Page 149 of The Reason I Married Him
“You would be the most beautiful flower girl,” Maggie says.
“And Chewy Charles could be the ring bearer. I told him last night. He would be so sad, Aunt Aubree.”
Dear God.
Sighing, I say, “Fine.” The bell rings above the door again as I finish, “We can skip the courthouse wedding and have it here.”
“Oh really?” Ethel chimes in from the entrance.
No.
Noooooooo.
I turn around to find Ethel and Wyatt standing at the door, their faces lit up with smiles.
And Wyatt is with her?
How did a simple chicken salad sandwich turn into this?
“We’re going to have a big wedding?” Ethel asks. “I meet with the Peach Society tonight. We can discuss everything.”
I hold up my hand. “Not necessary. Maggie here is going to be planning it.”
“But I’d love to join the meeting to discuss,” Maggie says. “But tonight won’t work. We’re supposed to go out to the burlesque club for dinner.”
“Oh, they do a lovely job,” Ethel says. “Have you been?”
“No,” Maggie says. “But we were going to go with Hayes and Hattie . . .” Her head swivels to me. “And you guys should come too. You and Wyatt. On the way there, we can talk all the wedding things, and then, Ethel, I can meet up with you tomorrow.”
“That would be perfect.” Ethel clasps her hands together.
“Uh, hold up a second,” I say.
“Burlesque club, huh?” Wyatt chimes in before I can strike the meetup between Ethel and Maggie. “Sounds great. We’ll be there.”
“Wait,” I say. “Hold on a second.”
“Perfect,” Hattie says. “Now all of you need to leave so I can close up and get ready. Ryland, you good if we all take off tonight?”
“Fine by me. I have a date with Mac and thePaw Patrolmovie.”
“We’re going to have gummy worms in our popcorn,” Mac says excitedly.
The group starts discussing what kind of candy they like in their popcorn. I feel like I just got run over by a semi-truck. How did this go from me attempting to avoid Wyatt to us having a town wedding, planned by Maggie, with Chewy Charles involved, and a road trip to the burlesque club to talk about it?
I don’t understand what just happened.
“Would you like a drink?”Wyatt asks me as we take a seat on a two-person couch behind Hattie, Hayes, Maggie, and Brody.
“Uh, it’s a requirement for me,” I say, my mood less than excited.
I’ve been to the burlesque club before, and it’s a lot of fun. Dinner, drinks, and a live show with crowd interaction. But I’ve only been with friends, never with a man, let alone my soon-to-be fake husband. Red velvet couches all face the center stage with bistro tables in front, providing little space for food and drinks. Large red and gold curtains are draped in front of the stage while lights from the floor and the ceiling are all angled down, waiting for the performers.
I’m just glad we’re not in the front row like the rest of our party because I’m not up for any interactions. I barely got dressed. I’m only wearing a high-waisted skirt and skintight cropped top because I knew Hattie and Maggie would dress up, and I always succumb to peer pressure when it comes to going-out clothes.
I didn’t even bother to gather Wyatt’s reaction to the outfit. I just grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the waiting SUV that Hayes was driving. We then spent the entire thirty-minute drive discussing wedding specifics. Flowers and decorations and locations in the barn where we could get married. I cut her off about the barn and told her if we were getting married on the farm, we’d get married under my favorite tree.
And I don’t know why I said that because that should be reserved for a real marriage, not this one, but I was so mixed up with all of the questions and the ideas that I blurted it out, which in return made Hattie cry and say how perfect it would be.
