Save The Date

by K. S. Thomas

  First chance I got, I ditched the big box and, with no other alternative, ate the last piece of cake with my hands as I walked along the empty sidewalks.

  I was almost back to my place when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.

  “Hey Ma.”

  “Movie night over already?” I could hear jazz playing softly in the background. In all likelihood my mother was sitting curled up on her chaise lounge, sipping a nice Shiraz and reading the newest Nora Roberts novel.

  “Yeah, got booted out early since Kyle’s not my biggest fan right now.”

  “I see. Well, I’m calling because I have some news. Your cousin is getting married.”

  I shoved the leftover paper wrapper from my cake sample into my purse and nodded at Sam the doorman as I walked into my building. “Which cousin, Ma? You’ll have to be a little more specific.”

  She laughed. “Sorry. It’s Savannah.”

  “Um…who is she again?” Horrible, I know. But I hadn’t seen any of them in nearly two decades.

  “You remember Savannah. She’s just a couple years older than you. Spencer’s sister.”

  Spencer. Emerson.

  “Oh okay, now I know.” She and I had been closest in age. She’d be twenty-five now. I guess it wasn’t a real big shocker she was getting married. Although, I couldn’t recall ever getting a call to notify me of any of my other cousins’ nuptials. I seriously doubted they were all still single. So, what was making Savannah’s engagement so much more newsworthy?

  “They’ve asked us to plan the wedding.”

  Ah. Now I understood. “Sounds like fun. When is it?” I was just turning the final corner in the hall toward my apartment.

  “In two weeks.”

  My hand froze just as I was about to put my key into the lock. “I’m sorry, what now?”

  “The wedding is in two weeks. Which means, we have no time to waste. I’ve already booked you a flight. You leave first thing in the morning.”

  “What are you talking about? She doesn’t need us to plan a two week wedding. She needs David’s Bridal and Party City. And why am I the only one with a flight?”

  “Because I can get started from here, but you can’t. Besides, someone needs to go into the office tomorrow to make all of the necessary arrangements for our business to survive while we leave town for a while.”

  I regained enough self-awareness again to successfully unlock my door and go inside. Shaking my head as I went through the motions of dropping my keys in the basket in the hall, and flipping on the lights as I made my way to the kitchen for a bottle of water, I went on, “I still don’t understand what the urgent urgency is here. I mean, even if she’s pregnant, we’re talking like a three month window to put together a hidden belly celebration.”

  “Savannah isn’t pregnant. The reason it’s so last minute is because their original wedding planner up and ran out of town with the groom-to-be set to marry one of her other clients. As it turns out, the affair had been keeping her pretty occupied. So much so that she dropped the ball on several other weddings. Savannah’s included.”

  “Oh. How very Young and the Restless they are down in Kentucky. I’m not gonna lie. I’m a little scared to go down there now. Who knows what kind of scandal I might find myself in!?”

  “Calista don’t be ridiculous. It’s the south. It’s not a soap opera.” There was a clinking sound as the wine bottle hit the rim of her glass mid-refill. Apparently, I was driving my mother to drink. “Look, I know you’ve never had the chance to be very close to your family, and that’s my fault, but Savannah is your cousin and invitations were sent out weeks ago. We can do this for her.”

  I sighed. “What time?”

  “The car will be there at six in the morning. I trust Tyler is still a goner and you will be on time?”

  “With bells on.” I twirled my finger in midair even though no one was around to appreciate the sarcastic gesture.

  “Perfect. Well, I’ll let you go then. You’ve got some packing to do.”

  “Night, Ma.”

  “Good night, Cal.”

  “What’s up, Spence?” I opened one eye to check the clock. It was almost three a.m. One day Spencer would realize that I got up every day at the crack of dawn, and therefore was generally asleep during the hours he deemed best to call me.

  “Just talked to Savannah for like two hours. If ever there had been a time to wish the ER got hit with a massive car wreck. Or a gang shoot out, or something. Shit. There was nothing. Not so much as a fucking hang nail walked in the doors. So I was stuck listening to her about some drama with her wedding planner. She was so fucking hysterical the whole time I only understood about half of it. Any idea what that was about?”

  I reached out and fumbled around on my nightstand until I found the light switch. Then, blinded by the sudden light, I pulled myself up into a sitting position, realizing this might take a while.

  “Listen, Spence. Before we go any further, you do realize that it’s the middle of the night and unlike you, the med school survivor who learned to exist without the time for sleep, I actually require a little shut eye every now and then. I know I don’t have to operate on anyone when I go to work in the morning, but I think we can both agree it would be detrimental to my physical well-being if I fell asleep on the job.” I took a moment to see if he would answer.

  “Shit, sorry man. It’s like a Las Vegas casino up in here. I never know what fucking time it is anymore.”

  “No worries. Anyway, back to Savannah. She’s got her panties all in a wad because there’s some rumors flying around town about her wedding planner being involved in some sort of scandal. And that’s not all. Apparently, she’s closed up shop. As of this moment, there’s no wedding.”

  I could hear Spence coughing. Probably choking on whatever energy drink he was chugging down. “What do you mean there’s no wedding? I got my invite weeks ago. I had to jump through hoops to get it off.”

  “Yeah, and I’m sure those are all really valid concerns, but I wouldn’t mention them to your sister anytime soon since she’s on the verge of having what was supposed to be the most important day of her life, blow up in smoke.” I pulled back the covers and let my feet drop to the floor. There’d be no point in going back to sleep after this conversation.

  “You said on the verge. So there’s still hope?” There was more noise on Spencer’s end. Rustling sounds. Probably a bag of Doritos or something. For a doctor he had an almost embarrassing diet.

  “I guess. Your grandmother’s supposed to call your Aunt Sophie. See if there’s anything she can do. I mean, she’s like the fairy Godmother of weddings, right? So, I’m sure it will all work out…in the end. We’ll all just need to wear ear plugs to drown out Savannah’s screeching in the meantime. And we probably shouldn’t be too surprised if random dogs start followin’ her around. They’ll be pickin’ up on that high pitch of hers.”

  Spencer laughed. “I’ll be sure to point that out to her next time I talk to her.”

  “Please do.”

  I hung up and headed for the shower. There was bound to be something to do back at work.

  Chapter 3

  Trying to pack for Kentucky had been an absolute nightmare. I must have packed and unpacked and then re-packed my bags at least five times. Every time I thought I had the perfect combination of work attire and Ashcraft Farm attire, I’d second guess myself and start over. And rightfully so. Not only did I not have a clue what farm attire might consist of, I was also quite certain that I didn’t actually have any articles of clothing suitable of that description in my wardrobe.

  I was about to say fuck it, when I remembered that Kentucky was likely experiencing some warmer conditions than we were this time of year. One quick Google search later and the weather site had confirmed my suspicions. That’s how round number five of the packing game came to be.

  By the time I was finally finished, attempting to go to sleep seemed pretty pointless. So, I pulled the trusty laptop back o
ut of its travel case and began to cyber-stalk my mother’s side of the family. It was research for work of course. Finding some current pictures of Savannah would mean being able to mentally start preparing for the type of dress she might want. Naturally, body shape and overall look played a large part in coming up with the right design.

  An hour and a half of scouring through Facebook and clicking on every name that ended in Ashcraft later, and it was finally time for me to wander downstairs to the lobby where Sam was already waiting to take my bags and load them into the car my mother had sent for me.

  It was lunchtime when I landed in Lexington and I was starving. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until I was walking out through the arrival gate that I realized my mother hadn’t expounded on what I would be doing once I arrived.

  Was someone meeting me? Was I supposed to take a cab? If so…would they know where to go if I just said ‘to Ashcraft Farms, please’? I was in the process of speed texting my mother in a low blood sugar induced mania, when I heard it.

  “Sweet baby Jesus, there she is. Oh lord, would you look at her? All grown up and lookin’ just like her Mama. Can you believe it?” Noonie Skeeter. Also known as my grandmother.

  Given that half of her statements had been formed as questions, I looked up expecting to see Poppy with her. He however, was nowhere to be found. Neither was anyone else. Noonie Skeeter was all on her own and running over toward me as fast as she could, her arms flying at me and ready to rope me in.

  With both arms pinned down at my sides and my face being smothered in kisses which were likely leaving behind thick traces of my grandmother’s bright coral colored lipstick, I stood there helplessly waiting for the flood of love coming at me to subside.

  “Hi Noonie.”

  “Oh, baby, it’s so good to see you! And in just one more day, your Mama will be here too and I’ll have all my babies in the same place again. Lord, does it get any better than that?”

  She glanced up, quite literally asking the big guy upstairs. Caught up in the moment, I waited, compelled to hear him answer. And he might have, although I hadn’t heard him. Noonie Skeeter seemed to have been satisfied with the response though as she happily hooked her arm into mine and began walking me through the airport toward the baggage claim area, all the while, chatting about a gazillion different things pertaining to a slew of people I couldn’t even begin to place.

  Twenty minutes later and I was sitting in the cab of her massive Dodge Ram and holding on for dear life as she zipped in and out of traffic as though she were driving something the size of a mini cooper. Suddenly, not having eaten lunch yet had worked out in my favor. Or, in Noonie’s favor, depending on how you looked at it.

  I did my best to keep up with the conversation, but mostly all I could do was stay on top of my nodding and insert polite laughter whenever there was an awkward pause that deemed it necessary. Then, before I knew it, we were pulling in through the huge wrought iron gates.

  I remembered the first time I’d ever seen them. It had been the same summer I’d been to the lake house. At six, the gates had seemed massive. Hell, at twenty-three they weren’t much smaller.

  Whatever preconceived notions I’d had about the family farm had been wiped away with the wind that came whistling down over the endless rolling hills of green pastures that made up Ashcraft Farms.

  See, the name ‘farm’, while perhaps appropriate in the state of Kentucky, was more than just a little misleading to a young girl from the city. Where I had foolishly believed that my grandparents owned a place chockfull of chickens and cows and everything in between, their farm was actually less of a farm- farm and more of a multi-million dollar race horse breeding and training facility. Easy mistake to make, of course.

  The last time I’d been back to Ashcraft Farms had been nine years ago, the Christmas after my parents divorced. I think my mother had needed an escape at the time, and Kentucky certainly made it easy to disappear. No one from Manhattan would have a snowball’s chance in hell of finding anyone there. Not with all the open spaces to get distracted by. And God forbid if they stopped to ask anyone for directions. It’d be like watching two aliens from opposite galaxies attempt to have a conversation.

  As far as I could tell, not much had changed since I’d been fourteen. Which was comforting in its own way. At least while feeling out of place, I’d still have a vague sense of being somewhere slightly familiar.

  Once we made our way up the long winding driveway to the house, Noonie Skeeter parked the truck and we got out. Three big dogs came running over to greet us. They were definitely new. There’d been dogs last time, too, but they’d been smaller with slick hair. These reminded me of bear cubs with their bushy fur and stubby tails.

  Noonie took the time to greet each and every one of them while also introducing them to me.

  “The two black ones are ours – Spot and Bubba – I know,” she shook her head and rolled her eyes back into her head, “Poppy named them.” Then she pointed over at the third one, a ball of brown and tan fur. “That one there’s named Reesie, on account of her lookin’ like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. She belongs to one of our trainers. She’s sweet as can be and here just about every day.”

  I nodded, making a mental note of all their names. “Got it.” Then, I followed her up the steps of the front porch and into the house. Well, mansion was more like it. Or was it considered an estate? Beats me. Either way, the place was huge. So, huge I couldn’t help but think one of those ‘you are here’ maps would’ve come in handy on every floor. And there were three.

  We ran into Pattie, the housekeeper, who greeted me with a warm hug like any surrogate grandmother would, just outside of the kitchen. We didn’t find Poppy until after we went up a flight of stairs and wandered into his study.

  “Well, hello there darlin’! Ain’t you a sight for sore eyes.” He came out from behind his desk and squeezed me tight.

  “It’s good to see you guys. It’s been a while.” God, how lame. But what did I say? Sorry, I suck as a granddaughter? I blame my mother? If it helps, I hardly see the Luvalle side either and they just live three short blocks from me? That last one might have actually not been half bad. Although, it did sort of reiterate the point of the first one, and I didn’t come off too well in that excuse.

  “A long, long while.” Poppy stepped back and gave me the standard once over every older relative seemed to give, assessing the progress I’d made in growing up since they’d last seen me.

  “Now, I know you’re here to help Savannah with her weddin’, but I don’t want you to be all caught up in work the whole time, ya hear? I understand you city folk enjoy a high paced lifestyle, but while you’re here, I want you to slow it down a bit. Take some time to enjoy and relax.”

  Clearly Poppy had never planned a wedding. With a preparation time of two weeks, there would be no such thing as enjoying or relaxing. There would hardly be eating and sleeping.

  “Alright, Poppy.” I smiled my best polite smile. “Speaking of the wedding, is Savannah around? I really need to sit down with her so we can get some dress ideas going.”

  “Savannah will be by later this afternoon. In the meantime, how about we get you settled in?” Noonie was already taking my arm and leading me from the study and down the hall.

  At the very end, she opened a door revealing a gorgeous guest suite fully equipped with everything a girl could need to survive, including a gigantic tub with whirlpool jets sitting right there in the bedroom beside the fireplace.

  “Wow. I didn’t stay in this room last time I was here,” I mumbled as I went to set down my purse beside the rest of my luggage which had magically already arrived at the room. Well, Pattie-ly was probably more like it.

  “You were quite a lot younger last time you were here. This is a big girl room.” Noonie Skeeter winked as she walked out and closed the door behind her.

  Already feeling like I might melt if I didn’t shed some of my layers, after only having been in the southern sun for mer
e minutes out in the driveway, I went straight for my suitcase and opened it up. Normally I loved my clothes. And I mean, looooved them. Today, I hated every single item I owned for its impracticality. Sure, back home my wardrobe was useful, but here I hardly had use for any of my high fashion items, and would likely destroy them if I even ventured outside of a three foot radius surrounding the house.

  This left me with a collection of well-worn jeans and my underwear. Not exactly ideal either. Oh well, first things first. I slid my feet from of my crème colored pumps and stripped out of my jasmine sleeveless crepe cady and lace jumpsuit, along with the matching straight leg trousers. Instantly, I felt better.

  I pulled several dresses from my suitcase and laid them out across the bed where I stared each of them down for a long time until deciding that not a one would work. Not for now anyway. I went ahead and took the rose colored, short and flared organza dress with the embroidered flower details on the front, and hung it on the bathroom door for later. It would work nicely for sitting down with Savannah once she showed up to talk wedding plans. In the meantime, I had some time to kill, and the stables were pulling at me to come and see the spring foals. Given my limited visits, I’d never been here at the right time of year before to see them for myself, but even in my mother’s random stories of the past, she’d mentioned the foals on more than one occasion and I was eager to have a peek at them myself.

  It pained me to do it, but I finally admitted defeat and resorted to ripping apart one of my less favorite blouses until I was left with something that almost resembled a tank top. At last I had something to pair with my jeans. While I was at it, I went ahead and had a rip at them as well, quickly turning them into a cute pair of cut offs.

  This of course still left me with bare feet. Since there was no way I’d be wearing any of my shoes into the barn, I wandered out into the hall in search of Noonie Skeeter.