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I nodded. “My downfall.” Then I sulked out the door, and drove my crappy old Isuzu Rodeo to the hotel. When I arrived, I discovered I’d been assigned to a privateparty.
“I need you to be on your toes tonight. The owners’ best friend is getting married. Tonight is a big family gathering. Tomorrow night is the rehearsal dinner, and the following night we’ll be hosting the wedding and the reception.” Margot rung her hands nervously. “If we mess this up, we’ll all lose ourjobs.”
“Come on. Aren’t you being a bit dramatic?” My brows rose. “From everything I’ve seen of the new owners, they’re pretty laid back andunderstanding.”
“Yes, well, everyone has a breaking point. I’m guessing ruining the best friend’s wedding might be theirs. So, let’s just not find out, m’kay?” She wagged a finger in myface.
I raised both hands, palms out. “I get it. Really, I do. And I would never do anything to jeopardize this job. I need it more than you can imagine.” I smoothed my long ponytail and checked my lip gloss in themirror.
“Get in there as quick as you can. This is the cocktail hour. They’ll be up and mingling. Then a sit-down dinner.” She studied the menu. “Naturally, every bit of this needs to be timedperfectly.”
“We’re going to be fine. Promise. So stop getting all worked up. I’ll go charm them.” Iwinked.
“Crap. We’re doomed.” She made the sign of thecross.
“Drama llama,” I teased as I wandered out of the employee area and toward the private dining room the owners hadreserved.
As soon as I entered, I was shooed behind the bar and ordered to start making drinks. “What can I get for you?” I smiled brightly at the two couples in front of me. They looked familiar. Once they started talking, I recognized them immediately. I swallowed hard as I realized I was serving the owners and the couple about tomarry.
“Why are you so upset, Harry?” Mr. George asked as he threw an arm around his friend’s shoulders. “You went. You saw.You…”
“Sucked. I suck.” Harry sighed and passed me his empty tumbler. “Crown and Coke,please.”
His fiancée spoke. “You tried. You know how Drew is, pretty much single-minded and utterly determined to ruin his life.” She shook her head sadly. “Look how hard you tried to save him fromhimself.”
I passed the drink back. “She’s right. You can’t save anyone who refuses to be saved, no matter how much you want to.” Then I bit my bottom lip. “I’m sorry. This is none of my business.” I turned to Mrs. George. “Can I make you a drink?” I askedweakly.
Her head tilted as she studied me. “Actually, I’d love an Amaretto Sour.” Then her shoulders drooped and she grinned up at her husband and laid a hand on her abdomen. “Unfortunately, the baby’s underage. So, I’ll have a ginger aleinstead.”
I giggled as I filled her glass. “Congratulations.”
Mr. George pulled her close. “Yes, I managed to impregnate my wife. It was quite the feat,actually.”
She looked at me blandly. “We didn’t use protection the first time we had sex. You’d think he was the only man to knock a woman up so quickly.” Then she rolled hereyes.
After a wink at Mrs. George, I addressed her husband. “Well done, Mr.George.”
“Dear Lord, don’t encourage him,” Harry grumbled. “I don’t know how Kate lives withhim.”
“Happily,” she murmured. “So happily.” She smiled at me as I passed her the soda. “Laney, are you ready to be this happy?” She teased herfriend.
“Oh, I am, but this happy would be much easier if a certain someone was more pleasant.” She jerked her head toward her fiancé before addressing him directly. “Harry, stop being so sour. You know the only reason you’re being so ugly right now is because you’re convinced Drew is going to ruin the wedding.” Then Laney laid her head on his shoulder. “It will be fine. I don’t expect much,really.”
“What do you mean?” His brow furrowed and he held her close against his side. “Is this about the wedding or themarriage?”
She licked her lips and tried to hide a smile. “The wedding. I have incredibly high expectations for themarriage.”
“Dammit. I’m still going to screw this up,” he joked. Then he planted a kiss on herlips.
Too soon their moment was interrupted. “So, what do you want to do about Drew? You want me to go un-invite him tomorrow? I was going to go see him, my last-ditch effort to get him on board with behaving for the wedding.” Mr. George rubbed his brow. “And we still need to arrange for histransportation.”
“He needs a sitter,” Harry growled. “I’m not having a dry wedding because he can’t hold ittogether.”
“You could hire a sobriety coach,” I murmured even as I kicked myself. They immediately froze and stared at me. I’d done itnow.
“Where would a person find a sobriety coach, and especially on such short notice?” Harry threw his hands up infrustration.
“Well, we could offer a pretty penny to sweeten the deal. The sobriety coach could pick him up on Saturday, get him to the wedding, and take him back to L.A. maybe?” Mr. George rubbed the back of hisneck.
