Without a Hitch(28)

“Holy shit,” Eli hisses. “Say yes. Say. Yes!”

“Umm.” I flash a panicked look at the girls, shaking my head while my heart kickboxes my chest.

“It’s a no-brainer, Til-Abby. You have a gift for taming the bitch brigades. Take advantage of it while you can. So, is that a yes?”

“I. Well…”

“Great. I’ll forward your number then. She knows you go by Abby Chambers. That’s how she’ll list you on the wedding website and introduce you. But prepare yourself, lady. This wedding will be unlike anything you’ve ever seen. The event of the decade, for sure. No pressure though. Anything you can stop will be better than what will happen without you. You’ll be great! Okay, gotta go! Talk soon.”

I lower my phone in slow motion. Hadley might actually faint, but my doer sister is taping a piece of posterboard to the wall.

“A-Are you okay, Tilly?”

My gaze cuts to Delaney. “What the hell just happened?”

“What happened is, you just got handed a business proposition.”

“Titty Camden just got paaaaid,” Mable wheezes, and if she were here, I’d slap her back to make sure she’s not choking. “Well, sounds like all the sexy talk is over. I’m heading to bed.”

We all shout goodnight to our nutty neighbor. With worried eyes, I turn my attention back to my sister. “I don’t know what kind of business this is. I’m not like you guys, or Emory, or even Sloane.

I’m just kind of…”

“Procrastinating.”

“Eli!” Delaney hisses. “That isn’t nice.”

“I don’t mean it in a bad way, Till. But you never do anything until you know you’ll do it perfectly. It’s why you interned for an extra year. It’s why you practiced softball in our backyard for a year and a half before trying out for the team. You want to own something. Something you created, right? Well, this opportunity just got dumped in your lap and is offering you a chance to make a boatload of money. Even if this isn’t exactly what you want to do in the long run, it gives you capital to get started. Let’s turn this opportunity into something. Let’s make a plan.”

“Eli, this is glorified babysitting. I can’t turn this into a business.”

“Actually,” Hadley squeaks, “I read an article last year about dates for hire.”

“I’m not an escort, Hadley.” Oh, God! I think my throat is closing up.

“No!” Her face goes crimson. “They weren’t either.” Her words tumble from her lips at a frenetic pace. “It’s like getting invited to a wedding but not wanting to show up alone. Or wanting to attend with someone super-hot to piss off an ex.”

“Yes.” Eli claps then adds more tape to the posterboard on the wall. “You’ll offer that in bridesmaid form. Except you’re keeping shitty people from making shittier choices and ruining someone’s big day. And you, of all people, can appreciate the magic of weddings.”

“This isn’t a business plan though, E.”

“But it can be,” Hadley whispers, crossing the room and pushing her bright blue glasses up.

Delaney claps her hands. She’s like Business Barbie with her blond hair, bright outfits, and a smile that could melt glaciers. “Let me get my sticky notes!” She dashes from the room, returning a second later with every neon piece of paper she could find and colored pens spilling out over her arms. She’s leaving a trail from her bedroom, Hansel-and-Gretel style. “Let’s just think about it for a minute, Till. It is a lot of money.”

“Delaney Marie Daniels. You cannot seriously be on board with this?”

“Tilly Elaine Camden,” she mocks. “It’s thirty thousand dollars.”

Inhaling through my nose, I raise my hands to my temples and rub small circles around the migraine forming. When the three of them start murmuring and agreeing, their hands moving a mile a minute, I sink into the sofa and put an arm over my eyes.

“Okay, Hades, what kinds of bridesmaids are there?” Eli asks.

“Ah, I mean, I’ve never been one.”

This has me moving my arm to peek at her. Hadley has the heart of a giant, but she’s also painfully shy. She’s the most genuine person I’ve ever met, and it’s always made her an easy target for mean girls. She’s the reason I know that even at almost thirty years old, some girls never left high school.

“You’ll be in all our weddings, Hades,” Delaney promises.

Hadley rolls her eyes, but her cheeks turn pink, and she adjusts her glasses.

“I’ve only been in my sisters’ weddings,” Eli commiserates. “But we’ve all watched every movie with a happy ever after known to man, and Delaney has been in at least ten weddings this year alone.

So, let’s compile a list.”

“A list?”

“Yes. If we list every type of potential disastrous bridesmaid, we can make a plan for handling them.”

Hadley nods. “Yes.” She waves her hands excitedly. “This is good. She’ll have a game plan heading in before she even talks to the bride.”

Delaney dumps all her supplies on the end table, then reaches up on her tiptoes and writes bridal baddies in magenta, her favorite color, on the posterboard.