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Amanda sat at the edge of the chair in which she’d been only a couple of hours before, getting the final touches on her makeup and hair before the ceremony. Now, in some respects, she looked a bit crumpled around the edges. Her lipstick had smeared, her eyeliner had drained down her cheeks, and her contours made her face look ghastly and strange. With a heavy sigh, she reached for a makeup cleanser and began to smear it off as, behind her, Audrey said, “I think it’s time for round two!” and turned on the speaker system to play “…Hit Me Baby One More Time.”
Amanda whirled around, cackling. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Just one more time, Amanda,” Audrey said as she whirled around and sat on the chair beside her, leaning toward the mirror to look at her own mussed makeup. “It’s only the third time you’ll get ready for your wedding. And they say the third time’s the charm, don’t they?”
Just as she’d said she would, Susan saved the day yet again. In a half-hour’s time, delivery drivers from sandwich and pizza restaurants across the entire island whizzed through the parking lot, popping from cars and vans with piles of food and pouring through the Aquinnah Cliffside with goofy smiles. From above, Amanda and Audrey watched as the wedding guests tore toward the drivers like wild dogs.
“This was a good idea. These hungry people could have ruined your wedding,” Audrey joked.
Kelli, Charlotte, Rachel, and other hotel staff members hurried around, setting up little tables with piles of paper plates. Other staff members appeared to take more drink orders, theiryes, sirsandyes, ma’amsechoing through the ballroom.
“Look! There’s Sam and Noah!” Audrey pointed at their two loves, who stood in the midst of the crowd with big sandwiches, their smiles greasy.
Suddenly, mischievous, Amanda grabbed Audrey’s hand and led her down the staircase. Her stomach thundered with hunger, the kind she couldn’t quell with just a salad and a few sips of water. Sometimes, life called for sandwiches. Sometimes, life called for grease.
“What’s gotten into you, Amanda Harris?” Audrey cried as they bounded toward the foyer, then turned to face the wedding guests.
“There’s the bride!” Grandpa Wes called, waving from where he ate slices of pepperoni pizza with Beatrice.
The crowd quieted to peer at her curiously, each of them remembering just how fearful they’d been only an hour before when they’d thought she was getting dumped again. Now that they were well-fed, they could appreciate the messiness of the day. It was more cinematic than any wedding anyone had ever been to. The stories would last forever.
Amanda walked through the crowd, saying hello to everyone she met, blushing graciously as they told her how pretty she looked. Long before she’d assumed she would meet Sam, he appeared through the crowd to find her, and she threw her arms around him and hugged him as, around them, the crowd sighed with disbelief at the beauty of their love.
“I’m sorry,” Amanda said. “I heard it’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding.”
Sam cackled and gestured toward the pile of sandwiches on the table nearest them. “You want a chicken sandwich?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been hungrier in my life,” Amanda said. “It feels like I’ve been dieting for this wedding forever at this point. I’m so over it.”
“No more diets,” Sam told her. “That’s my number one rule for our marriage.”
“Ha.” Amanda crumpled against the table, unwrapped her sandwich, and dug her teeth into the crunch of the toasted bread and the decadent and savory Greek flavors of the chicken sandwich, which had been slathered with tzatziki. “Oh my gosh,” she moaned after she swallowed, closing her eyes.
Sam rubbed the top of her back and laughed. “Eat up, baby. We’ve got quite a day ahead of us.”
Amanda cackled as Sam used his napkin to wipe her chin of lipstick, telling him, “Lipstick can always be fixed. Everything can always be fixed. As long as we’re together.”
Sam’s eyes watered with tears as he fell forward and kissed her. Around them, the wedding guests roared, their applause mounting. They hadn’t even been married yet, and Amanda already felt on top of the world.
ChapterTwenty-Five
The string quintet, all of whom had feasted on pizza and sandwiches and drunk at least one cocktail during the afternoon break, set up outside in the evening sun at six to warm up. From upstairs in the bridal suite, Amanda heard the swells of their strings, drawing out across the grounds of the hotel and across the water along the cliffs. Her makeup perfected and her heart on her sleeve, she again descended the grand staircase with Audrey, Lola, Christine, Susan, Brooke, and Brittany, prepared to welcome the next era of her life as someone’s bride.
At the double-wide doors downstairs, Charlotte nodded firmly, ready to take full control over the rest of the festivities. When “Pachelbel’s Canon” started up again, she opened the doors to reveal the two hundred guests, all seated in white chairs, waiting.
Brooke and Brittany stepped out first with their chins lifted as they strode down the aisle between the white chairs and lined themselves up, watching as next came Christine, then Lola, followed by Audrey, who, before she headed out, squeezed Amanda’s elbow, and said, “I’ll see you on the other side.”
Now, it was just Susan and Amanda, mother and daughter, their hearts fluttering like hummingbirds in their chests as they listened to “Pachelbel’s Canon” shift to the string version of a song Sam and Amanda adored: “At Last” by Etta James. The song was so linked to Amanda’s heart that it immediately triggered tears, which she blinked back.
“You can let them fall, honey,” Susan said, raising her elbow for Amanda to take. “Nobody’s going to remember your makeup today. That’s for sure.”
Amanda laughed in a way that nearly descended into sobs and strung her arm through her mother’s. “Thank you for getting me here, Mom. I wouldn’t have had the strength to get better after last time without you.”
Susan frowned. “You would have been fine without me. You’re stronger than you think you are, Amanda. The entire family looks to you for strength, compassion, and help. And you give it so selflessly. As your mother, I’ve learned much more from you than you could even imagine.”
Amanda was caught off-guard at this confession, as she’d never imagined her mother had learned anything from her. Not the great Susan Sheridan. Not one of the most successful defense attorneys on the east coast.
“Hey!” Charlotte hissed from the side of the foyer. “It’s time to go!”
