Chapter 16
Sixteen
Everyone was seated in the long drawing room at Hawthorne Manor. The vendor coordination meeting was already fraying. Eva had never seen such a badly behaved pack of vendors in all her days.
The DJ was talking uplighting for his set.
The florist was talking over him to say tall arrangements were necessary so they wouldn’t get lost in the size of the space.
Catering was talking over her to ask when final decisions about the menu would be made, as they hadn’t even gotten to place settings.
‘OK, everyone, maybe we can do this a bit more… I know we all have things to get to, but if we all talk at once, it takes longer,’ Eva was eventually compelled to say.
‘Right, me first,’ said DJ Vortex. ‘Smoke effects during the first dance would look incredible in this crib.’
Maddy inhaled to respond. Eva had been observing her pattern. The way she’d absorb questions with wide, frightened eyes and then turn slightly to Adam, who would pick up his cue and say something like, ‘Yeah. That sounds great,’ with barely any understanding of what had been asked.
She couldn’t see it again.
‘Absolutely not,’ Eva said.
‘It’s about atmosphere,’ he insisted.
‘It’s about safety,’ Eva replied. ‘And not blinding half the guests.’
The florist began to say something about lighting temperatures. Catering interjected about timing.
Maddy leaned forward. ‘I—maybe we—’
No one heard her.
Eva stood. ‘Everyone, stop.’
She didn’t raise her voice, but everyone shut up anyway.
‘One vendor at a time. No crosstalk. Questions through me unless Maddy or Adam chooses to answer directly.’
She looked at Maddy to check. Maddy’s eyes flickered with relief. She gave a small nod.
‘You. DJ Vortex. Go.’
The DJ did speak, though with a lot more nervousness now, Eva was pleased to note. Eva extracted essentials, cut theatrics, eliminated smoke and excessive bass that would rattle Hawthorne’s windows.
Then the florist. ‘Tall installations or centrepieces?’ she asked.
Adam opened his mouth.
Eva turned to Maddy first. ‘What did you picture?’
Maddy hesitated. Eva could see the internal calculation. What pleases Adam, what causes the least friction.
Eva held her gaze. She didn’t want to scare Maddy, but she wanted her to understand she was being heard. She deserved to be heard.
‘I liked lower arrangements,’ Maddy said finally. ‘So people can see each other.’
‘Low centrepieces,’ Eva confirmed, writing it down.
Adam blinked. ‘Oh. I thought tall would be more dramatic.’
Eva saw Maddy’s apology forming before it arrived, and she headed it off.
‘The room is already dramatic,’ Eva said evenly. ‘Lower arrangements will balance it.’ She didn’t look at Adam. She looked at Maddy. Maddy stared back at her, startled, as though unable to conceive of the idea that she’d gotten this right.
As catering began outlining plated service, Eva watched Maddy lean back slightly.
‘Plated,’ the caterer began, ‘creates structure—’
‘Or something more fluid,’ Eva interrupted lightly.
The caterer had forgotten that no one was here to please him, and he needed slapping down.
‘What would you prefer?’ she asked the people getting married.
Maddy glanced at Adam. Then back to Eva.
‘Less rigid,’ she said quietly. ‘Something that feels… easier.’
Adam considered it. ‘Family-style could be nice?’
Maddy looked faintly astonished. Eva felt a quiet satisfaction. Maddy shouldn’t be learning her opinion amounted to something this late in her life, but with Eva’s help, by god, she would learn it.
Then the DJ attempted to reintroduce coloured uplighting. Maddy actively flinched but didn’t speak.
‘No,’ Eva said.
DJ Vortex tried a smile. ‘Just a touch?’
‘No.’
He stopped smiling.
Maddy threw her a grateful smile.
The meeting wound down after that. DJ Vortex packed his laptop with far less commentary than he’d arrived with. The florist muttered something about revised sketches. Catering left without a word.
Adam drifted toward the venue coordinator to discuss bar placement.
Eva remained standing at the long table, aligning her notes. She was aware that Maddy was still sitting.
‘You didn’t have to do that,’ Maddy said softly.
Eva didn’t look up immediately. ‘Do what?’
‘What you did,’ she said, her eyes looking down.
Eva capped her pen. ‘Yes, I did. You were being spoken over,’ Eva said simply.
‘I’m used to it.’
‘You shouldn’t be,’ Eva replied.
Maddy’s gaze dropped briefly to the table, tracing the grain of the wood. ‘It’s easier sometimes.’
‘Easier for whom?’
Maddy didn’t answer that.
‘I almost went with the plating suggestion,’ Maddy said slowly.
‘I know.’
Maddy looked up sharply. ‘Why is that?’
‘You didn’t want to argue. You don’t like to argue. But it’s a wedding, and you’re the one getting married. You and Adam.’
A flush crept into Maddy’s cheeks. ‘It’s that simple?’
‘It is.’
‘How do you seem to know what I’m thinking?’ Maddy asked, touching her neck nervously.
Eva considered her answer carefully. ‘It’s not that hard if you pay attention.’
Maddy’s face darkened. ‘That can’t be true.’
Eva shrugged.
‘That can’t be true,’ Maddy muttered again, and Eva saw her eyes flick to Adam.
Eva thought she needed to shut her trap before she stepped over a red line. Because even Maddy would not want to hear anything that was a critique of her fiancé, veiled or not. That was how you got fired.
‘You don’t have a problem saying what you want, do you?’ Maddy said. She didn’t look angry.
Eva smiled. ‘Nope. Blunt to a fault.’
‘How do you do that?’ Maddy asked, chuckling like it was a joke.
But Eva decided not to treat it as one. Just in case. ‘You pause,’ she said. ‘Before you answer. You ask yourself what you actually want. Not what will cause the least disruption.’
Maddy absorbed that. ‘And then I just… say it?’
‘Yes.’
‘What if it upsets someone?’
Eva chuckled. ‘Then they experience a feeling. They’ll survive.’
Maddy laughed, and it wasn’t her usual nervous chuckle. It was a real laugh. It echoed softly in the cavernous room.
‘I don’t know how you do that,’ she said. ‘Just decide things.’
Eva held her gaze. ‘I think you do know how to do it perfectly well. Otherwise, I couldn’t read it, could I?’
Maddy’s expression softened. ‘You were protecting me today.’
Eva could have deflected. She could have said it was her job. ‘Yes.’
Silence settled between them again, but it felt different now. A little charged in a way Eva prayed she was misreading.
Maddy stood slowly, closing the small distance between them without seeming to realise she’d done it. They were near enough now that Eva could see the faint crease between Maddy’s brows.
‘I didn’t get the greenhouse,’ Maddy said quietly. ‘And I told myself that was fine. That this is more… appropriate.’
Eva didn’t interrupt.
‘But when you asked what I pictured,’ Maddy continued, ‘for a second I remembered how it felt. The light.’
‘You can still have light,’ Eva said. ‘Even here.’
Maddy searched her face. ‘You really think so?’
‘Lower arrangements will allow for it. And the windows point west. The best light will be just before sunset, by the way. Golden hour.’
‘That’s something to look forward to,’ Maddy said honestly, her fingers brushing the edge of the notepad Eva still held. It connected them, the pad. Indirect touching.
‘Thank you,’ Maddy said.
Eva inclined her head slightly. ‘For what?’ Her voice was quieter than normal. She realised she had lowered it intentionally. Trying not to be heard across the room.
‘For seeing me.’ Maddy rolled her eyes. ‘God, that sounded a bit much, didn’t it?’
Eva held her gaze steadily. ‘My pleasure,’ she said.
Maddy looked back. And kept looking.
Adam’s voice floated back into the room. ‘Maddy? Want to see the bar layout?’
Maddy’s hand dropped from the pad abruptly, and she turned away in a quick, nervous movement. ‘Coming.’
Eva watched from across the room as Adam talked at Maddy. She had better go. This was not her place. Maddy was marrying Adam. Nothing would stop that. In point of fact, Eva’s job was to ensure nothing did.
Eva scuttled out without Maddy seeing.