Wordlessly, the two of them walked back to the very room they had stood in just moments ago while the throngs of people left–undoubtedly wondering what they were all supposed to do.
Collapsing in the first chair he spotted, Elliott pulled his tie loose and let out a long breath. He had no idea if he was angry, sad, or simply confused. The only thing he did know was that he was numb. Letting his head fall back, he closed his eyes and just tried to focus on breathing and embracing the silence. Maybe if he could just have a few minutes to try to make sense out of this disaster, he’d start to feel a little better.
Or at least like he could breathe.
Sadly, the silence didn’t last long because it seemed like his entire family had followed him and instead of wrapping him in their arms and telling him how sorry they were, they sort of surrounded him and waited for him to straighten in his seat.
“Um…”
“Elliott,” his father said somberly, authoritatively, “it’s time we had the talk.”
Great. Just what he needed right now.
Chapter 2
Love is like heaven, but it can hurt like hell.
Unknown
“No, I’m not sure what we’re supposed to do with three hundred crab cakes, Pat,” Skye said with more than a hint of annoyance, smoothing a hand over her sleek ponytail. “Let’s give the family a few minutes to let the dust clear before we start freaking out about food!”
Normally, Skye was known for keeping her cool and never getting upset, but this wasn’t an ordinary wedding. Right now, she wished she could be a fly on the wall in the groom’s suite rather than being the responsible wedding planner and business owner who had to figure out how to deal with this mess.
Her emotions were all over the place and she felt a twinge of guilt for being happy Tracy left Elliott at the altar. But then her heart broke for him because she just watched his life essentially get destroyed in front of a hundred and fifty guests.
Was he okay? Devastated? Relieved?
Yeah, that last one played on her mind the most because of the conversation she overheard before the ceremony. But no matter how much she wanted to, there was no way she could go and listen at the door again.
“Skye,” Leanna said as she walked over, interrupting her thoughts. “This is a nightmare! Have you talked to Josie? What are we supposed to do? We’ve never had a wedding fall apart like this! What if we’re left holding the bag because their precious daughter ran off with the preacher?”
Doing her best not to roll her eyes, Skye leveled her friend with a glare. “First of all, he wasn’t a preacher. He was just a friend who went and got ordained online to do this wedding.”
“Are we sure? I don’t remember Josie saying that.”
“I would think it was obvious. I mean, you heard the speech, right? That was definitely coming from a friend.” Then she paused. “Or at least…I hope he’s not a preacher. That would make this even worse. Although, I guess he could still be a friend who was a preacher or…”
“Okay, I’ve lost interest. Does it even matter? What’s our plan here?”
“I can’t even imagine what Elliott is thinking right now or how he’s feeling. This has to be the worst day of his life. There’s no way to bounce back from something like this. At least, not quickly.”
“Um…hello? I get that you’re in love with the guy and probably wishing you could just step into Tracy’s shoes, but we’ve got bigger problems here,” Lea reminded her. “We’ve got enough food here for almost 200 people and since there isn’t going to be a reception, what are we supposed to do with all of it? And the cake? I spent days on that beast!”
“We don’t know that there isn’t going to be a reception. For all we know, runaway bride and creepy officiant could decide to roll with it and be the ones to get married today.”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen. It would be really tacky for them to do that, don’t you think?”
“Thank God we got paid before the ceremony, but…what if they put a stop on the check?”
Now she did roll her eyes and turned her head. “First of all, we have a contract. No one is stiffing us for the bill. We might not get the money today, but the law will be on our side. The worst-case scenario here is that we’re going to be eating three hundred crab cakes and more because we don’t have enough takeout containers for all this stuff.”
“Okay, but…”
“I’m just giving them a few minutes to discuss before going out there and talking to them. I’m sure they’re just trying to figure out what to do, as well. After all, it’s not every day that your daughter walks out in the middle of her wedding like that. I doubt they had any idea or even considered the possibility of this happening.” She paused. “I don’t imagine this sort of thing happens very often.”
“But maybe…”
Crossing her arms, Skye scanned the beautifully-decorated event room and shook her head. “Of course, they could just go on with the party and celebrate…something. It would be a shame to let it all go to waste. Or maybe the bride and the preacher really did run off to get married and this could be their reception.”
“I thought we agreed he wasn’t a preacher and that it would be tacky?” Leanna commented, seeming to calm down. From her spot beside Skye, she looked around the room too. “Although…if it meant we get paid and people get fed, who am I to judge? Someone’s got to have a birthday or something, right? That would be a lot more palatable than substituting one groom for another.”
Just the thought of it put a bad taste in Skye’s mouth.
As if on cue, the parents of the bride walked in and she quickly excused herself. “Please be good news,” she whispered to herself as she plastered a smile on her face. “Mr. and Mrs. Burrows, tell me what I can do for you.”
For the next twenty minutes, it was extremely tense and Leanna joined her midway through to make sure everything was going to be okay. The Burrows’ were visibly distraught by what their daughter had done and hated to be out the money for a reception that wasn’t happening, but fortunately they weren’t taking it out on Skye and the business.
“I’m not quite sure what the protocol is on something like this,” Mr. Burrows said with a weary sigh. “It’s not like Tracy to be this impulsive, but…”
“Skylar,” Mrs. Burrows said with an equally tired tone. “What are our options?”
There was a question about event insurance–something Meet Me at the Altar did offer, but the family turned down–and it was painful to remind them of that. However, the insurance would have only applied if an act of God or nature caused the cancelation, not a runaway bride.
Is there such a thing as runaway bride insurance? Do we need to add that to the contracts?
They did try to haggle a discount, but Skye rejected it and was thankful Josie hadn’t come out to see what was going on.
Either way, Mr. Burrows asked for all the food to be donated to the local homeless shelter.
Once they were out of the room, Skye and Leanna sagged against each other with relief. “Oh, my goodness,” Leanna said, pulling a chair away from one of the fully-set tables and sitting down. “That was rough.”