Wedding Haters (Event to Remember Series-Book 2) (15 page)

As Grandmother and I are leaving, she gives
me a hug, a different kind of hug than usual. It wasn’t rushed or
cold. “I hope you girls can work things out. It may seem like they
don’t care about you. But they do.”

There are so many things I could say to this
comment, but it’s probably best to keep my big mouth shut. I’ve
said more than enough for one night (or for one lifetime).

Chapter 11

A few days later, Sienna, Abby, Craig, and I
are on our way to Palm Springs for a spa day/night. Craig totally
crashed our trip, but I didn’t have the heart to tell him no. Since
my conversation with my grandmother, I feel like a different
person. I feel like me again, well, like me from before my wedding
planning. The other day I asked Sienna and Craig if they thought I
had become a bridezilla. They looked at each other and busted out
laughing. Clearly, they thought that was funny. When I told them I
hated them, they laughed even harder.

I can’t believe this is it, my last weekend
as a single woman. Well, technically I haven’t been single for a
few years, so that’s probably not accurate. That really doesn’t
make sense when people say that because, obviously, if they’ve been
engaged they aren’t single but whatever.

We are on the road to Palm Springs, and
Sienna and Craig are eating some of my cookies that I brought for
the trip. (Not me, of course.)

“Hey, Madie, do you remember our last road
trip to Palm Springs?” Craig says before he takes a bite of his
twentieth cookie. (I would like to say I’m exaggerating, but I
don’t think I am.)

“Really, Craig?” I punch his arm. Our last
trip was pretty eventful, at least for Sienna that is. That trip
was the beginning of the end for her and Luke. We saw him there
when he was supposedly out of town working.

“Madie, don’t worry about it,” she says from
the driver’s seat. “It was the best thing that could have happened.
Who knows where I would be right now.”

“Yeah, we could still be working for Carrie
right now, and you could still be with Luke.” He makes a face.

Sienna doesn’t say anything. She just keeps a
steady gaze on the road. Abby is busy texting Matt because this is
her first time away from baby Ace, and she’s obsessing over it.

“Aw, look at this picture of baby Ace.” Matt
must have just texted her. “I miss my baby so much.” She looks like
she could burst into tears at any second. I hope she snaps out of
it, at least for today.

“OMG! I totally forgot to tell you that I saw
Carrie at The Ivy last weekend. She pretended she didn’t see me,
but I know she did,” Craig says as he folds his arms. “She’s had
more work done.”

That’s crazy because that woman has had so
much plastic surgery that nothing on her is real anymore. She could
totally go on Jerry Springer or Dr. Phil or whatever trashy talk
show people are watching these days.

“Who was she with?” Sienna asks. I know what
she meant, as in, was she with Luke? Although, the rumor is that
she dumped him a while ago.

“It doesn’t matter,” she adds. “I actually
heard she’s trying to invest in some other business, but she’s
having a hard time since the company went under.”

“Don’t you mean since you left her and it
went under. Technically, it’s your fault,” Craig says.

It’s not really Sienna’s fault. Carrie was
never there, so Sienna was pretty much running the company. She was
going to leave even before she found out about Carrie and Luke.

“Enough about this, we’re here for Madie,”
Sienna says firmly. She’s a master at changing the subject. I don’t
blame her at all this time.

I look at my phone. Cole and I have been
sending sexy messages back and forth all day. He has been doing a
small tour for the past week, trying to get all of his shows in
before the wedding. Ever since he told me that all he cared about
was marrying me, I feel like we are back when we first started
dating. It feels new, exciting, and exhilarating. I can’t wait for
him to come home so we can make up for all of his traveling.

“What’s going on over there?” Craig asks with
a singsong tone in his voice. “You seem a little flushed again. Can
I see your phone?” he asks as he reaches for it.

“No,” I yell, turning away from him.

“Madie is sexting her boyfriend,” he
announces. I expect him to follow it up with nah, nah, boo, boo. I
really wish I didn’t let him come with us because he can be really
obnoxious, like the little brother I never wanted.

“So what,” Abby says nonchalantly. “It’s not
a big deal. Matt and I send those kind of messages all the time,
several times a day.

“What!” Craig, Sienna, and I all shout at the
same time. This is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. I think we
are all completely shocked by this secret side of Abby. We always
thought of her as more of a Susie-Homemaker/kindergarten
teacher/nun type of wife. That just proves that you never truly
know people. I can’t believe Abby is a closet tramp.

“OK, I need to hear more about this!” Craig
exclaims. Oh well, at least the attention is off of me.

“What do you want to know?” Abby asks
innocently. “Matt is my husband; there’s nothing wrong with sending
him sexy pictures.” I’m completely shell-shocked; I still haven’t
said a word.

“Of course there is nothing wrong with it,
but this is you we’re talking about.” Craig gives a smirk. “You
don’t do that stuff. I picture you wearing a long-sleeve flowered
nightgown reading a book in bed with Matt. Just like Carol Brady
from the Brady Bunch.”

Wow, that really is a pretty good description
now that I think about it.

“No way,” Sienna says. “They weren’t exactly
innocent; everyone on the Brady Bunch slept with each other. I saw
it on one of those
True Hollywood
stories.

The discussion changes to all of the old
sitcoms and all of the actors who have since had messed up lives. I
lean my head back and look out the window. I can’t believe this day
has finally come. My wedding is planned, everything has fallen into
place, and the wicked stepsisters are no longer a part of it. The
voice mails have finally tapered off as well. Both of them have
left several messages, but I haven’t called them back yet. I know
Grandmother asked me to, but I need more time.

Chapter 12

I’ve always thought that every family needs a
doctor, a lawyer, and a mechanic. I think I may have to add a
massage therapist to that list, too. I feel like I’m floating on a
cloud right now, and considering all of the stress from these past
few weeks, I needed this. After we are done with our treatments, we
sit in the outside relaxation area.

“This is so fun,” Craig says loudly. He has
obviously embraced this experience. He’s wearing his fleece robe,
his feet are propped up on the ottoman, and he’s sipping on
cucumber-infused water. Yep—he’s become one with the spa life, but
really, who doesn’t?

Just as we’re getting comfortable, two women
join us in the relaxation room. Nothing like a blast from the past
to ruin my bachelorette weekend, and I thought things couldn’t get
any worse. Wow, was I wrong. The two women just happen to be Carrie
Anderstone, Sienna’s former boss, and one of her best friends whose
name I can’t remember. Sienna and Craig are both obviously
uncomfortable, which makes it even more awkward for Abby and me.
Neither of us says a word; we just sit back and watch. Carrie has
clearly had more plastic surgery than the last time I saw her. I’m
not really sure how that’s possible considering there isn’t one
inch on her that hasn’t been nipped, tucked, or lasered.

“Sienna, love, it’s been tooo looong,” Carrie
says while slurring her words. Carrie is also a raging alcoholic,
so no doubt she has been drinking mimosas since the sun came up.
“What brings you here? This really isn’t your scene.” Sienna gives
her a short hello and explains that we are all here for my
bachelorette party. Carrie completely ignores the rest of us,
including Craig, who also worked for her for a few years.

“Well, it’s fabulous seeing you,” she says
unconvincingly. “We really should do lunch sometime.” This woman
can’t be for real. Sienna just smiles and nods her head; I’m always
so impressed by how she handles situations like this.

A few minutes later, Carrie and her silent
but drunk friend are called for their next service. She’s barely
out of the room when Craig starts in about all her surgery.

“Are we even sure that was Carrie?” he says
with a snort. “It won’t be long before she’s completely
unrecognizable.”

Sienna groans. “Ughhh, I should’ve known
there could be a chance of running into her. I think she may live
here.” Carrie’s a regular on the spa scene. She’s either traveling
the world to different spas or having surgical procedures done.

While we’re discussing the Carrie excitement,
Abby excuses herself again. I think she’s having a really hard time
being away from her baby because she’s not enjoying the spa as much
as the rest of us. So despite the awkwardness of the encounter with
Carrie, it was still some good entertainment for the day, and
luckily, there were no fireworks.

~*~

Later when we are getting ready to leave for
dinner, we’re still waiting in the lobby for Abby to join us. She
was on the phone again.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! What are they
doing here?” Sienna exclaims. When I look across the lobby, I’m
unpleasantly surprised to see Ellie and Stephy. How did they know
we were here? I can’t help but wonder if all of these unwelcome
party crashers are more signs that my wedding/marriage is
doomed?

“How would they even know we were here?” she
adds as she tries to duck behind a magazine.

I was wondering the exact same thing until I
notice Craig’s reaction. Oh. My. Gosh. Why did we bring him
again?

“Craig?” I ask.

“I’m so sorrrrry,” he says dramatically. “I
checked in on Facebook, tagged you all. Don’t be mad, I had too. I
couldn’t exactly come here and not brag to all my friends.” I close
my eyes and shake my head.

“So let me guess, you’re friends with my
cousins on Facebook. That means they saw your post and came down
here.”

“I’m afraid so,” Craig whispers. He drops his
head and pretends to feel guilty. He really should pursue his
acting career. But I know he doesn’t feel guilty, he lives for this
kind of drama

“We won’t let it ruin our night,” Sienna
interrupts and grabs my hand. “Maybe they won’t even see us; we
could go out through the garden. Let’s go.”

Just as we are trying to make a run for it,
they see us. “It’s too late; we’re spotted,” I say in a loud
whisper.

“Madie, wait please,” Ellie calls out. “We
really need to talk to you.”

The three of us stop in our tracks. I try to
think up a story as to why we can’t stay. Unfortunately, I can’t
think that fast.

“Um, we were just leaving for our dinner
reservations,” Sienna says as if reading my mind. Craig doesn’t say
anything but is watching us intently. I really want to blame him
for this, but it’s really my fault for avoiding the situation. I
need to stop running and face them.

“It’s OK, Sienna; we still have a few
minutes,” I tell her. She raises her eyebrows but does as I ask.
She grabs the sleeve of Craig’s sweater and pulls him away.

So here I am facing my arch nemesis since
childhood. Once again, it’s two against one, but for some reason it
doesn’t bother me as much anymore.

“Well, let’s hear what you have to say,” I
say as I sit down on one of the huge wingchairs in the lobby. They
give each other a look and both sit down.

“Madie, I swear to you that I didn’t do
anything to ruin your wedding. You have to believe me,” she begs. I
look back and forth between the two of them. They seem to be a
little more sincere, definitely not as smug as usual.

“What about you?” I ask Stephy. “Maybe it
wasn’t Ellie, maybe it was you all along.” I figure I might as well
get that out also. It wouldn’t be a shock because she has always
seemed to fly below the radar.

“Me!” Stephy shouts. “How dare you accuse me!
I would never do . . .” Ellie holds up her hand to stop Stephy’s
rant.

“Madison, I can’t believe that you would
really think these terrible things about us. We just heard from
Grandmother that the wedding is no longer at the Four Seasons. This
is . . . horrible,” she spits out in disgust. She then takes a deep
breath and rubs her forehead.

“It’s time I . . . or . . . um,
we
were honest with you.” Now this should be interesting, finally some
honesty.

“Initially, we didn’t want to be a part of
your wedding.”
Shocker
, I think to myself. “Don’t take that
wrong; it wasn’t because we don’t care,” she trails off trying to
make up for the foot that she just put in her mouth. I look over at
Sienna, Craig, and Abby who has finally joined them watching from
afar. No doubt they are dying to know how this is going. So far,
there hasn’t been any yelling, hair pulling, or food on anyone.

“Anyway, Grandmother wanted us to be together
and said you would be asking us. We know you always wanted to be
close to us when we were young, you know, having been an only
child.” She looks at Stephy and she nods.

“Then we started looking for dresses, and we
started getting excited,” Stephy chimes in. “It really seemed like
we were getting closer, we were even going on a trip, and then you
went BALLISTIC on Ellie at the hotel.”

Seriously, the way she describes it you would
have thought I went after her with a knife or something. That was a
definite exaggeration.

“I’m telling you the truth, Madie. I had
NOTHING to do with all of this.” She looks me in the eye, and for
the first time, I actually believe her.