The start of the wedding reception was a blur of activity that Gracie could hardly wrap her head around. Moments after saying their vows, she and Cal had been ushered quickly out of the church and into a limo that had taken them to go get their wedding pictures done in the garden behind the reception hall. Gracie was glad that a professional photographer was taking pictures, because she only had the briefest flashes of memory from the hour that followed. Bright flash after bright flash, she stood in Cal's arms, then in her brother's and then with her Daddy by her side as pictures were taken. Cal's entire family gathered together for a large group shot that everyone said they wanted copies of. Gracie and Cal were put into pose after pose after pose. Her smile was frozen on her face, to the point where she wondered if her cheeks were going to ache tonight.
Gracie's enthusiasm for the picture taking process was starting to fade as she posed with Trish and Katie while Makinsley scowled at them from the sidelines while wearing a clingy turquoise dress that had clearly been bought with the sole intention of matching Addy's dress shirt. Unfortunately for Makinsley, she didn't make it into any of the pictures and she was clearly pretty steamed about it. Addison actually seemed to be ignoring her.
By the time Miss Loretta announced that the wedding party absolutely had to head into the reception hall because it would be rude to make the guests wait any longer, the back of Gracie's wedding dress was starting to get sweaty and she was pretty sure her delicate up-do had begun to frizz.
“Do I look okay?” She whispered to Katie as they headed across the massive lawn of the reception barn.
“You look beautiful,” Katie promised.
“I'm sweating like a pig,” Gracie muttered.
Katie grabbed her by the wrist and stopped walking. They were standing under the shady limbs of a huge oak tree. “Hang on. I can fix that.” She dug into her tiny clutch purse and pulled out a miniature bottle of spray deodorant. “Hold up your arms,” she told Gracie and then sprayed her.
“What are y'all doing?” Cal came up behind Gracie and put his hands on her hips. She leaned backwards into his chest, so glad just to be with him.
“Making sure we don't smell funny.” Katie turned the deodorant on herself.
“You have any body spray?” Trish asked as she held her hand out to take the deodorant from Katie.
“You know I do.” Katie dug around in the purse until she found a little pink spray bottle. She passed it to Trish.
“Don't y'all usually do your primping in the bathroom?” Addison asked. He'd pulled his dark sunglasses down over his eyes.
“The bathroom is full of wedding guests,” Katie pointed out. She'd taken a tube of lip gloss out of her bag. “Gracie, come here. Your lipstick is gone.”
Gracie obliged.
“Does anyone know what we're supposed to do once we get into the reception?” David asked. “I'm kind of hoping we get to sit down and eat.”
“Not a chance,” Trish told him. “The guests have been eating for the last hour while we took our pictures. When we go into the reception, we have to get the party started.”
“Why do I not like the sound of that?” David asked.
“Because you don't like dancing,” Trish said as she looped her arm through his. “ I keep forgetting that none of y'all have done this before and we skipped the rehearsal. We'll all go into the reception, but the band will only announce Gracie and Cal. Once he does that, they'll go into the center of the dance floor and have their first dance as a married couple. The second dance will be for Cal and Miss Loretta and Gracie and Dale. The third dance will be for the bride and groom, the immediate family and the bridal party with their respective dates.”
“About time I get to do something.” Mak was leaning on Addison with a possessiveness that was unmistakable. He looked annoyed as her perfectly painted claws dug into his bicep.
“When do we get to eat?” Gracie asked. She hadn't wanted to eat before the wedding because she'd read that it was a bad idea to be bloated during your wedding pictures. She was regretting that decision now, because she was starving.
“After the wedding. If you're lucky, you might manage to grab a bite or two of something as you walk around the reception greeting everyone. You do know that the bride and groom are supposed to try to take a minute or two to acknowledge and chat with all their guests, right?”
Gracie groaned and laid her head against Cal's shoulder. “Do we have a truck here?” she asked.
“Sort of. We dropped off Breedlove's Toyota here before the ceremony. Why?”
“I'll love you forever if you run up to the diner and get me a hamburger to go.” Gracie batted her eyelashes at Cal, who laughed.
“Momma would notice we were gone and send a search party after us.”
“Do we care?” Gracie asked.
“You better care,” David said. “Because I'm not about to take the blame for you two running off together before your wedding reception. We'd find y'all at the creek four hours from now, drunk off your asses and likely half-naked.”
“More than half naked,” Cal corrected. “We have to consummate the marriage.”
“Uh huh, well, at least tell me you have some alcohol hidden away for me?” Gracie gave David her best smile. “I'm not good at small talk and I have no idea how I'm going to make it through greeting and chatting with hundreds of people I only sort of know.”
David laughed. “Well, there might have been a reason Cal and I dropped of the 'Yota here before the ceremony.”
“Tell me y'all didn't bring a beer cooler to a wedding?” Katie clucked her tongue with disapproval, but she was smiling.
“Think of it as more of a liquor cooler,” Cal said. “There might even still be a few sandwiches in there. Trish warned us that getting food at a wedding could be tricky, even if there was plenty of food on hand. I packed a few sandwiches at the house just in case y'all girls wanted them. Katie always forgets to eat and then gets lightheaded.”
Katie blushed. “Pass out once and no one ever lets me forget it.”
“You've passed out more than once,” Addison reminded her.
She waved him silent with her hand.
“Did you pack margaritas by chance?” Gracie asked. “I really want a turkey sandwich and a lime margarita.”
“I don't remember what we packed,” David said. “But if you want food, you better hustle. Miss Loretta is going to come out here any minute to see what's taking us so long.”
“What are we waiting for?” Gracie was perfectly happy run, not walk, away from the wedding reception that was waiting on her.
“I think I'm going to skip the snack break,” Katie said as the rest of them started to head for the truck.
Gracie frowned at her. “You're not hungry?”
“I am, and I appreciate y'all packing food for me. Really, I do. Unfortunately, I kind of need to find Ian before the bridal party has to dance in front of every single living soul in Possum Creek. Have any of y'all seen him today?”
Everyone exchanged puzzled looks.
Katie sighed. “I'll take that as a no.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” Addison asked her.
Makinsley let out a loud huff. “Addy, she needs to go find her husband. She doesn't need your help.”
Addison responded by shaking Makinsley's hand off of his arm without ever looking at her.
“I'm fine. I'm sure he's around somewhere. I just need to go see if Frank or Maggie knows where he is. I'll catch up with y'all.” Katie turned away from the rest of them and hurried towards the reception hall. She had her phone pressed to her ear before she'd even made it halfway across the massive front lawn.
“Has anyone seen Ian?” Gracie asked, looking specifically at David as everyone started walking towards the truck.
“No, but that doesn't mean he's not here. It's beyond crowded. If I hadn't parked my truck here this morning, I wouldn't have gotten a parking spot. There are cars parked a mile and a half out.”
“How many people are here?”
“Literally everyone you can think of, and probably two hundred that you've never met who only showed up for the free meal.” They had reached the Toyota. David pulled open the tailgate and yanked a heavy Yeti cooler to the edge.
“I can't believe you brought a picnic to a wedding, Breedlove.” Makinsley rolled her eyes and then gave Addison's elbow a tug. “Let's just go inside to the party. It's ridiculously rude to leave all the guests waiting inside because your sister doesn't want to deal with her own wedding.”
“I don't really care if we're being a little tacky,” Addison said as he picked up an athletic-style water bottle that didn't contain any actual water and took a swig out of it. “You go ahead and go. I'll be inside in a few minutes.”
Makinsley rolled her eyes at him and them stormed off.
“Why aren't you chasing after her, Addy?” David was watching Makinsley go with grim kind of pleasure as he handed out sandwiches.
“As far as I'm concerned, she can skip the reception entirely and take her ass back to her house,” he said. “I've had enough of Makinsley.”
“Really?” Gracie looked at him skeptically. “Do you promise?”
Addison nodded. “I had some...um, personal things that I needed to take care of last night and I forgot that I'd invited Mak to your rehearsal dinner. I guess I kind of ditched her there.”
“You definitely ditched Mak at the rehearsal,” Cal said. “Believe me, you may not have noticed but David and I did. We had to put up with her all night. She even tried to come back to my parents house with us.”
“Right. Sorry about that.” Addison took off his sunglasses and tucked them back into his pocket. “The whole benefit to my relationship with Makinsley is that its not supposed to be a real relationship. Just sex. I got home after sunrise this morning to find her camped out in my apartment. She started chewing my ass the minute I walked through the door. Believe me, we're done. What's the point in having a non-committed relationship if you still get in trouble for not checking in with the person you're not committed to?”
David let out a short laugh. “I told you that she was more committed to your relationship than you were.”
“Well, after the reception she's gone. I promise. We're only here together right now because she wanted to save face.”
“Hallelujah,” Gracie said. She threw her arms around her big brother's neck. “Getting rid of Makinsley is the best wedding gift you ever could have given me.”
“Us,” Cal corrected. “Addison dumping Mak is a gift to all of us.”
“Y'all shut up, she's not that bad.”
Trish, usually the nice one, rolled her eyes as she took a dainty sip of whatever David had stored in a small metal flash. She cringed as the liquid hit her tongue.
“What are y'all doing?” Miss Loretta's voice echoed out across the parking lot.
“Shit.” David hurriedly took the flask back from Trish and stuffed it into his inside jacket pocket.
Cal's mother was stomping her way across the parking lot in a pair of cream colored beige heels and a very modest dress that had more sequins than were really in good taste.
“Hide the whiskey,” Cal muttered.
“You're the one holding the whiskey,” David hissed back, pointing at the blue water bottle that was in Cal's hand.
“Oops,” Cal said with a grin.
“What are all of you doing out here?” Miss Loretta repeated herself as she walked up to the truck. “Sitting around in the parking lot and having a snack?”
“Something like that,” Addison admitted.
Miss Loretta rolled her eyes and snatched the water bottle out of Addison's hands. She twisted off the lid and took a sniff of the contents. “Tell me y'all aren't out here drinking while seven hundred and thirty people wait inside for you to make your appearance?”
“Did you just say seven hundred and thirty people?” Cal looked just a horrified as Gracie felt.
“We did a head count. Yes. Also, we're running out of food, so you might as well finish those sandwiches you're all hiding before you go in. I'd only planned to feed six hundred.” Loretta eyed the cooler with a wary expression. “I don't suppose you packed an extra sandwich, actually?”
David dug one out and handed it to her. “All the sandwiches were technically extras.”
Miss Loretta unwrapped it and took a bite. “Sometimes I just don't know what to do with y'all. We can go along nicely for months, me thinking I've done a good job raising my children into adulthood, and then y'all hide out in the parking lot of your own wedding like a bunch of high school kids sneaking beer.” She was doing her best to hide her amusement as she spoke.
Cal snickered back a laugh and his mother swatted at him, pretending she was going to smack him. Gracie was leaning against him, his arm around her waist.
“Do we have to go in and face the lions?”
“They're not lions. They're members of the Lion's Club. And the Garden Club. And the Rotary Club. And the Junior League from Canterville. Also the Moose Lodge, the American Legion and I think we even have a few Shriner's running around. We also appear to have roughly half of the parolees from the state prison, so do your best not to piss anyone off.”
“Parolees?” David did a double take.
“Did you invite anyone with a tear drop tattoo?” Miss Loretta asked.
“No.”
“Me neither, but there are about six men who match that description. If I ever find out who mailed out the fake wedding invitations that listed all of the real wedding information, I'm going to gut that person with a rusty butter knife and hang their head on my wall.” She finished the last bite of her sandwich and then rubbed her hands together, the diamonds and rubies that adorned her rings glistened brightly in the sunlight.
Gracie couldn't help noticing that her brother grimaced, but she didn't want to ask him if he'd actually learned anything about the person sabotaging her wedding since they'd discovered the problem with the dresses last night. Addison had more than done his big brotherly job when he'd convinced their dad to attend her wedding. It wouldn't be fair to ask anymore from him.
“On that note, maybe we had better head into the wedding before Miss Loretta decides to murder us all in our sleep,” David said.
“If I were going to murder you in your sleep, son, I would have done it years ago.” Miss Loretta held her arm out so that David could escort her back into reception hall. Or maybe so that she could prevent him from bolting out of the parking lot while her back was turned. Gracie was never quite sure of Miss Loretta's motives, but the older woman definitely knew them all just a little too well. “Time to go, kids. Everybody is waiting on us.”