florist. He was also still considering a random stranger who crashed the party.
But this was not the time for him to be thinking about that, he reminded himself. He was here to work. He made his way to the Airstream, where he would report for duty. Silver Lovato, a platinum blonde with great business skill and some serious attitude glanced at him before pointing to a stack of aprons on a small table by the rear wheels of the trailer.
“You’re early. That’s encouraging. Put on an apron and then wash your hands. You can help me set up. We’ll start with martini glasses.”
As instructed, he’d worn a white long-sleeved shirt and khakis. He rolled up his sleeves and washed his hands, then began pulling out trays of martini glasses from storage lockers in the trailer.
The Airstream had been converted into a traveling bar—in keeping with Silver’s business name: AlcoHaul. The previous year she’d taken on her now-husband, Drew, as a business partner and they’d expanded from a single trailer to a total of three, allowing them to grow the business. From what his friend Drew had shared, these days Silver was more into overall management than handling specific events, but every now and then she worked a wedding.
Silver showed him where to stack the glasses.
“We have two hundred guests,” she said. “The drink list is simple. Appletinis and beer. There will be champagne for the toast, but the catering staff is handling that, so not our problem. There is nonalcoholic apple cider for those who want it. Water, iced tea and soft drinks are also handled by the catering staff. If anyone asks for that, point them to the far side of the room. That table there will have pitchers of water and iced tea along with tubs filled with canned soda.”
He nodded, wondering if he should be taking notes.
“There is a dishwasher in this trailer,” she continued, her blue eyes staring intently into his. “You will load it the way I tell you. You will check with me before starting it. The wash cycle is fifteen minutes. We will need to run the dishwasher continuously for the second hour of the reception. I brought four hundred glasses. That will not be enough.”
He stared at her. “We’ll go through more than four hundred glasses?”
Her expression turned pitying. “You really don’t know what you’re doing, do you? According to Renee, there aren’t children at this wedding. That means two hundred adults. I always assume two drinks in the first hour and one drink per hour after that. Assuming the usual five to six hours, that’s at least eight hundred glasses, not taking into account people leaving their glasses somewhere, or changing their mind about what they want.”
“Eight hundred?”
“Uh-huh. Back in the day, we washed them by hand.” She flashed him a grin. “Be glad you’re not going to have to do that.”
She motioned to the large portable bar she’d set up in front of the trailer. “I’m cheating. I’ll be premixing batches of the appletinis and storing them in pitchers in the refrigerator. When we get the high sign that the ceremony is nearly over, we’ll pour them into shakers, add a little ice and start filling glasses. The first twenty minutes will be the worst. However many drinks we have ready, it’s not enough.”
She pointed to the kegs sitting in ice. “I have more helpers coming. They’ll handle that. No guests touch the keg. If you see it happening, come get me.” Her eyes narrowed. “Do not take on a drunk guest yourself. You don’t know what you’re doing and you’ll only escalate the situation. Do I make myself clear?”
Jasper thought about pointing out not only didn’t he work for Silver, he, in fact, wasn’t getting paid. He was helping out to learn about weddings. But as her gaze held his, he thought maybe that was not the smartest thing in the world to be saying right now.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good.” She started toward the building. “Let’s get our update.”
He had no idea what she was talking about, but obediently followed her toward the main building. When they were in the paved courtyard, Renee stepped out, tablet in hand.
He’d seen her dressed for the office, but not working a wedding. He was used to tailored dresses and suits, but there was something about the short-sleeved dark green dress she had on. Maybe because he knew she had dressed to be invisible and had failed miserably.