She crumpled to the floor, surrounded by layers of tulle, satin, and sparkles from her dress, and broke down into tears. The moment felt like a dream, and she hoped she’d wake up soon. But what if she didn’t? What if she was living her nightmare?
As she sat with her teary face buried in her hands, all Lexi could think about was how much of a failure she was. She had done everything she possibly could to make this day perfect, and still, it didn’t work out. All she wanted was to make everyone happy, and look where it had gotten her.
She leaned over, hyperventilating in tears. “What have I done?” she cried to herself. The whole thing was a huge mess, and it wasn’t because of the weather or Martin or Nancy. And it wasn’t Seth’s fault, either. The only person she could blame was herself.
CHAPTER 27 Callie
Callie looked at the old wood grandfather clock hanging on the wall. It was five minutes before the ceremony was supposed to begin, and nobody had seen Seth in over half an hour.
Lexi was sitting on the couch in her white dress, repeatedly calling her fiancé’s phone, but he wasn’t answering. The makeup artist rushed over to the bride and started to blot the tears away. Lexi took the tissue out of her hand and blew her nose into it.
Seeing her little sister like this made Callie’s heart ache. She wanted to be mad at Seth, but she wondered if it wasn’t entirely his fault. After all, this whole wedding happened so fast. It was enough to make anyone buckle under the pressure. Callie had been telling Lexi since the beginning that the timeline was crazy, but her sister was too stubborn to change her mind. Seeing this all explode now made Callie want to take things more slowly with Wynn. Maybe they wouldn’t even have a wedding—they could just elope.
The door opened up, and Callie hoped it would be Seth, but it was just Martin looking like a frantic penguin in his black suit and bow tie. “Still no word from him?”
Lexi wailed. “He’s not answering my calls, and no one can find him.” Tears rolled down her face.
Martin shook his head. “We’re going to fix everything; don’t you worry about a thing.” His voice did not sound that assuring. He began to walk out the door then snapped his fingers at Callie. “You!” he whispered. She was pretty sure he hadn’t even bothered to remember her name. At least he wasn’t calling her “Dixie.” He motioned for her to join him in the hallway.
Callie, dressed up in her blush chiffon gown, rushed out after him.
“First, good job with the cake,” he said, sounding impressed. When Callie arrived in the kitchen, she had been disappointed to find that the cake was, in fact, ruined. But what no one had mentioned was that there were several hundred cupcakes sitting on the counter completely intact—something about a dessert bar. Callie had orchestrated a plan to tier the cupcakes into a tower with cake stands. “Second, what are we going to do about the groom? Do you think he is going to come back?”
“Has this ever happened at any of your other weddings?” she asked him.
“Definitely—on more than one occasion, actually,” he said, rocking back and forth anxiously.
“So, what did you do? Any advice?” Maybe he had ideas on where Seth might be hiding based on previous experiences with runaway grooms.
“Oh, my producers handled all that.” He waved her away, as if he was too good to deal with wedding crises even though he was a wedding planner.
Callie rolled her eyes. This guy was such a fraud. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll figure something out. How’s it going downstairs?”
“Well, it’s a total shit-show,” he said, scratching his head. “The space is too small and all the guests are wondering what’s going on.”
How is this guy so worthless? Callie headed toward the stairs and raced down them carefully, hoping not to trip on her stiletto sandals. The last thing this wedding needed was a bridesmaid with a broken leg. Downstairs, a mob of drenched guests were standing around looking angry and confused. Her phone was hooked up to the speakers, playing DJ and currently blasting Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.” The song felt awkwardly peppy considering the bride was upstairs bawling her eyes out, but no one else needed to know that.
She flashed a tight smile and greeted people as she walked through the room.
“Hi! Good to see you! Yes, the party is still happening.”
“You look great! The only thing missing is a drink in your hand. Head over to the bar and get anything your heart desires!”
“Oh, you know Lexi. Always fashionably late. We’ll be starting soon!”
Callie poked her head into the kitchen, where the chefs were frantically prepping the food. “Hey! Sister of the bride here. Can we get some passed hors d’oeuvres or something going?” she shouted to the staff.
“Coming right up!” one of them said from behind a stainless-steel island.
She felt powerful as the waiters obeyed her request and began marching out to the dining room with trays of finger foods. Maybe she could be a wedding planner if this TV gig didn’t work out.
A few moments later, she spotted Wynn in the lounge area, walking toward the exit. “Hey,” she said, grabbing his waist. “You aren’t leaving, are you?”
He was wearing one of his gray work suits with a blue tie. Most of the fabric was wet, as was his blond hair. He ran his fingers through it, making it appear even more slick. “Ha, no,” he said with a half smile. “Someone from the news team is meeting me at my car right now to grab the handheld camera I keep in my trunk. They have a bunch of different reporters out covering the weather. I’m just glad we’re not working today.” He winked.
“I don’t know.… I feel like it’d be less stressful than this.” She motioned to the chaos around her. People were passing by with scowls on their faces. Aunt Linda was yelling at her kids in the lounge for playing keep-away with a glass vase. Mackenzie Rogers and her fiancé looked miserable as they stood by the fireplace, trying to dry off their wet clothes.
But at least someone looked like they were having some fun. Uncle Bob was line-dancing by himself in the corner of the lounge to “Cotton Eye Joe” now playing on the speakers. Callie wondered if any of these people had a clue the groom was missing. They probably just thought it was a rain delay.
Wynn gripped his phone tightly in his hand. An idea came to her. “Hey, can I use your phone to try and call Seth? Maybe he’ll answer if he doesn’t recognize the number.”
He hesitated, and then nodded his head. “Yeah, I guess it’s worth a shot.” He handed it to her, unlocked. “I gotta run out now.” He kissed her forehead and then headed toward the door. “I’ll be back soon. Good luck with Seth.”
“Thanks,” she said, dialing his number. As soon as Wynn was out the door, the call clicked over straight to voice mail. She swore under her breath. Why was Seth doing this?
Lexi had said he was upset over the wedding getting out of control, and Callie could understand why he’d feel that way, but at the same time, she knew Seth. He was already like a brother to her, and she didn’t understand how he could ever hurt Lexi like this.
Just then, a text message appeared from a number that wasn’t saved in Wynn’s contacts. It must have been the person picking up the camera from work. She opened the message to make sure it wasn’t time sensitive.