“Well, how are you, hungry bird?”
“I am great. You?”
“Super happy to see you,” Phoenix said, guiding her through the lobby doors.
A driver with a burst of billowing white hair exited the car and opened the door for them.
Caleb, waiting in the back seat, scooted over for Orchid. Phoenix slipped in behind her. As the car started moving, Caleb handed her a flask. She eyed him. “It’s a wedding. We need fortitude,” he said.
The three of them passed the Scotch. There were few other places Orchid would prefer to be than wedged between the Walker brothers in the back of a stretch limo.
The car pulled in front of Cipriani’s.How surreal,she thought.
She turned to Phoenix. “What are the chances, from the Effies to Tish’s wedding?”
“Yes, it did take some work to convince the bride to choose her locale based on us,” Phoenix said dryly. The idea of“us”gave Orchid an undeserved thrill.
“What’d we send her?” Caleb asked, sporting a rarely seen tuxedo that covered most of his arm tattoos. He pushed open the massive door before Phoenix or Orchid could reach it.
“The week before a wedding, registries have slim pickings. We were able to snag some linens and a honeymoon crack-of-dawn bike expedition from the top of a volcano.”
“Nice,” he smirked. “Sheets for her bed from her ex.”
“Tom’s got nothing to worry about. Tish has seen the damaged goods.”
Orchid slipped a hand around the shortened left arm of his suit jacket to twine with his elbow. “Hey, you look pretty great to me.”
The hall was festooned with garlands of white roses, and an usher at the entrance greeted them. “Bride’s side or groom’s?” asked the awkward teen, sparse facial hair sprouting between pimpled skin, feet oversized like a puppy’s.
Seated two-thirds of the way back, they could still see thehuppah, or Jewish wedding tent, clearly.
They were just in time. The bridal march began and flower girls lobbed petals onto the carpet more randomly than a Jackson Pollock painting. Bridesmaids on the arms of suited men came in widely varied body types. Clothed identically, they looked like mismatched furniture upholstered in the same bad chintz.
All the players in their expected places, Tish and her parents entered the room to a collective sigh at the beauty of the bride. The guests heaved to their feet. Caleb rolled his eyes at no one in particular.
Tish played the part well. With a simple silk gown that draped from her bosom in one flowing line several feet behind her, she looked the picture of a contemporary bride. Tish paused mid-strut, sensed her moment, then raised her bouquet high in the air, emitting a face-splitting “Hoo-yeah!”
Appreciative applause and sprinkled “Hell-yeah’s” echoed through the hall.
The breaking of glass was followed by a kiss and catcalls as if the attendees had just been freed from a decade in a nunnery. Throughout all of it, Orchid wondered if it’d ever be her. To find the love of her life, and have him be willing to commit. Wasn’t looking good.
After the ceremony, the trio shuffled along with the crowd towards the banquet hall. Phoenix scored a champagne flute, handed it to Orchid, and grabbed another for his brother, then himself. His blue gaze held hers as they clinked glasses.God help me, I’m still in love, she thought. Phoenix swallowed his bubbly and returned the empty glass to the silver tray.
In the receiving line, Phoenix greeted the mother of the bride.
“Mazel tov. Tish and Tom look very happy,” he said, leaning down for a hug. Orchid’s imagination wandered, thinking that Tish and Phoenix had looked happy. Orchid and Phoenix, too.
“Thank you. They are perfect together.” Tish’s mom smoothed her sequined gown. “I’m sorry about your accident,” she said to Phoenix while studying Orchid.
“I appreciate that. I’m doing much better now. Do you remember Caleb, my brother?”
“Congratulations,” Caleb said, and bent to touch cheeks with her.
“And this is Orchid, my friend.”
“Nice to meet you. This is a beautiful wedding,” Orchid said.
“Thanks. You know this one’s a troublemaker?” she said, nodding a chin towards Phoenix while shaking Orchid’s hand. Her tone saidteasing,but the words hit Orchid like the truth.
