Page 54 of Brenna, Brat

“I’m not trying to do that.”

“But you are doing that,” I answered. “Do you think this is all about you? It isn’t, just like you didn’t own our high school, either!”

“You’re still carping on that, how many years later?” she asked, and I saw her chest start to move with faster breaths.

“And you’ll also ruin the party for all these people, all the guests who rearranged their lives on short notice to hurry and see you get married. They had to get new outfits or try to fit into their old ones, and yes, most of them are very poorly dressed and look terrible, but you can tell that they made an effort. They brought you gifts and sat through the boring ceremony. And how do you repay them? By throwing a fit like a baby.”

Color flooded her face and her eyes snapped in anger. “Be quiet. I am not throwing a fit!”

“Are so!” I shot back. “You better get your butt back in there and behave yourself, right now! You better, or I’ll tell Nicola that you’re out here acting like a real brat.”

“You’re the brat, Brenna!” she hissed, and when she stomped back inside, she knocked me out of the way with her hip. Yes, it was swathed in layers of fabric, but it still hurt. Maybe she was pointier since she’d lost the weight, although we’d all been working to get her to eat and I thought she seemed better. Maybe the problem was that I was still just scrawny Brenna.

The other problem was that I had headed off her emotional collapse now, but if her new husband died? I thought that Juliet might go to pieces and maybe not come together again.

The French doors opened. “Do you know how hard it is to find someone in a house with this many rooms?” Campbell asked me. “I think I ended up in a dungeon by mistake.”

I nodded, because my throat and in fact, my whole upper body was clenched too tightly to allow speech.

“Did you just talk to your sister? I only found you because I saw her leaving that room and she looked pissed out of her mind. I figured you had to be nearby.” He tilted his head. “Brenna, are you ok?”

I nodded again and cleared my throat. “Juliet was out here almost crying. She’s afraid she’s going to lose Beckett soon, that he’s going to die.”

“Shit.” He walked out to join me. “Shit, that’s awful.” He reached and took my hand like he’d held it during the speeches.

“I made her mad instead. I told her to behave herself and that she was being a brat. But I…” Sugar. I was going to cry, too.

“Oh,” he said quietly, and looked at me. “I was going to tell you before that the vases you picked for the centerpieces are too small.”

I blinked.“What?”

“Yeah,” he said, nodding. “I know you were trying to choose the right size, but you really got it wrong. The scale is off. They look puny and dumb on those tables.”

It was exactly what I’d been worrying about in regard to the flower arrangements, and he knew it. “That’s not true. Theylook amazing! If I had picked the bigger ones, the guests wouldn’t have been able to see over them to talk!”

“I heard some other people mention it, too,” he casually added.

“You know, I see what you’re doing right now,” I told him. “It worked on Juliet.”

“Did it also work on you?”

“It did, because now I’m mad and worried about the flowers,” I said.

“Good. Let’s go in and check them out, and we’ll dance more.” He tugged me toward the French doors. “Also, I was going to tell you before that Juliet will be ok, whatever happens. She has you and the rest of the Currans.” He glanced down at me. “Did you forget cash to tip the bartenders? Damn, I bet you did even though I put it on your list.”

“I did not forget! You know what?”

“What?” he challenged.

“You’re a really good friend to me and I like you a lot.”

He was laughing as we made our way back to the ballroom.

Juliet was ok for the rest of the party, although she wouldn’t even look at me until the moment that they were getting into their Rolls to end the evening, and everyone was clapping and cheering as we waved them off. She hugged Patrick, our mom and dad, and all our other sisters, but she stopped and looked at me, right in the eyes. I thought she might take a swing and I worried about bloodying her nose and getting it on her dress.

But then she hugged me, too. “I owe you, Brenna,” she said, and the car swept them away, into their new life together.

The rest of the guests slowly peeled off and I got the cleaning crews going. Yes, my sister had wanted to end the evening early but it was very late when my siblings, their partners, Campbell, and I sat down to have a few more drinks (nonalcoholic for several of my sisters and also for me, since I was really feeling the previous glasses of champagne). We congratulated each other on the successful event, but then Sophie narrowed her eyes at me.

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