Save the Date(86)

“This is a disaster,” Linnie said as the hair guy brushed out a strand, then clamped his curling iron around it.

“No, no,” I said, trying to be as cheerful as possible. I looked to the Jennys and Priya for backup, but they were talking in a small circle up by Linnie and Rodney’s bed. I widened my eyes at Elizabeth, who nodded and gave me a tiny wink. It wasn’t that she and Rodney looked very much alike, but their mannerisms and cadence were exactly the same—so I figured having her say something was the closest we were going to get to Rodney being here without pulling him in.

“It’ll be fine,” Elizabeth said soothingly. “Weddings are always crazy. I mean, you remember mine, right?”

“But your wedding was beautiful,” Linnie said, her voice getting higher and a little more hysterical. I saw the hair guy exchange a glance with the makeup artist.

“Exactly,” Elizabeth said, smiling at her. “You didn’t see what a disaster it was behind the scenes. And now when I think about my wedding, I don’t remember that either. It’s all going to be okay.” She glanced at me, and I gave her a grateful smile.

“But . . . ,” Linnie said, meeting my eye in the mirror. “I mean . . . Mike can barely stand up. We’re being married by a death judge. Rodney’s suit. Journey?”

I bit my lip. “But it can’t get any worse.”

“Okay,” the photographer said, adjusting the light bounce thing and then coming back with her camera. “Just a few more getting-ready shots and then I’ll actually let you get ready,” she said with a quick smile. The Jennys and Priya hustled back over, and all of them put big smiles on as we posed around Linnie again. “And . . . got it,” the photographer said after what felt like an eternity of listening to her camera click. “Great.” She nodded. “I’ll give you some time, and I’ll be back for when Linnie puts her dress on, okay?” Without waiting for a reply, she headed out of the room, scrolling through the pictures on her viewfinder as she went.

“You okay?” I asked Linnie, who tried to nod but was held back by the fact her hair was attached to a curling iron.

“Tell me it’ll be okay,” she said, meeting my eyes in the mirror. “Because I just . . .” She took a shaky breath. “It kind of feels like this wedding is falling apart, you know?”

“No,” I said, maybe a little too emphatically. “It’ll all be fine. It’ll be great.”

“Totally great,” Jenny K. said quickly, and Priya nodded.

“Okay,” Linnie said with what seemed like a real effort. “Right! Things will be fine.” She looked at me as much as she could without turning her head. “Are you going to take a shower, Charlie? You should probably do it now.”

I looked down at the time on my phone and realized she was right; I had to get moving. “Are we still going to have enough time?” I asked, looking at the hair and makeup team.

The makeup artist nodded. “We’ll just do you last,” she said.

“It’s critical,” Linnie said with a smile that made me think she was shaking off her panic a bit. “Charlie’s terrible at doing her own hair.”

I didn’t even disagree with this—it was completely true. “She’s right about that,” I said, heading toward the door. “Okay, I’ll be back soon.”

“I’ll come with you!” Jenny W. said in a falsely cheerful voice, following me toward the door.

“What—to take a shower?” I asked, baffled, as she manhandled me out the door and then onto the landing, pulling the door shut behind her.

“Hi!” I jumped, whirling around to see J.J. standing there, and I had a feeling he’d been lying in wait for a while.

“What?” I asked.

“Well—” J.J. said, taking a deep breath, then noticed Jenny. “Hey,” he said, his voice dropping about an octave.

“Hey yourself,” Jenny W. said, smiling at him, but then turning to me. “We have a problem. I think Linnie’s getting sick. She keeps sneezing, and I do not want her to do it during the ceremony.”

“What do you want me to do about it?”

“Give her some cold medicine or something! I keep suggesting it, but she keeps saying she’s fine.”

“Okay,” I said, nodding, adding it to my list of things I had to take care of before the wedding, the list that just seemed to get longer by the minute.

“My turn?” J.J. asked, then not waiting for an answer, kept going. “So, I understand there’s a problem with the wedding band.”

Jenny turned to me, eyebrows raised, and I nodded. “The wedding planner booked a Journey cover band by mistake.”

“Streetlight People are going to be here?” Jenny asked, her voice rising as she grabbed my hand. “Really?”

“No,” I said, staring at her. “The, um, other Journey cover band.”

“Oh,” she said, looking disappointed. “That’s too bad. They played my cousin’s daughter’s bat mitzvah, and they were amazing.” She gave me a sympathetic look. “Sorry you couldn’t get them.”

“We didn’t try to get them. We didn’t want any Journey cover band playing the wedding!”

“Well, exactly,” J.J. said. “So I’m offering my services.”