“The wedding,” one of them prompted. “I heard there was going to be a hot-air balloon show.”
“There is?” I frowned.
“My boyfriend is bringing his hot-air balloon! It’s going to be epic. He’s decorating it so that it’s white with big pink bows in Meg’s honor. We both grew up in Harrogate, and we are so excited!” a young woman gushed.
“And the goat parade is going to be insane!” another computer programmer said. “I bought a goat for it. It’s going to be wilder than the chicken festival.”
“You’re keeping a goat in Manhattan?” I asked in confusion.
“Naw. He lives in my grandmother’s backyard. His name is Jerry.”
“Can you make sure there’s a lángos stand?” another woman asked. “Meg is part Hungarian like me and Gran, and we need to represent!”
“The wedding festival should be an annual tradition!” another man insisted. “It can feature a new couple every year!”
“I want to do it next year. I wonder how the couple will be picked.”
“I always travel back home for the town meetings,” the lead technician said, making a note. “I’m going to have it put on the next meeting’s agenda.”
“If we can get back tothismeeting’s agenda,” I said, gesturing to the PowerPoint, “can we talk about the sales goals for this quarter?”
But they all ignored me.
“I think it’s so great that you’re organizing a festival,” another technician gushed. “It’s like we’re all invited to the wedding!”
“It’s going to be super busy,” the computer programmer said. “My boyfriend works at ThinkX. He wanted me to ask you to ask Weston and Blade Svensson to work on the logistics. He brought it up to Weston, but Weston was like, ‘It’s just a wedding. No big deal.’”
“I mean, itisjust a wedding and a festival, which Harrogate has had before. How bad can it be?” I asked, frowning.
“After word got out about the free cake yesterday,” the lead technician said, “the Facebook event page has two hundred thousand people RSVPing.”
I tried to keep myself from bashing my head on the table. I was the CEO, goddamn it. I needed to be unflappable.
“Surely all these people aren’t coming.”
“Um, people will do anything for free food.” The computer programmer peered at me. “You’ve been living in Harrogate for what? A year and a half now? Surely you have experienced one of our infamous small-town free-food riots.”
* * *
Sebastian:I think we’re going to need more cake.
Amy:Oh no! Did you see the Facebook event? I was going to plan a nice evening and break the news gently.
Sebastian:Can Sophie make that much cake?
Amy:Ha! No way! But don’t worry. I have a plan!
But Iwasworried.The wedding festival was stressing me out. I had been to town events where free food was given out. Things quickly turned ugly. The wedding was going to be an epic disaster.
As I drove over to my next meeting, I ran through nightmare scenarios of balloon disasters, fights over too little cake, and hordes of people descending on the town.
Amy might think she had it under control, but I wasn’t so sure.
I had been planning on arriving early to my next meeting, and when I arrived, I handed my keys to the valet and headed into the restaurant. While I waited, I turned my attention back to the wedding disaster in the making.
Sebastian:We are going to need more security at this wedding.
Hunter:You’re overreacting. No more than the usual number of festivalgoers are attending.
