by Peggy Dulle
“Fuck a duck,” I said, putting my head on the steering wheel. How would I explain to my insurance agent that I put another car in the ditch? This was the third one and they would definitely cancel my insurance now.
“Are you all right, Liza?” Savanah asked.
“I’m fine, how about you?”
“I’m okay.”
I heard the sirens and didn’t even have to look it up on the CHP app.
A highway patrol car pulled in behind us. A skinny officer, fully loaded with a utility belt that looked heavier than he did, strolled up to the Jeep.
“What happened, ladies?” he asked.
Stupid question, but I didn’t say that. “Some idiot tried to pull out from over there,” I pointed to the side street, “misjudged my speed and his, slammed on his brakes, smashed into us and we slid into the ditch. And then he took off like a bat out of hell.”
“What kind of car?”
“Black sedan coming fast at me. That’s about all I saw.”
“What about you, ma‘am, did you get a license plate or something?”
“I was too busy screaming,” Savanah said.
“You want me to call a tow truck?”
“This Jeep has four-wheel drive, do you think I could just drive out of the ditch?”
“Maybe,” he shrugged.
“I think I’ll give it a try.” I looked over at Savanah. “You game?”
“Give it some gas, Liza.”
I eased on the gas; the tires spun and threw rocks all over the highway patrol car.
The officer waved his hands and screamed, “Stop!”
I pulled my foot from the accelerator. All that effort and the Jeep only moved a few inches.
“Move your car,” I told him.
“No, let me call a tow truck.”
“I’ve got a wedding to plan and I don’t have time to wait for a tow truck. Move your car.”
“Who’s paying for the damage to my patrol car?”
I opened my purse, handed him Tom’s business card and said, “Call him and move your car.”
Tom had said to give out his card anytime I was in trouble or needed his help. I hope this qualified.
The officer read the name on the card and moved his car a hundred or so feet ahead of mine. I eased on the gas again – rocks and dirt went flying but fifty feet later I was out of the ditch.
“Yes!” Savanah yelled and clapped.
I bowed my head at her and got out to see the damage to the Jeep. There was barely a scratch on her. I liked this new car.
The highway patrol officer came over and handed me his cell phone.
“What?”
“Chief Owens would like to talk to you.”
“Hello, Tom,” I said.
“Now, you use my card. You couldn’t use it when you were arrested or hurt so bad you could barely move, but you’ll use it now when I have to deal with insurance paperwork to fix this cop’s car.”
“I was in a ditch.”
“Wait a minute. How did you get in the ditch?”
“Some idiot turned into me and drove me off the road.”
“Hand the cop the phone,” Tom growled.
I smiled and handed it back to the officer. He flinched. I could hear Tom yelling from a few feet away.
When I walked back to the Jeep, Savanah was smiling. “I haven’t had this much fun in months. I really like you, Liza, and being around you is a blast.”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself,” I told her.
The cop came over and asked, “Is there anything else you need, Miss Wilcox?”
“No, we’re fine.”
“I’m glad to be of service to you.” And he got back into his car and quickly left.
My phone rang and I picked it up.
“Did you yell at that poor officer?” I asked Tom.
“Idiot. He told me you spun your tires and hit his car with some rocks. He failed to tell me you were in a ditch at the time. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“How’s the Jeep?”
“Surprisingly, it’s fine, too.”
“It was a good choice for you. Why are you in Oakdale?”
“One of the places Savanah and I are looking at today for the wedding is in Oakdale.”
“It’s a nice town. Good people and great rodeo.”
“Did you win when you were here?” I asked.
“Yep, took home the top prize both times.” I didn’t have to see Tom to know he was smiling, clearly proud of his accomplishment.
“That’s my little bull rider,” I cooed at him. Actually, Tom was the PBR Bull Riding Champion two years in a row and made quite a bit of money, too. He had paid cash for his beautiful home in Gainesville and then extensively remodeled it. I had helped by painting every room.
“Have fun looking at places for the wedding. Send me some pictures, so I can feel involved, too.”
I thought about the fact that for a man who said he didn’t care and didn’t have any opinion – he had a lot of them. But I said, “Okay,” and left it at that.
As Savanah and I got back into the Jeep, I said. “It’s a nice day, how about taking off the soft top and enjoying the wind and the weather.”
“I’m game,” Savanah said.
We got out and unsnapped the top, then pulled it back and snapped it back in place. Then we drove into Oakdale. We checked out the wedding place. It was rustic and had a cowboy charm to it that I thought Tom would like. I sent him several pictures of the inside reception room and the outside small garden area where the ceremony would be.
He responded with, “That place is great. I really like it.”
Next we drove from Oakdale through Riverbank and Modesto. We were on mostly farm roads or city streets with stoplights, so we were able to keep an easy conversation going.
Savanah and I had lots in common. She liked to cruise, so we talked a lot about that. I left out the part about someone trying to kill all my parents’ cruising friends and me on the one Tom and I went on. Her favorite thing to do was go to High Tea and I really enjoyed that as well.
“I love those little tiny sandwiches and desserts.” Savanah pushed her hair behind her ears.
“Me, too. And how many actual calories could be in something so small?” I did the same with my hair. I needed to put a hat in the jeep to wear or at least have some rubber bands, my hair was flying all over the place.
As if she knew what I was thinking, Savanah dug into her purse and handed me a rubber band. “We better put these on at the next stop light. When we get on the freeway, both of us will be blind from the flying hair.”
I laughed and took the rubber band. At the next light, we both tied our hair back.
We left the city streets and got on the freeway for the last few miles to the wedding place in Ceres. A few times I thought I spotted that same black sedan, but that would be ridiculous and besides, there were a lot of black sedans on the road.
We got off the freeway, drove down a few roads, then turned into a residential neighborhood.
“The wedding place is in here?” I asked, now that we were off the freeway and conversation was possible.
“Yes, it’s nestled back in those trees.” She pointed to a spot on the left.
We came to a tall white iron gate. Savanah jumped out and pushed the bottom.
“Hello?” a woman’s voice answered.
“This is Ms. Wooding and a client. We have an appointment with Amelia.”
“That’s me, I’ll open the gate. Come on in.”
We drove down a well-maintained road with beautiful flowers on both sides. It was gorgeous. On the left side was a huge grassy area with a large rectangular fountain. To the right was another huge area and a white house.
A short Spanish woman met us by the house. Her face was lit with a smile that went all the way to her eyes.
“Welcome to the Gardens,” she said by way of greeting.
Savanah and I got out and shook the
woman’s hand.
“Let me give you a tour,” she said. “You’ll have to use your imagination, can you do that?”
“I’m a kindergarten teacher; I’ve got lots of imagination.”
“That’s great, because I will tell you what it looks like when it’s fully decorated and then I’ll show you pictures. Let’s see how good I do telling you and how well you do imagining it.”
We walked over to the large grassy area with a fountain. “Here is where we put up the round tables with chairs, your choice of linens, silverware, glasses, and center pieces. I have both white and black chairs. To the left of the fountain, we set up the buffet tables or it will be the food staging area if you want your guests served. On the right is the head table – it will be rectangular and then in the center is the dance floor. That isn’t any different than you’re going to find anywhere else at an outside wedding, except for maybe the fountain. What makes this unique is that overhead, we will hang twinkling lights and white round paper hanging lights. It is beautiful and lends that under-the-twinkling-stars element to your wedding reception. What time will your wedding be?”
“I was thinking around five?” I suggested.
“Oh, that will be perfect. You’ll be married, have appetizers and your reception meal will be as the sun is setting, and then the reception will be under the twinkling lights.”
I could visualize it and it was gorgeous. There was a touch of elegance here that I didn’t think could be achieved at the place in Oakdale.
“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about the rain in July but if we were concerned about the weather, we can put a white tent over this entire area. We also have an additional area that we set up for the appetizers after the wedding and before the reception. It is always under a white canopy tent. It’s too close to the houses and your guests don’t want to see my little house or the neighbors’ houses.”
She took us around the front of the house to another grassy area to the left.
“We’ll set up high tables here where people can stand to eat their appetizers and get a drink.”
“Where does the wedding take places?” Savanah asked, echoing my own thoughts.
“It is on the other side of the house. Let me show you. The white arbor is already there but we will decorate it with your flowers, plus chairs on either side for your guests and a white runway for the bride and attendants to walk down.”
The arbor stood in front of several beautiful trees. The whole place made you feel as if you were in a garden. It was magical. I knew my choice. Now I just had to convince Tom. He didn’t quite have the imagination that I did, and the rustic feel of the place in Oakdale would appeal to him more than the garden-like setting here.
Savanah shook hands with the lady and said, “Let me confer with my client in private for a few minutes.”
Before I could speak, Savanah said, “Tom would prefer the other place, but I saw the way your eyes lit up as your imagination went wild on this place. Before you put down the deposit, think about July in Ceres, it may be hot and with all these plants, there could be bugs.”
“You think the other place is better?” I asked.
“No, just different. This place has all the trappings for a fairy-tale wedding. They even have a man who pulls a white Cinderella-like carriage. After the ceremony and your guests are settled into their seats for the reception, he’ll bring you in.”
“Another plus,” I told her.
“What about the price?”
“It’s reasonable. We can spend less if we go with a buffet rather than serving your guests. Amelia’s family does all the catering, flowers, and cake. Their prices are sensible, as long as you don’t want filet mignon as an entrée.”
“Tom’s only request is that we have enough food. He didn’t care what we ate.”
“Like he didn’t care about the invitations?” Savanah asked.
“Yeah, there is that,” I agreed with her.
“Okay, I think you’ve decided, you think you should call him?” Savanah.
I rolled my eyes and said, “Okay. Why do you have to be so practical?”
“I’ve seen major fights every step of the way in a wedding. Feelings get hurt and bent out of shape quickly. Some people, who didn’t have an opinion, suddenly are dead set against some things. It’s best to try to smooth things along the way.”
“Okay, you know best.”
She patted my arm and said, “I always have. I’ll go and talk to Amelia and get prices and some other information I think we need, especially about the rehearsal. We need to know when it will be. If she’s got a wedding on Friday night, it will be earlier in the week.”
I totally hadn’t thought about the rehearsal. Thank God for Savanah. I went over to a bench in front of the house, and dialed Tom.
“How’s the other place?” Tom said.
“Very different than the last. Tell me what you liked about the place in Oakdale.”
“Okay, that means you like this place better and you don’t think I will.”
“You know me so well.”
“Honey, I’d married you naked on the beach, as long as the ceremony actually happens and you marry me.”
“Wait a minute. I thought at first that was a really nice thing you were going to say but do you think I’ll back out?”
“Not intentionally, but things happen when you and I are together. Wait, I’ll amend that – things happen even when you are by yourself. Fate sometimes has different ideas than we do.”
“I suppose,” I said, thinking back on Tom’s and my time together. A lot had happened: two car crashes, drugged by clowns, attacked by dogs, fallen into an abandoned mine, almost falling into a large sink hole, had a gun pointed at me several times, and almost exploded by a bomb.
“My idea would be for you and me to go down to the courthouse, not tell anyone, and get married before fate could find us, but I know you have your heart set on a wedding.”
“I do,” I said.
“I love hearing you say those words,” Tom laughed, then added. “In just a few words, describe the last place to me and then do the same thing for this place. Don’t think about what I would like, think about yourself for once.”
“The last place was rustic, like a cowboy and the garden areas were quaint and beautiful. This place is magic,” I sighed.
“Go with the magic,” Tom said.
“Thank you,” I told him. “Since I picked the place, you pick the food.”
“That’s fair since I know you have some of your own opinions about food. Of course, I doubt they’ll do take-out for your guests.”
I laughed. “Maybe Chinese food?”
“No. How about a meat dish and chicken dish? No fish and no fancy food. I want real food.”
Savanah came around the corner and handed me a menu. “Tell Tom he can pick out the food and drinks to taste since you chose the place.”
I laughed and nodded. “Okay, Tom, you need to pick out several dishes and then the week before the wedding we’ll come taste them and make our final decision. Here are your choices.” I read him the list. There were twenty-five chicken choices, eleven meat choices and over fifty choices for appetizers.
“Wow,” Tom said. “That’s too many choices. Just pick two chicken and two beef, Liza. I can’t decide.”
“Are you sure?” I asked him. “You’re the chef in this couple.”
“Yeah, but without tasting them all, I wouldn’t be able to decide. You can’t know how good something is unless you taste them.
“We’ll get to taste them the week before the wedding, with other couples deciding on their menus.”
“Perfect just choose a bunch and when we taste them, I can decide.”
“Any allergies in your family?”
“No, my family can eat anything and everything.”
“I can’t wait to meet your family. You’ve already met all of mine.”
“Mine’s a barrel of monkeys and I mean that literally. My Aunt
Charlotte raises and trains monkeys for the movies and circuses.”
I laughed.
Savanah came around the corner and said, “We’ve got some picking to do, Liza. Did Tom pick the food?”
“He can’t decide, there are too many choices.”
“We’ll decide for him, then.” She pointed to the phone. “Say goodbye, we’ve got work to do.”
“I’ve got to go, Tom.”
“Happy wedding planning, Liza.”
“I love you, Tom.” I told him.
“I never get tired of hearing those three words. I love you, Liza. Have fun.”
I went inside and Amelia showed me several books of colored material. We spent the next two hours picking tablecloths, covers for the chairs, napkins, menu cards to tuck into the napkins, napkin rings, silverware, and stemware.
“We can get the menu and place cards etched with the two hearts on the top and the table numbers printed at the same time they do your invitations so they’ll match. You’ll have to make a guest list, assign tables and write their names on the place cards later. When you and Tom have tasted the food and decided on the menu, we’ll add that information to the menu cards,” Savanah said.
“During the appetizers, we’ll have people serving them and a couple of people helping people find their tables and their seats,” Amelia added.
“Can’t people just go and sit where they want?” I asked.
Both Savanah and Amelia looked at me as if I had lost my mind.
Savanah patted my hand. “If you do that, Liza, then you’ll end up with families that have to separate because there aren’t enough seats at a table for them. I’ve even seen it where the immediate family of the bride and groom didn’t have seats because they stayed with the bride and groom for pictures and by the time they got to the reception, there weren’t any seats for them.”
I shook my head. “This is so much more complicated than I ever thought it was.”
Savanah smiled. “That’s why you have me. Oh, and Amelia does have a wedding on Friday, but it’s not until seven o’clock, we can do the rehearsal around two in the afternoon. Will that work for you, Liza?”
“I’m sure that’s fine,” I told her.
Savanah and Amelia started scouring through another catalogue, looking at wedding favors. I just sat back and let them pick five and then show them to me. I was starting to glass over – we had made so many decisions already today.