Wedding Haters (Event to Remember Series-Book 2) (9 page)

“Caycee, do you know how long I have been in
this industry?”

“OMG! Tell me!” she yells. Just then, my
first client Jocelyn arrives, and I’m saved from sharing details
from my younger, wilder days. I love when Jocelyn comes in; she’s a
divorce attorney, and her stories are the best.

After a full day of doing hair and lots of
great chats with my clients, I think I’ve managed to avoid Caycee
and her interrogation. However, the girl doesn’t give up, and after
much begging, I tell the details of my brief encounter from almost
a decade ago.

“Dang, girl! You were ca-razy!” She holds her
hand up to slap me five.

“We’ve all had our wild days and that was a
very long time ago. Very.” I try to remind her of that fact and
usually I don’t kiss and tell.

“Hmm . . . people don’t change that much.”
She raises her eyebrows and turns away. Ahhh . . . whatever. I’d
rather not take another walk down memory lane. I wonder where that
term even came from? Considering certain memories from my past,
memory lane is not a place I love visiting. It’s not that I have a
lot of bad memories; it’s just that . . . well, we all make poor
choices when we’re young. Although, I suppose this conversation is
better than going home to deal with Sienna and her silent
treatment. She’s a master at the silent treatment, so good that she
could teach a class on it.

Admittedly, the guilt is starting to set in,
and I totally understand why she’s taking her time with Ace, but I
just don’t want her to miss out on a good thing. My guilty feelings
are interrupted by a call from Cole; apparently, his parents have
asked us over to dinner, and they want to talk to us about
something important. An important talk with my soon-to-be in-laws,
every possible scenario goes through my head and then I start to
panic.

~*~

A few hours later, I’m sitting in Susan’s
beautiful kitchen, and as usual, I offer to help, but she won’t let
me touch a thing. I’m convinced the woman doesn’t want me to touch
anything. I’m a little confused because she has to know I’m not a
complete disaster in the kitchen. After all, she loves my
cookies.

“So, honey, tell me how the plans are coming?
Are you getting along with your family?”

I was hoping she wouldn’t ask. I don’t want
her to think I’m being completely ridiculous, and I can’t possibly
tell her that I continue to doubt the sincerity of my cousins or
the fact that I wish I didn’t have to invite any of them to the
wedding. I know I’m acting like a brat because, other than a few
snide comments, they haven’t done anything horrible, at least not
yet.

“Everything seems to be going well so far,
other than a few tiny issues.” I tell her about the bridesmaids’
dresses and fun-filled bachelorette party that’s being planned
despite me not agreeing to it. What I really want to talk about is
why we were invited tonight.

“It’ll all work out I’m sure,” I say
nonchalantly. “So, Cole says you wanted to talk to us about
something, is everything alright?” I tried to wait until she
brought it up, but of course being the most inpatient person on the
planet, I had to ask.

“Of course, dear, everything is fine. Why do
you ask?”

“I told you, babe,” Cole exclaims as soon as
he walks in. “Mom, she’s freaking out about whatever it is that you
want to tell us. She has called me about fifty times asking if I
know what you want.” I’m so going to kill him! Sometimes he never
knows when to shut up.

“I’m not freaking out!” I give him the shut
up or else look.

“Don’t worry, you two. It’s good news; I
promise.” She hugs both of us and rushes back to her cooking.

Cole walks over to kiss me on the cheek, and
I lean away. He thinks this is absolutely hilarious, and right now,
I think he is absolutely annoying. When, and if, Sienna starts
talking to me again I need to ask her to teach me how to give a
good silent treatment.

I’m so anxious I can hardly eat my dinner.
What’s the big freaking deal? Just tell us already! I can’t believe
they haven’t said anything yet. Cole hasn’t asked either, and now I
have another reason to be mad at him. Finally, after dessert,
Cole’s father asks us to join them in the living room. My heart is
racing!

“We were going to wait until the wedding to
give you your gift, but we thought sooner was better.” He hands
Susan an envelope. OMG—an envelope?

“We’re so excited about this that we just
couldn’t wait any longer,” Susan says as she hands Cole the
envelope. I wonder what’s in that envelope. It has to be money or
maybe plane tickets?

“Here you go.” Cole hands it to me

“You want me to open it?” I slowly take it
out of his hand and hold it in my hand as if it’s a fragile family
heirloom. Cole tells me to hurry, but I feel as if I’m moving in
slow motion. As I take the contents out of the envelope and read,
I’m almost speechless.

“What?!” That’s all I manage to spit out. I’m
in complete shock. “Is this for real?” I hand it to Cole.

“It’s a house!” I shout. “You gave us a
house?” I don’t even know what to say; I think Cole is in as much
shock as I am. He grabs the paper out of my hand. I jump up from my
seat and give both of them a huge hug.

“We gave Mike and Sara one as well, so it was
only fair,” Susan says. “Just wait until you see it, it’s gorgeous.
The best part about this is that you will only be three houses
down, so now you can join the garden club. The ladies will all be
ordering your cookies, so you know you will be extremely busy. And
when you have a baby I can babysit for you.”

Wait? What did she say? Something about the
house being practically next door, the garden club, and me having a
baby? It all kind of mixed together.

“Whaaat was that?” I ask slowly.

“The house is the one on the corner. It’s
been up for sale for months, and they just redid all of the floors,
hardwood, as well as brand new bathrooms. Here are the keys, it’s
all yours!”

Cole and I look at each other; I know exactly
what he’s thinking because I’m thinking the same thing. It’s a free
house! That is a free house living practically next door to my
in-laws. Not to mention an invitation to join the garden club,
which would be ridiculous because I don’t garden. Every time I’ve
ever had a plant, I’ve killed it. The truth is I know that most of
the ladies in the club don’t actually garden; they have gardeners.
Most of the time they just gossip and try to one-up each other.
There is not a chance in hell I would be able to hang out with
those women on a regular basis. Not only that, we are nowhere near
ready to have kids yet.

“So, are you ready? We can see it right now.”
Susan takes a huge leap off the couch and makes a beeline for the
door.

“Mom, can you give us a second?” Cole says
abruptly. Finally! I was wondering when he was going to speak
up.

“What’s the matter?” she asks, looking
completely crestfallen. “Are you not happy?”

“Of course we are,” I practically yell. “This
is the most unbelievable, amazing, um gift.” I don’t want them to
think we are being ungrateful. We can’t possibly tell them that we
are super excited about the house but not the location.

“Mom, can you give us a few minutes to talk?”
Cole’s parents leave the room and immediately Cole starts asking me
if I’m OK with all of this.

“Well, I admit it’s a little bit of a shock.
I mean, we already have a new apartment near work and our
friends.”

“What are you saying? You don’t want to move
over here?” he asks worriedly. “Babe, I know it’s not ideal, but
this is pretty great.”

“No, not at all. I just, it’s just . . .”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but are you ready to
see the house?” Susan interrupts. I can see the excitement pouring
out of her; she’s practically bouncing off the walls. Cole looks at
me and raises his eyebrows.

“I’m definitely ready! Let’s go see our new
house.” I practically sprint for the door.

As we are waking down the perfectly manicured
street, I start thinking about how I could be so ungrateful. Maybe
I am acting like a spoiled child. Maybe my cousins are right. I’m
starting to feel so guilty; as we arrive in front of the beautiful
house on the corner, I stand there staring at it. This is the one?
I have driven past this place more times than I can count, and now
it’s mine. It really is breathtaking, a grand front door with
manicured bushes and flowerbeds, and no doubt the former owners had
a gardener.

“This is it?” Cole asks, interrupting my
thoughts. “Wow.” I’m sure he has ignored this place just like I
have.

“Who wants them?” Susan asks, holding out the
keys. I glance at Cole, and I can see the sparkle in his eye.

“You take them,” I say, the excitement
building intensely. Cole grabs them and makes a run for it, with
his parents and I close behind.

I’m completely speechless as I walk through
this house that I guess really is mine. I let out a gasp because I
just don’t know what to say. I have hugged Cole’s parents more
times than I can count. The floor plan is big, open and cozy at the
same time. There is an adorable little room/alcove right off the
kitchen that will make the perfect cookie room. Susan has told me
about several ideas she has for decorating. Luckily, Cole stepped
in and reminded her that we would love the chance to decorate our
first home. I tell her that I’ll definitely need her help because I
plan to stay on my mother-in-law/neighbor’s good side. We spend
what seems like hours walking around. After a while, Cole’s parents
head home and leave us alone. We’re sitting down in the huge living
room talking about everything we want to do.

“So, what do you think?” Cole asks as he
places his hands behind his head. “I bet you’re happy you decided
to marry me now. I knew being a mama’s boy would come in handy
someday. Could you imagine what they would have given us if I
finished college instead of doing comedy?”

I lean in to give Cole a kiss; he starts
kissing me back passionately.

“Thank you for marrying me,” I tell him as I
somehow manage to release myself from his grasp. “I love you so
much, and no, I’m not saying this just because your parents just
gave us a house.”

“I should be thanking you. Let’s be serious;
you are way too good for me.” He always says this, and it’s simply
not true. Cole is the most sincere man I have ever met. He never
has an agenda, he’s confident, happy, and he loves to share that
with others through his work.

I finally head home after planning out every
paint color and décor theme for every room. Despite my being
ecstatic about our new house, (Our house! I still can’t believe I
have a house!) there is a looming feeling of dread. I have to break
the news to Sienna that I will not be living around the corner from
her. I just feel so horrible because I even helped her pick out her
place so we could live near each other. I know that no matter what
Sienna will be supportive because that is the type of person she
is. We haven’t really spoken much since the Ace/wedding party
dilemma. I’m not even sure if she is ready to talk to me.

When I get home Sienna is already in bed, but
she did leave me a note. When I read it, I feel a little sad.

Hey.

I’m sorry, I know I overreacted. Everything
is ready for the shower.

Still Best Friends Forever?

-S

And now I’m crying; it starts out with just a
few tears and ends up big and ugly. Why can’t I just leave this
poor girl alone? My intentions are good, but I still continue to
meddle after she has asked me to stop. From tonight on, I promise I
won’t say another word about Sienna’s love life. Ever.

Chapter 6

Nothing irritates me more than when people
don’t return calls or messages. I have left several messages for
Bev to see how things are going with my cookies. I haven’t heard
much from her other than her customers were very impressed with
them. So what? What does that even mean? I’m starting to wonder if
she’s purposely ignoring me. Maybe they aren’t doing as well as we
had hoped. I’m bordering on stalker mode by continuously calling
her. I know I need to stick to the two-day rule like in dating;
apparently, that rule applies to everything. Who knew? I remember
the two-day rule from my dating days. Nothing was more tortuous
than that: the waiting, wondering, and second-guessing. Ugh!

On a good note, Sienna and I hugged and made
up. We’re best friends again, and it’s a good thing because
tomorrow is my bridal shower. I can hardly contain my excitement!
All has been quiet with my cousins, so that’s even better news. I’m
just praying that they stay on their best behavior tomorrow. Caycee
and Lauren, my wild and crazy co-workers, keep warning me that
they’re giving me massage oils and toys at my shower. This isn’t
really a surprise because they gave me lingerie and handcuffs at my
engagement party. Susan and the garden club ladies all gasped in
horror; no doubt they’re the ones who have these items hidden in
their bedrooms. Grandmother just shook her head and gave me a look
of pure disapproval. I know that look very well. Anyway, I try to
remind these girls that this is a bridal shower and not a
bachelorette party. They seem to find it hilarious that my poor
grandmother may have a coronary at the sight of anything sexual,
and I’m sure Ellie would love to blame me for something happening
to her.

The next morning I wake up early and finish
several loads of laundry. I even do a little packing. While I’m
curling my hair, I realize I still haven’t told Sienna about the
house. It’s not really that I’m avoiding it; it’s just that we’ve
both been busy. OK, so maybe I’ve been avoiding it. Anyway, I’m
planning on telling her about it tonight.

My peaceful morning is abruptly interrupted
by a phone call from Ellie. I’m going to have a positive attitude.
I repeat this over and over out loud.