“That’s something you’re going to have to talk to her about,” Mom said. “It’s really important to pick the right venue. Where you pick as a location for a wedding sets the tone for the entire event. You’re going to have to talk to her about exactly what her vision for the ceremony is.”
“We’re going to really have to talk about scheduling time during the workday when all mention of weddings and baby showers are off-limits,” I added in.
“Have you even discussed her ideal gown? I know she said she wanted to wait to go to any of the boutiques until her mother and sister could come down from Canada. But she might have an idea of what she would like. That can make a tremendous impact on where would be appropriate,” Mama said.
“I thought I wasn’t supposed to know what her dress looks like,” Darren pointed out.
“You know what I know what it looks like? A bunch of really angry fans if we don’t have anything to offer them during the massive block party we’ve hyped up for the last two weeks,” I said.
“That wasn’t a sentence, sweetheart,” my mother said, patting my arm without taking her eyes off Darren.
Well, at least she acknowledged my existence. I was going to take that as a victory. I gave up on trying to talk to either one of them and headed back to my office. It wasn’t much better there, and by the end of the day, I felt like pulling my hair out. I definitely needed a break. Without talking to anybody else, I left the compound. I figured by then that my mother had probably recruited at least a couple of the other family members to try her best to talk sense into her youngest son. Either that or he had convinced her the horse and carriage was the best idea ever, and they were going to present a united front to Kelly in an effort to have her change her wedding plans.
Either way, I didn’t want to be around to deal with it. Unless and until they had a specific job they needed me to do, I was staying out of all the wedding plans and preparations.
With my family and all their craziness in my rearview mirror, I headed directly to the bar. I was already parked and was about to get out of the truck when I realized what I was doing. Though I was the first of the Freeman brothers to frequent the bar, I didn’t go nearly as much as I did when I was younger. With the exception of specific celebrations or gatherings, I didn’t go as often as the others. Only Darren went less often than I did. But here I had found myself showing up at the bar several times over the last week.
It probably said a lot about me just how often I had been there lately. Not even taking my seat belt off, I cranked the car engine again and pulled out of the parking space. I didn’t want Lindsey to get the wrong idea. Well, technically, the right idea.
I ended up at a small seafood shack by the water. It was one of my favorite places in the area. They got into some serious financial trouble a few years back, and I bailed them out. Since then, I had been visiting at least once a week to eat dinner and catch up with the people working there. Some weeks it was more than once. Considering my new tendency to head directly to the bar as soon as I left work, I figured now might be a good time for me to pick up the frequency.
I parked my truck and headed inside. Everybody smiled and waved at me when they saw me. I knew everybody who worked there and always had a good time talking to whoever happened to be working a shift when I showed up. The cook behind the counter caught my eye and immediately turned to start preparing my favorite dinner. My order very rarely deviated from a few dishes. They were so delicious I couldn’t resist ordering them when I came in. Even if I decided to expand my horizons and try something else, such as a special the cook might have come up with, eventually I would end up toting a bag of takeout containers full of my favorites when I left.
Sitting down at one of the empty tables, I thanked the waitress for the iced tea she brought me and squeezed a wedge of lemon down into it. It only took a few minutes for the cook to bring me my overflowing plates, and I smiled. If I wasn’t going to allow myself another evening spent sitting at the bar with Lindsey, at least this was a pretty good consolation. I ate my dinner as I caught up with the staff and some of the customers who came in. When I was finished, I went into the back office and spent another hour going over the books with the manager. I trusted her completely, but I liked to be involved in my investments. Especially when my plan was to eventually withdraw and turn over complete control back to the family who had owned the restaurant for generations.