Chapter 5
Five
Maddy was hovering outside the café where she was supposed to meet the wedding planner. She couldn’t quite seem to go in.
Despite her initial hope that this was a fix for her wedding anxiety, the inevitable had happened.
Time had passed, and her nerves had gotten hold of her optimism and turned it on its head, and now Maddy was worried this was actually going to make everything worse.
That this stranger would demand answers the same as everyone else, but with the added pressure of being on the clock.
But as the seconds ticked towards the appointment time, Maddy knew there was nothing for it.
She couldn’t tell her mother she’d changed her mind.
She didn’t think she was allowed to anyway.
Her mother had decided that she was doing this for the good, and when that happened, she couldn’t be moved.
Trying to back out now would only turn into another attempting-to-quit-piano-lessons situation.
Months of speeches about perseverance, pointed sighs, and the slow erosion of Maddy’s will to live until she said, ‘Fine. I’ll keep at it.
’ She still couldn’t hear ‘Für Elise’ without shuddering.
Maddy went in. The café was all warm wood and trailing plants, and a lot of laptops next to lattes.
She ordered a coffee she didn’t really want just to have something to hold, then chose a table near the back where she could see the entrance. She clasped her hands together and tried not to fidget.
A woman entered exactly on time. To the second.
She was tall and lean, sharply dressed in a tailored dark blazer over dark jeans, her chestnut hair pulled back into a bun that was at once casual yet perfect.
A tablet in one hand, phone in the other, she moved like a tiger in business casual, each step deliberate, as if the air itself had to part for her.
Maddy had the desire for her approval before she’d even spoken to her.
She approached.
‘Maddy Kind,’ the woman said, and it wasn’t a question.
‘Yes. That’s me. Hi. Hello.’
She nodded once and slid into the chair opposite her. ‘I’m Eva Givens. Thank you for meeting here. I work from home, but it’s better to meet on neutral territory, I find.’
Maddy nodded and laughed lightly. She felt like it came out weird.
Eva set her tablet on the table and glanced at Maddy’s untouched coffee. ‘You been here long?’
‘Long enough.’ Maddy paused. ‘I don’t know what I meant by that.’
Eva’s mouth lifted in one corner. ‘Well, first off, congratulations on your engagement.’
‘Thank you. Yes. I’m very… engaged.’
A flicker of amusement passed through Eva’s dark, almost black eyes, but she was quick to toss it out.
‘Before we begin, I need to understand your vision. Tell me about the wedding you want.’
Maddy opened her mouth and then closed it again. She was hoping something would come to her now that her back was against the wall. But her brain did not throw up any sudden flashes of inspiration. When it came to this topic? Her thoughts simply sputtered and died.
‘Well,’ she began slowly. ‘I don’t know. Exactly.’ She didn’t know vaguely either, but she wasn’t admitting to that yet.
Eva studied her. ‘Let’s try another angle. What matters most to you about the day?’
Maddy’s mind went blank. White noise filled her ears. ‘I want everyone to have a nice time,’ she said finally.
Eva’s eyebrow lifted slightly. ‘That’s usually the couple’s second priority.’
‘What’s the first?’
‘The couple.’
Maddy nodded. ‘Yes, I guess. I suppose.’
Eva typed something on her tablet. Maddy tried to read upside down but couldn’t quite manage it.
‘Tell me about your fiancé,’ Eva said.
Relief flooded Maddy. This was safer territory. ‘Nice. Very supportive. We’ve been together twelve years.’
Eva nodded. ‘And what does he want?’
‘He wants me to be happy,’ Maddy said automatically.
‘I take that to mean that you’re the shot caller for the wedding?’
‘I suppose so,’ Maddy said, trying not to sound too pissed off about it. Eva probably met ten brides a day who would be positively thrilled that their future husbands were getting out of the way.
Eva watched her for a long moment. ‘What do you want, Maddy?’
Maddy froze. ‘Oh, um…’
She hoped Eva might jump in there, seeing that Maddy was struggling. But Eva simply waited her out. She was going to have to answer. Maddy’s hands twisted together. ‘I… I want it to be special,’ she said eventually. ‘Meaningful. Not too much. And I guess that’s it.’
Eva exhaled slowly through her nose, as though recalibrating.
‘All right,’ she said. ‘We’ll start with practicalities. Date?’
Maddy shrugged. ‘My mother thinks spring, but I don’t know.’
Eva’s stylus moved quickly. ‘Budget?’
Maddy said the number she’d decided on with Adam. Eva didn’t laugh out loud, so that was positive.
‘Guest count?’
‘Around sixty. Maybe seventy. My mother keeps adding cousins I didn’t know existed.’
A smile ghosted across Eva’s mouth. It was gone before Maddy could be sure she’d seen it.
They moved through logistics—venues, catering, timelines—Eva asking direct questions, Maddy answering vaguely and apologising often. At one point, Maddy knocked her coffee with her elbow, sloshing it dangerously close to Eva’s tablet.
‘I’m so sorry. I’m very sorry.’
Eva moved the tablet just in time. ‘You don’t need to apologise,’ she said, sliding a stack of sample fabric swatches out of Maddy’s spill radius.
Their fingers brushed. It was nothing. But Maddy felt a strange jolt run up her arm, unexpected enough that she nearly knocked the coffee again.
‘Here’s how this will work,’ Eva said. ‘I handle logistics. You make decisions. I will ask questions that may feel direct. My job is to create the wedding you want, not the wedding other people expect you to want. There are no right choices here. Just choose what you like.’
Maddy nodded vigorously. ‘Yes. But what if…’
‘What?’
‘What if I don’t know what I like?’ Maddy asked nervously.
Eva’s lips parted.
‘Wedding-wise, I mean.’ Maddy leaned in confidentially. ‘What if…’ No. She couldn’t say it. She should never say it.
‘What if you don’t care about weddings?’ Eva supplied. There was no judgment in her tone. In fact, it was encouraging.
Maddy laughed nervously. Surely this was a trick? This was the last person in the world who’d want to hear that. ‘Ha. Yeah. What if?’ she said tentatively.
Eva shrugged. ‘Why don’t you say it?’
Maddy laughed again. ‘What?’
‘Go on. It’ll free you.’
Maddy paused. What was happening?
‘Repeat after me. “I don’t care about weddings,”’ Eva said with a dry smile.
Well, now she’d been told to say it, which changed things. ‘I don’t care about weddings,’ she said quickly. But it felt good. It felt like a relief.
Eva smiled. ‘I’m glad we’ve got that out in the open.’
Maddy was flummoxed. ‘Are you?’
‘It’s easier if I know how much help to offer. If you need a guide, I can do that. If you need someone to outright steer, I can do that too.’
‘You can?’
‘Not everyone who gets married is interested in weddings. And why should they be?’
Somehow, that had not occurred to Maddy. She had really and truly thought herself a freak.
‘It’s okay that I don’t know what I want?’
‘The opinions of brides gave me my first grey hair last year. So no, I don’t mind.’
‘That’s a weight off,’ Maddy said sincerely. ‘And I can’t see any grey hairs, by the way.’
‘Good on both counts.’ Eva slid a neatly tabbed folder across the table. ‘Inspiration boards. Venue options. To start you off.’
Maddy opened the folder and immediately felt overwhelmed by the number of tabs.
‘Wonderful,’ she said, with the enthusiasm of someone handed a manual for assembling a spaceship.
Eva leaned back slightly, studying her again. ‘You still seem nervous.’
‘Oh,’ Maddy said brightly. ‘I’m always nervous. Sorry about that.’
‘Weddings amplify stress,’ Eva said. ‘But clarity helps. The more honest you are with me, the easier this will be. Honesty is the key to this working. I can handle it.’
Maddy had never thought her honesty was handleable. By anyone. Ever. It was how she approached life. Try not to get in the way with your personality.
Maddy smiled. ‘I’ll try.’ She meant that. Saying what she wanted did not come naturally, but by god, she’d do her best.
Eva considered her for a moment longer, then nodded once. ‘You free Friday morning?’
Maddy nodded.
‘We’ll start with a venue tour on Friday. Just you and me. It’s easier without family opinions. We can bring in the groom later.’
‘Just us,’ Maddy repeated, feeling oddly relieved.
My god, her mother was right. Everything was better now. Eva was the definition of a safe pair of hands.
‘OK, Friday. I’ll send you an address.’ She looked at her tablet.
Maddy realised she was supposed to leave now. She stood.
She had gotten through this first meeting. And it wasn’t so bad. Maybe even, dare she say, good?
‘One more thing,’ Eva said as Maddy gathered her bag. ‘You don’t have to apologise for not knowing what you want yet. Most people don’t. They just pretend better.’
Maddy blinked. ‘Thank you.’ She hesitated, then added, ‘I’m really glad you’re the person doing this.’
Eva looked up, one eyebrow raised. ‘Yes?’
‘You’re very soothing.’ Maddy winced at her own word choice. Soothing? Eva wasn’t a baby’s dummy.
A beat passed.
Then Eva gave a quiet laugh. ‘No one’s ever used that word to describe me before.’ She didn’t look offended. Just amused. Maybe even complimented?
‘Friday at ten,’ Eva said.
Maddy knew when she’d had her marching orders. She nodded. ‘Yep.’ She left, clutching the folder like a life raft. She realised she felt… lighter. Still anxious and uncertain. But oddly steadier than when she’d arrived.
She walked a few steps before glancing back through the café window.
Inside, Eva was already answering emails, expression composed and unreadable, the table around her turning into a temporary command centre.
Maddy turned away, telling herself the small flutter in her chest was just relief at surviving the meeting without catastrophic embarrassment.
She adjusted the strap of her bag and headed home, folder pressed against her ribs, already rehearsing ways to tell her mother about the wedding planner without sounding more excited about Eva than she was about the wedding itself.