Daphne leans forward as much as her baby belly allows.“Okay, the Shifting Pines clerk’s office has Saturday hours tomorrow, and you have an appointment at 9 a.m.to apply for your license.Both of you need to be there with birth certificates and IDs, and you need to bring a witness with you.Seventy-two hours after the application is submitted, one of you can pick it up, and then you have sixty days to get married.So you could be married as soon as Tuesday afternoon.”
“Wow, how did you do all of that?”I ask in amazement.
“I have skills,” she says with a modest shrug.
“My Uncle Harry is the mayor of Shifting Pines,” Teagan says from behind us.I didn’t know she had arrived.“He says he’d be happy to officiate if you get married in town.”
Carla moves to the front of the room, and the production assistants hold up “silent” cards.We stop talking, but I’m frustrated because I want to keep planning.
But a few minutes later, the producer is counting down the clock to camera time, and Phoebe and Andie are standing ready behind their counter.He steps away, and the large digital clock at the back of the kitchen is counting down.Andie and Phoebe pull ingredients and get to measuring and mixing.I don’t know what they have planned, but I know it will be spectacular.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I fish it out.Everyone has their phone silenced as a requirement of being allowed in the audience.I see I’ve been added to a group chat.I recognize some of the numbers as Phoebe, Daphne, and Teagan, but one has me stymied.There’s a tap on my shoulder, and it’s Jack, Phoebe’s boss at the bakery.He points at my phone and then to himself.I guess that number’s his.
He types and hits send.
Jack: If we can’t talk, we text.Wedding planning.
Teagan: Good idea.
Jack: Venue?
Me: :shrugging man emoji:
Jack: Date?
Me: :shrugging man emoji:
Shelby: Next Saturday.Parents arriving Thurs.
I turn to her in surprise, and she holds up her phone so I can see the text conversation she’s having with my mom and Violet.There are a lot of exclamation marks happening.
Jack: K.Can get you the chapel next to the bakery.It’s not a church anymore.Decommissioned or whatever.Want it?
I glance up at Phoebe.She’s intent on whatever’s in the mixing bowl of the stand mixer.I wonder how she’ll feel about the chapel.Neither of us is particularly religious, but I don’t know if she’d feel weird being in a chapel and have it not be religious.I love the building.It was moved to the Village from somewhere in South Jersey so it could be preserved instead of torn down to make way for development.I haven’t been inside though.
Shelby: Yes!Phoebe loves it.Okay with you, Ollie?
I nod and text back, “yeah.”
Daphne: Okay, we have date, place, officiant, license set up.Logan will do the pictures.Good start.
Shelby holds out her hands for me and Daphne to slap and then reaches back for Jack and Teagan.
Glancing at the countdown clock, I’m amazed we’ve planned most of our wedding in under half an hour.I should pitch those four to Carla for a wedding planning show.With our plans temporarily in place until I can talk to Phoebe, I settle in to watch this afternoon’s competition unfold.She’s looking stressed, and I don’t know if it’s because of the last round of the competition or because I’ve royally screwed up.I’m ignoring the kernel of dread in my stomach that’s going to pop into a problem.Maybe Phoebe wanted to be involved in all of this?Damn.
32
PHOEBE
I should be focusedon mixing the batter for our cupcakes, but I keep sneaking glances at the audience.I see Ollie, my sister, and our friends on their phones, and by the way they keep looking at each other, I think they have a group text going amongst themselves since they can’t talk.Daphne is making lists on a notepad she dug out of her purse and checking things off with a satisfied grin as she nudges Shelby to show her.Ollie catches me one time and sends me the sweetest smile paired with a sexy wink.Shelby gives me a thumbs-up.I smile weakly because I have cameras in my face and I can’t give in to the anger I’m feeling.Damn it, I think they’re planning my wedding!They’re planning something, that’s obvious by the group project vibe they’re giving off, and our wedding is what would tie them all together.Yeah, I’m thrilled Ollie’s eager to marry me and that I have friends and family to make it happen, but it’d be awesome to be included in the planning and not have it distracting me during a competition where I’m trying to win $10,000!
Andie is rolling our cinnamon sugar cookie dough and cutting it with a simple round cookie cutter.We decided we’ll make two dozen of our cinnamon sugar cookies with brown sugar frosting so the judges can taste one of our specialties.I can handle the decoration on those while Andie takes care of the more complex cupcakes.Normally I’d be able to unload everything I’m thinking and feeling on Andie, but since we’re both wearing microphones and being watched, I must hold it all in.I wish I had some bread dough to knead to work out some frustration.
“Is it driving you nuts?”Andie murmurs as she transfers the two dozen cookies to their baking sheets.
“What?”I ask.
Lifting her chin toward the audience, she says, “Not knowing what they’re planning.”
