Page 21 of Sister of the Bride

“Please, everyone, dig in,” Nora says from her seat opposite Frantz. There are so many hulking dishes of eggs, chorizo, croissants, crispy home fries, and fresh fruit—enough food to feed ten armies and still wrap up the leftovers—that I am surprised the table isn’t groaning under the weight. “I may have gone a bit overboard, but between my Mexican heritage and Frantz’s Haitian heritage, we’re both from cultures that feel an unending sense of shame if someone leaves the table hungry.”

“Well, then that makes three because I’ve never met an Italian who didn’t want to send you home groaning with a covered dish in your arms,” Mom says. “And if you add in my Midwestern roots, I’m pretty sure no one in this family will ever have a grumbling stomach.”

“Cheers to that,” Frantz says, raising his glass while simultaneously balancing a croissant on a pile of eggs. “Speaking of the big merge, we though this might be a good time to talk about wedding plans, since we’re all sitting around the same table—so much simpler than email. It’ll be here before you know it!”

“Oh, I didn’t realize you’d set a date,” I say, and since these are the some of the first words I’ve spoken since my swan dive into the koi pond, they come out sounding slightly froggy. Which is how I feel, honestly, at the idea of my sister “merging” with anyone.

“Well, we haven’t nailed anything down, but there are a few things we have to work around,” Polly says. She pushes a strawberry around her plate. Mackenzie reaches over and rubs her back, and it’s at that moment that I realize Polly looks nervous. Nearly as nervous as she looked the other night when she made her big announcement about this blessed union. Now I’m nervous too, because what other bombs could there possibly be?

Nora nods at Polly. “Mackenzie’s abuela is flying in from Mexico City and staying for a month in October. She’s not well, and the trip is long, so it seemed like it might be smart to try to plan the wedding for when she’s already here.”

“We want to make sure the people who are most important to us can be there, so October fourteenth seems like a good date,” Polly says.

I’m doing math, but Mom is faster. “But that’s just five months away,” she says.

My mental calculator may be slower, but it turns out it’s also a bit more accurate. “That’s four months.Four. How are you going to plan a wedding in the busiest month in New England in just four months? Is there even a venue available in the entire city?” I realize the Bryans are stupid rich, which means their money probably opens a lot of doors. But an October wedding in Boston is a hot ticket, and unless another engaged couple breaks up between now then, they’ll be out of luck.

“Well, we were thinking we could have it here.” Polly reaches over and grabs Mackenzie’s hand, and her fiancée smiles back at her.

“My parents have hosted a number of events here, so we know it can be done beautifully,” Mackenzie adds.

“Oh yes, there’s plenty of open space for tables and a dance floor, and we’ve had a tent back there more than once,” Nora says, and it hits me that this whole discussion has already happened. Somehow my sister got engaged and started planning an actual wedding without filling me inat all.

And that? Well, it hurts.

But this is not the place for that kind of reaction—you have exactly no high ground when you’re wearing novelty pajamas pants at a dining table—so I tune back in to what Nora’s saying. “Remember that fundraiser we did for the children’s adaptive ballet program? That was in October, and the trees were absolutely on fire. I swear we doubled our goal thanks to Mother Nature alone!”

Having been fairly up close and personal with the back garden, I can attest to its beauty. Though we’d have to be careful with drunken guests around the koi pond. But still…even with a venue, planning an entire wedding in four months? My sister, married and gone infour months? And that’s almost as long as Polly and Mackenzie have known each other.

“Aren’t you trying to finish your dissertation? And defend it? And search for jobs? Come on, Polly, this seems…not possible.” I don’t want to be a downer, and I know I’m on thin ice with my sister, but still. This is a little bit ridiculous, and if I don’t say something now, it’s all going to get too far down the road. Turning the car around will be costly and painful. I’m doing my sister a favor by speaking up. “Surely you can’t think planning a wedding on your own in a time crunch while doing everything else you have to do is a good idea.”

“You’re right. I can’t do it on my own,” Polly says, and I let out a breath. I took a big risk opening my mouth at this table, and it feels good to be acknowledged. “We’re definitely going to need some major help.”

And that tone of voice…oh shit, I know it well. It’s the one Polly used in fifth grade when she decided we should be Sonny and Cher for Halloween and she wanted me to wear the mustache. There are some very embarrassing photos that prove just how well that tone of voice works on me.

“I was hoping you might want to help,” she continues. “I mean, you’re very organized and have a good eye. Plus you have so many connections in the hospitality industry.”

I have to hand it to her—Polly isgood. She gives me a look that’s swimming in guilt, because she knows that sitting here in front of all these people, still clad in the humiliation of my last mistake (seriously, I’m pretty sure there’s a lily pad tangled in my hair), she knows I have to say yes. And even if the stakes weren’t so high, Polly’s my twin sister. She’s my other half.Of courseI’m going to help her plan the wedding, even if I think it’s absolutely ridiculous to do it in four months, much less to a woman you’ve known for barely six.

With the soft strains of “I Got You Babe” tinkling through my brain, I smile. “Of course I’ll help,” I say, and even though my heart’s not in it yet, the grin that spreads across Polly’s face brings me a few steps closer to that finish line. That smile—full of joy and hope and anticipation—lets me know that it’s time to shut my mouth for real.

Filter:activated—permanently.

This wedding is happening, and now that I’m on board—or at least standing on the jetway, ticket in hand—I’m going to make sure it’s the best damn wedding you could possibly plan in four months.

Chapter11

Toby

Why didn’t the skeleton climb the mountain?

Pippin

Shouldn’t you be busy saving lives?

Toby

It didn’t have the guts!

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