Page 12 of Little Gray Dress

“Perfect.” She turns to Megan and the two of them start jotting things on the board, Megan typing frantically into her phone as well. “Leave it to me, kids, and we’ll have this planned in no time.”

“Maybe we should sneak out?” Jack whispers into my ear, his breath on my neck giving me chills. Even though we’ve been together just over four years he still takes my breath away. “They don’t really need us,” he adds, before backing towards the door.

Really? I mouth over at him, standing slowly from my chair. He nods and turns the door knob slowly, letting the door open without even as much as a click.

I know it’s wrong to sneak out of my own wedding planning meeting, but I really can’t help at this point and Amelia clearly has it under control. They haven’t looked at us or even run by an idea in a couple of minutes, so I’m thinking my work here is done. I tiptoe over to the open door where Jack is now standing just outside.

“Emi?” Amelia suddenly calls my name.

I quickly turn towards her and see Jack disappear against the hallway wall out of my side-eye view.

“No need to look at venues today, I’ve already booked the Hilton Exec Tower for July the fifth.” She smiles with a nod.

“Oh, you chose the date too?” I look over at Jack standing just out of sight of his mother. He gives me a told you so look.

“Of course,” Amelia waves a hand at me. “You kids go do whatever it is you need to do and I’ll take care of this.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to feel like you’re doing everything.”

“It’s not a bother! My only son is getting married, I’m just thankful to be a part of it.”

I bet she wouldn’t be if I didn’t let her plan the entire thing.

“OK then,” I say, then I glance at Megan. She is staring at Amelia, who has taken over the planning board and has a wide-eyed deer-in-the-headlights look on her face. Obviously this is not what she originally signed up for, but if she can succeed in planning a wedding for the great Amelia Cabot then she might earn herself the business of Portland’s richest of rich.

I walk out of the doorway to have Jack quickly grab my hand and lead me to the street outside. “I told you she’d take over.”

“What day is July the fifth anyway?” I pull out my phone and scroll six months into the future. “Well, at least it’s a Saturday.”

“The wedding is well cared for.” He laughs.

“I really don’t need to do anything, do I?”

“Maybe pick your own dress, I hope, and show up for appointments?”

“Did I do the wrong thing?” I bite my lip and stop walking, pulling Jack to a stop with me. “Is it going to end up being not us, and more…” I sigh. “Your mother?”

“No. She knows us. She thinks of you as a daughter, she’d never intentionally do anything you wouldn’t like. You know that. Now come on… Let’s go grab a coffee, we’ve got a whole Saturday to ourselves.”

“OK.” Coffee could lead me anywhere. The truth of the matter is, Jack could lead me anywhere. As a kid I never pictured myself getting married, so seeing myself marrying Jack at a mystery wedding that my future mother-in-law is planning is kind of like the dream I never had. Even though I’ve seen the plans with her, I honestly don’t know what to expect. Will I hate it? Will there even be anyone there I know?

“It’s gonna be great, Ems. Just like you.” He kisses my lips, waking me up from the dream of the nightmare this could become.

“Right. It’ll be great.” I repeat it, just in case my inner self didn’t believe it when he said it.

I sure hope he’s right.

Chapter Five

Present Day

Northwest Portland, Oregon

The Discovery

“I invited some friends over for a barbecue tonight. Just a casual thing to relax before the wedding.” Evan has at least ten different cuts of meat in different marinade bowls lined up across the counter. Platters, tongs, and bottles of sauce surround him.

“All of this is just for a casual thing?”

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