Page 2 of Dear Wedding Planner
“I hope the bride’s name isn’t Mackenzie.” I chuckle humorlessly, thinking about my high school nemesis, Mackenzie Jameson, who made my life miserable. I know that I've had a string of bad luck, but there is no way the universe hates me that much.
“It is,” Tabitha confirms.
My head snaps up to look at her. “Please tell me you are kidding.”
The bell above my shop door rings out. Tabitha glances over her shoulder and waves at whoever has just walked in.
"I'll be with you in just one moment," she says before turning back to me. "No, I’m not kidding. And she just walked in.”
The memories of Mackenzie and her crew using me as their punching bag for their verbal assaults that I thought I’d long since suppressed come flooding back to me.
“I can’t meet with her,” I hiss.
Tabitha gives a reassuring smile over her shoulder before stepping into my office, and the smile instantly drops from her face.
“What do you mean you can’t meet with her? We’ve had it on the books for two weeks now. I can’t just send her out of here. She is the big fish that we’ve been looking for to keep this place going. We don’t have a lot of options. I don’t see too many brides banging on our door to work with you.”
“Okay, first,” I point at her. “Ouch. You know that wasn’t my fault. Second, that she-devil out there is the reason I hide cookies in my desk and stress eat.”
“I’m going to tell you what my mom would tell me in this situation,” she says using the stern voice she saves for when she is talking to anxious grooms and jittery brides. “What’s happened in the past is over. You’ve moved on and become a successful grown woman.”
“Well—” I cut in to argue the successful part.
“I’m not finished.”
“Sorry.”
“You are going to pull up your big girl pants,” she says, picking up my leather portfolio and holds it out to me. “And you are going to go out there and charm the pants off her. If you show her that you aren’t bothered, then she doesn’t win.”
I take the portfolio and stare at Tabitha. "When did you get so wise?"
“When my amazing boss lost her damn mind and nearly turned away a paying bride because of a high school grudge.”
“You’re right. I can do this.”
“Good,” Tabitha waves me towards the door. “Be cool. And don’t get lost in the dreamy eyes of her groom.”
Rule number one of wedding planning—never fall for the groom. But that doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate a stunning specimen when we see one.
“He’s cute?”
She scoffs. “That’s putting it mildly.”
“Okay,” I roll my neck like I’m about to enter a boxing ring. “Let’s do this.”
Tabitha smacks my ass as I walk by her out the door.
“Really?”
She shrugs and smiles at me.
