Neighborly

Wedding Plans

The rest of the weekend flew by quietly. I saw hide nor hair of Mr. Markham and was secretly hoping that he’d managed to get sucked into a mire of quicksand, never to be heard from again. And I had been looking for him every time I walked outside. I dreaded the moment that I finally ran into him again.

On Monday, my boss wanted to have a lunch meeting so when I got up that morning I curled my brown hair and pulled it back into a half up-half down do. Lunch meetings usually meant we were meeting an important client that we needed to impress. I’m the events coordinator for Willow Manor, which is one of the top event spaces in Alabama. We hosted mostly weddings but also hosted anniversaries, retirements, company parties, and holiday events.

Lunch was at The Sweet House. It was one of my favorite places in town. The owners had purchased one of the last remaining historical homes in town and converted it into a restaurant. Reservations were hard to get but since my boss, Jared was the owner’s nephew, he always had a table. I parked my grey Chevy Silverado on the street and walked into the restaurant.

“Hey, Molly,”Christine, the hostess, greeted me.

“Hi, Christine. Is Jared here already?” I scanned the room to see if I recognized any familiar faces.

“Yep, he’s at his usual table.” She pointed towards the back of the room.

“Thanks, shug. It was good to see you.” I walked towards the table and Jared caught my eye, standing up to greet me.

“Your hair looks great, darlin’.” He leaned over and kissed me on the cheek.

Jared Messer was a tall, lanky older man with salt and pepper hair and grey blue eyes that were magnified by thick framed black glasses. He was wearing a light grey suit jacket, a baby pink paisley printed button down, dark blue jeans, and silver velvet loafers.

“Oh, my gosh, I love those shoes! Who are we meeting today?” I asked as I sat down and opened up the drink menu.

“Do you know the Markhams? They own the paper mill.”

My head shot up and my jaw dropped as Jared continued talking.

“Their eldest son is getting married and Mama Markham wants to have the wedding at the manor. And from what she’s already told me, it’s going to be bougie, honey. Just the centerpieces alone are going to cost at least five grand. I don’t know what the bride’s vision for this wedding is but Mrs. Markham wants ostrich feathers everywhere.” He rolled his eyes and took a sip of his water.

“Listen, I know I’m on the clock but if you want to me to get through this lunch, I’m going to need a drink.”

“Why, honey? What’s wrong?”

“The eldest Markham boy was my tormentor in school. And he just became my new neighbor. And we may have had a run in the other morning where I may have cut the plug off of his weedeater.” Jared’s jaw dropped this time. There was a moment of stunned silence and then he burst out into laughter.

“Fine, but don’t get drunk. And order it now before they get here.”

I waved the waitress over and ordered a vodka soda on the rocks. I asked her to have it served in a water glass. Jared and I were pouring over the menu trying to decide what to eat when the waitress brought Mrs. Markham and Grady to the table. Of course he was with her. Precious mama’s boy. There were three Markham boys; Grady, Grayson, and Graham. Grady was the apple of his mother’s eye and could do no wrong as far as she was concerned. Grayson and Graham were twins. They were a few years younger than we were. I always found them sweet but they were as wild as feral cats.

“Mrs. Markham, so lovely to finally put a face to that beautiful voice.” Jared shook her delicate hand. Her greying blonde hair was swept up tightly on top of her head. She wore large diamond studs in her ears and string of pearls around her petite neck. Her face was bare but her porcelain skin was so smooth and wrinkle free. Carole Markham did not look a day over forty.

“Hello, Molly.” Grady beamed over at me while he held out the chair for his mother.

“Molly Fortner? My goodness, doll, I didn’t even recognize you! You’re absolutely gorgeous. Why the last time I remember seeing you I think you still had braces.”

I blushed and took a sip of my drink. Jared’s eyebrows shot up.

“You had braces?”

“Let’s not talk about that. Yes, Mrs. Markham, it has been a while. It’s so nice to see you again. Jared tells me that you’re interested in hosting an event at the manor. I’m the events coordinator so we’ll be working close together.”

“Did you do Tinsley Morgan’s wedding last year?”

“Yes, ma’am. That was probably one of my favorite weddings I’ve done so far. I loved their fairytale theme.”

“You did an amazing job! That’s one of the best events I’ve been to in a while. And that’s the caliber of event we’re expecting. Only better. Southern Living and Gun and Garden are both doing a piece on the wedding so it will need to be posh and extravagant.”

Jared and I exchanged a surprised look. Southern Living had been to the manor so many times that we were practically best friends with the reporters and photographers. Gun and Garden was a different story. They had only come out one other time for a wedding of a Senator’s daughter so having them come out was a big deal.

“That’s very exciting. What date were you thinking?” I pulled out my phone and opened up my calendar app.

“December 23rd.”

“Oh. That’s plenty of time. Everything will be great.” I smiled at her.

“Actually,” Jared cut in in. “She means this year. I’m sorry, I thought I told you.”

I turned and stared him down. He was lying. Jared knew how much I hated taking on weddings scheduled for less than a year out. It took so much time to plan and secure everything that was required to put on the amazing weddings that I did. It wasn’t entirely impossible but it was such a stressful nightmare. And right before Christmas on top of that? Vendors were going to charge an arm and a leg for their services just because it was literally right before Christmas.

“Is that going to be a problem?” Mrs. Markham took a sip of her ginger ale, looking down at me over the glass.

“Well, it’s definitely going to complicate some things. And it may be more expensive but we can definitely make it work.”

“I call Molly my little genie because she literally makes wishes come true. I will forever sing her praises after some of the miracles I’ve seen her work for events. You will not be disappointed, Mrs. Markham. Now, when can we expect to meet the bride?”

Grady kept stealing glances in my direction as he ate his lunch. He was quiet as a church mouse while his mother carried on about his new bride.

“Heidi will be in town next week. She’s from Atlanta. She’s still living and going to school in Atlanta so she’ll be back and forth until right before the wedding when she finally moves in. I know Grady will be so happy to finally have her settled. Isn’t that right dear?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes, mama. It’ll be such a relief.” He mumbled between bites of food. For some reason, Grady didn’t seem to be as enthusiastic about is bride moving in as his mother was.

“In the meantime, Molly, you and Grady can work together designing the wedding. He knows what Heidi wants. And you two were always so close as kids. It’ll be great for the two of you to catch up.”

I choked on my drink. What planet did this woman actually live on? We were never friends. Our parents were friends and we were forced to hang out together which only gave him more opportunities to tease and bully me relentlessly.

I sat in silence for the rest of our lunch while Jared and Mrs. Markham discussed the history of Willow Manor. It had been built by the Messer family after the Civil War and had been passed down through the generations. Jared’s great aunt had turned it into a meeting hall and it eventually became the event space that it is today. The manor itself was an eight bedroom, two story antebellum home with a wrap around porch and Greek columns. It sat on four acres of land with a large white barn and gorgeous archway covered in flowering vines.

We finished lunch and Jared and I walked Mrs. Markham and Grady outside to the sidewalk. Jared shook hands with them both, kissed me on the head, and left. I walked with Mrs. Markham and Grady to a black BMW.

“It was so nice to see you again, Mrs. Markham. I look forward to working with you all to give Grady and Heidi a beautiful wedding. Thank you for trusting me with such an important day.” I shook her hand and Grady helped her into the car.

“The pleasure was all mine, dear. I’m so excited to see what you come up with.” Grady shut the door and turned to face me.

“Well, that was fun, huh?” he walked closer to me. He was now so close that I could feel his body heat. I noticed the small white scar above his left eye. I had given that to him after I punched him in the seventh grade at the homecoming game. He had told Brad Cartwright that I wanted to blow him behind the band practice room. I was confused as to why Brad took me behind there and he was confused as to why I was offended when he whipped his d**k out. Once he told me what Grady had said, I had waited at the gate of the football field when the game was over. As soon as he stepped off the field, I’d swung and hit him as hard as I could, cutting him with a fancy amethyst ring my uncle had given me for my birthday that year.

“You and I have very different definitions of fun.” I glared at him.

“Maybe so but we’ll have to get on the same page eventually. Besides, I think you and I will make a great team.”

“Only because Jared would fire me if I lost your mother as a client. Does your mother know how to read lips?”

“What?” He looked at me confused.

“I was just wondering if your mother knew how to read lips.”

“I don’t think so,” he c****d an eyebrow at me. “Why?”

“I don’t want her to be able to understand me when I tell you to eat shit.”

Grady threw back his head and laughed. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into him, suffocating me with the sweet spicy scent of his cologne. The feeling of his hard body against mine was throwing off my equilibrium. I was suddenly unsteady on my feet. What the hell was happening?

“You know this means you’re going to have to be nice to me, right? Hey,” he tilted my chin up so that we were almost eye to eye, “maybe I should come by tonight and we can have some drinks and catch up on old times. Especially since mom thinks we’re such great friends.” I could feel my pulse racing from the touch of his rough hand under my chin.

“Do not come to my house.” I said through gritted teeth.

He walked around to the driver’s side of his car and opened the door. Before he slid in he looked back up at me.

“I’ll see you around eight thirty, Molly. Have a good day!” He winked at me and drove away, leaving me standing on the sidewalk cussing him quietly to myself. s**t. I did not want him in my house. I did not want to plan this wedding. I did not want anything to do with Grady Markham. I just wanted him to disappear.