Chapter 33 #2
Amelia nods. “You got it. Bean, let’s hang the dresses up in the bus. Mathew, do not let anyone on that thing until Bean picks her seat. Especially Tiffany.”
He raises his hand to salute her. “Yes, ma’am. And do we really have to let Tiffany on?”
“I think we’ve decided that, unfortunately, yes, we do.”
“Damn.”
Barry and the boys start bringing bags out of the house, and it isn’t long before everything’s loaded into the storage compartments under the bus.
Lizzie saves me a seat in the back, and Amelia sits in front of us.
Tiffany glares at all of us as she takes a seat a few rows up.
Almost as soon as we start moving, my mom starts seat-hopping so she can spend time with everyone.
We stop at Haven’s house first. A guy I can only describe as a giant follows her onto the bus.
Raelynn climbs up next to Henry, and the two start chattering away at each other about their TV shows.
The giant takes a seat in front of Grant, sitting sideways so they can chat.
Haven walks toward us after Joan assures her that she’s fine keeping an eye on Raelynn, and drops to the seat directly across from Amelia.
Amelia and Haven sit with their legs in the walkway so they can talk with Lizzie more easily.
“Um, I have questions.” Lizzie raises her hand like she’s in class.
“I bet you fucking do.” Haven’s eyes are a little wide. Amelia looks amused.
“First thing, where’s your mom and dad?” Lizzie asks Haven.
“They’re going to drive in the car. Mom wants to have it just in case we need to leave before Wednesday or something, but Raelynn heard ‘bus’ and ‘Henry’, and there was no way we were getting her in a car after that.”
“And your neighbor? The cute and sweet neighbor you’re crushing hard on? The neighbor who is trying hella hard to keep his eyes off you, but girl, he’s failing… Did you actually invite him as your plus one?”
“No, Grant invited Dax. I’m convinced he did it to drive me insane. How am I supposed to relax or concentrate or…I don’t know, anything, with Dax around?”
Lizzie smiles and claps her hands. “Oh, this is going to be so much fun to watch.”
Haven groans. “Just kill me now.”
We stop at a few houses to pick up more people before finally getting on the road.
“How are you two not hungover this morning?” Haven asks Lizzie and Amelia. “I saw how much you both drank last night, and you look way better than either of you have the right to.”
“We’re beyond hungover. We passed out fully clothed at three and woke up to Henry jumping on the bed at six. We’re so hungover we’re almost normal.” Lizzie points a finger at Amelia. “And you didn’t even toss a blanket over me when I fell asleep on top of all the covers.”
“I did! You kicked it off.” She laughs. “You literally just face-planted and started snoring and drooling. I had flashbacks to spring break two years ago. And last Christmas. And—” Lizzie reaches out and covers Amelia’s mouth with her hand, then pulls it away with a shriek.
“You licked me!”
Tiffany turns around in her seat, glaring again. “God, are you two ever going to grow up?”
“Probably not. Seems boring.” Amelia shrugs.
“Oh, leave them be, Tiffany. These two will still be teasing each other and having each other’s backs when they’re my age,” my mom says as she drops into the seat in front of Amelia.
“See, now that sounds like fun,” Amelia says, nodding.
Mom starts chatting with Amelia, Lizzie, and Haven, and I just sit back and enjoy the moment.
The resort is gorgeous, which I expected given the cost of things I’ve seen so far. We check in about an hour before some of us are set to meet up at the clubhouse, while others meet in a room for the bridal shower.
Lizzie finally introduces me to Calvin when that hour is almost up.
“Hey, man. Thanks for paying for all this.” He moves his beer around to indicate…all this, I guess. I don’t think this is his first drink of the day.
“Lizzie’s happiness is worth every penny.”
“Aw, thanks, Dad,” she says with a bright smile.
“I can’t wait to see what you got us for our wedding gift,” Calvin says. “Lizzie wanted us to rent an apartment together, but I thought we should wait in case you got us a house or something. Moving just to move again is dumb.”
Lizzie’s face falls. “Wait, that’s why I’ve been stuck living with Mom still? You thought Dad would buy us a house?”
Oblivious to her distress, he grins and raises his hand with his fingers crossed. “Here’s hoping. Hey, Peter, hold up!” And he’s off, chasing down his friend. It’s probably for the best—my fist was itching to meet his face.
“Shit. Dad, seriously, don’t buy us a house. I don’t expect you to do stuff like that,” Lizzie says, shaking her head.
“It was on a list of possibilities, but I wanted to talk to you first and see what you really want, kiddo.”
“We can talk about all that later. Try to have fun on the golf course, okay?”
The round of golf should take about the same amount of time as the shower and pampering at the spa. Except I don’t think Calvin or any of his friends have ever played golf before, and they all call it quits on hole seven after complaining about it being boring.
“Do we want to finish this out? Or go back to the hotel and try to relax?” I ask.
Grant, Dax, Leon, and Travis are technically in a foursome behind me, my dad, Barry, and Matt, but we’re all together because Calvin’s group caused a traffic jam.
“I don’t want to go hang out with those assholes, that’s for sure.” Grant looks over his shoulder at the guys racing golf carts back toward the clubhouse. I can already see damage fees racking up.
“Let’s at least finish the front nine, then decide if we want to play the back nine,” Dad suggests.
Once it’s just our two groups, we’re able to actually enjoy ourselves and continue playing. Calvin and his friends are at the bar when we return to the clubhouse hours later.
There’s platters filled with fruits, veggies, and a variety of other snacks set out in the dining room. I grab a plate of food and approach the little table where Lizzie and Amelia sit. “Mind if I sit?”
“Of course not, Dad.”
“How was the bridal shower?”
“It was great, but only because Minnie saved the fucking day, yet again, while Stephanie did nothing.”
“What?” I look at Amelia, but she just shrugs.
“Don’t do that, don’t you dare act like it wasn’t a big deal,” Lizzie almost growls at Amelia, then sighs as she turns to me.
“Minnie asked Stephanie, like the first day she was here, if everything was taken care of, and Steph promised us both that it was, but really, she did nothing. She didn’t even have to reserve the room for the date and time because the entire place was already reserved, so her job was easy, but she didn’t do it.
Minnie drove out here yesterday between Powell’s and the bachelorette party—which she also had to plan—to put up decorations that she ordered herself as a backup plan, set up some games, and order food for the party.
I’m so pissed at Stephanie, and I’m glad Min and I took care of everything else, like making sure there was food out here for after the scheduled events! ”
“Breathe, Bean,” Amelia says.
Lizzie takes a deep breath. “Sorry, I just can’t believe we would have walked into that room with literally nothing if you hadn’t texted her yesterday asking if she needed help decorating.
” She pushes back from the table. “I’m going to go find her and go a little bridezilla on her since she disappeared halfway through the spa day.
And find my fiancé, since he didn’t bother to come in here after finishing his golf game. ”
“Why did she let Tiffany talk her into making Stephanie her maid of honor instead of you?” I ask Amelia after Lizzie storms away.
“She’s always been looking for Tiffany’s approval, even if it ends up hurting her.
” She glances down at her plate and then up at me somewhat shyly.
“I have no idea how much the food I ordered for the bridal shower added to the total cost, Alex. I should have asked you first instead of just doing it.”
“Amelia, please don’t think for a second that you did anything wrong. You did exactly what you should have done. I’m going to guess the food won’t even compare to the cost of the damage Calvin and his idiot friends caused racing their golf carts.”
Her eyes go wide and she shakes her head. “Jesus. Between Tiffany, Stephanie, Calvin, and anyone those three invited, I’m feeling too damn stabby,” she mutters before standing. “I have a few things to check on before the rehearsal dinner.”
She hurries away but stops at my parents’ table when my mom calls out to her.
Tiffany drops into Amelia’s vacated chair and runs her finger down my arm. “We have a couple of hours of free time, Zander. We should…catch up.” She raises an eyebrow suggestively and bites her lip.
I see Amelia’s gaze on Tiffany’s hand, which I remove from my arm.
“That’s the last thing I’d like to do.” I push my chair away from the table and leave the room.