There was a defined aisle separating two sides of metal chairs. They were strange and uncomfortable looking. There was a tacky arch set up at the front with toile, fake flowers, and lights, but that was pretty much the only décor. The place was both fancy, well lit, and modern enough. Adding the cheesy, token wedding shit would only make it look worse.
Laney spotted her parents in the front row. She didn’t want to sit in the front, but she could just imagine what Jason would say if she didn’t. She inhaled sharply, grabbed Morgun’s hand, and stalked towards the front, basically pulling her along. She ignored Morgun’s slightly raspy, surprised inhale, and the way the heat from her small, slender fingers traveled up into her arm. Laney didn’t expect to notice anything, and those pinpricks of heat were quite jarring.
“Mom. Dad.” Laney nodded at them as they stared at her in open shock. She kept her face totally bland and devoid of emotion. She wasn’t going to smirk at her mom, because that would only prove that she’d done something underhanded to make this date a reality. “These are my parents. Tom and Helena.”
“Hi.” Morgun nodded at them both shyly.
Helena recovered from her shock quickly and went straight into full on drill sergeant mom mode. “Aren’t you just the cutest thing?” Her eyes flicked to Laney, searching, then back to Morgun. “Were you blackmailed into this?”
“Mom!”
“Not really. I actually did the blackmailing.” Morgun winked. Both of Laney’s parents laughed.
Her dad said something to her mom about leaving them alone and Laney was able to steer Morgun to the two metal chairs left open for them.
“Only a million more hours to go,” Laney grumbled as they sat.
“You’d think that you didn’t like weddings or something.” Morgun slowly untangled her hand and rested it in her lap.
Laney turned and found her smirkin
g at her knowingly. She swallowed hard. It was like Morgun had her freaking number. She knew what game she was playing. She might hate weddings, but she was being far more curmudgeonly than normal. Deep down, she was happy for her brother and Natasha. Maybe even a little bit jealous.
Okay, she was totally jealous of Natasha’s relationship with Helena. She was closer to Laney’s mom than Laney seemed to be lately. Plus, she was getting married with the whole white dress, sappy everything deal. Then she was for sure going to get down to having a family. Laney could just sense it.
“Oh look! It’s starting!” Morgun sounded totally lovesick, just like the rest of the guests. She was sitting up straighter. Angling for a better view of the wedding party. She was giving off all sorts of sappy, romantic energy.
Which frightened and slightly intimidated Laney. And puzzled her. She should easily be able to scoff at that and even out and out hate it. Except that she couldn’t. Not really. No matter how hard she tried.
Chapter 9
Morgun
The ceremony was beautiful. The bride and groom couldn’t have picked a more picturesque venue. The bride, Natasha, was stunning. She was tall and fair, with nearly-white blonde hair. Her makeup was tasteful, her dress perfect, her flowers red poinsettias in a display of greenery as a subtle nod to the season.
As fair as Natasha was, Jason was dark like Laney, with an olive undertone and jet-black hair. He resembled his father closely, in height and build, but didn’t sport a beard like him. Morgun thought that both Laney and Jason looked more like their dad, but it was hard to tell without turning her head and staring at Helena Sterling.
After the ceremony, the photographer got the family together for photos outside before she would take the wedding party off somewhere else for their shots.
It was easy for Morgun to see that the photographer was clearly struggling with the family shots. The poses seemed to elude her, and people were rightfully nervous and awkward. It was like herding cats. In short, it was turning into a disaster.
Morgun was dumbfounded that Laney didn’t offer to help. She didn’t step in, speak up, or offer any pointers. She didn’t even try to get her own family to cooperate. Maybe she didn’t want to step on any toes—there was nothing worse than a loudmouth photographer telling another photographer what to do when she wasn’t supposed to be working—but she could have been more helpful.
The photographer was young. Probably mid-twenties. She was alone, which was hard enough, but she was getting close to tears when the shots weren’t working, and people were getting impatient.
Finally, Morgun stepped in. She offered tips. Arranged bodies. Even gave a few pointers about camera settings for the sun that unfortunately had just squeezed through a layer of cloud. Sun was shit for taking good photos.
Morgun continued to help the grateful photographer, just with posing tips mostly, helping arrange people and corral people into the right place at the right time. She purposely never looked at Laney once. She didn’t even feel her hot gaze or her evil scowl on her. But she imagined that maybe she could, because she could also imagine that Laney was annoyed with her for stepping in to begin with.
With a little help, they were able to finish up the family photos and get the wedding party on their way. They only had so much time before the reception, and Morgun could definitely sympathize with how stressful that was.
Good lord, I hate photographing weddings. Please, please, please let me get that job.
Even if she had to work with Laney Painey, it would be worth it.
Morgun smiled to herself at her childish nickname for Laney Sterling. It was so fitting.
When she looked away from the building, which she’d been studying with a photographer’s eye, imagining how she’d capture the angles and even going so far as to work through camera settings in her head, she saw Laney striding towards her.