“I just ordered the Bellinis,” Katherine says. “Those ones we had in Martha’s Vineyard were incredible. Didn’t we have the best time?”
I sling my arm across the back of Lucy’s chair. It was a great weekend.
“I can’t believe the size of that striped bass,” Ed says. “It was huge.”
Lucy turns to me. “You caught a fish? You didn’t tell me that.” She doesn’t say anything, but her expression says,I thought you didn’t like fishing.
“It was almost forty pounds,” Ed says before I can respond.
“Forty pounds?” Lucy says. “That’s the weight of a car or something, isn’t it?” She turns back to me. “You were okay?” She wants to ask me if I threw up.
I nod and Ed interrupts, “None of us caught anything close to the size Hunter did.”
“How interesting,” Lucy says.
“So tell us about you two. How’s it going?”
“We’re here to talk about you,” Lucy says. “What are you down here for?”
“Oh, just a suit fitting for Ed. And there’s a wedding store downtown that does really cool place settings. It’s huge on Insta. I thought I could take a look if I came down too.”
“And you don’t have to work?” I ask Katherine. I know Ed has plenty to do. But Katherine has a job too.
“I’ve gone part-time since Christmas,” she says, exhaling. “Makes life so much easier. I don’t know how I would have coped with all the wedding planning if I’d still been full-time.”
My jaw tenses a fraction, and I try not to let my rising stress show in my expression. I know I shouldn’t find Katherine’s statement irritating, but I do. Even if she’s doing more wedding planning than Ed, the factthat she felt the need to go part-time to accommodate speaks to her priorities, and Ed’s.
Lucy shifts in her chair and rests her hand on my leg. It’s unexpected but comforting. Her warm touch soothes me. I don’t know if it’s knowing that she gets what I’m thinking, or if it’s feeling like I have someone in my corner, but it feels good. My jaw relaxes.
“So is everything set now?” Lucy asks. “There can’t be much more to do, can there?”
Katherine laughs. “Oh, I can’t wait to say the same thing to you when you get married. It’s never-ending. I think because we’re having the full four days of dinners and lunches and stuff. It’s a lot.”
“Yeah, why are you doing that?” I ask.
“There’s a contingent coming from Oregon we were going to have to entertain anyway. So then we thought if other people are traveling, we can’t not invite them too. And then we figured we might as well just invite everyone to all the things!” Katherine is grinning from ear to ear. It sounds like this is exactly what she wants. But it’s a lot.
“It’s my idea of a perfect hell,” Lucy mumbles, and I tamp down a smile.
“What would you do?” Katherine asks. “Elope? Mom would go insane.”
“That’s why I’m never getting married,” Lucy says.
“Your mom wanted a big wedding?” I ask Katherine.
“Of course. She thinks it’s her wedding.” Katherine laughs, but I don’t think that’s funny. If all this ridiculous fuss was what they wanted, fine. But if it’s all just to please Mrs. Jones? Not fine.
“As long as I don’t have to marry your mother,” Ed says.
“Who picked the venue?” I say before I have a chance to realize that it’s none of my business and I don’t need to get involved.
“Mom has really good taste,” Lucy says.
“And there aren’t that many places in Boston,” Katherine says.
I think I have my answer. I don’t understand why their mom gets such a big say in their lives.
“But we love it, don’t we?” Katherine says, looking at Ed.
