Brenna came through the door and stared them all down. “I smell whiskey.”
“I swear she has a nose for it,” Finn said, leaning over to whisper to Jason while he grinned at Brenna. “She’d be a fine whiskey maker.”
Brenna narrowed her gaze at Finn, obviously having heard him. “Do not get drunk. We can’t have you all falling over.”
Finn lifted his chin. “Irishmen do not get drunk on whiskey.”
“But the rest of us might,” Johnny said, laughing.
Brenna came over and took the bottle of whiskey away from her dad.
“No more. And straighten up, all of you. You’re on in about ten minutes.”
She walked away, muttering something about “a bunch of lushes.”
“The woman needs to lighten up a little,” Finn said. “Maybe think about having some fun.”
Jason motioned with his head toward the door. “Maybe you could be the one to show her some fun.”
Finn laughed. “I think she’d rather cut off my balls. She hates men.”
“Not all men,” Honor said, pausing as she came into the room. “Just one man in particular.”
Finn nodded. “Yeah, that ex of hers. He did her dirty, that bastard.”
Jason nudged Finn. “See? She just needs a nice guy.”
Finn’s eyes widened. “Me?”
“Yeah, you. You have things in common.”
“Like what? The woman’s a ballbustin’ hellcat. I wouldn’t want to be cornered by her in a dark alley when she’s in a mood. And she’s always in a mood.”
Jason laughed and took a sip of whiskey. “Oh, come on, Finn. You like a challenge.”
Finn stared after Brenna. “That I do.”
“Hey, everyone,” Honor said. “Time to set up for the arrival of our bride.”
Finn stood, then looked down at Jason. “And besides. Who ever said I was a nice guy?”
Jason laughed as they followed Honor out the door.
Erin and Brenna were already at the entrance to the arbor. They all wandered out.
“Okay,” Honor said. “Erin and Brenna will hand you cameras. We have a red carpet set up, and as soon as our bride shows up in the limo, you start crowding in—but don’t crowd her too closely—and start snapping photos.”
They handed everyone cameras. Nice, big, professional-looking cameras.
“These are real,” Erin said. “And expensive. Please treat them kindly.”
There was an actual photographer on hand who gave them a quick how-to on using the cameras, but the idea wasn’t to take professional shots. The photographer would take care of that part. They just had to make it appear as if the bride was the most important person in the world.
As it should be. And if this was what she wanted on her day, then this was what she was gonna get.
They all set up off to the side.
“This is so fun,” Daria said.
“You’re gonna want this for our wedding, aren’t you?” Mike asked.
Daria just slanted a sly smile in Mike’s direction.
Jason tried not to laugh. He knew Daria, knew this wasn’t her thing, but he wasn’t about to tell Mike that. It was more fun to let him suffer.
The limo pulled down the drive, and the driver opened the door. That was their cue. They rushed up and flashes started popping. To make it seem more authentic, they started calling her name, which Erin had told them was Marie, and asking her to look their way.
Marie looked happy as hell, grinning and waving at the cameras like she was a movie star.
And then her dad came around and she slipped her arm in his and headed down the aisle.
Which put an end to their part of the show. Short, but still fun. Erin and Brenna collected the cameras for the photographer since he had to dash off to take pics for the actual wedding.
“Come on,” Summer said. “There’s some open seats in the back row. Let’s watch the wedding.”
Daria and Mike went with Summer and Vince, and Clay and Alice joined them. Jason had seen a lot of weddings, so this was his chance to leave. He helped Finn and the Bellini women collect all the cameras and box them up.
“Where do you want these?” Finn asked, his arms filled with boxes.
“Greg said we could store them in the house and he’d pick them up after the reception,” Brenna said.
Brenna took the last box and Finn followed behind her.
Jason moved out of the way and Erin went with him. They huddled under one of the tall trees away from where the ceremony was taking place. They could still watch, but no one could see them.
“That went so well,” Erin said.
“Yeah, it was fun. Bride seemed to enjoy it.”
“That’s what counts. If she’s happy, then we did our job.”
He watched as the bride and groom said their vows. He couldn’t hear the words, but their smiles pretty much said it all. “Kind of a weird request, though.”
Erin shrugged. “We get odd requests all the time. If we can accommodate them, we will.”
He turned his head and looked at Erin. “What kinds of requests?”
“Let me think. Someone wanted a safari-themed wedding, and asked if we could rent out a few of the animals from the zoo and have them wandering the property on their wedding day.”
Jason resisted the urge to bust out a laugh. “No shit. I assume that was a hard no.”
“Definitely a no. As if the zoo routinely rented out their precious babies like a commodity.”
Jason couldn’t imagine the balls it took to even ask for something like that. His guess was that it was either someone with a lot of money, or not a lot of common sense.
“And then someone wanted fair rides and a midway.”
“Nuh-uh.”
“Oh yes. With a Ferris wheel and games and booths and other rides. Oh, and goats.”
“Wait. Goats?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t ask, because we said no. Well, I said no. Honor tries to be more accommodating, but it was a definite no.”
“I’m glad.”
“And then there was the couple who asked if we’d dig up the property and install a pool and water slide, because they wanted a water-themed wedding.”
He just gaped at the ridiculousness of that request.
“I know. We told them we probably weren’t the right fit for them, and suggested they might want to consider renting out the water park for their reception.”
If he didn’t know Erin as well as he did, he’d think she was bullshitting him. “Do people even think about not only the cost of an endeavor like that, but also the fact that this is a vineyard and not an amusement park? Or a water park?”
She leaned against the tree and crossed her arms. “Tell me about it. I’m the one who has to present wedding couples with a proposed budget. And when they come up with outrageous ideas, and I calculate how much it’s going to cost them, I’m the one who gets yelled at because suddenly it’s too expensive.”
He didn’t like the idea of her clients getting mad at her, but it was her job and he knew she had it handled. “So they blame you because they’re spending too much money.”
“Exactly. But we always manage to come up with a way to make it work. Almost always, anyway. There are a few exceptions, of course, but we’ve only had a couple of occasions where a couple has canceled the venue because we’ve been unable to deliver what they want.”