Chapter Thirty-Three
The morning of the wedding, the Egg was packed.
“How is it already so busy?” I asked as I picked up an order pad.
“Saturday,” Clark replied, dropping some plates in the window. Clank.
“Wedding guests,” Lana said at the same time. “Eleven and twelve are all talking about the karaoke last night.”
The door sounded. Cardoon was coming in, a mom and three kids trailing behind him. “Best chocolate chip pancakes on the lake,” he said, waving them to open counter seats. “They’ll be with you in a moment.”
“Yo,” Clark said. “What happened to our alert system?”
“Don’t ask me,” Cardoon replied. “I sent the text.”
I looked at Lana. But she hustled off, making a point of not looking at any of us.
Cardoon watched her go, then shook his head. “That girl. Everything was going so well! Not just with the system, either. And now—”
I raised my eyebrows as I filled a water pitcher. “Now?” I prompted him.
“She’s back to saying we’re just seasonal.”
Professionals, I added in my head.
“It’s so stupid.” He sighed. “So I’m not her type. But her type is crap and never ends well. So why not give a shot at something different?”
“Or someone,” I said.
“Exactly.”
“Need bacon,” Clark called out.
“On it,” Ben replied.
Cardoon nodded at the kitchen. “Hey, good news about Sudden Constellation, huh?”
“What?” I asked.
“The showcase gig? According to Hector, they killed last night.” He gave a wave to a guy in a North Lake tee leaving with carryout. “Although he was probably exaggerating. Better ask Ben if you want real details. Since he was actually there and all.”
So he’d really done the gig. Despite the shame reel, his reluctance, all of it. I’d been so self-centered, I realized, assuming I alone was capable of evolving. Especially since so much I liked about Ben, from the start, had been how he’d surprised me.
“Happy Wedding Morning!” Liz called out, happily, as she came in the door. “I can’t believe it’s finally here.”
“I thought you’d be at the Tides, getting things ready for the reception.” Kasey stuck two more tickets.
“I’m headed there once I grab our order,” Liz replied. “Oh, before I forget, I brought in the guest book. I keep leaving it in the car. Can someone take it back to the house?”
“Give it to Finley,” Lana said from where she was clearing plates. “It is her job.”
I rolled my eyes. “Will you stop? You can do the guest book.”
“I am on programs,” she said. “As you know.”
“Hey, anybody feel like running this food?” Clark asked. “No pressure or anything.”
“Here’s those sandwiches,” Kasey said to Liz, stuffing a few napkins in a bag and handing it over. “I put in an extra for Anne.”
“Bless you.” Liz kissed her cheek. “See you over there with the centerpieces?”
“As soon as I’m able,” Kasey said, as another large party pushed through the door. “Which might not be for a while.”
She was right, as another Tides bus pulled up just then. It was chaos even before I dropped a coffeepot, shattering it. Then we had to eighty-six bacon and orange juice. When we closed at noon, every seat was still taken.
After work, Lana and I had to book it back to the house to shower off the smell of breakfast meat and get ready. She’d gone to Kasey’s in search of some bobby pins when I heard the door bang.
“Hello?” Anne called a moment later from the foyer. “Where is everyone?”
“Here,” I replied, but the word was lost as she and her bridesmaids, chattering, climbed the stairs to the second floor and the room designated for their hair and makeup. I could hear their footsteps, scurrying. It was hard not to think of squirrels.
I went back to putting on eyeliner, distracting myself. A few minutes later I again heard the door and then Lana was returning. She looked flustered. “Those hummingbirds are aggressive,” she reported, dropping the pins on the bed. “Hope nobody wears red.”
“Who wears red to a wedding?” I asked.
She didn’t answer, instead studying her phone.
“Hey,” I said. Talk about tables turned. “You okay?”
She looked at me, exhaling. “It’s Cardoon. He’s just… making things complicated.”
I thought of him that morning, opening up to me about her. “And by complicated, you mean not just seasonal.”
Upstairs, there was a burst of giggles. We both glanced up. Better than scurrying, at any rate.
“Okay, you can just stop with that,” Lana said now. “This is not the same thing as you and Ben. As I said before.”
“Would it be so bad, though?” I asked. “Seasons change, after all.”
“Meaning?” she asked.
I shrugged. “Maybe you can too.”
“Two hours to the ceremony!” Liz hustled past our open door, already in her own dress, which was sky blue and beaded. “All this waiting and now it’s going too fast!”
I could feel it too, a speeding up. Even before Anne stuck her head in a moment later, in shorts and a loose buttoned shirt, her hair bulging with pink rollers. “Hey, do you know where Ben is? He’s not picking up and we need to change the music.”
“The music?” I said.
“I’m sorry!” She sighed. “I loved ‘You Are My Sunshine’! It’s one of my favorites. But Jonathan says it reminds him of Vacation Bible Camp, which he hated. I hope Colin won’t be upset we’re changing it.”
“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “He’s gone.”
“What?” Her eyes went wide. “What happened?”
How to even explain? Liz was bustling through again. “He just…,” I said. “We’re not mastodons. As it turns out.”
“Anne? The makeup artist is ready for you!” someone yelled from upstairs.
“We need more champagne!” another voice added.
But Anne was still looking at me, concerned. I thought of that day in the attic, how she’d pulled me close, promising it would all work out. Back then, I knew exactly what that would look like.
“Go get married,” I said. Then I reached out, giving her that hug back, and more, before she did.
Whizzzz. Uh-oh.
I looked at Lana, who was at the bottom of the steps, greeting guests as they came up from the dock. As a woman in yellow reached to take a program, a hummingbird darted over their heads, clicking.
“Was that a bug?” Her husband, at her side, was now swatting the air.
“Nope,” Lana assured them, even as another one zipped past. “Ceremony is inside. Don’t forget to sign the guest book!”
More people were coming up the hill. By the water, I could see Ben behind the wheel of a golf cart.
So far, again, I’d only glimpsed him from afar, the chaos and energy of the day blocking out all else.
By now, though, I was thinking distant what we were supposed to be.
Even if it, like so much else, was the last thing I’d expected.
Colin was gone. I’d gotten to know my mom in a way I never would have imagined. A loss, a gain. Who knew where I could go from here?
“Program?” Lana was saying again. Nearby a hummingbird dive-bombed a woman in pink, then flew off over the house. She didn’t even notice.
“Has the minister showed up yet?” Liz asked as she appeared next to me. A bright corsage of moonakis flowers, fully bloomed, was pinned to her bodice. She squinted. “Oh, Cardoon found him. Thank goodness.”
I turned to where she was looking, just down the hill. Sure enough, there was Cardoon, coming toward us in a nice suit and tie. I’d never seen him in anything but his Tides uniform.
“Wait, what?” Lana was equally surprised. “What’s he doing here?’
“Anne and I invited him last night,” Liz replied, waving at them with both hands to hurry up. “He’s been so helpful. Truly a godsend.”
“Guest book! May I?”
Jeremy was in front of me, also in formal wear. My mom claimed she’d invited him as a thank-you for all his work on the plant stuff. As I handed him the pen, though, I wondered if that was the sole reason.
When I looked back up, Cardoon was climbing the stairs, basically herding the minister ahead of him. In the distance, Ben and the golf cart were heading back to the dock.
“Guest book?” I said, holding out the pen.
“Ah,” the minister said. “A lovely tradition.”
As he bent to sign, Liz appeared in the door again. “Let’s get everyone in now, can we? We’re about to begin.”
Cardoon ignored the pen when I offered it. As he went inside, I looked again at Lana, who was biting her lip. Clearly, he still wanted more than a program.
“You okay?” I asked her as another hummingbird zoomed past. She looked up at the trees, swaying over us.
“Just thinking about falling leaves,” she replied. She took a breath. “Let’s go in.”
We did. On the porch, we found Kasey distributing flowers to the bridesmaids. Their dresses, A-line and blue, were so beautiful.
Anne stood by the table, her own bouquet in her hands. I saw moonakis blooms, of course. By this point, I couldn’t miss them. But I also recognized others now. The temperance plant. The hawk flower. Sand plum.
“You look gorgeous,” Liz was saying, dabbing her eyes.
My mom, her hair in loose waves, bent to adjust the hem of the dress. “Everything is just right,” she agreed.
“Are you sure?” Anne asked.
“It’s perfect,” I told her, just as I spotted Ben slipping in through the front door. Almost immediately, someone stepped in the way and I lost him again.
“Okay. Let’s line up.” Liz nodded at the bridesmaids, who quickly fell into place in a flurry of blue and flowers. Anne took a breath, squaring her shoulders.
Now Clark, in a sharp black suit, was coming into the living room. With him was Geralin, who wore a pretty green dress and those same big glasses. He spotted one of the last empty seats, waving her toward it. Cardoon was now on the piano bench, of all places. Feeling the history.
“Guess we’re standing,” my mom said, coming up behind me.
“Cat!” I heard someone call out. It was Jeremy, patting a chair he’d saved beside him. Of course. Meanwhile, a tall man in a tightly fitting sports jacket settled in right in front of me and Lana, immediately fanning himself with a program. Suddenly all I could see was the minister, and barely.
“Seriously?” she whispered.
Then the music began.