Chapter 35: Olive
I’m in a lovesick haze by the time Brooks drops me off at the bakery. It almost feels weird to be back in my apartment, especially alone. I haven’t been alone in days. I always thought that would bother me. That being in a relationship would mean giving up my alone time.
I usually like my time alone. I like to sit by myself when I do my paperwork or read, but more and more I’m realizing that I’d rather sit with Brooks.
I quickly double check my overnight bag to make sure I haven’t forgotten anything, toss it in my car and wait for Lilah to arrive. She’s coming to help me load up Chelsea and Matt’s cake. We’ve been working on the sugar flowers and intricate decorations for two weeks. It’s six tiers of perfection and sugary heaven… and now that it’s stacked on its double-strength wood base and boxed up, it’s too heavy for me to move on my own.
Brooks offered to help, but Lilah is my ride-or-die cake delivery girl. We’ve done enough of these that we move in tandem without even thinking about it. Plus, I’d strangle Brooks if he dropped it. I’m not allowed to strangle my sister.
I spot Lilah pulling into the parking lot, five minutes early because she’s amazing, and I grab the envelope with the place cards with all the flavors for each tier. The kitchen at the hotel will cut everything and put the plates back out, but I don’t want guests to be confused about the flavors.
Chelsea gave me free rein with the cake flavors, so I made all of my favorite things. Gingerbread cake with spiced mousse, vanilla bean cake with winter citrus curd, lemon poppyseed with raspberry preserves, devil’s food with dark chocolate hazelnut mousse, coconut cake tres leches with passionfruit curd. The top tier is Chelsea’s favorite cake and the flavor I make her every year for her birthday: confetti cake with vanilla buttercream. Admittedly, not the fanciest combination, but I know how happy it will make her.
Lilah bounces into the kitchen, fresh faced and cheerful. “I found a house! I’m putting in an offer on Monday!” she announces proudly.
“You did?! Where?” She’s been looking for her own place for weeks; apartment living and roommates have finally lost their appeal.
Lilah’s grin gets even bigger. “That’s the best part! It’s only a 10 minute drive from you!”
My brain short circuits for a second and I excitedly ask, “You’re buying in Napa?”
My sister gives me a look like I’ve lost my mind. “Napa? Why would I buy in Napa? No… it’s on the outskirts of Sonoma…”
“Oh, duh! Ten minutes from here. From the bakery and my apartment,” I try to recover. It doesn’t work. Lilah eyes me like I’ve lost my mind.
“I know you’ve been spending a lot of time with Brooks in Napa but you didn’t move in with him while I wasn’t paying attention, did you?”
“No! I swear, I just had a brain fart. I need coffee. You want some coffee?”
Lilah just looks at me suspiciously.
“Never mind. Let’s get coffee at the hotel. I want to get the cake delivered safely first.”
***
Lilah and I load the cake into the delivery van with practiced ease. Our bags and dresses carefully arranged, we make the quick drive to the hotel. The cake is safely stored in the kitchen fridge, though the chef grumbles that he had to reorganize his walk-in to make room for such a large cake. What did he expect with 300 guests? What a grump.
With the cake safely tucked away, Lilah leaves to get ready with Gran and Julia, while I head up to the hotel bridal suite to get ready with Chelsea and the bridesmaids.
Chelsea spoils the living hell out of us.
I’m pretty sure Matt set everything up because that’s just the kind of guy he is. Chelsea doesn’t come from money like he does and it seems like he goes out of his way to make sure she gets the best of everything, especially when it came to their wedding day. If he had better taste in groomsmen, this day would be just about perfect. I shudder thinking about the groomsmen I got paired up with. I’m taking one for the team, but the guy gives me the creeps.
We’re buffed, polished, and moisturized from head to toe in the hotel spa before meeting the hair stylists and makeup artists back in the hotel suite. Room service surprised us with an alarming number of chocolate-covered strawberries and several bottles of Chelsea’s favorite Prosecco. Thank god Chelsea was still having her hair done and hadn’t gotten to makeup because she started sobbing when she read the card they brought from Matt.
It takes a small army of beauty professionals to get us ready, but they are cheerfully efficient. I finally get a quiet moment alone with Chelsea to thank her for letting me bring Brooks at the last minute.
“Oh, I added him to the guest list the night I bailed on dinner with you,” she smirks knowingly.
“It feels weird to say but I think I owe you a thank you for ditching me. That was quite the sneaky operation you and Lilah pulled off.”
Chelsea lets out a pleased laugh. “Yeah, it’s a good thing I only talked to you through text messages though. I’m not sure I could have pulled it off if we spoke on the phone. I almost felt bad about it when I saw you guys leave the bar together but… well… It seemed to work out fine.”
She blushes and changes the subject. “I’m happy you two finally figured things out. Just keep Brooks away from Matt tonight. It turns out, Matt figured out the stripper thing Sally had planned, found the poor guy and paid him a lot of money to not show up. He wasn’t pleased that some random guy showed up and took his shirt off, anyway.”
I laugh at the look on Chelsea’s face. “He almost took off his pants too. Remember he--”
Chelsea holds up a hand to interrupt me. “Nope. He just took off his shirt. And if you want your boyfriend to stay alive, that should probably be all anyone remembers from the bachelorette party.”