Khash went a little cross-eyed every time the Hemming name was invoked.
The day they were nearly laughed out the door at the small bakery she'd been hoping to secure for custom-made cookies for all of the children in Khash's family, he'd sputtered so long, Lurielle realized they were halfway home before he finally managed to articulate a single word.
"Bluebell, why do I feel like someone is trying to lure me in the outhouse to roll me down the hill? Who are these people and why is everyone pretendin' their wedding is more important than ours?"
They were home by then, and she waited until they were in the house to answer. "I'm changing. Can you please pour me some lemonade? I need to take about ten of those headache pills." By the time she had changed into her comfortable lounge pants and awomen in STEMt-shirt, Khash was already outside, flapping his gums to Rourke. Fortunately, he had poured her lemonade.Unfortunately, it was sitting outside on the table. Rourke was mid sentence as she came out the door.
"— Defense League. They actually do a lot of good cross-species work. I know he was in private practice before that, so he's probably loaded."
"That doesn't matter," she snorted, interrupting the two identical blowhards, pulling a chair out at her little table.
Khash and Rourke turned their heads to her simultaneously, practically choreographed, and she rolled her eyes. She might have laughed if she hadn't been feeling so beat down.
"He's aHemming. He's from the oldest family in town," she began, checking off on her fingers all of the reasons why she would not be able to book a single service as long as her own nuptials fell in the shadow of the Hemming affair. "Who, by the way, is the most powerful family in town. His dadrunsthe whole town. His grandfather was the previous mayor. His brother is running to be the new mayor. Everyone knows him, everyone knows his family. There is not one single business who will turn away a penny from him to do anything for us, and I was dumb enough to decide I wanted to get married at the exact same time. So, yeah. I guess we're waiting until fall."
Up until a few months ago, she hadn’t cared about getting married, not really. If she were able to eliminate the ever-presentMemento Morithat seemed to be floating over their heads, she still wouldn't care about it. But since her revelation, since she had begun counting years, doing the math and re-figuring the balance, over and over again, now it was all that mattered. It and all the other things she needed to cram in as quickly as possible.
How long would they have together with their children if she managed to get pregnant within the next year? She’d mentally calculated and re-calculated that precise scenario the day she stared up at the ceiling with her feet in stirrups, having her birth control removed for good. What major life milestones could be reached? Would they celebrate major anniversaries? See their children win awards, go off on adventures, have marriages of their own? Would he get to know and spoil his grandchildren? Be the subject oftheir‘my granddaddy didn’t marry an elf and move to the suburbs for me tonothave a house on the moon’-type stories?
She hadn’t cared about getting married, but now it seemed like the most pressing, important thing in the world. A permanentmemory for her book, something they would have done together forever. She was mortified when tears burned her eyes.
"Bluebell, I don't care if his daddy hung the moon. Sounds to me their noses are so high in the air, they might drown in a rainstorm. You want a spring wedding this year. What my darlin' wants, she's gonna get. I don't understand whythey'renot going to the high-end boutiques in Bridgeton for all this."
Rourke had shaken his head, horns cutting through the air. "No, that would be bad optics. That's the whole push on Jack's downtown – decreased reliance on human-run industry. Keep the business right here. The Founders’ Fund gave me a nice little chunk of change when I set up shop that I didn't have to pay back, and I'm grateful. It wouldn't look good for one of his boys to take their business back to the city."
Khash had scowled and she had carried her lemonade back into the house, not bothering to say goodbye to Rourke at all. Khash had held her on his lap once he'd followed her back in the house, assuring her they'd not letsome fancypants, too big for his britches, needs to be knocked down a peg or fewwerewolf shut them out.
And now here was this Naga, letting them know that the Hemming Wedding Extravaganza™ had beaten them to the punch and that they were, once again, on their own. Beside her, Khash stiffened.Here we go.
Somewhere in the past month, she had misplaced her easy-going, sugar-voiced fiancé. He had been supplanted with someone whose competitive spirit rivaled her own, a deadly combination between the two of them. The notion that they were to be outdone on every wedding element they had attempted to plan was, as he put it, a bone in his craw he couldn't shake loose.
"You mean to tell me you can't do a simple, small affair? We’re not lookin' for extravagance."That's not what you said two shops ago,she thought. That’s not what you said two minutesago! This is why I can’t get anything done."My fiancé wants a small, relaxed little ceremony. How many attendants, darlin'? Three? Four?"
"No more than that," she mumbled, thinking of the way Silva had never responded when Lurielle had invited her to come look at venues.
"A few table arrangements and her bouquet. That's it. Now, if you can't do that, how on earth are you keeping your doors open, sir?"
The Naga had closed his eyes.The son, she thought. He was handsome, with sharp features and a strong nose, a younger version of the elderly snake man who had greeted them.
"I really wish I could help you. If you want to push your date back to later in the —"
"Mhm, well, thank you for yourlimitedtime, sir. We’ll let you get back to thinkin' about the single event you're able to schedule for the spring. Lurielle, I'll be outside."
It was the very first time Khash had ever been anything other than gracious and sugar-sweet to someone in the service industry, and she wondered if he had, at last, had his fill of being a groomzilla. She wasn't happy, but she couldn't say she didn't understand.
"Barely, is the answer," the Naga said unexpectedly. "Your fiancé wants to know how I'm keeping my doors open? The answer is barely. Look, I reallyamsorry. But you have to understand. We're a tiny, little local shop in a dying industry. I spend as much time babysitting my dad as I do making arrangements, and I work alone. The Hemming wedding is quite literally the only thing keeping us open for the rest of the year, and every time I turn around, they're adding something new to the order. I really do wish I could help you, but I only have two arms."
"I understand," Lurielle murmured. "I apologize for my fiancé. I hopeyouunderstand that you're not the first shop to tell us the same thing. He's just feeling a little frustrated that he can't snap his fingers and keep me from being disappointed."
The Naga sighed again, probably seeing the glossy sheen of the tears she refused to let fall. "Where's your venue?"
Lurielle smiled grimly, letting her silence answer his question. The Naga closed his eyes and groaned.
"Okay, I'm going to give you a name. Call her, but like, call hertoday. This is the event planner over at Saddlethorne. They didn't get the wedding and I know it's killing her. So shewillhave room on the schedule, unless Grayson decides to rent the farm to add, I don't know, a puppet show. At this point, there's not much more they can squeeze in. She knows flowers. She can help you pick something super simple. If you can get things worked out with her and paid upfront, I can figure something out. But Miss, I cannot stress this enough,supersimple. As it is, I'm probably going to have to have her help put stuff together, and I’m going to need you to be okay with that."
Her eyes filled with tears.Okay, so youaregoing to cry in this flower shop. But these are acceptable tears."Thank you," Lurielle choked out. "Thank you so much. You have no idea . . . You are literally saving my life. Saddlethorne? We're going there right now, I'm going to see if she's working."
The Naga dropped his head, supporting his upper body on his palms, nodding. His tail, Lurielle took note, was glorious.
