Mine to Take (Southern Weddings #5)(18)
“What is the next step?” Helena asks excitedly, clapping her hands. If this were any other couple, I would probably be clapping my hands as well. This wedding is really going to be the wedding of the year and the commission will be amazing. Not only that but having this on my portfolio will be even more amazing.
“The next step is I take everything you told me and make a wedding plan,” I tell her. “You can go over it and see if there is anything you think we should change or maybe there are things you see out there that you want to change things to.” I go over the script I say all the time, ignoring the burning in the pit of my stomach. “After everything is said and done, we will have different days where we do different things.”
“What does that mean?” Matthew asks.
“Well.” I look over at him and fold my hands into each other and lean forward just a touch, knowing my tits will be pushed up. “One day, we will look at flower arrangements. Then the service setting, of course. We make a mock-up of everything that you chose so you can see exactly what it will look like on the day of your wedding.”
“I love that,” Helena says, her eyes have been lit up this whole time. She was the one doing all the talking all the time. The only time Matthew spoke up was about the makeup. This whole wedding is nothing like I thought his day would be. It’s nothing like he said his day would be. When we were together, we would always talk about when we got married, but we were always on the same page. The only thing we wanted was our family and closest friends. Definitely not five hundred people.
“Wait until it’s time to test the food.” I smile at them both, this whole time avoiding looking at him.
“I’ll work on this tomorrow,” I state, instead of saying tonight, because how would that look, that I’m home alone at night? It screams I’m single. “Then send it over to you. If you have any questions, you can call me at any time. If you get home and discuss some of the answers you gave and would like to change something, it’s not too late to change anything.”
“This is going to be amazing,” Helena says, looking at Matthew, who nods at her. The smile he gives her is as fake as fake can be. I can see the tightness in his shoulders. “It’s going to be the best day of our lives.”
I’m waiting for Matthew to say something, but he doesn’t say anything, instead he gets up out of his seat. Helena follows him as she gets up, the smile never leaving her face. She holds out her hand for Matthew and he obliges when he slides his hand in hers, and a lump forms in my throat. I know what it feels like to be held by those hands, something I wish I didn’t remember.
I follow them out, my eyes going straight to Matthew’s ass. I shake my head and look down before Helena sees me checking out her fiancé. Once we go around the corner and into the waiting area, Helena stops and looks over at me. “Thank you so much, Sofia,” she says, holding out her hand to me. She holds my hand in both of hers. “I’m so happy we decided to go with you.” I make the mistake of looking over to Matthew to see what his face says to this statement, but he avoids looking at me.
“Thank you for putting your trust in me,” I tell her and then look over at Matthew. “I promise to make your wedding amazing,” I assure him, looking into his eyes as I stick out my hand, secretly calling him an asshole and a dickhead. He squeezes my hand a little bit more than he did before. I do the same thing, and when he drops my hand, I can still feel the heat from his.
He turns to look at Helena and puts his hand on her lower back to usher her out of the room. When the door closes behind them, I do what any average, sane person planning the wedding of their first love does. I walk back to my office and open the closet door, grabbing the half-empty bottle of sweet tea.
Kicking off my shoes as I walk over to my desk, I hear footsteps coming closer to my office. I look over to see the three of them walk in, just looking at me. Only after I sit down and take a shot of the sweet tea does Shelby start, “How are you feeling?”
I wait for the burning to subside from the sweet tea, as it burns all the way down to my stomach, and I have to wonder if it’s the tea or the nerves at this point. I exhale a deep breath. “Like a concrete truck just ran me over.” It’s the most accurate description of how I was feeling during the whole meeting. I avoided looking at him and my stubbornness just told me that it’s just another client.
“But was the concrete truck full?” Clarabella asks, and Presley just shakes her head.
“What difference does that make?” Presley asks, trying not to laugh.
“It makes all the difference in the world. With the concrete it would be fifty times heavier, if not more,” Clarabella explains, and I just laugh.
“I think she’s in shock,” Presley suggests, and I just shake my head.
“I don’t know if I’m in shock per se,” I admit to them, putting the cap back on the sweet tea. “But I do know that this might have been one of the hardest days I’ve had in my life.”
“It’s only going to get worse,” Clarabella advises.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Shelby screeches, throwing her hands up in the air.
“I’m not going to lie to her,” she says, rolling her eyes. “What good would that do?”
“I don’t know about you,” I say, getting up and walking back over to put the sweet tea back where I took it from, “but I’m going home for the day.” I slip my shoes back on.