Page 108 of Party Favors

“Are you okay?” he asked, his body pressing mine down against the cushions. I loved the gentle concern in his voice. He started to leverage himself in order to stand up.

“I am very happy right now,” I told him, wrapping my arms around his neck to pull him back down to my lips.

Max made a sound in his chest and then deepened the kiss, parting my lips with his. My veins caught fire, burning up with desire and need. I was dizzy from his touch, his kiss, his labored breathing. Everything he was doing told me that he needed me as much as I needed him.

“Whoa!”

Max lifted his head and we both peered over his shoulder to see Vella standing in the doorway. He easily got to his feet but it took some pushing and adjusting to help me stand as well.

Mostly because my limbs refused to cooperate.

Vella was covering her eyes. “You don’t know how sorry I am to interrupt you, both because I didn’t need to have that image burned into my retinas but I also want you to have your happy reunion. Maybewhen I’m clear of this room, though. But I came up here because there’s a problem.”

“Did you punch somebody?” I asked. I was still so out of breath.

“No,” she said indignantly, dropping her hands. “And before you ask, I didn’t light anyone’s hair on fire, either, even though there are quite a few people at this party that deserve it. I can tell how judgmental all these people are just by looking at them. The issue is that like, thirty more guests just arrived.”

It was like getting kicked in the stomach. “Are you serious?”

“A big group showed up after you and Max ... you know. Apparently they’re guests of Margot’s and she didn’t bother telling you or Sunny that they were coming.”

“This is why we have final head counts.” I ground the words out, clenching my teeth together in frustration.

“What do you need?” Max asked, squeezing my hand to let me know that he was here for me.

“I have to talk to Jeanine. The food is going to be the major issue right now. I’m also going to need like three more tables set up with chairs to accommodate that many people. We have extra table linens just in case, so we should be good there.” I wouldn’t have enough centerpieces, but I could just take some of the stuffed animals and use them and hopefully nobody would notice how differently their tables were decorated from the others.

“I’ll take care of the tables,” he said. “I’ll go speak to Margot and see what she wants us to use.”

“Tell her I’m going to have to use her personal plates, glasses, and silverware as well.” If she wanted to spring a bunch of surprise guests on us, she could provide the things we needed to entertain and feed them. He nodded and I leaned up to kiss him on the cheek to thank him.

I ran downstairs to the kitchen and found Jeanine. She was preparing the first course, an organic mixed greens salad. I quickly filled her in and her eyes got wider with everything I said until they practically popped out of her head.

“But the final head count was a hundred people, not a hundred and thirty,” she protested.

“I know. But apparently the mother-in-law invited quite a few more people without telling anyone.” Despite begging for final head counts for this very reason, both Jeanine and I had been doing this for long enough that there was already a cushion built in to make sure we had food for a few additional people or to replace a couple of dropped plates.

But she wouldn’t have enough to cover thirty percent more guests.

The chef let out a big sigh. “We’ll have to rearrange the salads and then I’ll cut the meat of the main course in half to make sure we have enough. Maybe put out more bread.”

“I don’t think these are the kind of people who eat bread.”

“Probably not,” she agreed. She found her purse and pulled out a credit card, handing it to her sous chef. “You need to go to the nearest store and bring back all the fruits, vegetables, cheese, and crackers you can find. We’ll make up some trays and put them on a table near the kitchen in case anyone is still hungry.”

The sous chef nodded and took off.

“That’s a good idea,” I told her. “Give me the receipt so that I can make sure you get reimbursed.”

“I’ll definitely do that.” She tapped her fingers against the countertop. “Dessert shouldn’t be a problem. It’s a cake, so we’ll cut smaller slices.”

“If bread’s out, sugar probably is, too.”

“But they’ll drink, right? Tipsy people don’t seem to notice as much if they’re still hungry.” With that she told her servers to go back out and circulate with more champagne.

“I’m really sorry, Jeanine.” I could see how visibly stressed she was.

“It’s not your fault, Everly. And it sounds like it’s not the mother-to-be’s fault, either.”

---