“Ain’t you a lucky lady?” Mandy says and gives Cora a quick hug.
“I know you’re on the clock. We won’t keep you,” I interrupt quickly. Time to diffuse this Mandy situation fast.
“Nonsense. Why don’t you sit down with us?” Cora says. “We’d love to have you. You can tell us all about your cakes.”
Now I see the West family resemblance. Cora, for all her poise and pretty smiles, is a smart girl. She’s wearing one of Braxton’s shark grins. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer, I suppose.
If Mandy senses the shift in the air, she doesn’t let it bother her. “Aw, ain’t you a sweetheart? I’d love that. C’mon, let me show you to the room.”
There’s a peach-colored curtain dividing the two rooms, and we step through it and into a spacious back room. At the long table sits the final piece of the bridesmaids’ party. Ray’s sister—Lena, a sweet girl with a pretty smile—introduces herself to us.
We all sit down, Ray and Cora at the center of the table, the two C’s perched together like parakeets in a small cage next to Cora, while the rest of us fan out around them. Across the center of the table are five large slices of cake, cut up into pieces so everyone can have a taste, with place cards in front of them.
“Isn’t it darling?” Cynthia says.
“I could eat the whole damn cake.” Lena jabs Ray in the side, and the both of them laugh.
“Attention, everyone!” Cora stands up and clicks her fork against her water glass to get everyone’s attention. “I just wanted to thank you all for coming here today…it’s so nice to see my bridesmaids all together!”
She gets applause for that.
“My girls…my CC’s, who I’ve known forever. And then Lena and now Mandy…I can’t wait to get to know you and love you like I know Ray loves you. I know this was short notice for everyone…it was short notice for us. We met five months ago at a friend’s party…and it’s been a whirlwind of a ride.” Her hand rests on Ray’s shoulder, and he reaches up to give it a squeeze. He doesn’t take his eyes off her, not once, and my heart patters in my chest. “We just wanted our wedding to be like our courtship…we didn’t want to draw it out or make it too insane. When you know, you know, so…” Cora smiles and extends her hands. “Let’s eat cake!”
Everyone agrees with whoops and cheers.
“Also!” Candace jumps up to her feet and lifts a hand to get everyone’s attention, and the table settles down again. “Bridesmaid party Thursday night at Two Roads Tavern. It’s the only place in this town that received four point eight stars on Yelp. Be there or be dead.”
At that rousing little addendum, everyone grabs a plate and starts to pass the cake around. “You’ll be there, won’t you, Susie?” Cora asks, leaning over the table to look down at me.
“Of course.” I smile. “Wouldn’t miss it.” Apparently, I’m an honorary member of the bridesmaid club now.
A piece of carrot cake comes my way, and I pluck a square off the plate with my fork and set it down on the small tasting plate in front of me. Carrot cake isn’t great for weddings, but I like it, so I’ll indulge even if I know I’m going to vote no on this one.
“Are any of these gluten-free?” Cynthia asks.
“Or vegan?” as Candace.
“Oh, um…” Cora starts flipping through the placard. “I’m not sure. Let me see…”
“They have gluten. And they ain’t vegan, unfortunately,” Mandy says. “Good news is a cake’s a cake. It’s not gonna bite you.”
“Processed sugar and yeast…” Cynthia shudders. “I’ll have to work out twice a day for a week just to work this off.”
“Don’t get me started,” Cora chuckles. “You should’ve seen the breakfast Ray’s mother made this morning.”
“What was wrong with Mama’s breakfast?” Ray defends. He’s still smiling, but there’s this sharpness in his tone I haven’t heard before.
“Nothing, honey, it was just…all artery clogging. Bad for your blood pressure.”
“This conversation is bad for my blood pressure,” Mandy groans loudly, and she and Ray share a laugh.
This is taking a bad turn. Sure, bringing worlds together is hard, but I’m not about to let the bridesmaid party—let alone the bride and groom—divide over an argument about counting calories.
“Cynthia can eat the frosting, Candace can eat the cake,” I problem solve and then quickly change the subject. “So. You said the three of you went to school together?”
“Yes, we met at Columbia. We worked hard and played hard, didn’t we?” Candace says.
“What about you?” Cynthia points her fork at Ray and Mandy. “How do you two know each other?”
It seems I’m not the only one who is getting a weird vibe from the pair. They look at each other like they’re both waiting on the other to answer.
“Well,” Ray finally starts, “I think we mostly always knew each other. Mandy grew up right down the road. She’s like a sister to me.”
“What am I, chopped liver?” Lena says and gets a laugh.
“Speaking of siblings,” Cynthia pipes in. “Cora, dearest, where’s that troublesome brother of yours?”
“Braxton?” Cora squishes her cake piece on her plate. “He’s around. Somewhere. Doing whatever Braxtons do.”
“But the bridesmaids are all here.” Candace and Cynthia laugh at their own joke.
I feel a nagging curiosity tingling in my chest. I try to push it down and focus on the cake (it’s really sinfully sweet), but then my big mouth gets the better of me. “Does Braxton have a reputation?”
“Oh, please,” Candace sighs. “He was practically our sorority’s mascot. Everyone got a ride on Braxton West at one point or another, if you know what I mean.”
“Not everyone,” Cora shoots back.
“No, you’re right,” Candace says. “We avoided that honey trap, didn’t we?”
“Speak for yourself, dear,” Cynthia murmurs under her breath, just as I’m passing the plate over of chocolate cake over. I lose my grip at her comment, and the plate nearly flies out of my hands. I catch it, but not soon enough. A square of chocolate cake, topped with creamy, dark frosting, topples off the plate and lands directly on Cynthia’s stark white blazer.
Cynthia cries out bloody murder, and the table lapses into silence. “My Ralph Lauren!” she screeches. “Do you know how much this costs? It’s ruined!”
“I’m sorry,” I stammer, “I’m so sorry—”
“Aw, put a sock in it!” Mandy laughs. “It’s just cake! See?” With that, she grabs a handful of lemon cake and throws it across the table when it hits—
The bride-to-be. It smashes into her hair and rolls down her dress.
For a second, everyone, even Cynthia, is quiet.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry,” Mandy groans. “That was meant for Ray, not you.”
Cora picks the white frosting out of her hair and screws her eyebrows together. “Top score for creativity,” Cora says. “But if I were you, I’d go with the red velvet cake. It does much more damage.”