Chapter Fifteen

April 2019

Mandy finally had a chance to pause, or at least she finally had time to take a breath. Candy assured Mandy via text that everything was being taken care of and not to worry, but Mandy was so good at worrying. If worrying were an Olympic sport, Mandy would be a gold medalist.

The margarita, though, was helping, and so was Ashley playing with Mandy's hair. What was it about someone playing with your hair that was always so soothing? The tink-tink-tink of the curling iron was a welcome sound, as opposed to the buzzing of Mandy's phone—which was still buried under a pillow in the other room.

A cart next to Mandy was in arm's reach so she could alternate between snacking on chips and salsa and her blueberry muffin—which didn't really go together, but since she'd made such a fuss, she was determined to eat it—while drinking her margarita and getting her hair done. The snacks had been a good choice because the margarita was a little strong, and Mandy hadn't eaten enough today. Plus, if Mandy closed her eyes, she could almost picture herself on a beach somewhere instead of in a hotel room waiting for the next catastrophe to take place.

What would it be? And how long did she have until it happened?

Lion escaped from the zoo.

Alien invasion.

Or maybe an unprecedented tornado would rip through the ceremony site. Now that would be something.

No.

Small sip.

And chip— crunch .

Ashley released the iron from Mandy's hair and blew on the curl before pinning it to her head. "They wanted twelve hundred dollars for it," she was saying.

"Just to fix the AC?" Mandy asked. She didn't know much about cars—luckily Dad still helped her when she needed to take hers into the shop—but she also knew that sounded ridiculous. "My dad says the dealership is a rip-off. He's been going to the same guy for years." Rafael was his name, but that was pretty much all Mandy knew—that and where the shop was, but she couldn't remember the name of the place, like it was stuck on the tip of her tongue. It would come to her.

"Well, I'm never going back there." Ashley sectioned off some hair and started her tink-tink-tink with the curling iron again. "My friend Joe says he knows a place."

"I can send you the info for the guy we use, if you want."

"That would be great. It's always good to have options."

It was nice not talking about marriage or weddings for once. It was nice to have a moment to feel somewhat normal.

Mandy grabbed another chip and popped it into her mouth. "How's the garden going?" she asked to keep the conversation rolling.

"Oh my god, I didn't tell you about my kale, did I?"

"No, you didn't." Mandy hated kale. Well, hated was a strong word. She greatly disliked the vegetable and thought it was completely overrated. But for some reason everyone seemed to be obsessed with it. Like it was some new kind of superfood instead of what it was—which was just angry lettuce. The first time Edmund had tried to put it in her smoothie, Mandy immediately knew something wasn't right.

"What's wrong with this?" she had asked him.

They had been sitting at the counter in his apartment one Saturday morning. The plan had been to have a little something before they were to meet friends for brunch later, so Edmund had offered to make smoothies. He wasn't a chef by any stretch of the imagination—they usually lived off takeout and fine dining—but he could make delicious smoothies. He had a knack for them. Mandy liked to tease that if the whole business thing didn't work out for him, he could open a smoothie bar—which Edmund would pretend to ponder like he was seriously contemplating the idea.

"What do you mean, what's wrong? It's a smoothie. Drink it." He casually took a sip of his own, then opened the newspaper to the investment section—also known as the most boring section ever.

"You did something different." Mandy took another drink. It was bitter. How could a smoothie taste bitter? All it had in it was fruit and a little spinach. Wait. "This isn't spinach."

"No, it's kale. How can you tell?"

"Because it's disgusting." Mandy set her drink down and pushed it his way. "Kale is disgusting."

Edmund shook his head. "I can't even taste the difference."

"Then your taste buds are broken." Mandy wiped her tongue on a napkin to try to get the taste out of her mouth.

"Oh, they are, are they?" Edmund set his glass down too. "I think you're broken." He launched himself at her and blew raspberries on her neck. He was funny like that sometimes—and sweet. Sweet enough to make Mandy a new smoothie without the kale.

The tink-tink-tink of the curling iron brought Mandy back to the moment at hand.

"…It basically took over everything. I have so much of the stuff I don't know what to do with it all. Damn it. I should've brought some with me. Why didn't I think of that?" Ashley said.

"I think kale is the first anniversary gift." Mandy laughed.

"Shut up." Ashley nudged Mandy's back. "Just for that I'm going to bring you extra next time I see you."

Mandy raised her margarita into the air. "I'd like to cancel my next appointment."

Ashley laughed. "Nope. Sorry. No cancellations or transfers, you're getting extra kale." They both laughed together.

Mandy took a sip of her cocktail, allowing the tart flavor to flood over her tongue. "Whoever looked at kale and thought, ‘Yeah, that looks like something I want to put in my mouth'?"

"That's what he said?" And they both laughed again.

Mandy took another drink of her margarita and relaxed deeper into her chair. Maybe this meant things would be all right. Maybe there wouldn't be any catastrophes.

As soon as she thought it, she wanted to take it back, but it was too late.

The lights in the hotel room flashed and the smoke alarm sounded.

"You've got to be kidding me," Mandy said.

"I'm sure it's a false alarm." Ashley put her curling iron down. "I'll call the front desk."

She wouldn't get through. Everyone in the hotel was likely doing the exact same thing. Worst-case scenario, the hotel would burn down—and if they didn't get out, they would burn down with it.

Mandy retrieved her phone and purse from the other room.

When she returned, Ashley was holding her dress. "The line was busy," she said. "But think of all the fabulous stories you'll get to tell about your wedding day." Was that pity in Ashley's eyes?

Mandy didn't want to tell any stories. She would've been fine if her wedding day was boring. She let out a long breath. "Let's just go."

The hall was packed full of people carrying as much as they could—some even with suitcases. Mandy could go back into her room and grab all her stuff too, but then she'd be another person clogging the hallway when a fire could be raging nearby.

"I don't smell any smoke. So that's good," Ashley said.

Mandy was glad Ashley could see a bright side, because Mandy had officially lost all hope.