Well Played (Well Met #2)(54)

But I was a good daughter, so I pushed all that annoyance down and picked up the phone. “Morning, Mom!”

“Oh, good morning, honey.” Mom sounded pleasantly surprised that it was my voice on the other end of the line. How many people did she think lived up here? “I was just wondering if you needed any help getting ready.”

I blinked. “For Faire?” I looked down at myself, clad in my bright orange underdress. I’d drive to Faire in that and put on the rest when I got there. What did Mom need to help me with? “No, I’m good. I’ve been doing this a while, you know.”

“Not for Faire.” She tsked at me. “For the wedding. Time’s going to be tight today, isn’t it?”

I let out a sigh. “Oh, you have no idea.” Simon’s head would have exploded if we’d skipped Faire that day, but we did manage to talk him into letting those of us in the wedding party, himself included, leave in the midafternoon to get changed and ready for the wedding. We all had two very different costumes in store for us over the course of the day, and it was a lot to get ready for. “But I think I have a handle on everything. We’re getting ready at April’s house, and the limo is picking us up from there to take us back to Faire for the wedding. But I’ll see you there, right?”

“Of course you will. Your father and I wouldn’t miss it.” Mom had been so pleased to get Emily’s invitation. They’d become friendly ever since Mom had joined the book club at Read It & Weep. I had the feeling that Emily’s relationship with her own mother was a little on the frosty side, so she’d really connected with mine. I didn’t mind sharing Mom, especially with someone I loved as much as Emily. She would have been fun to have as a sister growing up.

After hanging up, I finished throwing my makeup and hair stuff into an overnight bag—my hairdryer and curling iron took up a lot of room—and reached for the garment bag that contained my bridesmaid dress and shoes. It took two trips down the stairs to my car to get everything loaded in the back. Bridesmaid stuff first, then Faire stuff.

That day at Faire was . . . well, it was weird. Mitch kicked Simon off the chess match, citing a ridiculous number of nerves on the part of the groom-to-be, so Simon roamed the grounds instead in character as the pirate captain, interacting with guests. Since it was bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding, I had my work cut out for me. Emily and I usually split up to check on the taverns throughout the day, but today I stuck to Emily like a shadow, always looking out for a pirate in black leather and a big feathered hat. We took a lot of detours that day, checking out the shows we’d never seen before.

“We hired these guys? On purpose? And Simon approved it?” Emily shook her head in wonder as we watched the mud show wrap up. A couple well-built guys doing some bizarre cross between a comedy routine and mud wrestling. We watched mostly in morbid fascination, but the act seemed to go over well with the crowd, even the ones who were getting spattered with mud.

“I think Mitch was responsible for this one,” I said. “I don’t think I talked to them at all. He probably snuck it by Chris when Simon wasn’t paying attention.”

“Yeah, but when is Simon not paying attention?” Emily’s giggle was high-pitched, nervous. Her mind was only half on our conversation. I looked over her shoulder and spotted the man himself, way down the lane facing the other direction. He was probably going toward the joust. Which meant we were going the other way.

“Come on.” I steered her toward the main tavern, where Jamie flagged us down.

“Yeah, so the caterers got here early.”

Emily sucked in a breath. “What time is it?” She reached for Jamie’s wrist to look at his watch. “It’s only two forty-five! They’re not supposed to be here until four!”

“Which is why I said they’re early.” Jamie was the most unflappable person I’d ever known. Emily looked like she was about to burst a blood vessel, and it didn’t bother him a bit. “Don’t worry about it. I talked to them and they’re coming back in a couple hours. Look at it this way—you’d rather they got here early than late, right?”

“Or not at all.” I bumped Emily’s shoulder with mine. “More importantly, we have to get the hell outta here.” We were on a tight schedule. Faire ended at five, technically, though pub sing started up front about four thirty. Once the last human chess match of the day was over and people started filtering toward the front, we had a team coming in to set up chairs on the chess field and an archway at one end in time for the wedding at six thirty. Meanwhile, Em and I had to get going to transform into a bridesmaid and a bride. She didn’t need to be worrying about caterers and whether or not they’d set up in time. She had to worry about looking beautiful and marrying the man she loved.

And it was my job to keep her on task. Emily was normally great at that, but she was operating with maybe half a brain today, and that was a generous estimate. “Time to go get pretty,” I said.

She blinked at me, her eyes a little wild, and yeah, we were going to need to break into the champagne a little early. My girl here needed a drink. “Okay,” she said.

“You okay to drive?” Jamie peered at her. “You look a little freaked out.”

“I can drive you,” I said. “We can leave your Jeep here for now.”