Until Dad and I had to switch seats.
Because he was intent to catch her in his arms, a goal he achieved, when Blake dissolved into tears.
“Then shit gets even more real because it looks like the offensive line of the Giants is about to rush the pulpit, so I gotta get there before them and get the women outta there, when Alex walks right up to Chad, beans him with her bouquet, flowers flying everywhere, and says, ‘Touch her again, I will end you,’” Rix related.
Chloe, Judge, Jamie, and Dru roared with laughter, with Dru chortling through her, “Best wedding I’ve ever been to!”
Dad sighed, but he was smiling.
“It was really a shame to leave those bouquets behind,” Blake drawled. “They were stunning.”
Everyone started laughing again.
But with my attention on my sister, I only chuckled before I agreed, “They really were.”
Blake caught my eyes.
I smiled at her.
She didn’t exactly smile back. But she didn’t…not.
Progress.
We were in Dad’s kitchen.
It had never been warm and welcoming, like Jamie’s.
But now, it felt that way.
Dad had popped a couple of bottles of Veuve and had ordered Cathy to instruct the caterers to redirect a goodly amount of the canapés and the top of the wedding cake to his house.
This, Cathy did.
Therefore, the black marble countertop of his island was covered in food, and we were all gathered around it.
I’d kicked off my shoes, but was still in my bridesmaid’s dress.
Blake, who could likely play golf in heels, was still in hers, as well as her dress, but the veil was on the table in the foyer, and Dru, Chloe and I had figured out how to pin up her train.
The women were on stools, and the men were standing because we only had four stools.
“That was inspired,” Chloe purred Blake’s way. “Allow me to speak for womankind when I say, brava.”
I wasn’t sure, but it looked like my sister might be blushing.
When the conversation turned from her, I caught her gaze and mouthed You okay?
She tipped her head to the side and shrugged.
Since it worked on me when Rix did it, I winked at her.
She rolled her eyes.
There she was.
There was my sister Blake.
I turned from her and saw Dad watching us.
He looked happy.
Rix leaned into my back from behind. I could feel his chest pressed into me as he nabbed a perfectly toasted petite square of bread on which a sliver of beef tenderloin had been formed into a rose, embedded in some herbed cream cheese, and hugged by a sprig of spring greens.
He popped it into his mouth and listened to Judge saying something.
And it wasn’t (just) the canapé that made him, too, look happy.
I sipped champagne.
And I sat with a group of people who I sensed I’d always be comfortable with, and I didn’t say a lot as the evening progressed.
But still.
I had an excellent time.
Elsa Cohen
“The Elsa Exchange”
Celebrity News and Interviews
YouTube Channel
* * *
“My wonderful watchers…I can’t…it’s just…the level of deliciousness…I’ll simply show you.”
Video onscreen of Blake Sharp standing at an altar in a stunning bridal gown beside her groom, saying, “…Chels, who banged his brains out when we were in Aruba.”
Video carries on through Blake’s speech. And through her maid of honor, Alexandra Sharp, belting the groom with her bouquet and threatening him. And also through John “Rix” Hendrix carrying Alexandra and Blake free right before a brawl begins.
And it carries on through quite a bit of that altar-wide brawl that included the slender groom, his groomsmen, a number of rather beefy members of the congregation, with a couple of bridesmaids falling into it because they weren’t smart enough to get out of the way.
Cut back to Elsa.
“Suffice it to say, my wonderful watchers, Blake Sharp, who is quite the dark horse, is back on the market. I sense that, considering it seems she got smart, and quick, that raven-haired, violet-eyed beauty will take some time to lick her wounds before she soldiers back into the dating game.”
Camera closes in on Elsa.
“But I, for one, offer her my hearty congratulations on this special day. And I wish her all the luck in the world. Now, until our next exchange, keep it positive. Elsa is signing off.”
The branded Elsa wink and blowing of kiss.
Sign off.
Alex
Sunday afternoon, I sat next to Rix on my deck.
He had a beer.
I had some wine.
He also had something on his mind.
“This place, we don’t have any room for kids, ’cept we could finish the storage space in the bottom level.”
I turned to him.
“Or build on,” he told the trees.
“We’re living at your house,” I told him.
He looked to me. “You’re happy here.”
“I’m happy in your house.”
“Al, you love your forest.”
“My deck is cool, but your deck is awesome.”
“I’ll agree. Your deck isn’t as cool as my deck. But I can make your deck as cool as my deck.”