“I think she’s more concerned that her water would break in the middle of the living room and she would be humiliated by ruining your carpet,” Quentin said.
Mom swept her hand through the air like she was brushing the statement away and gave a dismissive look. “So, we hold it outside. Not a problem. I’m sure Willa won’t mind Merry borrowing her pool.”
Kelly nodded in agreement. Quentin stopped mid-bite into his own croissant and stared at our mother. I couldn’t help but laugh. They all looked over at me.
“Vince, when did you get here?” Darren asked.
“A couple of seconds ago,” I said. “But don’t worry. I’m used to being overlooked at this point.”
Dad shot me a look. “Now, son. Don’t you think you’re a bit too old to be envious of your brothers getting attention?”
“I’m not envious of them getting attention. At this particular moment, I’m trying to work through the image of Merry’s water breaking in the middle of the yard and you trying to slide the baby pool under her. But now that we’re talking about it, it would be really nice if we could all focus on work a little more,” I said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” my mother asked. “We’re all working.”
“What were the last four phone calls you made?” I asked.
She looked sheepish. “A caterer, a florist, and two rental companies.”
“Exactly,” I said, snatching one of the croissants off the plate.
She shouldn’t even bother hiring a caterer. Mom was an amazing cook and baker. It also happened to be her form of stress relief and emotional coping mechanism. Whenever she got anxious, stressed, or was overwhelmed thinking about something, she found solace in making food. It was a great benefit to the rest of us. And with how wound up she had been since the rush of babies and weddings started, she could probably feed an army.
“One of these days maybe you’ll find someone, and you’ll understand,” Kelly said.
I bit my tongue. As easy as Merry was with her wedding, Kelly was difficult. I wouldn’t go so far as to say she was a bridezilla. She hadn’t lashed out at any of us, and by all rights her expectations weren’t outlandish. But these wedding preparations were far more complicated. Not only did she and Darren want a full-on wedding experience, complete with ceremony and large reception, but we were also navigating her family from Canada. They wanted to be involved, but the distance made it more challenging.
I was looking forward to the whole thing being over so everything could go back to normal.
There was a lot I wanted to say to Kelly in that moment. But I didn’t let myself. She didn’t need my attitude. All of them putting planning the wedding in front of doing their jobs aside, how I felt wasn’t just about that. The built-up tension and on-edge feeling weren’t all their fault. I was still thinking about Lindsey and what I saw Friday night.
“There’s a lot of work to be done. I found several issues in the work reports submitted last week, and I have some questions about the orders submitted for the custom bikes. We need to get on this and fix everything so it doesn’t snowball,” I said.
They all nodded, and I grabbed another croissant for the road before heading back to my office. The rest of the day was a constant flow of work. I barely had time to breathe as I bounced from issue to issue and tried to resolve all the problems I found. Fortunately, our talk in the kitchen seemed to have gotten through to the family, at least for the day. They worked hard and we made a lot of progress, but it left me drained.
By the time I left the compound that night, I was so tired I didn’t even want to think about going home and cooking dinner. There was always the option of going by one of the restaurants I owned and grabbing something to bring home, but none of them appealed to me. Instead, I knew where I was going without any conscious thought.
My car seemed to pull itself into the same parking spot I was in on Friday, and I dragged myself through the door. It wasn’t as busy inside the bar that evening as it was the other night. A handful of people were scattered around the tables, some with food and others just with drinks.
I went to the bar and sat on one of the stools. Lindsey moved around behind it at her usual pace. She could do the work of at least two people. Sometimes more. When she glanced over at me, I noticed she looked happier than she had on Friday. But she still wasn’t her normal, bubbly self.
“Hey, there,” she said after giving one of the four other people at the bar his drink and coming over to me. “Is Nick with you?”