“You’re welcome,” he replies lazily.
“Welcome?” I practically shriek. “Ledger, she runs a concierge company. I don’t need a team of people planning my wedding—I just need it to happen so my grandfather’s misogynistic clause doesn’t ruin the livelihood of everyone in the world.”
“It’s just the economy of New England,” he corrects me.
“Same thing, Ledger. Why are these people at my doorstep? This is a small wedding with just a few guests and not . . . why are they here?”
There’s a beat of silence before he speaks, “Galeana, you’re forgetting something important.”
“What?”
“You’re in a small town,” he says, his tone full of infuriating patience, like he’s explaining basic math to a toddler. “People expect a lot more from Dante Doherty’s granddaughter. You can’t pull off a quick courthouse wedding without the entire town turning up with pitchforks—or casseroles, depending on their mood. We’re doing this properly.”
I groan, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Properly? Ledger, I don’t need some Pinterest-perfect wedding. It’s fake.”
“I can make fake seem real,” Teddy says from the other side of the door. “Your perfect dream wedding.”
“She knows?” I growl.
“My brother . . . he knows people and has to be upfront with what we require. Though, they’re very discreet,” he assures me. “When I told him about our wedding he thought it’d be important to pull this off. You have to remember that it’s not fake to the townies. Trust me on this, darling. You don’t want to give the town any more reason to doubt you.”
“Trust you?” I echo, my voice dripping with disbelief. “You ambushed me with an entire team of strangers.”
“My team won’t be here until tomorrow,” Teddy says.
“Stop butting into the conversation,” the lawyer argues. “Didn’t I say this was a bad idea? You can’t just throw something like this on a person without an explanation.”
“You did, but Seth and Finn thought it’d be sensible,” she says.
Now I’m more confused than ever. Before I can kick them off the property Ledger says, “Galeana, you don’t have time to organize a wedding—a big wedding for that matter. I hired people to do it for you. Just let them do their thing. It’ll be painless. Well, mostly painless. Call me if you need me.”
“Ledger—”
“Have a great day, wife.” He hangs up, leaving me fuming in the middle of the entryway.
I take a deep breath, plaster on what I hope is a polite smile, and reopen the door. Teddy and Fitz are still standing there, both looking calm and unbothered, which somehow makes me more irritated.
“Sorry about that,” I say tightly, stepping aside. “I really don’t need you. Plus, I can’t pay for your services.”
At least I can’t yet. I won’t get any of the money until I have the marriage certificate in hand.
“Ledger Timberbridge will be paying for everything,” Teddy says.
Somehow when she says that I feel like I could just spend millions on this frivolous thing and teach him a lesson. “Come in.”
Teddy is a whirlwind.Within minutes, she’s set up shop at my dining room table, her iPad already open and stylus tapping away.
“I’ll need to confirm your guest list,” she says, flipping through what I assume are mock-up mood boards. “Ledger gave me a general idea of numbers, but we’ll finalize it together. I’m thinking something elegant and understated—timeless, really. Have you chosen your flowers yet?”
“Flowers?” I repeat blankly, already overwhelmed.
“Don’t worry about it,” she says with a wave of her hand. “We’ll sort that out today.”
Fitz, meanwhile, sits quietly at the far end of the table, pulling out stacks of paperwork that look far too official for a fake wedding.
“This is the preliminary draft of the prenup,” he says smoothly, sliding the papers toward me. “Ledger asked me to make sure it’s airtight, in accordance with your stipulations. Full separation of assets, no claim to the company, and no financial involvement post-dissolution.”
I stare at him. “You make it sound like I’m hiring him as a temp worker.”
