Page 5 of Dear Wedding Planner
3
MILES
I barely have the car door shut before Mackenzie lays into me.
“I can’t believe you still have a thing for Veronica Gardner,” she snaps.
I flinch inwardly. I didn’t know that she knew about how I felt her then or now.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” I try to lie.
“You are a terrible liar, Miles. Even if you weren’t my brother and I didn’t know practically everything you were thinking, the lovesick for her is all over your face.”
“It’s not that bad.”
“Do I need to buy you a mirror?”
“I can’t help it.” I run my hands over my face. “I can’t turn off what I feel for her.”
“No, but you can try not to look like a puppy that’s so excited he’s going to piddle himself whenever she looks at you.”
“Shut up.”
“I’m trying to help you. Do you think that it's a coincidence that out of all the wedding planners in the city, we just happened to walk into her shop?"
“I thought that you chose her in some sort of twisted way of apologizing to her for being such a jerk to her when we were younger.”
Mackenzie pretends her attention is focused on the road and doesn’t say anything for a full minute.
I didn't know about her behavior until a few years after we graduated. If I knew back when it was happening, I would have stopped Mackenzie. A part of me wonders if the real reason that she didn't like Veronica was that she knew how I felt about her.
We only had each other since our parents were absent for most of our childhoods. Mackenzie used to say that the only reason they had kids was that society told them they should. They were so wrapped up in their own lives that we were simply an afterthought to them. When my attention turned to Veronica, and Mackenzie wasn’t the most important person in my world anymore, that was a new experience for her.
“So, what if I did?” she finally asks.
“Well, I think you’re going to need to do more than just hiring her to make up for what you did. You’re going to have to apologize. You owe her that much.”
“I’ll think about it.”
I don’t push it. That was as concrete an answer I'd get from my stubborn sister. The fact that she even acknowledged out loud how she used to act the way she did to Veronica is a new side of her.
Over the following week. I can't get Veronica off my mind. On more than one occasion, I was tempted to show up at her shop for a chance to talk to her again, but Mackenzie's voice kept playing in my head and stopped me. I needed to find a way to spend time with her that wasn’t a date. I needed to test the waters to make sure that I didn’t scare her off with my initial feelings of wanting to act quickly, so I didn’t miss my chance again.
“What are you doing this afternoon?” Mackenzie asks by way of greeting when she calls me.
“I’m looking online for some photography jobs in town.”
“You were serious about being ready to put down some roots?” she asks. I can hear it in her voice that she's trying to be casual, but I know she is anything but casual. She's been trying to get me to find a job at home since the first time I left home for my career.
“Yeah, I’m ready if I can find a good enough reason to stay,” I can’t stop myself from thinking of Veronica’s smiling face when I say this.
Mackenzie is quiet on the other line.
“Kenz? You there?” I check my phone screen to see if our call was dropped.
“I’m still here,” she says.
“Everything okay?”
