for my office. “What do you want me to do about it?”
“I want you to fix it! You put that post on Facebook, so get down here and take care of it.”
“Why can’t you let them help you? They want to be part of your big day.”
“They’re taking over the whole fucking thing,” he shouted. “There’s a woman that says she has a kid in high school that can have his band play at our wedding. They’re a death metal group!”
I cringed. “Well, they’re upcoming artists. Someday, they’ll be playing on stage somewhere and they’ll be able to say they got their big break when they played at your wedding.”
“I don’t want a death metal band at my wedding! I wanted a small, private ceremony. There are people congratulating me and asking where we’re registered, and I’ve never even met them before!”
“Well, you said you wanted to redo the house. I guess you’ll get your chance when you register for your wedding.”
“This isn’t funny. I expect you down here tonight to defuse the situation.”
I sighed heavily and looked at my watch. I still had a bunch of shit to do before I could go home for the night, and I had an early morning in court. The last thing I needed was to drive an hour down to my brother’s house, and then get home late at night.
“Fine. What time?”
“The meeting’s at seven. The Lakeside Grille.”
“Fine.”
I hung up and got to work on the mountain of paperwork sitting on my desk. I only had two hours before I had to leave, and there was no way I was going to get through all this. When six o’clock rolled around, I grabbed my stuff and left my office. I was going to have to come in early to finish going through everything I had left.
My secretary was still here for the night, so at least she could get my court documents couriered over first thing in the morning. “Cindy, can you have these sent to the court house first thing in the morning?”
“Of course.”
“And I’ll need you in here at six tomorrow morning. I have court right away.”
Her eyes flashed in anger. “Of course, sir.”
I rushed past her. If she didn’t like the hours, she could get a different job. I had a high profile divorce that needed all my attention. The fact that I was leaving when I should be preparing showed just what an idiot I was. Which reminded me…
I spun around and snapped my fingers. “And Cindy, I need the suit that’s hanging in my office sent to the dry cleaners and I need it back here first thing in the morning.”
She stared at me in shock. “There’s no way they’ll get that done in time.”
“Find a way,” I snapped before walking out of the office. This case was stressing me out. There was a lot of money on the line for both parties, along with companies, assets, you name it, it was tossed into the mess that was this case.
I stormed out of my office and down to my car. I hated that I was leaving right now, but I caused this mess for Eric and Kat and I had to tame the wild creatures of town. An hour later, I pulled into the parking lot of The Lakeside Grille and walked inside to absolute chaos. There were at least thirty people from town in the main part of the bar. Mrs. Cranston was there handing out samples of cake, while John Henderson was passing around pigs in a blanket. Mayor Delwood was at the front of it all, gavel in hand and ready to call the meeting to order.
I pushed through the crowd, talking over people to get them to quiet down, but none of it was working. “Hey!” I shouted over the crowd. Slowly, people turned to me and shut their mouths. I wasn’t sure where to go from there. I hadn’t planned anything else to say.
“Uh…you should all go home. Kat and Eric will decide what they’re doing for their wedding.”
“But I’ve made all this cake,” Mrs. Cranston cried. “So far, the chocolate with raspberry filling is in the lead.”
“Is this about the chili?” John asked. “Because I can make something else. It’s just that my chili is world famous.”
“Your chili couldn’t win a chili cook-off if it was the only thing entered,” someone shouted.
“Your family has been a part of this town for years,” the mayor said. “We’ve all watched you grow up