Page 29 of Wedding Wrecker

A violent knocking on the door makes me flinch, but then my bride bursts inside without waiting to be invited.

She’s beautiful is even in the plain silk robe she’s wearing, and I think her hair looks lovely in gentle waves, but those things can’t sweeten the scowl on her face.

“Answer your phone!” she yells before anyone else can speak.

“I was in the shower,” I say, pointing to the towel around my waist.

Mom clears her throat, and Madison flinches, only noticing her presence now. After a second of tense silence, my bride hunches forward and entwines her hands as if she were about to say grace.

“I—I’m sorry Mrs. Hone. I shouldn’t be raising my voice. It’s just that I’m so stressed about things working out the way they should.”

Funny how I, apparently, don’t deserve an apology. I suppose as the bride, she is under huge pressure, so I let that slide too and grab a small clean towel to rub water out of my hair.

“So I wanted to make sure you have everything before I go get dressed,” she says and walks up to my suit.

The prolonged silence tells me something’s off. Madison is looking for a way to voice her complaint with my mother present, but Mom beats her to the punch.

“I’ve been telling him he needs to get ready faster, since the hairdresser might have limited time.”

“Mom, I know how to style my own hair,” I say.

She measures me with a heavy stare. “Would your bride agree with that?”

But Madison is still staring at the suit, and since she never voiced any complaints about my hair, I know there’s another piece of dung flying my way soon. She takes a deep breath and faces me with a mouth twitching from withheld anger.

“Remember when I agreed to your dog staying here until the wedding?”

A cold sensation trails down my spine. “Yeah? I already had Doug drive Jekyll to his aunt’s place.”

“But you let him roll all over your wedding suit before that happened, apparently. Look at all this hair!” she says, grabbing the hem of the jacket and presenting it to me.

I see nothing. “What? No? I kept it in the closet until earlier today?”

“Then what is this?” she asks in a harder voice.

I approach Madison under Mom’s watchful eye. Okay, there are some little hairs stuck to the fabric, but you’d have to stare at it from up close to notice them in the first place.

“Oh come on—”

“Holden will be doing closeups of us, and I don’t want you looking like a slob on the most important day in our lives!” Madison hisses, revealing her even, white teeth. "When we live together, that dog is never coming into the bedroom."

I dare to meet her eyes despite my mother’s presence. “This wedding is bringing out the worst in you.”

Madison’s eyes go wide and her cheeks become ripe tomatoes. “Well, it’s a good thing it will be over by tomorrow then,” she says and storms off. “I’m sorry you had to witness this Mrs. Hone. Kyle, the lint roller is in the drawer of the desk.”

She slams the door on her way out so hard the noise echoes in my skull.

“That girl is so particular about things,” Mom says, and while she’s never been a fancy girl like Madison and spends her days around the horses, I’m surprised that she’s on my side when it comes to this.

“Yes. We argue more and more. I suppose I’m used to the kind of woman who gets things done and isn’t afraid of a bit of dust,” I say, discreetly watching Mom from the corner of my eye. Maybe if I softened the blow with an indirect compliment, she’d be open to discussing my growing doubts?

Mom grabs the lint roller herself though, as if it’s a point of her pride to make sure her son is a pristine Ken doll. “Well, with the money her family has, she never needed to get dirty, so I guess it’s a blessing.”

“I’m not sure I can live up to her standards,” I say softly as confidence drains out of me at a rapid pace.

Mom starts working the lint roller over my outfit. “Deciding you’re good enough is always a failure. We should all try to better ourselves constantly.”

Of course that’s her motto. No wonder nothing I do is good enough for her either. Still, this is the last moment to back out, and if I had her support, maybe I could do it.