“Both?” Charlotte stops.
“Mm-hmm,” Holly answers casually. “Long, short, medium. I don’t care.”
“So…mismatched,” Charlotte says.
“Sure?” Holly shrugs as she chews. “I really just want everyone to have a good time. This is a party more than anything. A celebration of love. I don’t want perfection; I want it to be genuine. Besides, at some point we are going to leave for the honeymoon, but I don’t want that to stop the party.”
“Of course,” I agree. “Your guests are welcome to stay until the next morning even if you two do hop a redeye that night.”
“Speaking of that,” Ben says, grinning at Holly with devilish eyes.
“Holly! Ben!” a voice calls from across the way, and they both stand up, waving at some friends in the distance.
“It’s Joe and Kirsten!” Holly says. “We’ll be right back.”
They leave, and Charlotte and I are alone. I’m kind of grateful. Charlotte isn’t exactly the life of the party, but right now she’s a little high-strung even for her.
“Is everything all right?” I ask.
“Of course,” she answers as she scrolls through her tablet. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
I’m getting a little tired of the smoke and mirrors and decide to pull the plug. I take her tablet and set it on the other side of the table.
“Because you’re planning the wedding of a lifetime and you look miserable about it,” I say.
“Excuse you! I’d thank you to keep your hands off my things,” she snaps. I don’t like pissing her off, but I think the only way to get anywhere with her is to get under her skin and force the feelings out.
“No need to thank me. I’m not going to stop interfering until you tell me why you’re in such a crabby mood,” I snap back.
“Crabby?”
“Yes. Crabby.”
“Maybe it’s because every time I try to do my job, you get in my way,” she says, reaching for her tablet. She can’t reach it without touching me, and that seems like the last thing she wants to do right now. Actually, touching me would probably bring a smile to her sour face, but it would also mean admitting I am right.
“In your way?” I ask. “How have I gotten in your way?”
“Oh, let me think,” she taps her finger to her chin sarcastically. “You steamrolled the fine dining catering by suggesting the messiest food known to man. You suggested the ugliest color swatch on the board to the bride. And if I had to guess, you’re going to keep putting in your two cents where they aren’t welcome,” she huffs.
I sit up and lean in, my face only a couple of inches from hers. “I think you forget who is paying for this wedding. And whose resort it’s at,” I remind her.
“I think you forget who the bride hired to be her wedding planner,” she says.
Both of us are holding our chins high. Both of us could melt an ice cream cone with the heat in our glares. “You infuriate me,” she says.
“The feeling is mutual,” I tell her.
My eyes flash to her lips, and her eyes slide down to my mouth. For a moment, I think we might forget where we are, what we are doing here, and who we are with. Luckily, Ben and Holly wreck the moment before our lips meet.
“Well, you two seem to be in deep thought,” Holly says, and I sit back. My eyes find Ben’s. He looks a little uncertain, so I run myhand through my hair and play it off like everything is entirely normal.
“Just figuring out some arrangements for the music,” Charlotte says.
“Music?” Holly asks. “What did you come up with?”
Charlotte looks at me desperately, panic brimming in her blue eyes.
“A live band,” I say. Why the hell not?
