“And bride’s family needed to pay before the ceremony,” Elsie countered.
“I’m going to get the money,” I said. “Promise.”
My friends looked skeptical. We were all in the business together, and I knew I had seriously screwed up.
“I had been hoping we could finally rent office space,” Grace said. “Now we may not even be able to afford food.”
“I’m going to call the Sutherlands about it today,” I promised.
“You would think that doing weddings for rich people meant we too would have money,” Sophie said, stabbing her cinnamon bun.
“They are just the worst,” Amy said.
“I hope you weren’t too mean to Evan,” Brea told me. “You’re going to see him again for his half sister Imogen’s wedding.”
“I might see him at the end of the wedding, but only in the audience, if we even survive to make it that far.”
“Why can’t we get nice, sweet brides instead of these terrible bridezillas?”
“No one is as bad as Camilla,” Elsie said. “At least that’s over with.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Sophie said, raising her coffee mug.
“We’re in the home stretch on Imogen’s wedding, ladies,” I said, typing notes on my laptop. “Three months until the big day. We’ve got food tastings scheduled, and I still need to finalize the gift bags.”
“I had a flower arrangement done that looked similar to the pictures she sent me,” Amy complained. “Now she doesn’t want it.”
“You know brides get jittery the closer it comes to the date and they have to make decisions,” I reminded my friends.
“As long as she pays and the wedding goes through. You can’t havetwogrooms and a feral cat holed up in your tiny condo!” Amy joked.
“I don’t know,” Sophie said with a smirk, “two billionaires at the same time?”
“Oh my god,” I exclaimed, covering my face.
“No good deed goes unpunished!” Amy joked.
* * *
That wasthe story of my life. I was such a people pleaser, such a pushover, that my life was a continuous punishment for trying to make things easier for other people.
It was evening when I was finally back in the tiny condo. It still smelled like Evan. He clearly hadn’t brought any grooming products with him, so that clean, masculine scent that permeated my space was all him. I should light a candle or do laundry, but it did smell good. I looked around. The condo wasn’t going to be mine much longer if I didn’t figure out the payment, and it was my own fault.
Last summer, my mother had called me, begging and crying that she needed money to buy a house. I had tried to hold firm, but she always knew exactly what buttons to push to make me feel guilty. The next day, I had taken out a second mortgage and handed the money over to her.
The bank that handled the transaction was owned by Camilla’s father, Orson Sutherland. Like I said, we do weddings for the wealthy and powerful. So when he asked that I hold the final invoice until after the wedding, I had agreed. Since I was almost immediately behind on the loan payments as soon as I signed the papers, I was hoping to foster some goodwill in renegotiating the terms of the mortgage. Unfortunately, Camilla and her cheating had ruined not just her and Evan’s future but my future as well.
I took a deep breath and dialed the Sutherland Bank.
Be a #ladyboss and tell them to pay you.
I was mid-power pose when Mr. Sutherland’s secretary answered.
“Hi, uh—” I cleared my throat and tried to sound in control. “I was just calling about the final invoice for the wedding. I was wondering if I could go ahead and send it.”
The secretary sniffed. “You can come in and discuss it.”
“Oh, okay. Would tomorrow work?” The line clicked then went dead.
