Page 117 of The Fast Lane
Melanie drew in a slow breath, her cheeks flagged with red. Sonya was the biggest reason Melanie hadn’t wanted the wedding in Texas. She would have taken over everything and done it “the right way.” It was also the reason she and Cal had insisted on paying for the wedding themselves.
“It’s so…soggy here, isn’t it?” Sonya’s mouth firmed in distaste.
“I think it’s beautiful,” I said lightly. “Mel, you said you got a tent as a backup, right?”
“Yes, from the chair rental company.” Melanie gave me a grateful smile.
“There you go. Problem solved. It’s going to be beautiful. I’ll help however I can,” I said.
I meant it too. I didn’t like how stressed-out and exhausted Melanie was. That’s not how a woman about to marry the love of her life should look. Time to do something about that.
“In fact, why don’t you let me call the rental place and double-check everything. I can make all your last-minute calls, if you want. I bet I can con Theo into picking up anything that you need, too. I’d like to help.”
“You’d do that?” Melanie beamed. “That would be great. It’s been a lot, trying to plan a wedding in a place I just moved to.”
“I did tell you to hire a wedding organizer,” Sonya said.
I really didn’t like that woman.
It turned out the rain was only the first problem.
Back at the hotel, Melanie and Cal had plans to take out both sets of parents for lunch. After some hemming and hawing, and eliciting many promises from me, Melanie trusted me with the Wedding Planner and left me with instructions to call a list of vendors to triple-check everything was in place for Sunday.
I found out quickly, things were not in place.
“But I have a signed contract right here,” I said for the fifth time. “They reserved a tent in case there was rain. And guess what? It’s raining.”
“There was a little snafu.” Ted, the nice, if somewhat disorganized, employee at the rental company, explained.
I’d learned he had a wife, two daughters, and a dog named Benji in our ten-minute phone call. I had, unfortunately, also learned that sometimes rental companies double-booked their equipment by mistake. Things like tents.
“I understand but I’m in a bind now. I need a tent for Sunday, and you all promised my soon to be sister-in-law. I need to tell you that right now, I am the calmer person to deal with, but I can always put the bride on the phone. I’m sure you know how sensible and understanding a bride can be two days before their wedding day.”
“No, no,” Ted said, a bit of panic in his voice. “I have a tent.”
“Excellent.” I grinned. “It’s all set for delivery Sunday morning, correct?”
“Yes, but as I said, we’re low on tents and while I do have one in the correct size, this might not be exactly what you were thinking.”
“It’s a big white tent. What’s so hard about that?”
“If you’ll notice, the contract doesn’t specify color of tent.”
“What does that mean?”
He promised to text me a photo and hung up quickly. Hmm. That didn’t sound promising.
Next, I moved on to the photographer, who was nearly impossible to get ahold of. But after several phone calls, someone finally picked up.
“Did you say you were Luke’s assistant?” I asked.
“No. I’m his son. He’s not here.”
The voice sounded young, like a prepubescent middle-school boy.
“How old are you?”
“Eleven.”