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Caleb handed me the list, and I wrote down the items I would need. “I assume you mean for your recipe?” Caleb remarked.
“It’s technically Stacey’s recipe. Speaking of Stacey, is she here?”
“She went to get herself a bottle of sparkling water at the store down the street,” Caleb replied without looking up. “She’s been up fussing about the alteration store since seven this morning, and she’s been so stressed about these dresses that I don’t know how much I’m helping or hurting. And she said she had told you that you could have some time to nap.”
“I didn’t need long.”
“Clearly, that's a good trait in a maid of honor,” Maverick said. Elliott and everyone are still at the airport. They decided to wait because Jacob’s flight also got delayed. I’m going to go at least pick up what people and luggage I can.”
“A good idea.”
Just then, Stacey walked in the front door. “Stacey,” I squealed as I ran to her and gave her a big hug. “Oh my gosh, this is going to be a great week,” I said.
She laughed a little. “Glad you got a nap in. I’ve not been able to sleep much lately,” Stacey admitted. “Too many things on my mind. But it’s so good to see you. Did you and Elliott have a good flight?”
“Indeed, we did,” I replied. “It was great that we could catch a flight together out of Las Vegas. Now why don’t we go to the tailor shop and see what we can find out?”
Stacey nodded. We both headed to the kitchen, where Stacey kissed Caleb goodbye. I waved at both Caleb and Maverick, who just grabbed his keys and walked out the door. Stacey raised an eyebrow.
“Mav always like that?”
“When he’s on a mission,” Caleb replied. “He’s picking up more people and luggage from the airport. Some of them may want to find their beds and take a nap.”
Stacey nodded. With that, we went to the alterations store about twenty minutes away. Stacey was a force to be reckoned with when she was angry, and this shop had been giving us the runaround since December. It was now June. Mid-wedding season. They needed to stop with the runaround.
Stacey demanded to see her dresses on the racks. After confirming that they were there and had indeed been altered, she promised to leave a nasty review if they didn’t at least deliver on the timing. The employees explained that many had been fired, and it was just two of them… that quelled Stacey’s anger.
“Oh, my gosh… if you had said something when these issues first started, I wouldn’t have gotten so mad with you,” she said softly. “I’m so sorry.”
“Your alterations have not been complicated, which is why they’re not yet done,” one said. “We had other more complicated alterations to do.”
“I think we'll be all right as long as we can pick them up before the end of the day on Friday,” I said. Is that doable?”
“Yes! We have just a hem on two dresses left, and one of them needs some mesh lining that should be coming in today,” the employee we were talking to said. “Relax, ma’am. We have your dresses in good hands, but we only have so many hands available right now.”
“Then, we will leave you to it.”
Chapter three
Maverick
Later that evening, the rest of the wedding party had finally arrived. I was sitting on the patio amidst the chaos of seventeen other people talking. Once everyone had arrived safely, Caleb had gone to have some time alone with Stacey, so it was just the bridesmaids and groomsmen—for now. The only one missing was Maria.
“Do you want another beer, Mav?” Elliott asked as he sat down beside me.
“No, thank you. Just the one is good enough for me. Besides, I’ll be able to sleep well tonight. It’s been a busy day. And all of you, with all of your traveling. How are you not exhausted?”
“Flying from South Carolina to Idaho is exhausting, but that was part of why I wanted an early flight,” he shared. “Ending up on the same flight out of Vegas with Maria? That was happenstance, and we enjoyed it – even more so when we realized we were sitting next to each other, completely by accident.”
I laughed a little as I took one of the water bottles from the small table next to the couch.
“Well, at least you had something to brighten up your day rather than just sitting with your thoughts,” I said.
My next sentence was cut off by the sound of the back door sliding open. It had a slight creak to it that wasn’t present in any of the other doors, and that was a good thing. We could hear if we needed to be alerted this week.
Maria walked out to meet Elliott and me at the couch. She had a stack of papers in her hand and handed half of them to me.
“I know we were all mailed a copy of this a couple of weeks ago,” she said, “but Stacey wanted me to get these schedules handed out tonight so that no one would have to worry about whether they brought their copy. Can you handle getting these to the groomsmen, Mav?”
