Iced Tea (15 page)

I went into the bathroom, finger combed my hair, did minimum makeup, which for me is a truth, not a cute little saying, and went into the closet.
 
I decided not to decide what eveningwear I would choose later, ‘eveningwear’ is the nomenclature AJ and I decided on.
 
Eveningwear is my lingerie.
 

I pulled out a maxi dress.
 
It’s a weird purple color and makes my eyes look really blue.
 
Most importantly, it’s cool, and it’s comfortable, and it covers all the right stuff so you can wear it at home or out and about, which can’t be said for my eveningwear.

At a loss as to what to do to keep myself busy until AJ and Teagan arrived, I got online to look for something constructive to help with the wedding.
 
I know how O’Flynn weddings are done, but I’m not sure that’s what Morgan will want, so I should really look around for ideas.

The Internet is a wonderful thing, but sometimes, it gives you too much information and too many options.

I found a website that has a list for every kind of wedding imaginable.
 
From destination weddings in third world countries, to little do it yourself weddings in the backyard, every list was long and detailed.
 

My kind of list.
 

I like to break my lists down into teeny tiny little pieces, so that I am constantly marking things off as done, so I feel like I’m getting something accomplished.
 
When I was younger, I used to put making a list, as one of the things on my list, so I always started out with a check mark.
 
Probably something I shouldn’t share with just anybody, people might worry about me.
 
I don’t do that any more.
 
I also don’t use checkmarks.
 
Messy looking and they don’t give you much bang for your buck.
 
Now I use a highlighter and mark through each item.
 
Much more motivating.

According to the calendar I found on the same site, telling you when you should have each step of the process done, we were already fatally behind.
 

It said we were supposed to announce the engagement in the newspaper.
 
I’m not sure that Morgan and Liam want to do that.
 

We are supposed to determine what kind of wedding, casual or formal, I guess that one will be determined by the dress that Morgan chooses, and according to what she said when we were looking at the ballroom, I’m thinking we are going with semi-casual.
 
A formal dress would be out of her price range.
 
It really is a shame, she is gorgeous, and she seems the fairytale type that would want the outrageous dress, but the truth is, especially when you have a child, you don’t always get the fantasy, my prayer for her is that she gets the dream, maybe not happily ever after, but certainly a beautiful life.

I continued to make a list from the calendar.
 

We have the reception area, yay.
 

I’m pretty sure after my sojourn into all things catering that I’ll be able to talk Morgan into allowing Jovana’s staff to handle the food.
 
It’s easier to decide on a menu than to create all the food on one.
 

I wonder if she’s going to have the ceremony and the reception both at the ballroom.
 
I’m going with yes, unless she tells me something different.
 
Not that I really get a vote, but for research purposes, I’m going to assume that everything will be in the ballroom.

Then comes the ugly part.
 
The guest list.
 
I can’t imagine what it would be like to try to get married and not have my family there.
 
I know I wouldn’t do the big wedding thing.
 
I would probably just go to the courthouse and call it done, which would break my heart, but not as much as walking down the aisle without my dad.
 
I can’t even think about that.
 

For once in my life, I’m gonna mind my own business and let it be what it is.

The wedding dress is next on the list.
 
That’s going to be an interesting conundrum.
 
Maybe she can rent a dress.
 
Wonder how she feels about that.
 
I’ve seen those shows on cable TV where the bride goes in months and months before the wedding and chooses the dress.
 
We don’t have that kind of time, and we don’t have that kind of budget.
 
I think Morgan has two choices, rent a dress, or go with an off the rack, pretty but not a wedding dress, dress, because if she was going to do a wedding dress, she would want to do an over the top wedding dress, especially with that ballroom, unfortunately, I don’t see that happening.
 

What is Liam going to wear?
 
Does he even own a suit?
 
If she goes simple on the dress, he won’t look right in a tux, and I’m not sure if you can rent a suit.
 
Simple enough to check, I remembered to make a note.

Music.
 
Wonder how much a DJ costs.
 
I can’t remember if Jovana said anything about a DJ.
 
I made a note.

Well, at least we don’t have to worry about bridesmaid’s dresses.
 
Jordan is going to stand up for Morgan.
 
I’m going to have to find something to wear, but at least it won’t have to be taffeta.

Photographer.
 
Got that one covered.

Flowers.
 
I’ll bet they’re expensive.
 
Wonder what it will take to get enough decorations into the ballroom so that it doesn’t look like a huge, beautiful, cavernous space.
 
Maybe Troya and Sinead can look into that.
 
Troya is the world’s best planner, she can triage the hell out of the situation, and Sinead is young and energetic and sometimes that’s all you need to be.

Lastly, it says you’re supposed to register at your favorite stores, so that people know what to buy for you.
 
Probably won’t have to do that.
 
Everyone coming to the wedding knows the bride and groom well enough to know what it is we can get them.
 
Right?
 

What the hell am I going to get them?

Restless, I gave the apartment a quick once over, trying to relax enough for my brain to tell me what it was trying to tell me, but couldn’t get through to me.
 
I hate it when that happens.
 
It’s kind of like when you forget the name of a movie star, and then wake up at three in the morning, with a start, the name screaming in your head.
 
I knew that I knew what didn’t make sense about the whole Louis slash Officer Jerkface thing, it just wasn’t coming to me.

Teagan called and said she was on her way.
 
I set the oven to preheat for the french fries.
 
AJ called and said he was on his way, perfect timing.
 
I popped some Pepsi in the freezer so that it would be really cold, and played a computer game to kill some time before I put the fries in the oven.

The thing on the oven that tells you it has hit the right number of degrees went off, that sound scares the hell out of me every time.
 
I got up, arranged my frozen fries on my metal cooling rack and put the rack over the cookie sheet.
 
Is it called a cookie sheet if it has sides on it?
 
I don’t care; I’m calling it a cookie sheet.
 
Anyway, the metal cooling rack holds the fries up in the air, so they cook evenly and all the way around without having to flip them mid-cook.
 
I popped those puppies in the oven just as AJ walked in the door.

“How much time do I have?”

“25 minutes to seating.”

“Plenty.
 
Your sister’s here.
 
She was pulling stuff out of the trunk.
 
I offered to help and she gave me a Cara look.”

“A Cara look?”

“You know that look you get.” he pointed at me, “that look!”

“And I always thought I was adopted.
 
That seals it.
 
Teagan and I share blood.”

“There’s no doubt Cara.
 
You and Teagan are so much alike, but so different, you have to be sisters.”

“That makes perfect sense.”

“I know.
 
I’m gonna jump in the shower, I’ll be out in five minutes.
 
Think of something useful for me to do.”

“Everything is done.”

“Thank God, it’s been one of those days.”

Teagan shoved her way in the door as AJ went toward his room.

“Can I get a little help here?”

“Sure.
 
What’s all this crap?”

“It’s stuff from the office.”

“Why is stuff from the office coming to stay at my house?”

“What makes you think it’s coming to stay here?”

“Two things, first, you’re carrying it in here, second, you don’t like your place cluttered, so you bring junk here, cause you know I’ll actually put it away, instead of stacking it by the door.”

“You know me so well.”

“So, what is it?”

“Decorations.”

“Decorations for what?”

“For Morgan’s shower.”

“I thought we weren’t doing a shower.”

“Fine, for Morgan’s non-shower.”

“We need decorations for a non-shower?”

“Yep.
 
Besides, they’re free, they’re pretty, and if we decide we don’t like them, I just shove them all back in my trunk and bring them back to the office and try to shove them back in the closet behind the break-room.”

“Sounds like a great plan, but you know what, I already put the fries in and I need to cook the chicken or we’re going to have cold fries with our dinner.”

“We can’t have that.”

“No, it would be a travesty.
 
Our pallets are so well formed.”

“Want me to set the table?”

“Nope, all done.”

“Bless you, it’s been one of those days.
 
I’m telling you Cara, if you weren’t my sister, you would make me a great wife.” She rolled her eyes, “Don’t give me that look, it was a compliment.”

“Fine, I’ll take it that way.
 
I’m going to go fry chicken.”

I got out my big red stockpot, because it has high sides so the spatter from frying chicken isn’t quite so bad, put in a generous amount of Crisco, and set it to heat up.
 
I dumped the chicken pieces into the plastic bag with the seasoning and shook it all around to make sure every piece was well coated.
 
I know you aren’t supposed to, but I put a drop of water in the oil so that it would pop when the oil was hot enough, dangerous but effective, and waited for the popping noise.
 

Teagan looked at me weird.
 
“What’s wrong with you?”

“What?”

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing, why?”

“There’s no towel on the floor.
 
You always put an old beach towel on the floor when you’re going to cook something that might splatter so that you don’t have to go all OCD and get down on your hands and knees and clean the floor before we can eat.”

“Crap.”
 
I grabbed the towel I keep handy for just such occasions.

“So, what’s going on?”

“I know that I know that there’s something weird going on with the whole Louis thing.
 
I feel like it’s right on the edge of my brain, but it just won’t come to me.”

“Stop thinking about it.”

“I know if you don’t concentrate on it, it will come to you, it always does, but it’s bugging me.”

“Well, as soon as I leave, AJ will pounce on you, and you’ll know.”

AJ walked in the room.
 
“Know what?”

I could feel myself blush.
 
“I just have something about the whole Louis thing swimming around in my brain and it won’t come to the surface.”

Teagan volunteered, “I told her when she gets her mind off of it, it will come bubbling to the service, I didn’t think you would mind helping her out.”

AJ smiled.
 
“I don’t mind.
 
I also don’t pounce.”

I laughed.
 
“That’s true.”

AJ just had to add, “And it’s your sister that pounces.”

I rolled my eyes, and shook my head, and looked at the floor, like a puppy that just got caught leaving a surprise on the new carpet, “That’s true too.”

Thank God the oil popped just then.

“Everybody out of my kitchen.
 
There are cold Pepsis in the freezer, or go watch TV, or talk amongst yourselves, dinner will be ready in a few minutes.”

They dutifully walked out of the room.