a deep gorgeous color of red.
“Oh, my God,” I muttered, horrified. “Red.” I felt like I might faint. How could this be happening? Hadn’t Jason seen the room before he signed off on it?
“What?” Eric asked, clearly confused at the looks on mine and Kiki’s faces.
“The walls are red,” Kiki said weakly. “Red.”
“And that’s a problem?” Matt asked, bemused.
“Everything else is purple,” I said, sitting down. “Everything we’re bringing in. Linens, flowers, china—every single thing is a shade of purple. The whole room is going to clash. It’s going to be hideous.”
Kiki let out a little squeak and I realized I should probably be putting a better spin on this. But what could I say? As soon as we started bringing our stuff in, this room was going to look completely awful.
“Didn’t Jason see this?” I asked her.
“I thought he came by with my dad,” she said. “Why the hell didn’t my dad mention that the walls were red? He totally should have known that my colors were purple and pink—we talked about this!”
She looked close to tears. I knew I needed to pull myself together, get a handle on the situation. Days of little sleep seemed to be pressing down on me, fogging my brain. Where the hell was Jason?
I pulled out my phone and found his number in my contacts, holding my breath as it rang. And rang. When he didn’t pick up, I left a curt message asking him to call me as soon as he could.
“Okay, let me think,” I told them, rubbing my forehead. “I can fix this, I can…”
“I’m assuming you can’t change the colors of everything else to something more neutral?” Matt asked.
“There’s no way the vendors can change our orders overnight,” I said, shaking my head.
“I guess we’ll have to change the color of the walls then,” he said simply. I looked up at him, bewildered. “We can paint,” he said, smiling a little. “I’m sure Mr. Barker won’t mind.”
“He better not,” Kiki said, sounding uncharacteristically dark as she pulled out her phone and stomped over to a corner, Eric on her heels.
“But…the party is tomorrow,” I said to Matt bleakly. “And this is a really dark color—we’re not just talking one coat to cover it. It will take hours and hours to paint the whole thing. And where am I gonna find a crew at this time of night?”
Matt smirked a little bit. “Jen, it’s one room. We don’t need a crew. We can do this.”
“But Kiki and Eric have to go to the airport to get her grandparents,” I pointed out. “They can’t help me.”
“Yeah, but I can.”
I stared at him, hope blooming in my chest. Maybe this wasn’t totally a disaster.
“You would do that?”
Matt rolled his eyes. “I am the best man,” he said. “I kind of have an obligation. Besides, I have tons of painting experience. Contractor, remember?”
Kiki and Eric rejoined us, Kiki looking as angry as I had ever seen her. “He says it’s fine if we paint,” she said, shoving her phone back in her purse. “He said he never even noticed what color the walls were.”
“Kiki, I’m really sorry about all of this,” I told her, standing up. “Jason approved the room; I can’t believe he didn’t catch this. This is completely the firm’s fault, and I apologize.”
“Jen, you so don’t have to apologize,” she told me. “If Jason screwed up, that’s on him. I know you’ve been working yourself to the bone.” She looked at me more closely, a worried look on her face. “In fact, you look exhausted. Jen, you better not be making yourself sick on my account!”
“I’m fine, Kiki,” I told her, waving her protests aside. “Look, you guys should go and get your grandparents now and take them back to the house. I know you have a lot of family coming in and you should be there.”
“But—”
“Seriously, Kiki,” I interrupted. “Matt and I are gonna take care of this. It’s not a problem. You can’t leave your grandmother waiting at the airport.”
Kiki looked unsure, but Eric took her arm. “It’s in good hands, sweetie,” he said, gesturing to us.
“But she’ll be up all night!” Kiki cried.
“I can sleep in tomorrow,” I lied. “Please, Kiki, just go.”
“You’ll get some sleep tonight?” she asked me. “You promise?”
“Of course,” I told her.
“Okay then.” She still didn’t look too thrilled, but she allowed Eric to steer her out to her car.
I looked up at Matt, feeling totally exhausted already. “Well,” I said. “Now what?”
***
A few minutes later we were on the road in Matt’s pick-up. “We should hurry,” he said, looking down at the clock. “We need to make a few stops.”
“A few?” I asked. “I thought we just needed paint.”
“We should stop somewhere cheap and get some clothes to paint in,” he said. “And we’re grabbing some food.”
“Food?”
“This is gonna be a long night,” he said. “We need provisions.” He looked over at me. “Kiki was right, you look half-dead on your feet already.”
“It’s been a really long week,” I told him.
“Jen, it’s Sunday,” he pointed out. “The week hasn’t even started.”
“Well, it feels like the last one hasn’t ended yet.”
We went to the home improvement store first, eager to get what we needed before it closed. Matt helped me find a paint that provided good cover with a single coat. “We probably still have to do two,” he told me. “But if we use primer first we might get lucky.”
I looked at the color on the card he had picked. “Worse cas
e scenario, if the red shows through it will hopefully look pink under this cream.”
Matt laughed. “I like the positive vibe,” he said, recalling my words from the final food tasting. “Let’s keep that going.”
After we put the paint—and rollers, brushes, tape, and tarps—on my company credit card, Matt drove us to a discount superstore, where he followed me to the meager women’s department. “Don’t you need paint clothes?” I asked him.
Matt shrugged. “These are work jeans anyways, and I have an undershirt on.”
Trying not to dwell on the image of Matt in an undershirt, I turned my attention to the clothes in front of me, picking out a black tank top and a pair of yoga capris. “This will do,” I told him.
“I hope you use the company credit card for that too,” he said, as we walked over to the grocery section.
“Oh I will,” I said sourly. “And for the food. Seeing as how this is all Jason’s fault, I think it’s only fair.”
I saw Matt scowling out of the corner of my eye. “Where is Jason, by the way?” he asked. “I thought he was supposed to meet us at the restaurant.”
“He was,” I said, pulling out my phone to make sure I hadn’t missed his call. Nothing. “I have no idea where he is, but he’s gonna hear it from me when I’ve found him.”
That seemed to perk Matt up a little, and he cheerfully started pulling chips and cookies from the shelves.
I pulled a twelve-pack of beer out of the cooler and held it up to him.
He grinned. “You read my mind.”
Finished with our shopping, we headed back to the restaurant where we unloaded everything. “Have you ever done this before?” he asked me.
“Yeah, loads of times.”
He raised his eyebrows, clearly skeptical.
“My dad does this for a living,” I told him, mimicking his expression. “I’ve been on lots of work sites with him over the years.”
Matt smiled. “And she surprises me again.”
I looked up into the corner of the room where a set of speakers was clearly visible. “Think you could figure out how to get the radio on in here?”
Three Girls And A Wedding Page 15
