Always The Wedding Planner, Never The Bride Part 3

"I am not one of your law firm's ancient clients getting ready to marry a former stripper young enough to be my greatgranddaughter."

"Hey. We have other clients too. It will take twenty-four hours, bro. Look at it as an engagement present, from me to you."

"Only you would suggest an engagement gift of a background check on my fiancee."

"C'mon. Andy, you hardly know a thing about her."

"I know everything I need to know."

The waitress delivered the platter of pork sandwiches, and Andy gave her a nod. "Thank G.o.d. My pretzels are almost gone. Who knows what he would have started gnawing on after that."

She giggled as she turned away.

"You want one of these?" Jeff offered.

"Yeah. I'm still starving."

Over the next hour of conversation, Andy found himself looking around at the place he'd come to know as a second home. From the stone fireplace, copper tiles, and bow-truss ceiling of the eighty-year-old building, a former auto shop, to the plasma televisions and shuffleboard table in the back, The Boundary had become Andy's go-to spot for watching sports and tossing back sandwiches and the occasional bottle or two of ale with his buddies. He would miss the place, and he wondered if any of the Atlanta hangouts from his younger days would still be around. Or if he'd still be interested in frequenting them now, in his thirties.

He'd left Atlanta nearly five years ago, and not a month had pa.s.sed since then that his mother hadn't issued an open invitation for his return. He supposed that her "accidental meeting" with the wife of the guy who owned the most prestigious line of sports clinics in the South had, first and foremost, been an opportunity for Vanessa Drummond to lure her son home.

If it hadn't been for the fact that Sherilyn had such a fondness for Atlanta, he might not have even considered the move. Not that she had any family there, or anywhere else for that matter, but she did have her friend Emma, and now this new job had dropped right into her lap. Andy figured his mother might have been right when she'd declared that it was "just meant to be."

He hoped so, anyway. He'd never say it out loud, of course, but his mother and Jeff were right about Sherilyn. He barely knew her when he'd proposed.

"You have no idea what you're getting into," his mother had chided. "You haven't had time to even know who this woman is!"

"She's got no mom for you to check out," Jeff had pointed out. "Normally, a guy can look at the mother-in-law to figure it all out. Will everything drop to her knees when she hits forty? Will she balloon up to three hundred pounds out of nowhere? Maybe she'll have digestion issues later in life, and fart every time she gets out of a chair."

Andy fixed his gaze on Jeff for a moment and laughed right out loud.

"Wha?"

Shaking his head, Andy told him, "I'm going to miss you, moron."

"Yeahyouwill!"

"Are you sure your young lady wouldn't rather stay here at the house? We certainly have the s.p.a.ce to make her comfortable in one of the guest rooms."

"No, Mother, thank you. Sherilyn's going to stay at The Tanglewood until we find a house."

"I've been there, you know."

Andy tried not to stare at her, but he couldn't seem to divert his fixation from her tight-as-a-drum new face. When she narrowed her gray eyes at him, he blinked and jerked his gaze into his coffee cup instead.

"I'm sorry. You've been where?"

"The Tanglewood, darling. Eleanor Buckman's annual cancer tea was held there this year."

Andy stifled the grin. An annual cancer tea sounded like an unpleasant diagnostic tool.

"The menu was divine and the ambiance quite-"

When she fell silent, mid-sentence, Andy blinked again.

"Andrew, please. Just be out with it."

"With what?"

"With whatever you want to ask me."

"Mother, I don't-"

"All right then, I'll ask it for you. Have I had some work done? Yes, Andrew, I have. I had a tiny little nip-tuck. My third since you moved away, in fact."

Andy sighed.

"Well, thank you for not feigning surprise, darling." He grinned at his mother and squeezed her hand. "You always look beautiful, Mother. I don't know why you feel the need."

"Because I'm not getting any younger, that's why. And to make matters worse, I'm not aging gracefully, so I will continue to have facelifts as needed until my ears meet at the back of my head. Then I'll stop. Fair enough?"

Andy didn't bother to reply. She hadn't changed one iota in the year since he'd last been home.

"Now when am I going to meet this Chicago G.o.ddess of yours? Hmm?"

"I'm headed over to the hotel in a bit, and I'll bring her back here for dinner."

"Seven, sharp," she instructed, tapping her perfect coral fingernail on the side of the china cup before her. "I thought I'd have Cook prepare some of his beef bourguignon since it's your favorite. She's not one of those stick figures who won't eat red meat, is she?"

"No, Mother. She's not a stick figure. She has very nice curves, in fact. And whatever you decide for dinner is fine."

"No allergies or diet restrictions? She's not gluten or lactose intolerant?"

Andy chuckled. "Sherilyn is perfectly healthy, Mother."

"Well, I'm happy to hear it. Not that I would have any personal knowledge, of course. So I find I have to ask you."

"Is there anything else you'd like to know about her?" he asked as he rose from the chair. Leaning over his mother, he planted a kiss on her very tight cheek. "Her favorite color is lavender. She tends to get motion sickness. And she didn't own a cell phone until three years ago."

"Lavender." The way Vanessa repeated it, Andy could only conclude that she disapproved.

Leaning in the doorway, he pulled a straight face as he added, "Did I mention that she's often mistaken on the street for Lady Gaga?"

"Oh, dear Lord."

"Yeah, you're going to love her, Mother. See you around seven."

Wedding Themes: The Fairy Tale Wedding LOCATIONS.

Outdoor facility that includes a garden path A rented mansion or castle A mountaintop overlooking the sea, a meadow of wildflowers, or a forest DECORATIONS.

Arches, trellises, and over-the-top flowers and candles A palatial entrance between two curved staircases Chairs draped in pastel tulle Castles, horse-drawn carriages, silver bells,

and/or gla.s.s slippers

A dance floor topped by a canopy of twinkling lights FLOWERS.

Roses, roses, roses, and more roses Other alternatives: gardenias, orchids, lilies-of-the-valley,

camellias

CAKES AND TOPPERS.

Towering castle with a turret Layers adorned with roses, ribbons and/or bows Twinkling lights or small candles to create a magical effect

3.

What about this one?"

Sherilyn filled the doorway between the bathroom and her hotel room like a crooked human Y, both arms above her head, clutching the jamb, and curving her body to show off the pretty lavender dress with the cap sleeves and lace yoke that she'd bought the day before leaving Chicago.

"It's really cute," Emma told her. "But so were the other five."

Sherilyn deflated and padded across the carpet in bare feet. She fell to the bed beside Emma with a plop, tipping sideways into the large pile of discarded outfits.

"Sher, you look beautiful in every one of them. Why are you so nervous about meeting Andy's mom?"

"Andy says she's . . . a force."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know, exactly. But he's going to be here any minute to pick me up and take me to her house for dinner, and the thought of it is forcing my stomach up into my throat."

"Andy's wonderful, right?" Emma asked as she tugged on Sherilyn's arm to pull her upright.

"Oh, yeah."

"So, odds are he'll have a wonderful mom too."

"Yes."

"Okay then."

"Because you are so much like your mother."

Emma's expression crumpled. "Well, you can't go by Avery. She's one-of-a-kind."

"Every child thinks that about their mother," she pointed out. "If I had a mother, I'm sure I'd think she was completely unique too."

Emma wrapped her arm around Sherilyn's neck. It wasn't clear whether it was a hug or preparation for strangling. "Now choose one of these outfits and put it on."

"Oh!" Sherilyn exclaimed as her train of thought derailed. "My wedding dress! It's supposed to be delivered today. Can you check with the front desk about it later?"

"You found a dress?"

"The perfect dress!" she beamed. "Just the day before I left. It fits like it was made for me. So I didn't want to take any chances with it on the trip out here. I paid a small fortune for it to be packaged and s.h.i.+pped to me."

"I'll check downstairs as soon as I leave this room."

"Thank you so much!" At just that moment, a rap at the door propelled Sherilyn to her feet. "It's him."

"I'm guessing."

"It's Andy."

"Odds are."

Sherilyn flew into action, scooping up the pile of discarded clothes from the bed, wobbling toward the closet, and tossing them inside. She slammed shut the door and used the fulllength mirror to fix her hair.

"I look like a goon."

"You look beautiful," Emma corrected.

"Sherilyn?" Their eyes locked together as Andy called out to her from the other side of the door. "What are you doing?"

"I . . . I . . . I'll be right there."