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“We can go back. No one is going to kill us for being late.”
Rachel grimaces. “My mom just might.”
“Rachel!”
We turn at that familiar voice, finding Sarah standing behind the hostess, a glass of white wine in one hand. She’s smiling at us, but her eyes display anything but joy as she looks between our group. The hostess turns around and smiles brightly. “Ma’am, is there anything I can help you with?”
Sarah’s smile grows, but there’s an edge to her eyes, a twitch in her brow. Yep, she’s angry about something. I can’t think of anything she could be angry about, but I’m sure we’re about to find out.
“Yes, these are our guests,” Sarah says sweetly. “You can let them in.”
“Oh, of course,” the hostess says while gesturing to us. “Would you like me to—”
Sarah turns sharply around, her hair flicking behind her. “Follow me,” she says curtly.
Rachel rushes after her mom while all of us file behind. I hear Hunter muttering behind me, and I can feel his irritation. None of us want to be here. The only thing keeping me here is Rachel. She needs our support. At least this place is fancy, so the food will be good.
“I see you brought Maria,” I hear Sarah saying. There’s definitely a tinge of bitterness in her tone. “To a fancy restaurant.”
Rachel’s shoulders slump and she sighs. “If she fusses, Hunter has volunteered to take her back to the room.”
Sarah stops in front of a large wooden door. She takes a moment to look Rachel up and down before she says angrily, “You’re not wearing rose gold.”
I sidle close to Rachel, taking her hand, letting her know I’m still here. “She brought a rose-gold dress, but she’s saving it for the wedding tomorrow,” I say, hoping I sound supportive.
“You only brought one?”
Rachel grimaces. “I didn’t know I was supposed to be dressed in rose gold the whole weekend.”
Sarah has the audacity to roll her eyes. “It was in the wedding website. You didn’t read it? Do you know how long it took me to make that thing?”
“I…skimmed it.”
Sarah sighs. “Rachel—”
“Hey, she’s wearing pink,” I butt in. “It’s in the rose-gold family.”
I’ve had it. My patience is only so thin. A wedding is a day. Not a weekend. Not a week, or a month, or a year. It’s a fucking day, and Rachel searched high and low in order to follow her mother’s dress code.
“Fine,” Sarah scoffs. “I suppose it’s good enough.”
Good enough? Rachel looks amazing. It’s not like she’s wearing white or black. It’s not like she’s in jeans and a t-shirt. We dressed nice for this event. The least Sarah can do is stop acting like a bitch and welcome us to her big event of the year.
Before I can say any of that, Sarah opens the door and I’m greeted by a fancy-looking room with its very own chandelier. There’s a long wooden table in the middle. Tom and Diana are already sitting and talking with an elderly looking man who could be from the dinosaur times. He’s probably either Sarah or Bryan’s dad. There are a few other people I don’t recognize, and then there’s Bryan, sitting at the head table, dressed in a gray suit. All the ladies, of course, are dressed in rose gold. I struggle to stifle a groan. This night is going to be long and boring. The food better be fucking good.
The door closes behind Lucas and we all file around the table. There are even name cards next to the plates, which I think is a bit too much. Why can’t we sit wherever we want? What if I want to stand over by the door so I can make a mad dash when Rachel final explodes from Sarah’s rude comments?
After taking a minute to find my name, I discover Sarah has decided to split our group up, with me and Rachel sitting together while Alex, Lucas, and Hunter sit across the table and to the far left. I sit next to the fossil-looking man while Rachel sits next to her mother—bad idea, but who knows, an argument might liven up this dinner party. It’s pretty rude Sarah that separated us from the others since we’re one family.
“Now that Rachel and her group are finally here,” Sarah begins while taking her seat next to Bryan, “dinner can now be served.”
“Oh, you didn’t have to wait for us,” Rachel says softly.
Sarah turns to her daughter, smiling so bitterly my skin begins to crawl in an attempt to get away. “We would have, but we were told we needed to wait for our entire dinner party.”
“It’s a good thing you showed up,” Bryan laughs, “or else we may have been waiting forever.”
“Oh, but you were only five minutes late,” Diana says sweetly. “And your dress looks lovely!”
