Wedding Haters (Event to Remember Series-Book 2) (7 page)

Once again, I put the list aside and start to
get ready for my exciting day.

“Help me choose my outfit,” I yell to Sienna.
We’re getting ready to bring everything to Bev’s. Thankfully, she
has been advertising for weeks and is expecting a great turn out. I
even created an invitation on Facebook, so hopefully a lot of my
friends will come to show their support. I’m also a little nervous
that it’s going to be too successful. Is that even possible? Am I
weird for worrying about this?

“Sienna!! Hurry,” I yell again, much louder
this time.

“Sorry, was on the phone with a client,” she
says as she comes running in. “I already told you blue tunic, black
skinnies, and you can borrow my Jimmy Choos.” Sienna has a bit of a
shoe obsession, which I have no issue with since we wear the same
size. I purposely helped her find a new apartment close to mine so
I could borrow shoes anytime I need to. Of course, that’s not the
only reason, but it’s an added perk for sure.

“How are you feeling?” she asks as I get
dressed. “What an exciting day! To think your hobby has turned into
such an amazing opportunity. “Sienna’s phone rings again, and she
quickly excuses herself in the middle of her thought. Hmm . . . I
start to wonder what she is up to. She’s being so secretive, and
for some reason, she doesn’t want me to know whom she keeps talking
to. I haven’t seen her put that phone down in days. Just as I’m
finishing up, I get a text message from Ellie. When I read it, I
feel my heart sink into my stomach and I think I may vomit.

Grandmother told me that today’s your bakery
thing. Can’t believe you didn’t tell me. Planning on stopping
by.

OK, I’m not going to panic. I need to stay
focused on my day ahead. I send her my response, short and
sweet.

Great. See you there.

On the way to the Bev’s, I ask Sienna about
her mysterious secretive phone calls. She defensively insists that
they are phone calls from clients and potential clients, and I
decide to leave her alone for now. I’m surprised at how nervous I
become as we get closer. My heart starts racing and my mouth is
dry. I mean, this is just a hobby, right? I guess I haven’t really
thought about all the possibilities that could come from this.

“You’re really quiet all of a sudden,” Sienna
says, interrupting my thoughts. “I know you don’t believe me, but
why does it really matter who I was on the phone with?”

Hmmm . . . She is definitely hiding
something.

“Why are you acting so defensive?” I demand.
“To be honest, I wasn’t even thinking about you and your BIG
secret.”

“There is NO SECRET!” she yells.

“OK. Whatever. What I
was
thinking
about was why I feel so nervous about today? I mean, it’s not like
I need a job or a new career. I love what I do.” Before Sienna can
say anything, we pull up at Bev’s. “Here we go,” she says.

As we pull up, I see a sign hanging in the
window announcing this month’s feature:

COOKIES BY MADIE

That reminds me, I still have to come up with
a cute and clever name. I take a deep breath and walk in.

I love Bev’s! It is the most adorable little
bakeshop and has been in business for over twenty years. The walls
are pink and aqua with different shaped mirrors covering them.
Delicious pastries, or “sweet treats” as Bev calls them, line the
shelves. There are cozy chairs everywhere for customers to enjoy;
that’s if you’re lucky enough to get a seat. Most of the desserts
are homemade by Bev herself except when she features an
up-and-coming baker or in my case, “cookie designer.”

When I walk in, I see Cole is already
enjoying one of Bev’s amazing banana pudding cupcakes.

“There she is!” Cole cheers as I walk in.
“Looking fierce, of course!” He gives me a big hug and twirls me
around like he always does.

“Thanks, babe.” I give him a kiss. “Can you
help bring everything in? I’m going to go find Bev and find out
where she wants to set up.”

“Madison!” she exclaims as she comes over and
gives me a warm hug, “Honey, you are looking really thin. Are you
feeling OK?” I smile because she says this to me every time she
sees me. I get the feeling that she has a belief that no one in
this industry should be thin. I could tell her that I’ve eaten junk
food for the last few days and then thrown it all up due to nerves,
but then she will think I have bulimia so I decide not to say
anything.

“Of course, I feel great!” I reply excitedly.
“Thank you again for having me. I hope I make you proud. Where do
you want to set up?”

A little while later I stand back proudly as
“4 seasons by madie”
is on display. I’m
especially excited about the fall designs I created. The summer is
winding down and my wedding is in the beginning of October, so I
took my time with that particular season. I expect that those will
be the first to go. I turn to see that customers are already coming
in the door. I fidget a bit, fix my hair, and smile. Here goes
nothing!

A few hours later, I finally sit down. What
an amazing, fun day! We took several pictures, and many friends
stopped in to see my feature. Bev introduced me to all of her
regulars, and I’ve had many requests for my business card. I’m
feeling both overwhelmed and excited that I’ve also met some
potential clients. But doing hair will always be my number one love
(other than Cole of course). As I start packing things up to leave,
my grandmother and Ellie finally show up.

“Madison, I apologize for us being late, but
we had to run a few important errands.” My grandmother kisses my
forehead and walks directly toward the display. I hear her
introduce herself to Bev. Knowing Grandmother, she is hoping to
become best friends forever with Bev because Bev is very well known
in Beverly Hills. Not that Grandmother is an opportunist, but she
wouldn’t mind telling her friends that she knows Bev
personally.

“Wow, Madie, I’m impressed,” Ellie exclaims.
“This is a really cute shop. Once again, you outdid yourself.” I
can’t decide if she is truly being kind or just sarcastic.
Regardless, I feel like I’m on top of the world so I decide to just
thank her for coming. Before I can say anything, she makes a
beeline for Sienna.

“Sienna, I was hoping you would be here,” she
says. “We have a lot of wedding plans to discuss.” I can tell that
Sienna is biting her tongue. “Not only that . . .” she continues,
“I have to tell you that it really is a small world after all. I
met someone who knows you; his name is Luke Price.”

I feel like I’m having an out of body
experience. That’s a name that doesn’t come up very often with us
and leave it to Ellie to open up old wounds. I feel bad for Sienna
because that name brings up a lot of pain for her. I think that’s
the reason she hasn’t been able to move on with Ace. I hurry to try
to defuse the situation before Sienna gets upset.

“Ellie,” I whisper, “let’s not talk about
Luke; that’s a really touchy subject.” She looks at me with a
puzzled look. “Oh. I didn’t realize, sorry,” she says
unconvincingly. I breathe a sigh of relief as I feel like I stopped
a major volcano from erupting; however, I was wrong.

“This sounds really juicy; you have to tell
me what happened,” Ellie says. Her eyes are wide and innocent, and
I realize she probably doesn’t know the story. Who says the word
juicy anymore anyway? Sienna still hasn’t responded, but I can tell
she is on the verge. She very calmly starts speaking, and I can
tell she doesn’t want anyone to think this situation still bothers
her.

“Madie, it’s totally fine; we can talk about
Luke,” she says, giving me a big fake smile. She turns to Ellie.
“Luke is my ex-boyfriend; we broke up several months ago. Not on
the best terms, but I do wish him luck in the future. Where did you
meet him?”

“Wow, I really am sorry for bringing up your
ex-boyfriend,” she exclaims. ”I met him at a party my friend was
having. We ended up talking for a while and somehow Madie’s wedding
came up. He mentioned he knew you pretty well and asked how you
were doing. That was pretty much it so don’t worry your pretty
little head; we didn’t spend the whole evening talking about
you.”

Sienna changes the subject as she always does
when she wants to avoid talking any more about a subject. They
start discussing my wedding, and I wander around the shop. Cole and
Grandmother are still talking to Bev, and I can hear them
discussing our wedding cake or rather us
not
having a
wedding cake. We decided to do a variety of red velvet, German
chocolate, and coconut cupcakes in lieu of a traditional wedding
cake. Grandmother absolutely hates the idea; although, that’s not a
surprise.

“I just think that a vanilla wedding cake
with white icing is proper for an event such as this; cupcakes are
so juvenile. This is not a sixth birthday party,” she says. Cole
gives me a look, and I can tell he wants me to save him.

“Grandmother, we already discussed this; we
wanted to choose something that would be different and fun. Bev,
please tell her that a lot of people are choosing different options
when it comes to cakes.” Hopefully she will be able to talk
Grandmother down off the ledge.

“Yes!” she says, catching on to my hint. “You
would be surprised how many people are choosing different
varieties. These young people have new, fresh ideas, and trust me,
it really will look gorgeous. Come and look at some pictures of a
few cupcake towers I have done.” She takes Grandmother over to a
table, and they sit down with a stack of photo albums.

“Thanks for leaving me in the trenches taking
grenades for twenty minutes,” Cole whispers exasperatedly. “You
couldn’t have come and saved me sooner? Your grandmother thinks you
are marrying a hoodlum who is forcing you to have cupcakes at your
fancy wedding. She thinks that it will destroy the whole
event.”

I laugh. “Stop! She doesn’t think that, and
you know she adores you,” I say as I put my arm around him.

“Whatever. Maybe she did before, but the
cupcakes have pushed her over the edge. I’m worried because you
never know, she may stand up and object at the ceremony.” Of
course, he knows that will never happen.

We finally leave Bev's a little while later,
and thankfully there’s no more mention about the wedding cake or
Luke Price. After Sienna and I arrive home, we sit down and work
out a few more wedding details. I decide to not bring up her secret
phone calls because I’m pretty sure she has had enough emotional
trauma for one day. We spend the rest of the night talking about my
wedding shower and our upcoming girl’s weekend along with enjoying
the emergency cookie stash. I usually never eat my cookies, but I
think I’ve earned it tonight.

I wake up the next morning with a major sugar
hangover. Is there such a thing? I feel horrible! When I stumble
out of my room, I find a note from Sienna’s personalized stationary
collection on the kitchen counter.

M-

Officially 4 weeks to go! YAY

BTW-Ellie called me; I’m on my way to meet
her and Stephanie at Alexa’s to look at bridesmaid dresses.
Apparently, it is life or death. Is she always this high
maintenance?

Call u later!

-S

Oh no! As if I’m not feeling bad enough, I
wake up and I’m greeted by a message about my cousins. I’m really
surprised at how involved they are becoming. I was convinced they
would just show up for the event and have nothing to do with any
planning, but clearly, I was wrong. The question is, should I head
over to Alexa’s or just let Sienna handle it? I did plan on
spending the day packing. Maybe I should ask Sienna. I find my
phone still in my bag from the day before. It barely has any
battery power left, so I plug it in and send Sienna a text.

Do you want me to meet you
or stay here and pack?

I make a protein shake while I wait for her
response. I had a plan to get a lot accomplished today. My life is
about to get really busy and now I have to stop everything to go do
damage control. I reread Sienna’s note. Four weeks, wow. I’m
getting married four weeks from today. I send Cole a text.

Four weeks from today you
are marrying me. UR so lucky!!

Up until now, it seemed like time was
dragging on, and now I feel like time is flying. I drag a few
folded boxes from the hall closet and tape them together. I manage
to get two boxes started before Sienna finally texts me back.

Need to figure something out. They are
insisting on matching dresses. Had to text Abby.

Crap! I better get dressed and head to
Alexa’s. I can’t leave Sienna to deal with this all by herself.

When I arrive at Alexa’s I find Sienna,
Ellie, and Stephy in a sea of gowns. There is every color and every
style you could ever imagine. I can tell by the looks on Sienna’s
and Jennie’s faces that they are frustrated. Very frustrated.

“Hi, ladies. What’s going on?” I ask when I
walk in.

“Madie! I’m so glad you are here,” Stephy
yells. “Which dress?” She holds up two very pretty dresses. “We’ve
been trying to tell Sienna that it’s imperative that we all match.
Think about it, your wedding is at the Four Seasons. If we don’t
match it will look tacky and thrown together, and we just can’t
have that.”

“You’re the first of us to get married. You
need to make this perfect for Grandmother,” adds Ellie.

I glance at Sienna, and she raises her
eyebrows.

“Whatever you guys want,” I say, shrugging my
shoulders. “The dresses are beautiful, and if you girls want to
wear them, I have no problem with that. I did tell Sienna and Abby
that they could pick out their own gowns, so that is up to
them.”

I think my answer could not be more
perfect.

“Well, I already spoke to Abby and sent her a
picture and she is fine with it so . . .” She looks at Sienna.
Obviously, she is the holdout. I really don’t think she cares what
she wears other than the fact that she doesn’t want to give in to
Ellie’s demands. However, I know her well enough to know that she
too would be wearing one of these dresses in the end.