The Paid Bridesmaid(4)

It made my job more enjoyable when the couple were blissfully happy like Sadie and Dan. It apparently had been an extremely short courtship and engagement—she’d confided in me that they’d both known the first night they met that they were meant to be together.

As he leaned her back and kissed her to the crowd’s delight, I tried not to let out a little sigh of jealousy. Despite what I said to my mom, I did want that for myself.

I’d add that to my master to-do list. Find a soul mate.

Easy enough.

I turned around and dished up a small plate of food for Sadie. In my experience so many brides forgot to eat at events like this one—I’d had several faint on me. It was my job to look after her when she was too busy to look after herself.

With my plate in hand, I approached her group, saying hello. Sadie hugged me and then quickly introduced me to Dan and Irene. When she got to Camden, he had a weird look on his face and announced, “We’ve met.”

“Here.” I gave Sadie the food. “I wanted you to eat something.”

“Thank you! That’s so thoughtful!”

Although I wasn’t making eye contact with him, I could feel Camden’s gaze on me. It wasn’t in a sexy way, like he found me attractive and couldn’t stop himself from looking at me. More like he was a highly skeptical person and I’d accidentally tripped his danger alarms. I again resolved to spend the rest of this week ignoring him. Starting with right now.

“You’re welcome!” I told her. “Can I steal you away for a minute?”

Dan said, “Only for one minute. I can’t stand to be away from her for much longer than that.”

He was so sincere in his adoration that I didn’t even feel the urge to roll my eyes. It was sweet. Sadie and Dan kissed quickly before she and I moved over to a corner of the room. I wondered if she knew how fortunate she was to have a guy like Dan, who clearly worshipped her.

“I’m the luckiest girl in the world!” she said with a sigh, as if she’d known exactly what I was thinking. “And everything is almost perfect, except . . .”

She dipped a celery stick in ranch sauce and I was super impressed when she ate it without spilling a drop. If I’d been wearing a white outfit I guarantee I’d have decorated the front of it with ranch dressing.

I wondered what Camden Lewis would think of me then. I glanced at him again, and he was still studying me. I forced myself to focus all of my attention on Sadie and what she was trying to say.

I prompted her, “Except?”

“My mom. She took a Xanax on the plane because she doesn’t like flying. She’s sleeping it off in her hotel room.” She was striving for a light tone, but I could see from the way the corners of her mouth tugged down how upset she was. I didn’t know if that was from her mother not being at this event, or from her taking too much prescription medication.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got you and I’m on Brandy-watch. Everything will be fine.”

She smiled at me, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “You know you don’t have to do that, right? I brought you here to be in my pictures and videos. You don’t have to be my mom’s babysitter.”

I nodded. I could be in pictures and help keep an eye on her mother. “I know.”

“Good. I want this to be a magical experience for everyone that attends. Including you. Maybe you’ll meet someone.”

I would not look at Camden again. “Doubtful.”

“Sorry, but I’m that annoying bride that is so happy I’m determined to make sure everyone else is happy, too.”

“I’m happy.”

Are you, though? my mother’s voice said inside my head and the sound of it weakened my resolve, having me glancing over at Camden again. Sadie seemed to notice and said, “Maybe you could be happier. I don’t know how much I told you about Camden before but he is so smart and nice and I think the two of you would really hit it off.”

Unless by hit it off she meant a mini-interrogation and suspicion, she was going to be disappointed. I recognized that matchmaking tone in her voice. I’d heard it nonstop for the last three years from my mom.

I settled on “Who knows?” That was neutral enough and noncommittal. “He asks a lot of questions.” Invasive, personal questions.

“Oh,” she said with a wave of her free hand, “that’s just Camden. He treats life like it’s some big puzzle that he’s going to solve. Seriously, though, you should give it a shot. I think you might like him.”

Instead of telling her how wrong she was, I did what I do best. I nodded and smiled. She was the bride and it was my job to do whatever she wanted and needed, even if I thought it was stupid.

Because nothing was going to happen between me and Camden Lewis, no matter how much Sadie wanted it to.





CHAPTER TWO


After the brunch ended I went back to my hotel room to get ready for the cocktail party that evening, or the “Booze and Board Games Extravaganza,” as it was listed on my schedule. Apparently a game manufacturer was sponsoring the event, along with Sadie’s top-shelf liquor sponsor.

The schedule was conveniently located in the welcome bag provided to all the guests. It reminded me a bit of my bridesmaid emergency pack that I took with me everywhere. Their bag had an intertwined D and S embroidered on one side. Along with the schedule, the bag also had a bottle of wine, bags of macadamia nuts, dried pineapple chips, aspirin, a few Band-Aids, a coconut and lime–scented candle, sunscreen, bottled water, lip balm, and breath mints, all of it elegantly matching and sporting the wedding’s two hashtags—#DanAndSadie and #SadieMarriedLady, which was apparently in reference to a song from a musical I’d never heard of before.