“Nooo, the lavender little number?”
“Yupp,” I shook my head at the injustice of it even though she couldn’t see me.
“Well, you gotta get back to business like a woman on a mission. And you know what mission I’m talking about,” she hinted.
I rolled my eyes. “This cannot be another call about me finding a date to cousin Jacob’s weddingnext year, mom. I’d rather plan the whole thing than be in it.”
“Well,” her voice went an octave higher. “That’s just not the case! And you have so many options presented in front of you each weekend!” She urged. “You have to look up from your work and give someone a chance eventually!”
“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered.
“Well honey, I just wanted to remind you. Now don’t you let a little dress situation stop you from having a great time. Go shake ya booty a little! I’m sure you’re allowed to after all the hard work you put into this one! Less than a year to pull this off and I bet it looks spectacular. Can you send your dad and I some pictures?”
“Sure, Mom. How’s Florida summer treating you guys?” My parents were former Michigan snowbirds- retired people who lived in northern Michigan for the summer and then escaped to Florida for the remainder of the seasons- who turned into full-time Floridians.
She tsked on the other end of the line. “Nope, I will not carry on. Ya know, I wouldn’t bug you about dating but I know you could find someone lovely and have so much fun, you just don’t let yourself. Your father says to find a sportsball watching buddy for him.” I couldn’t help but smile at that. He totally wasn’t even into sports, as one could tell from the term “sportsball.” The only sport he ever watched was figure skating, and it was very easy to tell that he only followed it in order to relate to me, which I appreciated very much.
We said our goodbyes and I hurried to get back to the wedding.
Outside, I quickly hiked myself up into the golf cart, placing my heels in the shotgun seat next to me- I hated driving with them on- and turned the key to flip the ignition.
Driving the golf cart at night was one of my favorite perks of working at this venue because it was breathtaking at night. The sidewalks were all lined with lights, you could see the sun slowly setting into the nighttime, and you could hear the lake’s waves breaking on the beach in the distance. The nice breeze also wasn’t bad to cool off my sweaty, anxious self.
After the short ride was up, I quickly, and loathingly, put my heels back on and smoothed my hair behind my ears. It was back tobusiness.
Opening the tent flaps and looking in on the party made my heart flutter with happiness because the dance floor was totally a vibe. Canyon had changed into basketball shorts, had his shirt flapping open from being unbuttoned, and had his tie around his head. He was bouncing around on the dance floor with a couple other youngsters all with open coca-colas in their hands. They looked like mini versions of the guys who all held cracked beers.
I looked across the floor at Jules and waved, trying to catch her attention to ask if she needed anything, but I caught Grey instead. He shot me a quick thumbs up with a wide grin, so I hustled back to the tent’s partitioned back room to make sure the late-night snacks were almost ready to come out to theguests.
As soon as I opened the back flap to the little room, I almost knocked a whole tray of pizza out of a teenage cater-waiter’s hands.
“I am so sorry!” I gasped. The teenage boy muttered his own apology, avoiding eye-contact with me. I internally cringed seeing his cheeks turn red. It was my fault, and I almost wrecked my dress even more. It was justnotmy night tonight.
“Nice catch!” I called after him.
The sudden sound of clapping and laughing coming from the back of the tent probably made him want to hightail it out of the situation faster… I know it made me want to. Of course Nikki and Mario, the Venti Catering owner’s son, would see the little mishap. Mario was a lanky Italian boy with the beautiful brown eyes, long eyelashes, and curly dark hair to prove it. He attended Michigan State and only worked up here for his dad in thesummers.
I rolled my eyes at their amused faces as I made my way toward them.
“Whatever,” I mumbled. “Missme?”
“You know it, babe,” Nikki replied. “But everything is running smoothly, and we are almost to the finish line…” she drawled, giving Mario the side-eye.
“So…” Mario said, turning to me with a mischievous smile. “Timefor…”
“Oh God, no,” I groaned.
“It’s tradition!” Nikki pushed.
“You two are always looking for trouble,” I warned, but that didn’t stop me from craning my neck and searching to see if any hotel higher-ups were around.
“Here, bella,” Mario’s eyes glinted as he passed me and Nikki empty shot glasses. “Time to finally cut loose, my girlies.”
It’s not like we didn’t work hard all day long, and it’s not like I could afford to not be on good terms with Mario. We did business together practically every weekend. Plus, I was safe because I was with Nikki. At least that’s what I told myself as I downed the vodka.
The lone shot on a pretty empty stomach thanks to the crazy day was enough to allow Nikki to drag me onto the dance floor for a couple songs.
Soon Grey and Jules rejoined the dancing, and I couldn’t leave without looking rude…
