“I don’t think—”
“Nonsense!” Ida said. “You go plan the rehearsal dinner. You’re the best man. I’ve got this!”
It did not look like she had it. Tourists had already started arriving in town, and they were milling around, filming the chaos.
“Watch out!” someone yelled.
I grabbed Alfie right before he was almost run over by a llama with a goat on its back.
“Sorry!” a guy called, running after it. “I bought him on Craigslist. He was supposed to be trained, but he’s not!”
“I told you to cancel the llama run,” Meg said to Ida.
“You can’t cancel the llama run!” she scoffed. “We’ve already started taking bets. There would be a riot.”
“It already looks like there’s a riot!”
I left them to argue and tried calling Girl Meets Fig again, but no one answered. Since we were close by and traffic was still terrible, I decided to walk. What with the loose farm animals, the effigies, and the fact that Hunter’s brother had started giving train rides, Main Street was a parking lot.
Zoe’s restaurant was packed too. Alfie and I waited around at the hostess center as more people streamed in behind me to put their names on the waiting list.
“Sebastian, you need to leave,” Zoe barked when she saw me.
“What? Why? I thought you liked me. Is it because of Amy? I feel terrible, but she won’t answer my calls.”
“No.” Zoe’s face softened. “We are overwhelmed with all the tourists. You live in this town. You can come order food anytime.”
“Can you cater my rehearsal dinner tomorrow?” I pleaded.
Her eye twitched dangerously. “Tomorrow’s going to be even crazier than today. Besides, you should have had the rehearsal dinner planned weeks ago.”
“I did. Amy was supposed to do it.”
“I’ll tell her to call you when I see her,” Zoe said, pouring glasses of water. “It sounds like she has a lot going on. Elsie told me she’s about to get evicted from her building. The landlord’s trying to sell or something and kicking them all out. I told her she could crash here, so you’ll probably be seeing her soon.”
I turned to leave but couldn’t find Alfie. My heart almost stopped until I saw him with a bucket, bussing tables. I grabbed a rag and did the same. Zoe smiled at me gratefully.
“Just what you do in a small town,” I told her. “Also, is that enough to get catering tomorrow?”
“Not a chance,” she retorted.
“All right, Alfie,” I told him when we walked out of the restaurant. “Do you have a pen and paper?”
“I have a phone.”
“Good enough. Start making a list. We’re going to go to Costco and buy up enough hamburgers and hot dogs to feed everyone.”
“You’re having a cook-out for a rehearsal dinner?” My little brother made a face. “I thought they were supposed to be nice.”
“We just need it to happen,” I said as we headed down the street to the car. Traffic was worse, and the town was packed with people. I didn’t see how Harrogate would be able to hold the amount of people expected for the actual wedding day.
“People really need to stop letting their animals roam around,” one elderly shopkeeper said in annoyance as we walked by.
“Yes, ma’am. I agree.”
She glared at me. “Isn’t that your horse?”
I looked and bit back a curse. A huge horse had backed a guy against a wall and was trying to steal his french fries.
