Brody was fairly certain his jaw was on the floor. “Go with it? What…?”
Her smile returned. “Do you enjoy being at odds with everyone, Brody? I mean, honestly, do you think it’s easy for me to watch you fighting with everyone all the time?”
“It’s not all the time,” he said wearily. “It was just because of…this!” He motioned to the property. “Have you even gone to a four-day engagement party? It’s ridiculous!”
“Brody…”
“And I’m allowed to have an opinion on it,” he went on. “No one seems to mind my opinion when we’re at work and I’m making money, but once we leave the office, I’m expected to just be quiet and not say anything when I don’t agree with how something is being done? Why is no one backing me up and making Dad or Travis or Charlene leave me alone?”
“It’s not like that.”
“It’s exactly like that,” he said flatly, not wanting to argue with her too. Raking a hand through his hair, he let out a long breath. “So now what?”
Reaching out, she squeezed his hand. “Now…go and have lunch with Leanna. Try being nice to her.”
“I have been very nice to her…”
“Let everyone see how agreeable you’re being and maybe by the end of the weekend, things will be better between you and Travis. And your father,” she added.
Not rolling his eyes took some serious super-human strength, but he managed.
“And then what, Mom?”
“Then you go with whatever it is Travis and Charlene want for their wedding and keep your thoughts on it to yourself. If you really feel the need to vent, you can take me to dinner and complain all you want,” she said sweetly and Brody couldn’t help but chuckle at that.
“That’s very kind of you.”
“I’m a very kind woman.” She squeezed his hand one more time. “Go have lunch and try to relax. Tell Leanna her luggage is up in her room and her little food utility cart is expected here after lunch. If she needs anything at all, she has Pamela’s number.”
“Who’s Pamela?”
“The event planner. Fantastic woman. Patience of a saint.”
“She must be for handling all of this…”
“Agreed,” Sylvia said. “Now I have to get to my nail appointment. I’ll see you for the barbecue. It starts at five. Don’t be late.”
Like I have a choice…
Sliding his hands into his pockets, he groaned. Now he had no choice but to go and help Leanna and he had a feeling he wasn’t going to be too welcomed there. Hanging his head, he turned and walked back into the trailer and hoped they could come to an agreement.
He found her finishing what looked like one of the cookies while twirling around with her free hand in the air.
She froze when she spotted him, her eyes going wide.
“So, um…”
She waved a chocolate-covered finger at him. “Do not judge me! It’s been a stressful morning.”
“Yeah, well, it’s probably going to be a stressful afternoon too,” he murmured as he walked over and sat down on one of the stools.
Wiping her hands, she sat down on hers. “What does that mean?”
“It means…you’re stuck with me for a few hours. My mother ordered it.”
“Ordered it? What exactly are you talking about?”
God, this is embarrassing…
“I know you heard about the whole argument on Sunday,” he began.
“Actually, I heard the argument,” she corrected as she began making up her lunch plate.
“Fine. You heard it. Now everyone’s mad at me–even though I technically didn’t do anything wrong…”
“You mocked this party, Brody. It insulted both your brother and Charlene. So technically, you did do something wrong.” Her tone was even–almost pleasant–and she never once looked at him. With her focus fully on her food, she added, “I don’t see why you couldn’t just keep your opinion to yourself. That’s what I did.”
“Seriously? You did? So you think this is crazy too?”
Now she did look at him. “Charlene is my cousin and we’re not super close, so I had no reason to get into it with her about any of this. Personally, I would have been fine just being hired to make the desserts and not be involved as a guest and I even contemplated telling her I wasn’t free for the weekend.”
And for some reason, this pleased him to no end. He felt himself smiling. “Because you’re a logical woman and you know that there’s no reason for them to be this over-the-top!”
She shrugged and took a forkful of potato salad before she responded.
“I deal with brides for a living so I feel like I’ve seen it all and trust me, this isn’t even the craziest thing I’ve experienced. Not even in the top ten.” She looked at him and then at the food. “Aren’t you going to eat?”
With a shrug of his own, he grabbed a sandwich and some fruit salad. “What’s the craziest event you’ve ever been to?”
“Hmm…we did a wedding last year where the focus was solely on the bride. I felt a little bad for the groom. Every aspect of the ceremony and reception had to keep the focus on her. She even had this…this crazy stage at the reception where she rose up out of the floor and then came down this massive staircase alone! The poor groom had to stand there and wait for her!”
“Yikes.”
“Exactly! They had a guest list of two hundred people and I had to make two hundred individually decorated cupcakes.”
“But…” he glanced at the tray of cupcakes she was working on. “Aren’t all cupcakes individually decorated?”
She shook her head. “No, I mean each one had to be unique.”
“No!”
“Oh, yeah. She even told me what she wanted on each one. It was exhausting! Then, at the reception, she called each person up to the dessert table to hand it to them and thank them for coming. And she had four different gowns. Four!”
“Why? Why did she need four of them?”
“Well, she heard the royal family–you know, the princesses–usually have two gowns, one for the ceremony and one for the reception. So, she had to do them one better. One was for the ceremony, then she wore one for her grand entrance thing, another for the main part of the reception, and a final one for the whole cupcake ceremony.”
He shuddered just thinking of it. “I wonder if they’re still married.”
“No idea. All I know is that weddings tend to make people act a little irrationally.” She paused. “I mean, not all brides do, but there is at least a baseline of craziness.”
“That’s what I’m learning.” He took a bite of his sandwich. “My other sister-in-law is very low-key. Their wedding was a cakewalk compared to this.”
“I guess that means yours will be somewhere in between, huh?” she asked with a grin.
“Uh…no,” he said around another bite of his lunch.
“No? You think yours will be more low-key than the low-key brother?”
He shook his head and grabbed a napkin. “I mean no as in I don’t plan on getting married. I don’t have the time.”