Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Audrey
School was out for me which meant all the wedding planning could commence. Nothing else had changed besides Mrs. Phipps calling me every other day trying to convince me to call off this farce. I didn’t agree with her on that one, but I also allowed her to get all of her rantings out. She needed someone to talk to who wasn’t going to immediately run to the gossip mill. They were already in full swing at the size of Carina’s ring, I could only imagine what story would get spun once they found out where the wedding was and how much her fiancé was worth. Which was silly, but you couldn’t stop that tribe of women even if you wanted to. They were a force to be reckoned with.
Carina slid into the booth across from me with a chocolate milkshake from the bar. There wasn’t much to choose from in this small town when it came to food. There was Millie’s Diner—where we were seated—, J&J’s—they only served ice cream and were never open when their sign said they would be—, Maria’s House—the only Mexican restaurant for miles—, and Frank’s Fried Chicken & Fish. Slim pickins but at least Millie’s was good. The older folks loved to say it was perfect to shake a stick at, whatever that meant.
“I can’t believe you turned down one of Millie’s shakes, especially since they were free because we are wedding planning.” She took a long pull from the red straw barely poking out of the massive amount of whipped cream on top before she let out a groan and leaned back in the pinstriped booth.
I swallowed thickly and tried to paste on a pleasant smile. I could never tell her what Brian said but I also couldn’t get over what he said either. It haunted me. I knew I didn’t need to lose weight but it couldn’t hurt to look my best for all the photos coming up either. “I’m sure you’re going to pick absolutely stunning gowns for the bridesmaids and I don’t want to be fighting to get into mine on the day of.”
Carina waved her hand around and the big diamond shot rainbows all over the table. “Ace has pushed it back a bit so you don’t have to worry much. If anyone is gonna be worrying, it’s me.” She squared her shoulders and squashed her boobs together. “These girls seem to get bigger by the day. Ace has zero complaints, of course, but I have many dresses I’ll need to worry about fitting in and if his parents are as anal as Ace promises, I’ll need the best of the best dresses and lots of spandex.”
“You haven’t met his parents yet?” I didn’t know why I was surprised. I should have known, that would have been something she would’ve told me immediately and there would be no forgetting that information.
She rolled her eyes and took another long sip of her shake. “No. Ace told me it wasn’t important, even when we spent Christmas together, but I’m starting to wonder if there’s more to it than that.”
Based on the size of their estate… it was definitely more than that. “You have nothing to worry about,” I reassured her. “They’re going to love you as much as Ace does. You’re drop-dead gorgeous, you’re gonna look amazing in everything you put on and if your boobs pop out, Ace will be one very happy man to help you put them back in.”
She scooped up a bit of whipped cream with her finger and plopped it in her mouth. “They seem kind of… serious. Like they’re the family that doesn’t speak during dinner.”
“That would be frightening but I think Ace wouldn’t make you sit through too many of those. He knows how loud you laugh.”
To prove my point, she let out a snort. “The whole town knows my laugh.”
It was endearing, if not a little embarrassing when she got drunk. I would have to help her keep her wits about her and drinks out of her hands when we were around them.
I pulled my notepad out of my bag and uncapped my pen. “How many guests are you anticipating?”
She squinted her eyes. “My list was only fifty when I was going over it with Ace. Apparently, his mother has over three hundred of their closest friends flying in and that isn’t including the massive extended family.”
I fought to keep my face passive. I didn’t think I had that many followers on social media. I certainly didn’t know that many people. I jotted it down and nodded.
“How many parties?”
She grimaced and showed off all of her pretty teeth. “Sooo, I was hoping we could talk about that.”
“Okay,” I drawled and read off the list I’d put together the night before of parties my best friend would probably want. “An engagement party obviously, a bridal shower even though he could provide anything and everything for you—let’s humor the small people around here, maybe a couples shower, a bachelorette trip of course, and the rehearsal dinner.”
Carina nodded enthusiastically while avoiding eye contact. “Yes, all of that sounds fantastic.”
“But?” There was a huge but coming. I could feel it in my bones and it made the blood drain out of my face. I didn’t like this. I mean, the more parties the better… but something about her tone told me this wasn’t something I was going to enjoy.
“Ace’s mother would like to have a few more parties.” She clasped her hands in her lap and I knew that look. This wasn’t just a few more parties. This was a whole lot more than a few. This was the look Carina got when we were seven and she’d eaten every single piece of candy from Halloween in one night and couldn’t tell her mom why her stomach hurt. This was the same look on her face when she told me she’d slept with too many guys our senior year and when I asked how many… it was almost the entire football team. I’d seen this look many times over the years of our friendship. It was still the same face since kindergarten. It was endearing, nostalgic, and absolutely terrifying.
“Okay,” I poised my pen over the paper. “How many are we talking?”
“She wants to do a bridal luncheon.” I wrote that down. “A groomsmen luncheon.” Okay, jotted that down too. “Three engagement parties.” My pen skittered across the page but I kept writing. “That’s where it gets tricky.”
Tricky . Oh, Lord.
“Obviously, one will be in New York at their home in the city,” The straw made a noise when she’d drank the rest of the shake and she sat there staring at the tall empty glass instead of at me. I didn’t know what to say. She took a deep breath. “The next one will be in Europe and the last will be here because she wants to meet everyone that I grew up with.”
“Well, I don’t think that’s too terrible. You’ll just wrack up a lot of flight points!” I tried to sound enthusiastic, but honestly, I was a little jealous until she dropped the next bomb on me.
“This is probably too much to ask of you,” She tore a corner off of her napkin. I’d never seen her so nervous before. Not even with the football team. “But I really need you. Ace already agreed to everything so it shouldn’t be a big deal.”
I blinked at her as I set my pen down and tried to comprehend what she was implying. “What shouldn’t be a big deal?”
Her grin looked absolutely feral. “Ace paying for you to come to every event, dress fitting, and whatever else is needed outside of this little town.”
“Paying me to do exactly what I wanted to do?”
But then it hit me. I couldn’t afford to go to all the parties, fly to New York anytime Carina’s mother-in-law wanted to throw something, and I couldn’t afford to miss that much work.
Her cheeks colored and she ducked her gaze. “I don’t want to assume your finances, I would never look into your bank statements or anything, but if you think you can swing it on your own… I won’t stop you but honestly, fifteen thousand dollars really isn’t that much to him.”
My eyes almost fell out of my skull. “What on Earth would be fifteen thousand dollars?”
“Your flights, hotels, and whatever else you could need. I mean I thought that number was kind of low myself so if you think twenty would be better, I don’t think he would mind. In fact, it was his idea. I just thought I would have to go through all of this alone with my mom who hates all of them.”
I leaned back in the booth and stared at her shell shocked. No wonder she was so nervous.
She sunk down in the linoleum seat and covered her face. “Did I break you?”
Leaning forward, I lowered my voice. “I think so. Twenty thousand?”
“I might have talked to your principal before school was out too and asked if you could have the time off.” She peeked through her fingers. “She approved it and it’ll be paid time off. She said you need the break and maybe when you come back you won’t hate your life so much.”
I felt like the ground was yanked out from my feet. Hate my job? That wasn’t exactly right. I mean, I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it either. I wanted so much more for myself but I didn’t know how to take it and anytime I brought it up to Brian, he didn’t want to hear it.
“What about Brian?”
She cracked her knuckles. “Ace can pull some strings but it’s about time you both had a vacation, don’t you think, Audrey?”
Maybe Ace would put some fire under Brian’s ass to get this ball rolling. Maybe all of this pining for more was because I was ready to settle down.
“I’ve been asking him for vacation time and a break. Maybe he will pop the question while we are in a magical place!”
Carina’s eyes flicked down to the checkered table top. “Do you want to marry him?”
“Of course!” The answer was too quick, almost forced and Carina could see straight through it. One of her dark brows rose on her forehead.
“Really? It’s okay if you don’t.”
“How did you know he was the one?” Maybe that would help me.
Her blue eyes grew glassy as she got a faraway look on her face. “He gives me butterflies, that seems childish but when I look at him I see the rest of my life. He’s a little rough around the edges and sometimes scary, but never to me. He would kill for me, but he would never touch a hair on my head. There is so much devotion in his gaze when he looks at me. Talking about it almost hurts. Nothing has felt more right.” Her cheeks colored as she came back to earth.
She’d definitely had plenty of lovers to know what that was like. Disappointment settled hard within my gut. I never knew what any of that was like.
“Does he ever make comments about your weight?” I couldn’t help myself. I had to know. Maybe Ace wasn’t as perfect as he seemed.
Her brows shot up on her forehead. “Why? Oh my gosh, has Brian made comments about your weight? Is that why you wouldn’t drink a milkshake?”
I shook my head. “No, no, I was just wondering.”
Carina wasn’t convinced but she let the topic go. “I need to let Ace know soon if you’ll be able to come with me on all these trips and whatnot.” She double-tapped the screen on her phone to check the time and sat up straight. “I have an appointment with a wedding planner via video chat in about twenty minutes that Ace’s mother set up. We are going to need all the help we can get. This is going to be much more than I thought it would ever be.”
I nodded my head and tried to think of anything else but the way Brian made me feel. He didn’t make me feel any of those things and the orgasms were nonexistent.
She yanked on the side of my hair as she adjusted her small designer purse on her shoulder. It reminded me of elementary school when we first met. “Think about it, okay? I’m sure we will convince Brian to get on board too.”