by Howe, Violet
The seating hostess led us to a table right away, and Cabe asked her to bring me a glass of wine to tide me over until our server arrived. I didn’t even pause in my rant.
“I thought this was going to be this great experience, ya know? Working such a high-profile wedding with such a high-profile planner. But from what I’ve seen so far, she’s a joke.” I accepted the glass of wine with a forced smile and drained it about halfway down. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand as Cabe chuckled. All kind of ladylike manners on display tonight.
“Will she be there Friday?”
I nodded. “She said ‘See you Friday’ before she hung up.”
“Then let her run it. You’re not her employee. You’re an intern. Sit in the meeting and keep your mouth shut unless she specifically asks you a question. Let her look unprepared to the client, not you.”
“But I don’t want to be unprepared at all! I want to have this all pulled together for them, and if she would just answer my questions I could probably get quite a bit done tomorrow. What reason could she possibly have not to take my calls?”
We placed our order and got a refill for my wine, but I couldn’t let it go. I couldn’t unwind and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
How terrible would it be if I told Laura I don’t want this opportunity?
Thursday, July 24th
“Get done what you’re able to do within the time frame you’ve been given, but I’d let her do the talking with the clients tomorrow. You’ve been sent there as an intern, not a workhorse,” Melanie said as she waited for the microwave to beep.
I’d laid the whole thing out while we were all eating lunch in the break room.
“I’d suggest you be ready to talk to the clients. Even if Reynalda is in the meeting, you don’t know what her input will be. If she’s willing to drive it, let her. But if she turns and puts it in your lap, you want to be prepared,” Laura offered.
“Mark my words,” Lillian said as she pointed at me with her fork. “If Reynalda shows up, and I wouldn’t even count on that, but if she shows up—probably with a camera crew—she’ll just smile and you’ll still be stuck doing the working part of the meeting. So don’t plan on her lifting a finger. Protect yourself. Be prepared.”
“I’d love to, but she gave me almost nothing to go on as far as what the clients want and what they’ve already discussed. I called the florist, the photographer, the band, and the catering manager at their hotel. None of them have spoken with the clients directly, and none of them have enough details to piece together proposals. And she won’t give me the clients’ contact info. She says she wants to wait and introduce me before I contact them.” I poked my fork at my salad, really wishing I’d ordered a cheeseburger and fries instead. Greens might be the healthier choice, but they did nothing for my stress levels.
“Then you have a blank slate.” Laura smiled. “Propose whatever you want. Take the few details you have and come up with ideas. If the clients like your ideas, great. If not, you’ll have a basis to work with for them to tell you what they don’t like and what they’d rather see.”
“So her office is basically a banquet room?” Mel asked.
I nodded.
“She’s close with the GM,” Lillian said with a wink. “Take that however you’d like it and you’ll probably be correct. That room’s been taken out of the system and blocked for remodeling for two years now. She uses it rent-free. And the resort’s internet, electricity, and power, too.”
Mel whistled. “Dang. That’s quite an arrangement.”
Laura shook her head at Lillian, though I’m sure she knew after all these years the admonishment would do no good. “Let’s not resort to gossip. Tyler has asked for help with the situation, and we need to stay focused on guidance.”
“I’m not the one who sent her to sleep with the enemy.” Lillian tilted her head with a smirk.
“Reynalda said she’d been shorthanded,” I said. “Is it really just her and Heidi? I thought she would have a huge team of people.”
“She recruits volunteers from the hospitality schools for the actual events. She describes it as her effort to give back to the community and help train the next generation of planners,” Laura said.
Lillian slapped her hand lightly on the table. “She uses free labor because the woman has no money! She runs around all over town wearing Gucci and Prada. She jet sets all over the place and name-drops like crazy. Puts on airs like she’s the Queen of Sheba, but she’s flat broke.” Lillian shook her head. “Bloody hell, she can’t afford an office, much less a staff.”
Mel piped in. “I thought she had a full-time coordinator, though. Mindy? Mitzi? What was her name?”
“Maritza,” Laura answered.
Mel nodded. “Yeah, Maritza. That was it. What happened to her?”
Lillian placed both palms on the table and leaned forward. “She’s been through seven coordinators and-or assistants in three years. No one wants to work for her.”
“Heidi’s been there almost a year,” Mel said between bites. “That’s who you should talk to. Get in with Heidi. She obviously knows what’s up.”
Laura sighed as she cleaned up her lunch area. “Ladies, I don’t think this is really helping Tyler. Look, I didn’t send you there to hang you out to dry. I sent you there because Reynalda asked for our help, and because we had already agreed you’d spend time with another planner. So it seemed to be a win-win. Now, I certainly don’t want you mistreated, and I will not abide a client’s wedding being mishandled, even if it’s not our clients.”
Lillian scoffed with a loud harrumph.
Laura ignored her and continued speaking. “I firmly believe we can learn something from every situation we’re put in. So I suggest you do all you can for the clients, be prepared to the extent you’re able with what’s available to you, and look for every opportunity to learn. We may not agree with her tactics, but she has been in business for almost ten years. She maintains a roster of the highest level clientele. She’s doing something well. Figure out what that is. Even if you’re learning what not to do with your own clients, you’re still learning.”
I nodded, unsure of how to achieve what lay ahead of me but not wanting to fail in the task Laura had given me.
I left the kitchen in a bit of a funk but determined to be prepared for tomorrow. I spent the rest of the afternoon on the phone with vendors, constructing what I could of proposals without input from the clients.
At the end of the day, I do have something to present them tomorrow. Whether it’s good enough or not remains to be seen, but at least I don’t feel like I’m going in empty-handed.
Friday, July 25th
Mama called as I was on my way to meet Reynalda’s clients. I didn’t want my phone ringing off the hook in the meeting, so I went ahead and answered.
“Hey Mama. What’s up? I’m heading to a meeting so I’ve only got a few minutes.”
“How many people are you inviting to the wedding, and have y’all picked a date yet?”
“I don’t know and no. Why? What’s up?”
“Well, y’all need to decide. We can’t do much of nothing ‘til you know the answers to those two questions. That needs to be your top priority.”
I groaned and tried not to scream. I had a meeting in fifteen minutes with high-profile clients I’d never met and a half-assed proposal I wasn’t sure they would like. I had completely neglected my own brides for the past week dealing with Reynalda’s lack of planning and jumping through hoops to try and get today settled. My wedding was all the way on the back burner as far as I was concerned.
“When Cabe and I make decisions, you’ll be the first to know.”
“I was talking to Marjorie last night, and I think you should seriously consider doing a double wedding with Marlena. Y’all could split the costs of the music and the flowers and any kind of decorations, and then each of y’all could pay for whatever your guests ate and drank. You could even us
e the same invitation and put both names on it. Everybody in our family would only need one invite for the both of you, so that would save you money right there. Marjorie said y’all could split the costs of our family members rather than both of y’all paying to feed them at separate events.”
I seriously had no mental capacity to deal with my own wedding in that moment.
“Mama, I may have seen Marlena once in the past six years. We don’t keep in touch. I can’t imagine that we would have a lot in common or that we would have the same tastes. I appreciate your efforts, but I think we’ll stick with separate weddings.”
“That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard. Who cares if y’all have seen each other or not? Y’all are cousins. Blood-related. You could have a much nicer wedding if you go in with her. Marjorie said Marlena is looking at a place that holds two hundred. You said Cabe ain’t got much family, right?”
I pulled up to the guard shack at the clients’ hotel and gave them my ID as I explained where I was going and who I was meeting.
“Are you talking to me? I can’t hear you. What are you saying?” Mama’s voice chattered away in my ear the whole time I conversed with the security guard. Like a buzzing mosquito you can’t do anything about.
“I was getting a pass to go to a hotel, Mama. I wasn’t talking to you. I gotta go. Please stop making plans. I will let you know once we’re ready.”
“Alright, but I’m gonna tell Marjorie you’re getting your numbers together and not to count you out yet, okay?”
I saw Reynalda get out of her Mercedes at the valet and sped up to try and catch her before she went inside.
“Okay, I gotta go. Bye, Mama.”
It wasn’t until after I hung up that I realized I’d just told her okay, which I’m sure she took as an okay for telling Aunt Marjorie not to count me out. I’d have to correct that later, though, because right then I needed to catch Reynalda.
“Reynalda! Reynalda!” I stepped out of my car and snatched the valet tag from his hands. I cursed the cobblestone drive as I tried to run in my heels, yelling her name as I followed her inside.
The doorman held the door for me, and I knew she had to have heard me as close as we were, but she never turned around until we were both inside. She slid off her Prada shades and pushed them on top of her head.
“Tyler, you’re making a scene. What is so urgent that you need to run around shouting like there’s a fire?”
I gulped air and tried to catch my breath and restore some measure of dignity. “I need to talk to you before we go in. I have questions.”
“Well, calm down and get yourself together while I let the reception desk know we’re here.”
I watched her sashay her way over to reception, her emerald green dress swishing back and forth in rhythm with her rump.
My frustration and stress of the week rolled into just being pissed. Why was I so freaked out and blowing up my blood pressure when she seemed so calm and collected? They were her clients. I’d never even met these people. I decided to take Cabe’s advice. I’d just sit back in the meeting and let her do all the talking. If a question was asked and I didn’t have an answer, then oh well. I’d done all I could do.
By the time she made her way back over to me, I had calmed down and assumed what I hoped was an air of cool indifference. I planned it all out and pictured it in my head. How she’d come walking back up and finally ask what my questions were after avoiding me for days, and I’d just casually say ‘never mind’ and then let her be the one with mud on her face when we got into the meeting and she had no idea what was going on.
But I forgot everything I’d learned so far about Reynalda Riley.
She never even asked what my questions were. She didn’t care. She came walking up, adjusting her hair on her shoulders, and said, “You mentioned a fiancé on the phone. I didn’t know you were engaged. Let me see your ring.”
I lifted my hand and she took it in hers, twisting it from side to side to peer at my ring.
“Two carats?” she asked as she lifted my finger and squinted at the ring like she had to look hard to see it or something.
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask.” From the rings I’d seen in my career, I’d agree it was about two carats, but it didn’t matter to me what size it was, only who it was from. So I hadn’t asked.
“What does he do for a living?” she asked without looking up from my ring.
“He’s a program development manager. Computers.”
“Oh,” she said, releasing my hand and stepping back. “Then don’t worry. He’ll be able to upgrade it at some point. At least you’re not like Heidi—dating the hired help.”
The clients arrived before I could tell the smug bitch that I wasn’t worried at all, nor did I need an upgrade.
She didn’t even bother to introduce me until we’d been seated in the bar area set aside for our meeting. I tagged along behind them like a puppy dog, pissed at the situation, fed up with her pompousness, and wanting to just turn and walk away. But some little part of me wanted to see the look on her face when I left her hanging to run the meeting without the information she’d thrown in my lap to retrieve.
“So Chris, Jayah, this is Tyler,” she turned to me with a flourish of her hand and flashed a smile larger than any I’d seen on her since we met. “Tyler is my right hand, and she will be handling all your planning meetings from here on out. Now, don’t worry, because I will still be a phone call away if you need anything at all, but Tyler is more than capable of taking care of whatever you need. You can call her anytime, day or night, seven days a week and she’ll be there for you.” She patted Jayah’s hand as I struggled to keep my mouth from flying open.
“Will you still be there on our wedding day?” Jayah asked, looking as nervous as any bride who’s just been told a complete stranger will suddenly be taking over all their wedding plans with no warning at all.
“Oh girl,” Reynalda playfully slapped at Jayah’s hand. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world! Are you kidding me? This is just the most effective way to make sure you have someone’s undivided attention. My time is in such high demand, and I have to be in so many places, often all at once. I can’t be everywhere. Tyler will handle all your details, which gives you full access whenever it’s needed. But I’ll be in constant contact with Tyler throughout the planning, and then I’ll be there for your entire event.”
Reynalda flashed another smile, and I resisted the urge to slap it off her face. How dare she set me up like that? I wasn’t willing to be available seven days a week any time day or night for my own clients who were paying top dollar for my services. I was Reynalda’s intern. Free labor. No way was I available around the clock. Plus, I had other brides. Other priorities. This bride would need to understand that.
But before I could argue the point or slap Reynalda silly, she stood and said, “Speaking of trying to be everywhere all at once, I have a ribbon cutting across town I must attend. So I’ll leave you to it because I know Tyler has a lot to share with you. Ta-ta!”
She left.
She left me there with her clients knowing I didn’t have everything they needed.
The two of them had visibly stiffened with her announcement, and it took every bit of charm I possess to get them to relax and talk to me.
The only reason I even tried was my deep belief that Laura was right. The clients were the top priority. It wasn’t the clients’ fault they had chosen Reynalda and gotten me. I resolved to do the best I could by them instead of focusing on plotting revenge against the media monster they’d hired.
Sunday, July 27th
We’ve been staying at my house pretty much every night since Deacon turned into Mr. Destructo at Cabe’s. He went ahead and got rid of what was left of the couch, and he tossed the damaged dining room chairs and end tables since I have matched sets of both. So until I can get my crap all packed up and move everything to his place, it’s more comfortable for us to be here.
Unfortunately, Deaco
n’s not easy to hide. He barks, and he needs to be walked multiple times each day. So I knew it was only a matter of time before my management company said something about me having a dog on the premises.
When I got home from the wedding last night, there was a note on my door telling me I have to pony up a three-hundred dollar pet deposit or remove the dog.
Now, I’m obviously not going to pay a three-hundred dollar deposit when I’m in the process of packing up to move out. Nor am I going to send Cabe and Deacon home to an empty living room and dining room while I stay here alone.
Here I thought I had the whole month of August to take my time packing up and moving out without much stress, maybe purging some stuff and tossing what I don’t need. But now the timeline’s been moved up a bit.
I gotta move now.
Cabe rented a truck for him and Dean to take the big stuff next Saturday while he’s off work, but I need to spend every spare minute this week packing and taking stuff over as I get it done.
The problem is I have no minutes to spare. On top of dealing with Reynalda’s jacked-up wedding, I have my own brides who have been pushed aside the last couple of weeks and are now demanding my attention because of it. On top of that, August begins the build-up to the busy fall wedding season at work. Oh, and then there’s the matter of my own wedding, which we have yet to even nail down a date for. Or location. Or any concrete details other than the color purple.
Oh happy happy joy joy.
Tuesday, July 29th