Trey’s face flushed, but he said nothing.
“I don’t care,” Beth said. “Let people talk.”
His mother just looked at her, almost like she couldn’t quite believe someone didn’t care what others thought about them. Trey didn’t; not really. He didn’t know anyone who’d care that he’d gotten married anyway.
He wasn’t a woman, though, and he knew women talked. They talked and talked, and Trey was a little surprised Beth wasn’t worried about having to answer their questions.
“They’ll think you’re pregnant,” Mom said, never one to beat around the bush. “Or that you guys got married just to enter that race.”
“They won’t even know about that for another two weeks after the wedding,” Trey said. “My wager’s on the first one.”
“Well, in nine months, they’ll all know they’re wrong,” Beth said. “Besides, why can’t two people meet and fall in love quickly? Does no one believe in love at first sight anymore?”
“Not around here,” Mom said, focusing on her computer again. She looked at her notebook, her concentration sharpening. “How detailed are we making this wedding?”
“Detailed enough,” Beth said. “You don’t need to worry about it, Mrs. Chappell. I have a sister and a sister-in-law, and they’ve both said they’ll help me.”
“Telling Momma not to worry about something is like trying to tell the sun not to rise in the morning,” Trey said.
“Hey,” his mom said, but Daddy just started to laugh.
“I’m not wrong,” Trey said.
“You’re not wrong,” Daddy confirmed.
“You two,” Mom said. “I just think that if these two think they’re going to fool anyone with a quick trip to City Hall, they have another thing coming.”
“Mom, I’m not twenty,” Trey said. “We have a lot of the details worked out already.” She didn’t need to know that he and Beth had finally left TJ with Clyde and gone to dinner. Alone. At a real restaurant.
Just last night.
They’d discussed where to get married. What time. The whole she-bang.
“You’re getting married on her farm,” Mom said. “That suggests you want to keep it secret.”
“Small,” Beth said, and Trey admired her for standing up to his mother. “We’d like to keep itsmall. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Mm hm.” His mom started typing, her fingers flying across the keyboard. “Four p.m. wedding. Dinner afterward, right?”
“Yes,” Trey and Beth said together.
“Nothing fancy now,” Trey said, and not only because he was paying for all of it. The money didn’t matter to him. How much he spent very much mattered to Beth though, and he’d promised her he wouldn’t let Mom go wild.
She peered at him over the top of her glasses. “Define fancy.”
“Anything more than salad and then a main dish,” Trey said.
Mom’s mouth dropped open, and Beth’s hand in his tightened. “You can’t be serious.”
“Mom,” Trey said, a measure of warning in his voice. “We talked about this.”
“What about a soup?” Mom suggested. “Salad and soup. Main dish. And dessert. I mean, it’s a wedding. You’re going to have a cake, right?” She looked at Beth and then Trey.
“Yes,” he said. Maybe if he stuck to one-word answers, this conversation would end faster.
“It’s such a lovely fall,” Mom said. “Soup would be wonderful at a wedding.”
She’d obviously forgotten this affair was fake, and Trey didn’t have the heart to bring it up again.