SEAN
With the wanna-be PI trailing us, Vera and I had to start wedding planning. Glen volunteered to go cake tasting with us. Of course, he did. And Vera picked out a Russian baker. Of course, she did.
We sat at the long table with a few dozen samples in front of us. The sweet, warm scent wafted all around us.
Vera eyed the tiny pieces of cake with suspicion. Was it the different creams or the decorations that weirded her out? ‘Cause there were some funky-looking ones.
"So, what do you want to start with?" I asked Vera.
She looked at me like I was crazy. "We can't eat all of this."
"Why not? Darling, this is supposed to be the most fun part of wedding planning. Eat the cake. Eat all the cake."
"Sugar. So much sugar."
“Okay, Glen and I will eat all the cake.” I winked at my little brother. “The more for us, right?”
He grinned and tried the first piece of red velvet cake. Then one with a different cream. And the third type of cream.
“Which one do you like?” Vera asked him.
“All of them.” And Glen finished the last bite of all the red velvet samples. “There’ll be a lot of layers, right? You can do something different for each layer.”
I started on the chocolate, then waved one slice in front of Vera. “You sure you don’t want to try some?”
Vera tried the tiniest bite of the vanilla cake and sighed. “Can we have a fruit cake or something?”
The baker strolled to us with a checklist, looking unsurprised by the bride’s reaction to the sweets. It was New York. Half the women here lived on celery sticks.
“I have a few questions I need you to answer,” the baker said. “First, how many guests are you going to have?”
“A couple of dozen,” Vera said.
And at the same time, I answered, “A few hundred.”
Glen looked between us and threw us a rope. “The list isn’t finalized.”
The baker narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “Did you set the date yet?”
“As soon as I finish buying all the dresses,” I answered and got a confused look from the poor girl.
“We started dating after Sean ruined my favorite dress, so now he has to buy a ridiculous number of dresses, or I won’t marry him,” Vera explained.
“I already have a few ideas about the wedding dress I’ll get you,” I said. “I’m thinking black like the night when everyone is sleeping and not getting on your nerves.”
“The night is dark blue,” Glen said. “Everyone always thinks wearing black will make them blend in with the night sky, and then they get busted.”
Ooookay. True, but how did my little brother know that? Did I need to up my security system to keep him in at night?
“What if we get cupcakes instead?” Vera said, bringing us back to the selection. “A lot of different flavors of cupcakes arranged into a large, tiered tower, so everyone can pick whatever they like, and everyone will be happy.”
Keeping everyone happy. That’s what Vera always did after the initial ‘eat your veggies’ phase. Must’ve come with raising two teenagers on her own and juggling their likes and dislikes.
“I could arrange that,” the baker agreed.
After a few more samples to add the flavors we definitely wanted on the list of cupcakes, Glen stretched with a satisfied smile and announced it was time to go to his Dojo. Vera volunteered to drive him, leaving me to trudge two blocks to my office.
The PI followed me. Good. Better me than Vera. I never wanted to see her as spooked as she had been the other night.