TWO
“THE WHOLE THING shouldn’t take too long,” Roxie said, Alice and Carolyn at her flanks.
Tripp stayed in the suite. Of course. Even his mother didn’t try to persuade him to come along. He’d only end up flummoxing the coordinator anyway.
“Ms. Kyst…” From the center of the room, a woman with an earpiece and a tablet came rushing over. As the identity of Roxie’s cohorts registered, said woman’s expression became something more… insecure. “Mrs. Hunt. I… I didn’t realize you’d be joining us today.”
“Hmm, I probably should’ve thought twice about bringing the owner’s mother with me,” Roxie said. “She’s not the only one with power, I could get you fired too, you know.”
“Oh, Roxie,” Alice said, smiling at the coordinator. “Please, ignore Carolyn and I, this is Roxie’s day.” Sort of. “What’s your name?”
“Kym. Everything is under control.”
“There’s a lot going on,” Roxie said, scanning the workers. “Is there another wedding this week?”
“Oh, no, this is all for you and Mr. Lomond,” Kym said. “Will he… join us?”
“Unlikely ‘cause, last I heard, he’s in New York.” Adjusting her focus, Roxie waved the question away. “He doesn’t care about this stuff. If he was here, he’d be too busy hitting on you to pay attention. You’ve seen the news, right?”
Of his affair. With a woman he’d never met, by the way. An inconvenient truth the media didn’t care about. Talk about irrelevant details being sacrificed to sensationalism.
“Roxie,” Alice chastised, still wearing that smile. “She’s joking. None of the rumors are true.”
Though she may not reveal that to Reeve Crosby later when giving him a quote. Something she was still cooking up. Shame her and Casanova hadn’t talked again. Good thing he was used to her surprises.
“Well, uh, I can say everything is under control here,” Kym said, backing away a few steps to gesture to the end of the room.
“On the day, we’ll have all the pocket doors open to the back courtyard, where the ceremony itself will take place.
Seating will be in here, and we’ll open the two quadrants beyond to accommodate your numbers. ”
“Where did those land in the end?”
“Immediate family and friends only. Final RSVPs take us to one thousand three hundred and seventy-three.”
Whoa, hey, back it up, what now?
Her mouth opened and activity around them ceased, it was possible she’d cursed rather loud. With her ears ringing, it wasn’t totally clear.
“A thousand and—I had like seven people on my list! And Blayne was more of a maybe.”
This was what she got for not paying closer attention. Intimate. That’s what she’d said to Zairn when they first talked about it. More than a thousand bodies didn’t sound intimate… Could be a lot of fun though. Would be interesting either way.
“We do expect there will be a few additional guests on the day.”
“And some no-shows?”
That had to be obvious.
She could find a way to divert people at the airport…
that would require a cunning plan. Send them to a dummy wedding, maybe?
Capers were so much more fun with like-minded allies.
Why wasn’t Toria in LA with her? Oh, yeah, because her friend was in the trenches in New York, keeping Jane occupied and rerouted, if necessary.
“Unlikely,” Carolyn said, passing them to check something out in more detail. “It’s a popular event. If people have RSVP’d, they’re coming.”
Yeah, billionaires were like that. If they didn’t want to be somewhere, they weren’t there, and didn’t shy from saying it. Polite wasn’t high on the list of considerations.
Thank God this was Jane’s wedding too. She’d be happy to address the crowd and do the public speaking thing, but if the masses wanted a gooey bride, Jane would fill that quota.
“Numbers will at least double for the late après reception off-site. Mr. Ballard assures us security will be tightly controlled.”
“It’s just Ballard,” she said. “You don’t need the mister. And security is all him. He’s got that.”
Especially knowing he’d brought in Ryder Stone’s firm along with the Breckenridge brothers security specialists.
“What are you worried about?” Kym asked. “Perhaps I can alleviate your concerns.”
“I’m not worried about anything.” With Jane at the helm, worry was completely unnecessary. “Just figured I should show my face and—one thousand people in the same room?”
You know what it was? Knox. It was him. The middle Collier brother getting married would be a sight to see. Though, huh, people would say the same thing about Zairn. And her, though her pool was smaller. Way, way smaller.
Only problem with that argument was Jane didn’t know the guests were for her wedding too.
Knox must’ve nudged her into inviting people he’d want there, right?
Helped that he and Zairn had known each other forever.
The Collier clan were Zairn’s clan too. And, on top of that, Jane’s people were her people, so they’d all be invited either way. No one would be left out.
Man, they were smart. Sneaky? Yes. But, God, it was going to be fun. Drama at the wedding of the century, people would expect nothing less. It was her job to satisfy those appetites.
“Does everyone just sit where they want?” she asked.
“Oh, no, there’s a strict seating plan, Ms. Kyst. For here and the meal.”
“We’re feeding a thousand people too?”
“Miss Simmonds has taken care of the food arrangements for the reception. After the ceremony, there will be a second drinks reception before the formal meal here. Transport has been laid on to move people from here to the club after hours. Logistics are meticulous. Every eventuality has been accounted for.”
Inspecting the space, she couldn’t see it. “How do you feed a thousand people in here?”
“The other quadrants are other ballrooms, the whole thing can be opened up into one large room. And we have a second tier…”
That took her attention upward.
“Are we opening the mezzanine?” Carolyn asked.
“For the drinks receptions, yes. Not for the ceremony. Only security will be allowed upstairs during that.”
“We also have an overspill space beyond the courtyard, if needed…” Carolyn said. “Pictures?”
“In the courtyard and on the bluff.” Oh, there would be pictures too. “We have taken precautions against unsanctioned access. There will be drones and people on the roof.”
“On the roof like…?” Oh! Exciting! “Am I finally getting my sniper?”
Alice laughed, Carolyn was just as amused, Kym didn’t seem sure how to take the question.
“We set up broad reflectors and prohibit anyone from flying overhead to access the courtyard. And we have canopies that will be erected before the helicopters move the wedding party from here to the après reception.”
Helicopters. Huh. “Jane doesn’t like helicopters.” Meaning she may try to avoid that mode of transport. She’d have to talk to Knox. “I need to see the seating plan and transport schedule.”
“Okay,” Kym said. “Miss Simmonds has—”
“Yeah, I’m the bride, I get to override her decisions. I also get to tell you not to tell Miss Simmonds or we’ll take our business elsewhere.”
People didn’t often expect her to crack out no-nonsense-Roxie, but this was maybe the most important thing she’d done in her life so far.
Jane had done so much work putting all of this together, far more than she’d realized.
Her BFF took her role seriously, and Roxie would too.
Jane deserved the world, and it was on her to make damn sure her friend got it.