Page 76 of Fathers of the Bride
“She’s not coming,” I said.
“No? I thought we were going to talk about my being in the wedding?”
“We are. You know Kelly. She’s not the kind of girl who’sintoweddings.”
“So, you’re pre-interviewing bridesmaids?”
“Actually, I’m looking for a maid of honor.” Although, there weren’t any bridesmaids either. I supposed Martha could be one. That would be far less problematic.
After studying me a moment, Kayla looked into her gigantic crocodile bag. I forget the designer, but I do know the style is called hobo, a hobo bag. Ironic, since they cost as much as a car. Of course, I wondered if she’d somehow gotten it for free.
She took out a sheet of paper and lay it in front of me. I glanced at it and saw that it was filled from top to bottom. The first entry said, Silverman Wedding. I skimmed down the sheet.
“This is a kind of resume,” I said.
“Everything’s on there,” she said. “Except my actual job, of course. That’s not relevant.”
I was tempted to ask what she did for a living, but I was distracted by all the weddings she’d been in. “So, I can call any of these people and get a glowing recommendation?”
“Absolutely.”
I knew I wouldn’t. Simply providing me a resume of all the weddings she’d been in was enough. I mean, who did that? She obviously knew what she was getting into.
“You’re perfect,” I couldn’t help saying.
“When do we tell Kelly?”
31
Miles Kettering-Lane
It was called La Cakery,which proves the adage: If you’re going to give your business a boring name put a La in front of it and make it at leastsoundFrench. People will think it’s special. As we drove down Ventura Boulevard, it seemed like every chain store in existence had opened a branch on the street. Unlike when I’d arrived in the eighties, when the stores were largely local: unique, special places that were exciting to explore. God, I missed that.
And I was saying as much to Kelly, Avery and Martha—who’d been introduced as Avery’s cousinandthe maid of honor. She was tall, blond, and over-dressed in an ultrachic light blue pants suit. Andy was right. She seemed exactly the kind of woman my Kelly wasn’t: hard, flinty and conservative.
“I’d like to go to the eighties some time,” Martha said, as though the eighties were a theme park somewhere in Anaheim. “It would be fun to meet Ronald Reagan.”
I said, “Yeah…” because what else could I say?
La Cakery was wedged between a CVS Pharmacy and a Banana Republic, in a narrow storefront with a small front door and a large window. In the window was a five-tiered wedding cake that looked like a sugary dream.
The four of us got out of the car and entered the bakery. My mind kept turning back to what Andy had said that morning: He wanted to make me famous again. I suppose it was sweet. I wouldn’t exactly say he’d made me famous in the first place. Yes, he was a good producer. The best really. But he didn’tmakeme famous. Not on his own. I did help, after all. Not to mention there was a great deal of luck involved.
We were very young; too young to fully understand what we were up against. Now, I understand. I wouldn’t hold him to a promise like that. It was sweet of him to make it, though.
And then, two stocky women in kitchen whites came out to greet us. They introduced themselves as Char and Cher Cutler.
We all shook hands. Martha repeated their names as she did. I explained that we had an appointment to taste cake, then introduced Kelly and Avery as the bride and groom, and Martha as the maid of honor. They told us to sit down at a small café table in the window and then asked how many guests we were having at the wedding.
“Not many more than a hundred,” Kelly said.
“Oh, you must be joking,” Martha said. “That’s so small. I feel lonely in a room with less than two hundred people.”
Char and Cher stared at me. I’d probably said two-twenty-five over the phone. I gave what I hoped was a subtle shake of my head. The bakers looked at each other, confused.
“You know what? I’ll call you with a final count after we decide which cake we’d like.”
Char or Cher—I’d already mixed them up—shrugged, and the other said, “We’ll bring you the flavors to try.”
