by Alina Jacobs
She popped the lid off of the container.
“Is that your wedding cake?” Ivy asked her.
“You’re supposed to save the top for your anniversary,” I reminded her.
“But this is chocolate fudge,” Liz said, cutting off a large slice for herself. “It’s not going to save in the freezer.”
“It’s okay,” Sophie assured her. “I can make you a fresh cake for your anniversary. No problem!”
“A big one!” Liz agreed, perking up.
“Can we call this charade to order?” Carter announced, clapping his hands. “I want Brea on my team, because she knows how to draw.”
“We’re not playing charades,” Mark said, scowling at his younger brother. “It’s a charette for interior design of this penthouse.”
“Oh,” Carter said, slumping. “I even took an improvisation class last night to prepare.”
“You can do one quick improv,” I told him.
Mark scowled more deeply. “No.”
But Carter was off. He sat at the table and hunched over, pretending to type.
“You’re Mark!” Grant said.
“Yes! You get a point!”
“Boys,” Nancy warned. She took out a notepad. “Now, Brea, how did you want to lay out your home?”
“They need a sauna and a fireplace,” Carter insisted.
“No and no,” Mark said.
“You don’t want a fireplace?” I asked.
“We can’t have a wood-burning one, which is what Carter is talking about.”
“No roasting marshmallows? Cozy evenings by a crackling fire.”
“We’ll put a grill on the porch,” Nancy told me, making a note.
“You need to put a nursery in,” Kate teased.
My dad almost dropped his drink.
“Oh no, that’s not...” I flailed.
“Mark’s going to want a baby, like, pretty immediately,” Liz said, pointing. Mark was cradling his tiny cousin in his arms.
“She smells like a new baby,” he said, pressing his nose to her hair.
“I’m not going to say no to being a grandmother,” Nancy said with a soft smile.
I tugged at my collar.
Mark relinquished Aspen Marie to Wes then came over and kissed me.
“We would make an awesome baby.”
“I love you, Mark, but I think you meant to say I would make it and you would basically be at my beck and call for nine months,” I joked, reaching up to kiss him.
Mark grinned. “Anything for the woman I love!”
Keep reading for a sneak peek of
WEDDING MAYHEM!
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1
Brea
“We need a name,” I announced to Mark.
“Right now?” My boyfriend—yes, friends, my fiancé!—looked at me skeptically.
“Maybe we should just let him decide?”
“You don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl,” I countered.
Mark looked down at the Roomba and frowned. “He feels like a male.”
“Ugh, fine. I was going to name him Rainbow Sparkle Princess, but I guess we’ll name him Bob.”
Mark smirked. “See, you think he’s a boy too.”
He scooted the Roomba out of the way with his foot so he could wrap me in his arms and kiss me. I would never be tired of this. And the kiss was even better now that the penthouse was freshly done.
“Stay,” Mark murmured against my mouth. “Or are you too frazzled with wedding planning?” He grinned and took my left hand to admire the ring that sparkled there. “The wedding is in a week,” he reminded me.
I blanked. A week? Really? My wedding? Funny, I have another bride’s wedding that weekend...
“On Saturday,” Mark prompted.
“Saturday?” I squeaked. Mark gave me an odd look. Fuck.
He went to his study, opened a drawer, and pulled out an invitation. “See?”
“Yep! It’s going to be great! I can’t wait!”
“Emergency! Emergency! My life is in shambles!” I cried as I ran into the Weddings in the City office. Though I now had my extra-special studio in the penthouse, I still went to the office, though it was a lot easier now that it was only a few subway stops away. That was a much better commute than coming from my parents’ tiny apartment.
“You’re getting married to a rich, handsome man who worships the ground you walk on,” Ivy said mildly. “What could possibly be the emergency?”
“I don’t have half the decorations, my dress isn’t done, and it’s on Saturday.”
Elsie gave me a confused look. “No, your wedding is on Friday. It’s always been on Friday. It’s on the calendar.”
“I might have kind of put the wrong date down on the Google calendar,” I admitted.
“Hmm,” Elsie said as she swiped through the calendar. “The twenty-first is a Saturday. The last Saturday the twenty-first was a few months ago. Maybe you were on the wrong month when you were inputting the date.”
I slumped down on the couch. “Who forgets their own wedding day?” I wailed. “What am I going to do?”
“I’ll just have the flowers delivered the next day,” Amy said. “No big deal.”
“Thankfully it wasn’t early,” Sophie joked, “I can definitely give you the cake a day later.”
“Well,” Ivy said, “we have the Schmidt-Keller wedding earlier that day. Brea’s wedding ceremony is at five. Fortunately, the Schmidt-Keller wedding is a small one, as it’s his third marriage and her fourth, so we were planning on a late lunch, some light dancing, then that was it. I should be able to make it over in time.”
I nodded.
“No worries!” Amy told me, giving me a hug.
“I’m concerned,” Elsie said, shaking her head slowly at the calendar. “What if something goes wrong?”
“What could go wrong?” Grace asked. “The bride is a seasoned veteran at this point. It’s going to be ‘I do,’ eat cake, drink, then go home. Then we’ll be over at Brea’s wedding for the real fun!”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said, pulling some emergency ice cream out of the freezer. “The only thing is we cannot breathe a word of this to Mark or anyone outside of this room. I don’t want him to freak out and think I don’t care about him.”
2
Mark
Wes’s little daughter smiled and laughed when she saw me. I immediately went to her and picked her up. The toddler was large now, and she shrieked and laughed as I snuggled her to my chest.
“How’s the soon-to-be married man?”
“Still not married yet.”
Wes laughed. “Is Brea neck deep in wedding planning?”
I frowned, thinking back to our evening together. She has been working on wedding planning. I’m just not sure if it was ours.
Liz came in, and Aspen Marie ran to her to wrap her arms around her legs.
“So how’s the wedding planning?”
I was seriously tired of that question.
“Uh—”
“You mean you haven’t been choosing which particular shade of white is going to be used for the napkins?” Wes teased. “For shame.”
“You can’t just show up!” Liz chastised.
“I’ve been busy with my business.”
Liz snorted and pulled out her phone. “I’m texting Brea right now to see what else needs to be done.”
“Come on, Mark,” Wes said, “we can slap logos on party favors.”
It was more than slapping some labels on the mini bottles of alcohol.
“We need how many yards of white chiffon?” I asked as Wes read off of the list.
“Why didn’t they just order it online?” Carter asked, yawning as we headed down the street in the garment district early the next morning.
“I’m not
sure.”
Why hadn’t Brea ordered it online? Or at least order in advance from a local shop and have it delivered. It was unlike her. Usually she was super organized with weddings.
Just not yours.
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Weddings in the City Girls
Ivy – Wedding Planner
Elsie – Catering
Amy – Flowers
Grace – Photography
Brea – Wedding dresses and jewelry
Sophie – Wedding Cakes
Acknowledgments
A big thank you to Red Adept Editing for editing and proofreading.
And finally a big thank you to all the readers! I had a great time writing this laugh-out-loud romantic comedy!
About the Author
If you like steamy romantic comedy novels with a creative streak, then I'm your girl!
Architect by day, writer by night, I love matcha green tea, chocolate, and books! So many books…
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