“Yes, perfect,” Karina agreed. “Jake and Eric have been really good friends to Justin, so of course they had to be in the wedding, and Nikki and Amy—well, they're just the best. And I think they're going to add so much to the group dynamic for all of the wedding festivities—something we wouldn't really get if it was just the four of us. I mean, it's always just the four of us, you know, when we hang out. And it's fantastic. Fabulous, if you will. But adding in a new dynamic will set this apart. Make it seem more…weddingish, if that makes sense!”
“Agreed,” Amanda said.
Lauren stood and poured wine into four glasses, passing them around. “I propose a toast,” she said happily, raising her glass. “To the best summer of any of our lives, and to the upcoming wedding of the century!”
“I don't know about the wedding of the century,” Amanda said, blushing again, “although that is certainly what it feels like to me.”
Karina grinned. “Well, in my opinion, it is going to be the wedding of the century—at least to our little group. You've been in love with this guy for almost twenty years, he’s your best friend, and we absolutely adore your hubby-to-be as well. To me, that qualifies. Wedding of the century!”
“Wedding of the century!” they all agreed, clinking their glasses happily, and Amanda could not remember ever feeling more content or more excited about the future than she felt at that moment, surrounded by the love of her friends and plans for a blissful tomorrow.
Chapter Two
The Disaster
Karina
Karina leaned against the edge of the desk in Ryan's office in the back of Sue Ann's Cafe. The place was owned by his grandmother, Sue Ann Perkins, and Ryan had come to Hope Falls to help her out with running it after his parents had passed away. He was now physically gone from the café for quite a bit of the time because of his musical projects with Karina, so he had hired some really effective managers to take over the bulk of the day-to-day running of the place from Sue Ann. He still liked to spend a significant amount of his time at the café when he was actually in Hope Falls though, just to let the staff know that he still cared and was keeping an eye on the operations.
Karina actually found it incredibly sexy that he was so concerned about, not only his grandmother, but his responsibilities as well. For the majority of her adult life, she had known people primarily from her career, people who made their living in the entertainment industry, whether they were in front of the spotlight or behind it. Those were, by and large, not people to whom a promise meant a hell of a lot. When she had met Ryan, one of the first things that struck her about him was his deep and abiding sense of family and responsibility—and she loved it.
Of course, she thought wickedly, that didn't mean that she shouldn't do her best to try to distract him while he was here.
These were the thoughts that were running through her head as she kissed him deeply and ran her fingers lightly up and down his back. Sure, yes, every couple of seconds he would come up for air and protest that he had to get out on the floor, but she didn't see him going anywhere. Words. Empty at best. She smiled to herself. In her opinion, he was happy exactly where he was. With that in mind, she began to tug his shirt up and out of the back of his jeans.
The sound of Amanda's chipper voice ordering coffee interrupted her plans to take this further. She disentangled herself from Ryan's embrace with lightning quickness.
“Hey!” Ryan protested good-naturedly. “I thought I was the one that was supposed to be trying to head out of here! You were supposed to be the one who was trying to convince me to stay—and very successfully, I might add.”
Karina grinned. “Yes, but that was before bridesmaid’s duty called!”
She blew him a kiss on her way out of the office, and he pantomimed catching it, a wide grin on his face—the one he always got when she was amusing and entertaining him. It was his damn-you're-so-cute, I-can't-believe-I'm-so-lucky grin. Karina lived for that grin.
She walked down the hall with a wide smile of her own on her lips and the feeling that it was going to be an exceptionally good day in her heart.
She rounded the corner and the moment she saw Amanda’s face all that changed. Amanda was sitting at one of the tables near the window, a cell phone pressed to her ear. All of the color had drained from her face, making her fair skin even paler than it normally was, and the hand that was holding the cell phone was shaking uncontrollably. Amanda did not look up, nor did she even seem to notice, when Karina eased into the chair across the table from her.
Fear clutched at Karina's heart. Had someone died? Had there been an accident? Was it one of their friends?
She gestured, trying to get Amanda's attention, but Amanda stared through her as if she weren’t even there. The panic in Karina's chest continued to build until she thought she could hardly stand it. In fact, it was all she could do to keep from grabbing Amanda's wrists and forcing her to look up and acknowledge that Karina was sitting there, wanting to know what was going on.
Patience was not one of Karina’s virtues. She was a fixer. If something was wrong she would get things moving to make it right. But just sitting there—while Amanda was obviously so distraught—was almost impossible. Nevertheless, as difficult as it was, Karina forced herself to remain quiet, offering silent support, until Amanda got off of the phone.
It was the longest four minutes of her life.
When Amanda finally moved the phone away from her ear, pressed the button to end the call, and set it down on the table, she didn't do anything for a moment. This was very unlike her, Karina reflected. Amanda was the type of person who was much more likely to start babbling almost incoherently about the nature of the problem when she was upset rather than to sit silently, almost in a trance.
Finally, Karina could stand it no longer, and she gently touched Amanda on the arm.
“Mand, what is it? What can I do?” she asked softly.
Amanda looked up, her face still looking shell-shocked, tears shining in her eyes. In a whisper Karina had to strain to hear, she said, “It's all ruined. It's all over.”
Karina took both of Amanda's hands in hers. “Amanda,” she said firmly, “tell me what is going on. Nothing is ruined. There is absolutely nothing that could happen that we cannot handle together. I'm here. No matter what is wrong, we will face it together. You're not alone. Just tell me. I can't help you unless you tell me what's going on!”
Amanda folded her arms on the table and buried her face in them. She began to cry. “The wedding is completely ruined!”
“I'm sure that's not true!” Karina protested.
“It's true,” Amanda assured her flatly through her tears.
Karina decided it was time to get tough. Amanda may be keeping it together fairly well now, but history had shown that hysterical could be right around the corner, and if Karina let her go there, it could be days before she came back to herself—and they didn’t have that kind of time. Karina was the type of person that believed in facing things head on, and this situation was no different. She had to get Amanda to tell her the details of whatever disaster had occurred, and that had to happen right now.
“Amanda,” Karina said firmly. “I realize that you are upset, but you need to tell me what is going on. Specifically, not in a hyperbolic and drastic statement of despair, but with actual details we can deal with. Who was that on the phone? And what exactly did they tell you?”
Amanda lifted her head, a new look of resolve in her eyes, and nodded her head at Karina's instructions. Karina felt relief flood through her as she saw some color return to her friend’s face.
“It's all gone,” Amanda began. “All of the money we paid to the wedding planner. All of the arrangements she was supposed to make with the vendors—none of them were made. She stole all of our money—a lot of other people's money too, apparently—and took off with it. The venue we thought we had, the flowers, the photographer, the DJ. None of it is actually on hold. She even took my Vera Wang dress. And
the bridesmaid’s dresses are gone too. They are just gone!
“God, I can't believe this is happening! The only reason I decided to use a full-service wedding venue down in Tahoe was because they handle everything through one contact point. With the hours I put in running Mountain Ridge, I knew that there was no way I could keep everything straight—all of the deposits, all of the dates, all of the contact points. And now I am in a situation that is so much worse than the one I was trying to avoid!”
Amanda looked directly into Karina's eyes, and the desperation Karina saw there broke her heart.
“We're supposed to be getting married in two days! How are we going to get everything arranged before then? We have to put off the wedding. But we can’t do that. People have already bought plane tickets! If we don't get married on Saturday, there are a lot of people who are really important to both of us that will probably not be able to make it back on a different day.” Amanda dropped her head miserably back down into her folded arms. “I knew this whole thing was too good to be true!” She sucked in a breath.
Karina stroked the back of her friend's hair and said soothingly, “This is really horrible, Mand. I understand why you're upset. But I think you're jumping to the wrong conclusion when you say that there's no way we could put together a wedding in two days. I absolutely think that we can.”
Amanda lifted her head, her face displaying cautious hope. She said carefully, “Really? You're not just saying that to make me feel better?” Then Amanda shook her head, a small and rueful smile playing on her lips. “No, what am I thinking? You are the least likely person to say something that's not true simply for the sake of making someone feel better.” She sniffed as cautious resolve played across her face. “If you say that you honestly think we can put together a wedding from scratch in two days, then I believe you. Is that what you're saying?”
Karina nodded emphatically. “Absolutely. I mean, it's not going to be easy, and it may not be exactly the dream ceremony that you pictured, but between you, me, Sam, Lauren, Nikki, and Amy—and all of the guys—we have plenty of manpower to complete any and all tasks that might need to be done.”
“It’s not going to be simple. There are probably going to be a hell of a lot of bumps in the road, and we're probably going to have to work day and night from now until the moment you say I do, but it can be done. And moreover, we are going to do it. I promise you, Amanda. I'm giving you my word. And if there's one thing you know about me, it's that when I give my word about something, I make sure it happens.”
“Okay, I believe you. All that matters is becoming Mrs. Justin Barnes. I’ll deal with the rest of it later.” Amanda nodded, a new fire of determination lighting her eyes. “This is definitely going to happen! So what's the first step?”
Karina nodded, the wheels beginning to turn in her mind, “Well, I have to say, not to disparage your abilities or even my own, but the first person we are going to have to get involved in the process is…”
“Lauren!” The two women finished the sentence together, nodding in agreement. Lauren was more detail-oriented than anyone they had ever met, and on top of that, she had leadership skills to spare. Yes, Karina determined, if this crazy plan was going to come off without a hitch, Lauren was going to have to be the one to spearhead the planning and execution.
“All right,” Karina said with determination, “the first step is a planning meeting ASAP. You don't need to worry about getting in touch with anyone. I will do all of that. Just go home and relax. We'll be there as soon as I can round up the girls. Probably in an hour. Maybe take a hot bath. Just focus on calming yourself down and getting over the shock of that phone call. That's all you need to worry about right now. I'm taking care of everything else.”
Amanda smiled gratefully, “Okay, that sounds awesome. Let me go talk to Justin to make sure he’s on board.” She reached over and threw her arms around Karina’s neck, giving her a quick hug before grabbing her purse and standing. “Thank you so much, Karina. Is there anything I should have prepared for the meeting though, so we don’t waste time?”
Karina grinned broadly. “Wine. And plenty of it.”
Chapter Three
The Decision
Justin
The second Amanda stepped through the front door, Justin wrapped his arms around her tightly. He heard her let out a huge sigh. He did the same. Nothing felt quite so right as having Amanda in his arms.
Teddy rushed to be in the middle of them, but Justin firmly told him to lie down. He also sighed dramatically as he flopped beside their legs.
Pulling Amanda tighter as his arms ran up and down her back, he asked in a low, soothing tone, “How ya doin’?”
“Okay,” she answered weakly.
He felt his body tense slightly at her small, sad voice. He took a deep breath. “I can't believe they called you first. When Jenna's office called to tell me what was up, that she had stolen all of the money and blown out of town, the very first thing I said to them was not to bother you with it, that I would fill you in myself. But they said that they already talked to you. I couldn't believe it.”
“It's okay, Justin,” Amanda reassured him. “Thank goodness I was with Karina when the phone call came in. Otherwise, I don't know how I would've taken it.”
Justin drew back from her and smiled a little. “You're right. She probably is the perfect person to be with when you get news like this. I’m sure she treated it with just the right amount of pragmatism and dry humor, and she probably didn’t give you even one second to panic.”
“Yep,” Amanda replied, a smile growing on her lips. “That's exactly what she did. I am so glad that she was there”—she scrunched her nose—“even if she didn’t let me have the nervous breakdown I deserved.”
Justin was amazed at how well Amanda seemed to be taking all of this, but he didn’t want her to feel like she had to be strong—not with him anyway. “You know you don't have to put on a brave front for me, baby. This is really upsetting. If you want to lose it, you know I'm here for you. You can cry, you can scream, you can throw things—nothing you say or do is gonna faze me.”
A smile spread across her gorgeous face, and the sick feeling he had had in his stomach since he got “the call” eased a little. She laid her head against his chest as she said, “You don't know how much that means to me. But honestly, Karina got me over that phase pretty quickly. The truth is, as upset as I may be about this, we honestly don't have time to lose our cool over it. None of us do. There's just too much work to be done. And also, I would be having a worse time of things if I did not fully believe that we could manage to get together a beautiful wedding in the time we have left. I know that sounds like a pipe dream when you first say it—a gorgeous wedding in two days—but Karina thinks it’s possible and I’ve just decided to run with that.”
“I'm really glad, baby,” Justin said, letting out a sigh of relief, “and I agree with Karina, one hundred percent. We absolutely can do this thing. But the truth is, it doesn't even matter how elaborate this whole thing is. I don't care if it's just you and me and the birds in the trees. As long as you're there, I'm there, we love each other, and the whole event is about you becoming my wife and me becoming your husband, that's all that is important. Nothing else matters except for you and me.”
Amanda stood on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around Justin's neck, squeezing tightly. He heard her voice shake a little as she said, “God, I love you even more than usual—if that’s possible. You are amazing, focusing on what is important in life and helping me to do the same. And you're absolutely right, Justin,” Amanda said, drawing her head back and giving him a quick kiss. Then her voice took on a teasing tone as she continued. “Still. All of that is well and good. But when we're declaring our love for each other in front of the forest and the birds and all of that, call me shallow, but I'd still like to at least be wearing a beautiful, knock-your-socks-off wedding dress.”
“And you will be,” came a brisk and businesslike
voice from the doorway. Amanda turned her head and saw Lauren standing on the porch along with Karina and Sam.
Amanda laughed as she stepped out of Justin’s embrace. “Wow, you ladies are fast! And you chose the perfect moment to make a snappy entrance as well.”
Karina grinned sardonically as she walked into the house and plopped down on the couch. “Well done, Lauren. Hey, you know my motto: if you can't make an entrance that involves a smartass comment, you may as well stay at home. But snappy works too.”
“I've never heard you say that even once. How can that be your motto?” Sam asked, smiling affectionately.
“It's my newly adopted motto. Doesn't make it any less valid,” Karina insisted, still wearing her sideways grin.
Amanda laughed as she leaned against Justin. Wrapping his arms around her, he realized that all the tension he had felt in her earlier was gone.
The cavalry was here. They would be able to plan the wedding—in two days.
Thank God for her friends.
Chapter Four
The Plan
Lauren
Lauren entered the room, clipboard in hand, and moved to sit on the edge of one of the easy chairs. While she did, of course, appreciate all of her friends' impulses to break the tension with jokes, she also knew that it was going to be her responsibility to get them all settled down and ready to work. If she didn't do it, then no one would.
“All right then,” she began, making sure to inject just the right mixture of authority and softness into her tone, “we have a lot of work to do and we should really get started.”
“Not before we are properly lubricated!” Sam exclaimed, walking over to the side table that served as a bar and pouring drinks for each of them, which she then distributed.
Lauren smiled. As much as she wanted the group to buckle down and get to planning, she could see as well as anyone when the occasion called for a social cocktail—and this one most certainly did.
One Sweet Day (A Happily Ever After Novella) Hope Falls Edition Page 2