AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We walk around the office like we would any new event space and talk about how we’ll decorate it, including glossy prints of some of our most impressive weddings.
We’re currently measuring the office walls for the wood texture elements we plan to add when the buzzer rings. We haven’t opened up shop, so we both jump a little in surprise that anyone is here.
Jillian walks over to the intercom. “Lavish Events.”
I laugh. It’s a funny way to answer an intercom. She could have just said hello.
“I want them to know who we are since they’re probably here to see Bob’s Accounting or whoever was here before us,” she says to me as we wait for the person on the other end to speak.
“Hi. This is Allison Lalayne. I’m here to see Melissa.”
The inside of my stomach drops to my feet.
Jillian hits the button to buzz her up. “Were you expecting a client?”
“No. I sent her the wedding proposals but haven’t heard from her.” Realization hits me as I say, “I put the new office address on the proposal. It looked better than the PO Box we had on the old forms.”
Jillian nods as she holds the door open, waiting for Allison to walk up the stairs and come into the office.
Allison appears in jeans and a blouse today. Her hair is perfectly combed, but her face looks puffy, like she’s been crying.
“Are you okay?” I ask, fidgeting with my hands as she walks in.
“I’m sorry for just showing up, unannounced, but you took all that time to sit with me and William last week and then did all that work on the proposals, which were perfect, by the way.” She rubs at her red nose. “I wanted to let you know that we won’t be needing your services after all.”
“Oh.” It’s all I can say because I’m a mixture of relieved for not having to plan Will’s wedding and sad for how terrible she looks. How terrible she must feel. “You didn’t have to go through the trouble of coming down here. I totally understand if you don’t want to use our services. We have brides cancel on us all the time.”
Jillian makes a face at me for the lie. While we’ve had a few people decide they weren’t going to use our services, it’s barely consideredall the time.
I widen my eyes at her and open my hands in awhat the hell am I supposed to say to this crying girlway.
Jillian’s brows shoot up, and I shrug.
Allison is still wiping her nose. “We don’t need your services because William called off the engagement.”
“Oh,” I say again because, now, I really don’t know what to say.
Allison collapses on my shoulder and starts to sob uncontrollably. I pat her awkwardly and look to Jillian for help. There’s nowhere to sit, so she looks around aimlessly. Jillian opens a closet and finds a bucket. She flips it upside down, and I move Allison over and usher her to take a seat.
I rummage through my bag that’s sitting on the windowsill and grab a packet of wet wipes I keep on hand for Hunter, handing her the entire pack.
“Thank you,” she says as she takes out two and blows her nose.
Jillian and I stand in front of the brokenhearted bride sitting on a neon-orange Home Depot bucket in an un-vacuumed, unpainted, vacant office space. In the two years we’ve been planning events together, this is most definitely a first.
“You met him, albeit only that one time, but did you get the vibe that he was unhappy? He was happy that day, right?”
“Well …” I think back to that lunch. I was trying very hard not to look at him, for fear I’d melt into a pile of adultery goo. “He was pretty quiet for a groom. You and I had already gone over all the details that you wanted, and he just showed up for the frittata.”
“I never even asked him what he wanted in a wedding. I didn’t think he cared. The wedding planning wasn’t really his thing.” Allison lifts the wet wipe and starts to sob again.
“We are so sorry about your wedding being called off. If there was anything we could do for you, we would, but unfortunately, I think this is a situation best resolved with your friends and family,” Jillian says.
“My mother is devastated, and my girlfriends are ready to castrate him. My dad thinks there’s another woman.”
I nearly choke on my own saliva. My eyes close, and my hands shake lightly.
She’s right.
