Three Girls And A Wedding

by Rachel Schurig

  He looked at me closely, but didn’t respond.

  “Really,” I said, feeling like I was babbling but unable to stop myself. “Don’t worry.”

  “Okay,” he said finally.

  Why, though? I felt like screaming. Why did you act that way? What did I do to ruin things?

  “So,” he said, clearing his throat. “Kiki said it was a perfect day.”

  I smiled. “I’m glad she thought so. I wanted it to be special for her.”

  We stood in awkward silence for a moment, looking at everything except each other.

  “I guess I should go help Eric,” he said finally, gesturing behind him.

  “Yeah, of course, and I should…” I trailed off weakly, unable to come up with any task that needed doing.

  “Listen, Jen,” Matt said, stepping closer. “Can we at least be friends?”

  I blinked. “Of course we can.”

  He sighed, looking relieved. “Good. I’m glad. Well, I should go. Talk to you soon?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around now the day’s getting so close,” I agreed.

  “Okay…bye then.” It looked like he wanted to say more, but, after a pause, he merely walked away, leaving me feeling like I might cry. Friends. Great.

  I should be happy for that, happy that he didn’t want more, that he wouldn’t be distracting me from my work. Now we could go on without being awkward around each other. I should have been happy.

  But I wasn’t.

  Chapter Nineteen

  ‘Registering for gifts is a fun aspect of planning your wedding—and often the only thing you’ll get your hubby-to-be excited about! Make sure you register for a variety of items and a variety of price points. And do register at more than one store! You want to make sure you give your guests as many opportunities as possible to find a gift—easily and without hassle! Don’t be afraid to let you fiancé choose some items that he likes—even if you might think they’re tacky!’—The Bride’s Guide to a Fabulous Wedding!

  “I cannot believe you didn’t ask him what you did to put him off,” Annie said, shaking her head. “You had him right there, the perfect chance to find out!”

  “Annie, give me the gun back,” Ginny demanded. “She has a point though, Jen. Didn’t you want to know?”

  We were wandering around a large department store at the mall, helping Ginny and Josh to register. Actually, I don’t know how much help we were being. Annie kept trying to steal the register gun (she thought it was fun) and Josh was walking Danny around the store, trying to keep him from crying—or getting into everything.

  “I was way too embarrassed,” I told them, picking up a ceramic vase before setting it down again. “Besides, I’m over him. Totally.”

  Annie snorted. “Yep. Sure you are.”

  “I am!” I said, offended. “It was one kiss, for God’s sake. It’s not like we even went on a date or anything.”

  “I don’t know, Jen,” Ginny said, zapping a set of dish towels. “I haven’t heard you talk about a guy like that in a long time.”

  I scowled. I didn’t need this from them today. I needed a little support.

  “It’s over, okay?” I snapped. “Just drop it.”

  Annie raised her eyebrows at me. I sighed. She still hadn’t forgiven me for our fight. And I had meant to make it up to her today, honestly I had, but I was completely exhausted. Jason had called me back to the office yesterday after the shower—apparently there had been a major snafu with the airline tickets for more than a dozen out-of-town guests. It had taken hours to get it worked out.

  But I wasn’t doing Ginny any good in this mood. “I’m gonna go take Danny,” I said. “Let Josh come back and have some fun.”

  Before I had gotten very far, my phone started ringing. I accepted the call and pressed the phone to my ear—but all I could hear was sobbing. “Kiki? What’s the matter?”

  “The food…and we’re…I don’t know what…” I could barely understand a word she was saying, she was crying so hard.

  “Kiki, take a deep breath…We can fix it, whatever it is, okay? Just relax and tell me what’s wrong.” I looked up and saw Annie standing a few paces away from me, glaring. I sighed and turned away. What did she want from me?

  Kiki was taking great shuddering gulps now. “The caterer just called and canceled. They had a fire in their kitchen or something—they’re shutting down for three months!”

  I took a deep breath. This was not good news. We were two months out from the wedding. How on earth was I going to find another first-class caterer to serve three hundred guests?

  “Okay, try not to panic,” I told her. “It’s going to be fine. I’m going to get on the phone with Jason right now and we’ll start making phone calls, okay? We’ll find someone, Kiki, we will.”

  “But I’m not even going to be around to go to tastings,” she wailed. Shoot. I had forgotten that. Kiki and Eric were leaving that evening for Denver, some kind of work trip, and they wouldn’t be back for a week. We couldn’t wait that long.

  “Kiki,” I told her, rubbing my temples. “Do you trust me?”

  “Of course I do, Jen,” she said, sniffling loudly.

  “Then I need you to trust that I’ll handle this, okay? I will find an awesome caterer and I will personally taste the food. And as soon as you get back we’ll set up another tasting to set your mind at ease. How’s that?”

  Kiki took a deep breath. “I guess that works,” she said. “But it’s so much pressure on you to do alone. Oh! I know! Matt can go with you!”

  My entire body went cold. “Kiki, that’s not necessary,” I told her. “Really.”

  “Oh, Jen,” she said pleadingly. “It will make me feel so much better. Honestly. Eric is so picky and Matt will know what he likes. Please, I’ll worry so much less if I know Matt likes the food too. Besides, he’s the best man; it’s, like, totally his job to help out with stuff like this.”

  Well, what the hell could I say to that?

  “Okay, Kiki,” I sighed, resigned. “How about I email you the tastings we set up and you can pass the info along to Matt and see what he’s free for?”

  “Oh, perfect! Jen, thank you, seriously, you are a life saver!”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said. “I’ll send you an email, okay?”

  “Okay,” she said, sounding much happier now. “You know, I really thought you and Matt hit it off in New York.”

  I didn’t try to suppress my groan. I could not deal with her matchmaking right now. “Actually, Kiki, I didn’t get the impression he liked me too much.”

  Kiki tutted. “I know he comes across as gruff sometimes,” she said. “But he’s had some bad luck with girls. I think he’s just defensive.”

  I sighed. “Well, regardless, there’s lots of work to do on this, so I better let you go. Good luck packing and all of that.”

  “Thanks, Jen! I’ll talk to you soon, okay? And thanks again, thanks a million!”

  I hung up and took a deep breath. I was going to have to go into the office and start making calls. The girls were not going to be happy about this at all.

  ***

  Jason insisted on joining us for the tastings the following day. I wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand, it would mean I wasn’t alone with Matt. On the other hand, it would mean Matt and Jason were going to be in the same room together. In addition to the awkwardness it presented—the guy I was totally head-over-heels for and the guy I was kind-of, sort-of dating, together for an afternoon—I knew they couldn’t stand each other.

  We had made appointments to visit five kitchens. Under normal circumstances, we would have paid to have the caterers meet us at the wedding site. But we didn’t have time for all that. Instead, Jason and I drove from kitchen to kitchen in his Audi while Matt followed us in his truck. Matt behaved exactly as I expected him to. He was grouchy and indifferent and barely said two words to either of us, except to answer my questions about the food.


  The first two caterers we tried were total misses. The food was okay, but not up to the standard we were looking for. The third showed some promise, but I still thought we could do better. Right as we were leaving for the fourth (panic was starting to set in for me now. What if we didn’t find someone?). Jason got a phone call and stepped away.

  Matt and I stood in awkward silence for a moment. So much for his wanting to be friends.

  Before I could think of anything to say to lighten the atmosphere, Jason was back. “God damn it,” he muttered, shoving his phone in his pocket. “The flight arrangements are still fucked up.”

  My mouth dropped open. We had spent hours on the phone with the travel agents, trying to get everything in order.

  “I’m gonna have to go to the office,” he said. “We’re switching agents. I’ve had enough of this.”

  “But what about the tastings?” I asked him.

  Jason looked at me in exasperation. “This is a huge problem, Jen. Don’t you think you can handle the food?”

  “I don’t have a car,” I said, knowing I sounded petulant but not caring. I did not want to be left alone with Matt, particularly not when he was in this state.

  “I’ll drive you,” Matt grumbled. He could not have sounded less enthusiastic about it if he tried.

  “Is that okay?” Jason asked, looking at me.

  “Yeah, of course. Go take care of the flights.” Jason looked at me for a moment, then over at Matt, before leaning down and kissing my cheek. “You’ll do great, I know it,” he said, his voice soft. Then he was gone.

  I stood there, frozen in shock for a moment. What the hell had just happened? Jason had never kissed me before, not even on the cheek. What was he playing at, doing it now in front of Matt?

  “Are you coming or not?” Matt asked, his voice like acid. I gave myself a little shake, and followed him to his truck. This was going to be a long afternoon.

  The ride to the fourth site was excruciating. We were both completely silent, and tension was radiating off Matt in waves. I had partially hoped he would cheer up a little bit with Jason gone, but clearly that was not to be. He seemed, if possible, more irritated than ever now that it was just the two of us.

  I felt stung by his behavior. What on earth had I done to deserve this attitude? I kept wishing I could go back to that morning in New York. I never should have gone down to the lobby to wait; I should have gone straight to Matt’s room where I could make him talk to me in person. What on earth could I have done to him to cause him to be so rude?

  And then it hit me. It didn’t matter what I had done. I was a human being, a professional, and I deserved to be treated better than this. I hadn’t done anything to intentionally hurt him—in fact, I had apologized to him, even though he wouldn’t tell me why he was mad. I had tried to call him. He was the one being a huge baby.

  As the silence stretched on, I found myself becoming angrier and angrier. How dare he treat me like this? Who the hell did he think he was?

  When we reached the fourth site, a small Middle Eastern restaurant in the city of Dearborn, Matt turned off the engine and went to open his door without a word to me. “Hang on a second,” I said, my voice shaking with anger. He turned to face me, eyebrows raised.

  “I don’t know what exactly it is about me that you hate so much,” I said. I felt my hands tremble so I buried them under my thighs. “But you’re acting very rude. I have a job to do here, and it’s been a very tough week for me. I could do without your attitude.”

  He stared at me incredulously for a minute. “You think I hate you?” he finally asked.

  It was so not what I was expecting him to say. “Does it matter?” I snapped. “The point is, this isn’t about me—or about you. It’s about Kiki and your brother. You agreed to be here and do this for them, so could you please stop acting like it’s torture?”

  He was silent for a moment. “You’re right,” he said finally. “You’re right. Sorry. Let’s just…let’s just go inside and do this, okay?”

  “Fine,” I said, getting out of the car and slamming the door rather harder than was necessary.

  “What is this place?” Matt asked skeptically as we walked to the door. The building was, it must be admitted, a little rough on the eyes.

  “Don’t judge it by its exterior,” I told him. “The food is amazing.”

  “I guess we’ll see,” he said, but he held the door open for me. I took it as some progress.

  Once we were sitting and had been served iced tea, he seemed to relax further. “How’re Annie and Ginny?” he asked.

  “Um, good,” I said, taken aback that he had remembered.

  “Wedding plans going okay?”

  I winced slightly, thinking of it. Annie and Ginny were spending the day addressing invitations. I was supposed to help. Before I could think of an answer, the waiter was back with the appetizer plates.

  “This is what they would serve for the cocktail hour,” I explained to Matt. “Hummus with veggies, falafels and…” I took a bite of something I couldn’t identify by sight. “Chicken schwarma, I think.”

  Matt was just staring at me.

  “What?” I asked, self-conscious.

  “Sorry, there’s no way this is going to work,” he said.

  “Why not?” I assumed he was talking about us doing the tasting together.

  “Because I have no desire to try this stuff,” he said. “And I’m about ten times more adventurous than my brother. There is no way in hell he’s be okay with this being served at his wedding.”

  I glared at him. “I’ll have you know, it’s delicious.”

  “It might be,” he said, holding up his hands. “I’m just saying, I know my brother. And he won’t be down with this.”

  “Fine,” I snapped, throwing down my napkin. “But the chef of this restaurant is a personal friend of mine, and she’s prepared a tasting menu for us, which your brother’s new in-laws have paid for, so the least you can do it try it.”

  Matt just stared at me. It took me a moment to realize—“You’re laughing at me!” I cried, my irritation doubling.

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Matt said, holding up his hands again. “You just look so…”

  “So what?” I said, narrowing my eyes.

  “You’re kind of cute when you’re pissed, okay? It’s like—angry kitten, or something. Real scary.”

  I glared at him. But Matt was, at least, smiling now. It was hard to stay mad when he was smiling like that.

  “Will you at least try the food?” I asked him. “I promise it’s very good.”

  He looked at me doubtfully, took a deep breath, and grabbed the kebab of chicken schwarma. He chewed thoughtfully for a moment, then smiled. “That is good,” he said, smiling at me. This time, I smiled back.

  I couldn’t convince him to try the hummus, but he did taste the falafel, though he didn’t like it much. The main courses went over much better and the sweet plates were a big hit. He actually groaned when he tried the baklava.

  “See,” I said, laughing. “I told you you’d like it!”

  “I bow down to you and your superior food knowledge, Jen Campbell,” he smirked, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his gut. “That was great.”

  “Jen!” I turned in my chair to see Aaliyah, the chef of the restaurant, hurrying toward us. “They told me you were here for your tasting but I couldn’t get away until now!”

  I stood and hugged her. I had known Aaliyah for years. We had, in fact, gone to college together back in Chicago, before she dropped out to go to culinary school after our sophomore year. I had been delighted to find she had ended up in the Detroit area to open her restaurant.

  “Aaliyah, this is Matt, the groom’s brother,” I said, my arm still wrapped around her shoulder. “Matt, this is the best chef I know.”

  “Oh, shut up,” she laughed.

  “It’s true! Aaliyah got me out of so many jams when I was first starting out.”

  “Yeah, J
en was always forgetting she needed to book caterers,” Aaliyah sighed. “I was forever bailing her out.”

  I laughed. I had missed her.

  “Anyhow, what did you think about the food?” she asked, directing her attention to Matt. She knew how I felt about her food.

  “It was really great,” he said. “I’d never had Middle Eastern food before. I was pleasantly surprised.”

  “Ahh, an adventurer,” she said.

  “We think it might be a bit much for his brother though,” I told her. “He’s a bit picky.”

  “What a shame,” Aaliyah said good-naturedly. “Oh well, I didn’t really feel like carting my ass all the way up to Rochester anyhow.”

  Matt laughed.

  “It’s their loss, babe,” I told her, then sighed, looking at my watch. “We have one more appointment.”

  “Well, you better be on your way then,” she said. “I’ll see you next week?”

  “Yeah,” I told her, picking up my purse. “Ginny and Josh are really excited.”

  She shook Matt’s hand and walked us to the door. As he walked out in front of us, she waggled her eyebrows at me. “Hot!” she mouthed.

  I laughed and rolled my eyes. “See you Friday.”

  Once we were back in the truck, Matt asked, “What’s on Friday?”

  “Ginny and Josh are having their shower here,” I told him.

  “Both of them?” he asked, surprised.

  “We’re doing a couple’s shower,” I explained. “Ginny already did the ladies’ luncheon thing when she was pregnant with Danny. She wanted something a little more modern this time around.”

  “That sounds nice,” Matt said.

  “It’ll be a good chance for a bunch of friends to get together,” I said. “I’m really looking forward to it, actually.” I closed my eyes briefly as Matt pulled out onto the highway. I knew I was being a crappy friend to Ginny and Annie lately. And it had been so long since we’d had fun together, so long since I’d been in a big group of our friends. This shower was just what I needed.

  “Everything going okay there?” Matt asked, looking over at me. “When I asked about the wedding before, you didn’t really answer.”