by Howe, Violet
“That’s so sweet that he’s there taking care of you. Tell him thank you for me. Did you ask his sister to be a bridesmaid yet?”
“No.” Galen was the last thing on my mind. My head throbbed. I grabbed the blanket lying across the ottoman and covered my legs.
“You need to get it over with. She’ll need to get a dress. Tanya is going to go shopping with me on Saturday to see what I can find. You’re sure you want me in purple? I don’t think it’s a good color for me.”
“You can wear whatever color you want. I just told you the girls were wearing purple.”
“No, no. If you’re having everyone wear purple, I’ll wear purple, too. Did Tanya tell you we found some thick pillar candles at the dollar store? I picked up a few but I thought I’d get some more this weekend. How many do you think we need around the centerpieces?”
“Oh, centerpieces! Crap, I’ve been meaning to call and tell you.” More like I’d been dreading calling and telling her. “Cabe’s mom has a friend who’s an event designer in Atlanta, and Maggie has offered to pay for the flowers for the wedding. As her gift to us. So you’re off the hook. You can cross that off your list.” I looked at Cabe and nearly busted out laughing when I saw he had his fingers crossed on both hands in support and hopefulness.
Mama was silent for a moment, a rare occurrence for her, to be sure. I didn’t know if it meant she was happy, mad, or sad. “Mama? Did you hear me?”
“Does she think we can’t afford to buy you flowers? Does she think we need her to—”
“No, no. It’s not like that. This is her wedding gift. The lady is a good friend of Maggie’s and she wants to do this. It’s a good thing, right? So you don’t have to worry about centerpieces or bouquets or anything. I thought you’d be excited.” I gritted my teeth together and looked to Cabe for encouragement. He nodded and gave me a thumbs up.
Mama was less enthusiastic. “Do you have any idea how much money I’ve spent on these silk flowers and baskets? Not to mention the time Pearl and I have already put into coming up with ideas to make this crap fit your fancy-schmancy winter theme. You tell his mama that you appreciate the offer, but we’ll do just fine. Be gracious, though. Don’t be rude.”
My hopes of having a beautiful, classy, professionally-done wedding went spiraling toward earth in flaming embers.
“I’d like to at least hear what the lady has to say. Maybe we could—”
“You wait just a minute, missy. I’ve not having Cabe’s mama think that we can’t put on a wedding for you. We’ll make do with what we have, and you just make sure you thank her properly.”
I closed my eyes and tried not to scream. The pressure behind my eyes continued to build, and it wasn’t only because of my sinuses.
“Okay, well, what about catering? She has catering services, too. It would be so much easier on all of us to have a professional caterer. If you and Aunt Pearl want to do the centerpieces, then at least let me talk to her about the catering.”
“I’ve already put out sign-up sheets at the church for people to make a dish. You expect me to tell all those people their hard work ain’t good enough for you?”
I was exhausted, emotionally and physically spent. My body ached. My head hurt. I squeezed my eyes shut tight, but the strain of it all still escaped in big, slow-moving teardrops that trailed down my face. I didn’t even bother to wipe them away. It didn’t matter if they flowed.
Cabe moved to my end of the sofa and began to massage my neck and shoulders. “Calm down,” he whispered. “It’s okay. Don’t let her get to you.”
Too late.
“I gotta go, Mama. We’ll have to talk about this later.”
“Wait a minute. I still need to ask you—”
“I’m sick, and I need to go. Bye.” My voice cracked as I said it, and I turned into Cabe’s welcoming arms and let the dam break. An ugly, snotty, noisy, messy cry.
“I feel like Mama is forcing me to have a garage-sale bare-bones pot-luck wedding. Like here’s the worse do-it-yourself wedding you could ever do. I don’t want anyone we know to come to this. I don’t even want to go. This is not what I wanted.”
“So tell her,” Cabe said. Which sounds so easy to say, but is not at all easy to do.
“I try. I told her not to buy the silks. Not to get the free yellow tablecloths. Not to hire my clueless cousin to make the dresses. But she doesn’t listen to me!” I went to find a tissue and blew my nose as I came back to the living room. Thank God that man loves me enough to see me be a blubbering mess.
“It’s like I can’t even think about what I want or focus on getting it done because I’m constantly spending every spare minute fighting off her hare-brained ideas. Not to mention having the energy sucked out of me every other minute of the day by other brides whose weddings are way more important than mine. On top of which I have Reynalda Freakin’ Riley and her ego the size of Texas and her crazy-ass bride who insists on talking to me every day. I have to do all these extra hoops for everything I do with her to make sure I don’t go around or behind Reynalda and piss her off.”
“Babe, Reynalda’s nuts, so you don’t need to worry about her. Once this wedding’s done, you never have to talk to her again.”
I tossed the tissue in the trash and flopped down on the couch beside him. “But I was supposed to be learning from her. What can I possibly learn from her? How not to be an asshole?”
“That’s a valuable lesson in life.” He held his arm open and I snuggled up against him. “As far as the other brides, their wedding is not any more important than yours. Than ours. Maybe focus on their weddings while you’re at work, and focus on ours while you’re not. Which I know is hard to do when you’re working so much right now. I don’t know, Buttercup. I wish I had better answers.”
“I just want it all to be over with. October. November. Their weddings. Our wedding. I just want to be able to breathe.”
October
Thursday, October 2nd
Galen called tonight. She talked to Cabe for a while, and then asked for me. I had heard his end of their conversation and could tell she had apologized, but the depth of her emotion still caught me off guard.
She was crying when I picked up, though she cleared her throat and tried to hide it.
“I’m sorry I haven’t called to say this before, but I’m really sorry for how things got off track between us. I never meant to alienate you in any way. I was just trying to protect my brother.”
“I know that.”
“I’m sorry, too, that I haven’t called to congratulate you and that I didn’t congratulate you that night at the restaurant. I was mad at you and Cabe both. I felt like all I did was try to help my brother and do what I thought was best for him, and it seemed like no matter what I tried everybody just got mad at me. Cabe, you, Mom, Nana.” Her voice broke again. “My brother means everything to me, Ty. He’s always been there for me, when no one else was. He’s always looked out for me and taken care of me. I would never do anything to purposely hurt him.”
What was I supposed to say to that? Whether it was on purpose or not, she did hurt him.
“I can’t believe you guys are getting married next month. I feel like I’ve missed out on the whole thing. I’m stuck up here in New York and I can’t be a part of any of it. I wanted to say I was sorry and ask if I’m allowed to come to your wedding.”
So she basically just made her apology all about her. What she was missing and how it is affecting her.
I swallowed a mouthful of bitterness and anger and reminded myself that ultimately I wanted us all to get along. I wanted Cabe and Maggie to be happy and enjoy the wedding without tension or strain.
“Of course, you’re allowed to come to the wedding. We don’t want to exclude you, Galen. We just want to be treated with respect.” I motioned to Cabe and tried to communicate by hand gestures and mouthing words to figure out if he wanted me to ask her to be a bridesmaid. He shrugged and pointed back to me.
I had hoped he would make the
ultimate decision. Then if it didn’t work out and she ended up being a bitch, I could blame him and be off the hook. But the ball was in my court, and though I still didn’t trust her or her motives, I also didn’t want to hear about it for the rest of our lives if I didn’t include her.
“Would you like to be a bridesmaid?”
She burst into tears and thanked me over and over again. I pretty much remained silent, unwilling to say it was okay since it wasn’t. Then she asked to talk to her brother again and thanked him, apologizing one more time for all that had happened between them.
Cabe’s mood was somber when they hung up.
“You okay?” I asked.
He nodded.
“At least she called. She apologized, right?”
He nodded again.
“What’s up, dude? Talk to me.”
“I can’t stand to hear her cry. She’s always been a pain in my ass, but I’ve always hated to hear her cry. Even when she was a baby. I used to run and get Mom any time she cried. I think I’ve always felt responsible for her somehow. Like I had to take care of her. Now she’s an adult. I can’t take care of her anymore.”
I wrapped my arms around him and held him tight. “You’ll always be her big brother. Nothing will change that.”
Just like nothing will probably ever change her attitude, her manipulative habits, or her viewpoint that the world revolves around her alone. But she was his sister. And soon to be my sister-in-law.
At least I could check off the bridal party on my mental checklist.
Friday, October 10th
Reynalda had insisted I come to her office to go over everything before the rehearsal tonight. Funny how she hasn’t attended a single meeting with Chris and Jayah–other than stopping by to introduce me the first time I met them–hasn’t had a single conversation with them since I took over, and hasn’t discussed boo with me the entire time I’ve been working with them.
She insisted I send and receive everything through her office, so I hope she has at least been keeping up with everything as it’s progressed, but based on what I’ve seen of her and the phone conversations we’ve had, I have my doubts.
She announced on Tuesday that she wanted me to come early this afternoon and she would be taking over the wedding for the rehearsal and wedding day.
I came into this thinking I was going to be assisting. Shadowing her and learning what I could.
Instead I’ve done all the work for these clients and gotten them ready for the event, and then Glamour Girl is just going to sweep in and take over for the cameras.
If I didn’t have the relationship with Jayah and Chris that I have, I’d be tempted just to say “Here you go. Here’s the file. Have fun.” Then just sit back and watch the Wicked Witch melt.
But that’s not who I am and what I’m about.
So I showed up today, on time, fully expecting her not to be there.
The lights were on when I arrived, but I didn’t see Heidi at her desk.
“Heidi?” I called out when I entered. No sign of Reynalda either. “Heidi? Reynalda? Anyone?”
I walked to the storage room where they keep the coffee maker and peeked in. No one there.
As I turned to go back toward the door, I saw a red heel out of the corner of my eye. I walked slowly to the large desk behind the screen, praying it wouldn’t be a dead body or something. I think maybe I watch too many forensics shows.
She was sitting on the floor behind the desk, staring straight ahead at the window with her feet splayed out in front of her in a terribly unladylike position.
“Reynalda?” I asked, hoping she would move. She didn’t look dead, but she was so still and so quiet she didn’t look alive either.
She turned her head up toward me, her movements slow and lethargic. She’d been crying. A lot. Her false eyelashes had loosened on one eye and her makeup was smeared and splotchy.
I crouched down beside her. “Reynalda, are you okay? Are you alright? Do you need a doctor?”
She shook her head and looked back toward the window.
“Reynalda, are you hurt? Are you sick? What should I do?”
“I have pills in my purse. Can you get them for me?”
Her voice almost sounded like a croak, hoarse and rough.
I searched her desk for a purse but couldn’t find one. I searched Heidi’s desk and the storage room. No purse.
“Reynalda? Where’s your purse? I can’t find it.”
“It’s in my car.”
“In your car? Okay. I need your keys. Are you going to be okay here by yourself? Should I call an ambulance?”
“No! No ambulance. I just need my pills. The valet has the keys.”
“I hate to leave you here. Are you sure you’re okay? What are the pills for? What’s wrong?”
“Just get me my pills and I’ll be fine.” A huge tear rolled down her face and her bottom lip quivered.
“Okay. Okay. I’ll get them.”
I ran all the way to the valet stand at the front of the resort. My side cramped and the balls of my feet stung from my shoes slapping the tiles. I regretted lunch at Taco Bell almost immediately. Greasy tacos do not provide great fuel for sudden sprints.
“I need to get Reynalda Riley’s car,” I told the valet as I huffed and puffed and held my side.
“You got the ticket?”
The ticket. Crap. “No, I don’t, but it’s an emergency. I need to get Reynalda’s car.”
“No can do without a ticket.”
My stomach churned and sweat stung my eyes. “Look, I understand, but it’s a medical emergency. I have to get in her car. She needs me to bring something to her.”
“You have to have a ticket to access a car. You think I can hand out keys to whoever shows up and says they want someone’s car?”
Double crap. There was no way in hell I wanted to run all the way back to her office and then all the way back to valet.
“Work with me, dude. I’m not trying to steal her car. I just need to get something out of it. She doesn’t feel well, and there’s some kind of pills in her purse, which for reasons unknown to me, she chose to leave in her car. Can you at least take me to her car and wait while I get the pills and then bring me back?”
We debated the issue for at least ten more minutes before another valet agreed he would take me against Mr. Rule Follower’s great displeasure.
Her purse was laying right on the front seat in full view. Really? Who does that?
I grabbed the bag and talked the valet guy into taking me to the back of the resort near the courtyard entrance to her office.
She was still seated in the same exact position when I returned.
“I got your purse. Here it is. Do you need water to take your pills?”
She nodded as I handed her the purse, and I ran to the storage room to get water from the mini fridge.
“Here you go.” I tried to give her the water bottle but she just sat there staring. The purse was sitting in her lap where I’d left it. Untouched.
“Reynalda, take your pills.”
When I got no response, I opened her purse and dug to find the pill bottle. There were five of them, ranging in size. None of the prescription labels had her name on them.
“Reynalda? Which pills?”
“Valium.”
Really? I’d just risked my own cardiac arrest to get her a valium? I thought it was life or death. Like her blood sugar was bottoming out or she needed to pop a pill under her tongue for her heart or something.
I opened the bottle of Valium and handed it to her, and she popped a couple of pills in her mouth and chased it with the water. I seriously considered joining her. The bottle had several more pills in it, and I could sure use a few hours without my brain whirring at top speed.
Reynalda hiccupped and looked at me. Like, actually looked at me and made eye contact for the first time since I’d walked in.
“You think you’re so much better than me.” More tears flowed and she made
no move to wipe them.
“Reynalda, what are you talking about? What happened?”
“I know you do. You look down at me, and you think you’re so much better than me. But you don’t know that I’m a star. I’m a star, and you won’t ever be. They love me. They don’t even know who you are.”
She laughed a twisted, sick chuckle and looked back toward the window.
I stood, wondering what I was supposed to do with her.
“I think I should call an ambulance.”
“No! Don’t you dare call an ambulance.” She struggled to get to her knees and pushed off the desk to come to standing, kicking off her heels in the process. She smoothed her huge mass of hair away from her face and grabbed a tissue from her desk to dab at her eyes. It was too little too late. Her make-up was beyond repair.
When her eyes met mine again, she had her chin held high and her shoulders back in the haughty stance she always carried. Somehow it didn’t play the same with her standing there barefoot with her false eyelash flapping in the breeze and her face red and splotchy.
“No ambulance. The last thing I need is the press hearing I was taken away in an ambulance. I have a wedding this weekend. I need to be ready for the cameras.”
“What happened? Are you okay?”
“Heidi quit. She left me. They all do. Bitches. They milk me for all they can, bleeding me like leeches, and then when they’ve had their fill, they just up and leave.”
Her chin trembled and her eyes went glassy again, but she glanced at the clock and back to me, shaking her head against the tears. “We’re running out of time. I have to get ready. Come with me.”
She slipped her shoes on and we left the office, crossing to another section of the hotel and a row of elevators. As we stepped inside, she fished around her purse for the key card and slid it in before pressing the button for the Penthouse floor.
“You have a room here?”
She had taken out a compact mirror and was rubbing at the smudged make-up on her face. “I live here.”
“In the hotel? You live in the Ritz Carlton?”