***
“This is a disaster,” Jason hissed, two hours later. The meal had been served, the first dance had been enjoyed, and the rest of the guests were now joining Kiki and Eric on the dance floor. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Annie bouncing Danny around as he laughed and clapped.
I turned my attention back to Jason, who looked completely frazzled.
“It will be fine,” I told him. “We just need to be calm and try to—”
“Calm?” he yelled. “Calm? Are you kidding me? We’re missing two cases of champagne. Two! What do you propose we do about that?”
I looked up into his angry face, and sighed. “I propose that I go and talk to the caterer and figure out where they are,” I said.
“You better,” he snarled. “Just because you stopped caring about your job doesn’t mean I have.”
I felt my anger rise. What I wouldn’t give to slap him across the face. My dislike for him had jumped tenfold since Matt’s revelation of Jason’s interference. Had we not been at the wedding, I would have dearly loved to ream him out for what he’d done.
What’s the point? I wondered. Jason was a lonely, bitter, pathetic person. And he wasn’t worth another second of my time or worry. Without another word, I turned on my heel and headed off to find the caterer.
The missing champagne was found under a stack of linen napkins in the kitchen. I urged the shaken head waiter to ignore Jason. “I’m very pleased with your work tonight,” I assured him, patting his arm, before heading back out to the tent.
Inside, Kiki and Eric were still dancing. I saw Matt spinning a delighted-looking Bella around the floor, and I smiled. Then I saw Mr. Barker approaching me, and I straightened.
“This is wonderful, Jen,” he said, shaking my hand. “We couldn’t be more pleased.”
I smiled. “Thank you, sir. And I’d like to apologize again for not being here yesterday.”
Mr. Barker waved his hand. “You did a lovely job planning the rehearsal,” he assured me. “And Jason was here for the actual event. Kiki explained what happened.”
I felt a blush rise to my cheeks. I hated that he knew how badly I’d messed up.
“It seems to me that Jason was overworking you,” he said, and I looked up at him, surprised. “You made the right choice being there for your friends.” He smiled at me kindly. “Speaking of which,” he continued. “You’ve been a very good friend to my daughter. You’re a good influence on her.”
I smiled. “Kiki’s a great girl,” I told him honestly. “I really enjoy working with her. You would have been proud of how hard she worked helping me with the other wedding.”
“Darling,” Mrs. Barker interrupted, appearing at her husband’s shoulder. “The Goodwins are leaving; we need to go say goodbye.” She smiled at me. “Sorry to interrupt, Jen.”
Mr. Barker patted my arm. “We’ll talk more later,” he said, then walked away.
I turned and saw Kiki hurrying toward me, a worried look on her face.
“Did Daddy tell you?” she asked, putting her hands on her hips. “He promised he would let me talk to you first!”
“He didn’t tell me anything,” I told her. “We were just talking about the wedding.”
“Oh, good,” Kiki replied.
“Why, what’s up?”
“Okay, I wanted to take you out to lunch and give you a really professional presentation,” she said, wringing her hands.
I tried not to laugh at the worried look on her face. “Well, I can wait if you’d rather…”
“No,” she said quickly. “I’m too excited.” Kiki grabbed my arm and pulled me over to an empty table. She grabbed two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter and pushed me into a chair.
“Okay,” she said, taking a deep breath. “So you know that Daddy is, like, super impressed with you. And you know that I’ve been really unhappy with my job and feeling really super bored.” I nodded, wondering where she was going with this. “So he’s been talking to me about what kind of thing I might enjoy doing instead and one day, it just hit me.” She looked at me expectantly.
“Uh…” I said, feeling confused.
“Jen, planning this wedding with you is, like, the most fun I’ve ever had!” she cried. “Seriously! And then, when we had to pull together for Ginny, I was so totally excited. Coming up with those ideas, doing all that work—I loved it, Jen!”
“I’m glad, Kiki,” I told her, still not sure where this was going. “Like I said, you did a really good job.”
“That’s just it!” she cried, grabbing my hand. “I want it to be my job! I want us to start our own little event planning firm!”
I stared at her in shock. “Kiki…” I began.
“Just wait!” she said, holding up her hand. “See, this is why I wanted to give you a presentation. I knew it wouldn’t sound professional if I just blurted it like that. So, my dad’s been working with me to come up with a business plan. He would be interested in investing in us, giving us some start-up money—it wouldn’t be much; I wouldn’t want it to be like, a handout, or something. And we’d have to work really hard to build up a client list. But I know we could do it! I know a ton of people who throw lots of parties, and you have the expertise about putting events together. I think the two of us would be a great team!”
I was speechless. Was she for real?
“What do you think, Jen?” she asked, her voice more serious than I had ever heard it. Her face was looking distinctly pale.
“I think it sounds amazing!” I cried, jumping up. “Are you kidding me? Having my own firm is, like, my dream!”
Kiki jumped up too and grabbed my hands. “Really? You would want to be my partner?”
There were a lot of reasons to say no. Giving up a stable job, a job at which I was surely about to get a promotion, to go and work in a brand new start-up with a girl like Kiki—it was probably absolutely crazy. My mother would pitch a fit. What if we couldn’t get it off the ground? What if she drove me insane?
But it would also be the chance to work for myself, do the kind of events I was interested in. It would be hard work, yes, but there would be no one pressuring me, no one to please except myself, Kiki, and our clients.
I looked into Kiki’s excited face and felt a sudden rush of confidence. We could do this, I knew it.
I threw my arms around her. “Yes, of course!” I cried.
Kiki started jumping up and down. I hugged her for a moment. Oh, what the hell, I thought, and started jumping right along with her.
Chapter Thirty
The warm weather seemed to disappear overnight. As I helped Ginny pull her suitcase from Kiki’s SUV (which she had lent us for the morning), I heard a rumble of thunder.
“That better not delay our flight,” Ginny muttered, looking up at the dark clouds.
“I think you’ll be okay,” I said, crossing my fingers behind my back for luck. Josh came around the side of the vehicle, pulling his suitcase.
“We ready?” he asked.
“I think so,” Ginny said, grabbing her purse.
“Let’s head in then, folks,” Matt said, looking at his watch. “You guys don’t want to miss your flight.” He took the suitcase from Ginny, and started off toward the walkway which would take us from the parking structure to the departure area.
Annie, Ginny, and I fell into step behind the boys. Annie was holding Danny so I reached over and took Ginny’s hand. “You lucky brat,” I sighed. “It’s turning into winter as we speak and you’re heading off to Jamaica.”
Ginny smiled. “I can’t wait. I’m gonna lay in the sun and drink cocktails all frickin’ day long.”
“And enjoy the time with your new husband,” I reminded her.
“Yeah, whatever,” she said, unconcerned. Annie and I laughed.
We entered the airport, which was relatively crowded for a Sunday morning. Josh headed over to the departure desk to check their luggage and get their boarding passes. Ginny took Danny and covered him in kiss
es. “Be a good little man,” she cooed at him. “Take good care of your aunties.”
“Any special instructions?” I asked her.
She shrugged. “Whatever. You know where the emergency numbers are. Just make sure he eats and gets his diaper changed. If he’s alive when I get home I’m happy.”
We all laughed again. “You’re really looking forward to this, aren’t you?” I asked.
“I haven’t had a real break from him since he was born,” she said. “I’m lucky I have you guys, ’cause I don’t have to worry at all. So I’m not worrying. At all.”
I saw Josh approaching, so I leaned over and kissed Ginny on the cheek. “Have so much fun,” I told her. “Have a drink for me.”
“Bye, you lucky bitch,” Annie said, kissing Ginny herself. “We’ll see you in a week.”
I was surprised to see that Josh looked quite upset when he reached us.
“What’s the matter?” Ginny said sharply. “Is there something wrong with the reservations?”
“No,” Josh said, his voice shaking. “We’re all set to go.” He took Danny from Ginny and buried his face in his son’s little chest.
“Oh my God,” Annie said, staring at him. “Are you crying?”
Josh ignored her. “I’m going to miss you, sweetheart,” he said, sniffling and kissing Danny on the head. “I can’t believe we’re leaving him.”
Ginny was looking at him incredulously. “Okay, babe,” she said, edging toward the security line. “We should get going.”
“Just a minute,” Josh said, kissing Danny again. He started cooing to the baby softly, whispering words we couldn’t hear. Behind him, Ginny looked at her watch.
“Write down any new thing he does, okay?” Josh said in a watery voice. “And if he says any more words, call us, okay?”
Annie was snickering under her breath.
“I can’t bear to leave him,” Josh said, wiping his eyes. “What if something happens when we’re so far away?”
“He’ll be fine,” Ginny said, rolling her eyes. “Come on, we need to go.”
When Josh showed no sign of letting the baby go, Ginny looked at me in exasperation.
“It’s going to be fine, Josh,” I soothed. “I promise. I’ll be home with him every day. I’ve watched him a million times. He’ll be fine.” I reached out and gently pried Danny from his arms.
“Come. On,” Ginny said, pulling on Josh’s arm.
“Okay,” Josh said, wiping his eyes. He seemed to steel himself. “I’m fine. I can do this.” He squared his shoulders, kissed Danny one last time, and turned toward Ginny.
“You giant baby,” Annie muttered.
Matt came and stood next to me, putting his arm around my shoulder as we watched Ginny and Josh walk toward security. Right before they reached the line, Ginny turned around. She waved and blew us a kiss, pausing to stare at us for a long moment. Finally, she turned again and followed Josh into security.
Next to me, Annie reached over and grabbed my free hand. The four of us stood there for a moment, watching Ginny’s retreating back until we couldn’t see her anymore.
I felt a pang of loss deep in my chest. Things wouldn’t be the same after this. When they came home, it would be to their new apartment. Granted, the new place was only four blocks away from Annie and me, but still. It would be different. A change.
Matt increased the pressure of his hand on my shoulder. I leaned into him, taking comfort from his presence. Matt was going to take some time off this week so he could keep me company and help out with Danny. I looked up at him. Sometimes a change could be good.
In my arms, Danny seemed kind of subdued, more quiet than usual. I wondered if he had some sense that his parents weren’t going to be home for a while. I kissed the top of his head, glancing over at Annie, who was looking distinctly watery-eyed. I smiled at her.
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s go home.”
The End
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rachel Schurig lives in the metro-Detroit area with her dog, Lucy. She loves to watch reality TV and she reads as many books as she can get her hands on. In her spare time, Rachel decorates cakes.
Visit Rachel at http://rachelschurig.com
Want to find out more about Ginny, Annie, and Jen?
Check out the rest of the best-selling Three Girls series, available now from Amazon.com
Come along for the crazy ride as Ginny McKensie and her best friends deal with an unexpected pregnancy in Three Girls and a Baby, available now!
Three Girls and a Baby
Join Annie Duncan as she continues her search for the perfect leading role—and the perfect man to go along with it. The third book of the series, Three Girls and a Leading Man, is available now!
Three Girls and a Leading Man
Reunite with Ginny, Jen, and Annie and catch up with Kiki Barker-Thompson as she attempts to create the perfect fairy tale life. The Truth About Ever After (a Three Girls Book) is available now!
The Truth About Ever After
And don’t miss the newest book from Rachel Schurig,
IN SEARCH OF A LOVE STORY
Emily Donovan doesn’t have a romantic bone in her body.
At least, that’s what her friends Ryan and Ashley keep telling her. They’re convinced her bad luck with men is directly related to her life-long lack of interest in all things romantic. When Emily’s latest relationship crashes and burns, she decides to go along with her friends’ plans for a romance research project. Sure, the idea that she’ll have better luck if she learns about the great romances of literature and film seems a little silly, but Emily figures it can’t hurt.
In no time at all, Emily finds herself buried under a mountain of romance novels, chick flicks, and sappy love songs, hopeful that her hard work will pay off with true love. When she meets Greg, Ashley and Ryan are convinced she’s found prince charming—after all, he’s rich, handsome, and totally into Emily. What more could she want? And why does it seem that her friend Elliot isn’t exactly happy for her?
Faced with misunderstandings, miscommunications, and a seemingly endless string of missteps, she is nevertheless determined to give true love a try. In doing so, Emily will eventually find that true romance, the kind that lasts, has little to do with stereotypes or clichés, and everything to do with finding out what’s in her own heart.
Available now from amazon.com!
In Search of a Love Story
Find out more about these books at http://rachelschurig.com
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