“No, you’re fine, I promise.” I put my hands on her shoulders. “I’ve enjoyed every single second of planning your wedding, and I can guarantee?—”
“I don’t know if I want to marry Chris anymore.” She cut me off. “And I’m not looking forward to the wedding.”
“Please tell me you’re joking…”
“It’s true what they say about never really knowing someone, no matter how close you think you are.”
“No one says that except thriller authors and cynical jerks, Michelle. No one…”
“I’m not saying I don’t love Chris, because I do—I really do, but all this wedding talk is masking the marriage talk, you know?”
“No.” I refused to play into this. “No, I do not know anything about that at all.”
“Katie…”
“No.” I shook my head. “You literally just sent out an email about all the activities you have planned, and you call my interns every day giving notes about the wedding. You’re just nervous. That’s all this is.”
“I need a backup plan, please…” Her voice trailed off. “Just in case.”
“In case what?”
“In case we get all the way to Punta Cana and I change my mind,” she said. “Actually, I think I have changed my mind, but I don’t want to cancel flights or the hotel since I know people are depending on the money, so…”
“So, what’s the rest of that sentence?”
“So, I need you to help me get out of this.”
“No.”
“You can’t tell me no.”
“I just did,” I said. “This is a job for your future brother-in-law. Call him if you want to screw over your fiancé.”
“I was hoping you could talk to him about this for me.”
“Are you out of your mind?” I glared at her. “Surely, you’re not hearing yourself.”
“If I go to him, he’ll tell his brother, but if you approach him with a mystery client...”
“That’s not happening.”
“It’s just a backup, Katie.” She looked into my eyes, her irises twinkling with fear. “I do know how much you hate him, and I can see the irony in asking him to help you ruin your own work, but…Set aside the fact that you’re the wedding planner and just pretend like the shoe is on the other foot.”
“I would never break up with someone before or at my wedding unless it was absolutely dire.”
“It is absolutely dire. I can’t go to him, Katie,” she said quickly. “Not yet. My parents are over the moon—theywon’t stop talking about this wedding. And his family…” She swallowed. “They’ve already treated me like I’m one of them. I can’t be the villain who blows everything up unless I’m absolutely sure.”
She stepped back, stuffing her hands into her pockets. “Can you at least think on it?”
I couldn’t help but nod. “Sure.”
“Thank you.” She hugged me so hard I struggled to breathe. When she let go, she walked away without another word, and I stood on the corner confused as hell.
As I returned to work, I wondered if someone had slipped her some drugs because that was the only thing that made sense.
It wasn’t until later that evening that her text made it clear no drugs were involved.
Michelle
