Page 166 of Talk Nerdy To Me
“Ah, shit,” is the first reflexive thing that comes out of my mouth.
Tria runs off in the opposite direction, as I run a hand through my hair.
“She’s never going to fucking marry me after this,” Kode groans as he chases after her, pulling his phone out as he goes.
Dale claps my shoulder. “Welcome to the fucking family. Do something useful.”
I hurry into the room where the girls are in a frenzy, but among the chaos, Britt is sitting calmly, one ear in her finger as she speaks to someone on the phone.
I watch as she hangs up and calls someone else, and I go to take a seat beside her as she thanks whoever it is.
I hand her my phone, and she dials a number on it, handing it back to me, and I put it to my ear just as a man answers.
“I don’t suppose you’ve seen Raya Capperton anywhere, have you?” I ask him as Britt asks someone else a similar question.
We do this for thirty minutes…until we run out of ‘discreet’ numbers to call.
“Everyone else is part of the wedding, and we risk exposing a missing bride, which is what you informed me not to do,” Britt tells Harley.
Harley nods absently, looking over a chart of some sort.
“So we see who doesn’t show up as early as they should and hope they have a hidden bride stashed somewhere. We’ll just stall the ceremony until we find her.”
“We can start with Brin. She’s still not here,” Britt notes. “And she’s not answering her phone.”
“Neither is Rye,” Ash says from the corner.
“In case she’s not with them, I’ll draw up a quick chart of her friends and family, ranking them in the columns of importance and familiarity with Raya,” Britt offers as she stands and walks out without giving me any sort of direction.
I awkwardly sit for a second. No one glances at me, so I stand and chase Britt out the door.
“Tell me how to be your MVP,” I say to her.
“I have no idea what we’re doing, so I’m just escaping the tumultuous tension inside that room. I didn’t even know why I felt the need to panic,” she says as she exhales heavily just once, and turns into a private, quiet room.
“Why do you think she ran?” I ask as I drop to a chair.
“She and Kade have been more withdrawn from the group this past year. But she doesn’t ever look at him differently. Someone should have gotten him to calm her down before it escalated. That was my repeated suggestion when she broke out into hives,” she says as she sits down and starts scribbling down a chart on a piece of paper.
“It’s bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding,” I remind her.
“Worse luck than the bride disappearing out a window?” she asks as she continues jotting down names in various columns.
I pause. “Touché.”
I slide my chair up so that I can see what she’s writing as I put my arm around her chair.
“The best outcome is that the wedding will be delayed. The worst is that there will be a lot to do if the wedding gets called off. Regardless, you should prepare to leave without me. I’ll fly out tomorrow morning and meet you,” she says distractedly.
I pull out my phone, and she flicks her gaze to me as I fire off a quick text to Randy.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting two flights to Houston for tomorrow morning. I owe them one, so I informed Randy that he gets to take his dog, since I won’t be in the van with them. Taylor won’t be laughing so hysterically when that damn dog tears his van up, and Sticks won’t be amused when his drumsticks turn into chew toys.”
I glance over to see her brow furrowed.
“I don’t understand what some of that means,” she says very seriously, shaking her head as she resumes her task.
