Page 32 of Without a Hitch
“Right. Okay.” Pressing the green button, I clear my throat before answering. “Hello?”
“Abby Tilly Chambers, how are you, my amazing wedding-saving friend?”
“Ah, I’m good.” I laugh, raising an eyebrow at the girls, then I pick up where Hadley left off pacing earlier. “How are you? Aren’t you still on your honeymoon?”
“I am, but I have a job offer for you.”
I stare at the girls, flabbergasted, and put my phone on speaker. “Ah, a job offer? I already have a job.”
“Will it pay you 30K for a few days of work?”
“Wh-What?” I choke. Eli jumps to her feet, waving wildly, while Delaney gently pushes me into a chair, and Hadley stands frozen in our small family room.
“Yes. Audra, remember her? She was one of my bridesmaids. One of the nice ones. Anyway, she’s getting married, and her best friend and her cousin are at war. She wants to hire you to micromanage her cousin because the bachelorette party was a disaster of epic proportions. And, her parents are loaded, so I told her it would cost thirty thousand instead of twenty. See, good things come to those who stick their noses in bitchy bridesmaids’ business.”
“Holy shit,” Eli hisses. “Say yes.Say. Yes!”
“Umm.” I flash a panicked look at the girls, shaking my head while my heart kickboxes my chest.
“It’s a no-brainer, Til-Abby. You have a gift for taming the bitch brigades. Take advantage of it while you can. So, is that a yes?”
“I. Well…”
“Great. I’ll forward your number then. She knows you go by Abby Chambers. That’s how she’ll list you on the wedding website and introduce you. But prepare yourself, lady. This wedding will be unlike anything you’ve ever seen. The event of the decade, for sure. No pressure though. Anything you can stop will be better than what will happen without you. You’ll be great! Okay, gotta go! Talk soon.”
I lower my phone in slow motion. Hadley might actually faint, but my doer sister is taping a piece of posterboard to the wall.
“A-Are you okay, Tilly?”
My gaze cuts to Delaney. “What the hell just happened?”
“What happened is, you just got handed a business proposition.”
“Titty Camden just got paaaaid,” Mable wheezes, and if she were here, I’d slap her back to make sure she’s not choking. “Well, sounds like all the sexy talk is over. I’m heading to bed.”
We all shout goodnight to our nutty neighbor. With worried eyes, I turn my attention back to my sister. “I don’t know what kind of business this is. I’m not like you guys, or Emory, or even Sloane. I’m just kind of…”
“Procrastinating.”
“Eli!” Delaney hisses. “That isn’t nice.”
“I don’t mean it in a bad way, Till. But you never do anything until you know you’ll do it perfectly. It’s why you interned for an extra year. It’s why you practiced softball in our backyard for a year and a half before trying out for the team. You want to own something. Something you created, right? Well, this opportunity just got dumped in your lap and is offering you a chance to make a boatload of money. Even if this isn’t exactly what you want to do in the long run, it gives you capital to get started. Let’s turn this opportunity into something. Let’s make a plan.”
“Eli, this is glorified babysitting. I can’t turn this into a business.”
“Actually,” Hadley squeaks, “I read an article last year about dates for hire.”
“I’m not an escort, Hadley.” Oh, God! I think my throat is closing up.
“No!” Her face goes crimson. “They weren’t either.” Her words tumble from her lips at a frenetic pace. “It’s like getting invited to a wedding but not wanting to show up alone. Or wanting to attend with someone super-hot to piss off an ex.”
“Yes.” Eli claps then adds more tape to the posterboard on the wall. “You’ll offer that in bridesmaid form. Except you’re keeping shitty people from making shittier choices and ruining someone’s big day. And you, of all people, can appreciate the magic of weddings.”
“This isn’t a business plan though, E.”
“But it can be,” Hadley whispers, crossing the room and pushing her bright blue glasses up.
Delaney claps her hands. She’s like Business Barbie with her blond hair, bright outfits, and a smile that could melt glaciers. “Let me get my sticky notes!” She dashes from the room, returning a second later with every neon piece of paper she could find and colored pens spilling out over her arms. She’s leaving a trail from her bedroom, Hansel-and-Gretel style. “Let’s just think about it for a minute, Till. It is a lot of money.”
