“Did you have to buy yours?” I asked. Had Ava actually said that they’d pay “anything?” Because that could have meant a whole lot.
“No, but my sister did. She insisted because she kept saying that it was her fault.” And he looked disturbed by that. “I’ll pay her back. She and Jeff do fine, but I don’t want to take money away from my niece and nephews. I wouldn’t have taken this at all except that she was having a breakdown since she thinks she made a mistake.”
“It was the store’s mistake,” I answered. “And now the problem is solved, kind of miraculously, so it’s ok.”
“It’s not ok with her. She started crying when we finally found something to fit Jeff.”
“Is the new tux ugly, too?” I asked.
“I think it was relief. She was so worked up,” he told me, and now he seemed worried. “Aves likes things to be perfect and she kept saying, ‘How could I do this? How could I do this?’ It was like she had blabbed the nuclear codes instead of picking up the wrong suits. We went back to their house before coming here and Jeff tried on the original tux. It was hysterically funny, but she almost started crying again. He doesn’t look so bad in purple.” He checked his phone. “We should go. Are you all set?”
“Am I?” I looked down at my dress. “I’m ok, right? There’s nothing you see that I should fix or change?”
“Emerson, I wasn’t kidding before. You’re beautiful.” He nodded seriously at me. “I’m going to be the envy of every single guy there.”
He really didn’t have to say those things, but they were very, very nice to hear. “I’m ready.”
“Then here we go,” Levi told me, and we did.
Chapter 11
I’d been to a lot of weddings, like some on yachts, in the Caribbean, in Tuscan villas, and on the beach in Malibu. But even though most of Grant’s friends had been Michiganders, we hadn’t attended many in our home state, so I’d never come to this venue before today. It was beautiful, much nicer than the place we’d been on the Amalfi Coast and even nicer than the mansion in Palm Beach. Levi’s cousin Britainy and her new husband had held the ceremony outside under canopies on the broad, green lawn, and they’d gotten very lucky that the weather had been perfect. Now, we’d moved into a huge ballroom—which they needed, because there were at least five hundred attendees.
“I had no idea that Britainy knew so many people,” Levi had answered when I’d said something about that. He was bewildered. “We don’t have a big family, but maybe the groom does. I remember how expensive Ava’s wedding was…”
With my background as a guest, I was also aware of wedding expenses, and I quickly calculated the cost of this one from what I’d seen so far. They’d used hundreds, if not thousands of flowers to decorate for the ceremony, exotic blooms that weren’t from Michigan and weren’t in season, and this ballroom was full of large arrangements, too. Her dress was stunning, with a ton of beading and a long train, and they’d had fifteen attendants each. The cost of feeding all of us was going to be astronomical.
“Your cousin must do very well for herself,” I said, and he answered that she didn’t and her parents were definitely middle class, but maybe her new husband was rich. No one knew him or his side very well, but Levi had taken pictures with them in the extended family group shots after the ceremony.
While he’d done that, I had looked around the ballroom again, admiring the décor. I hadn’t yet seen the tables for dinner, but they must have been in another flower-filled area—which upped the price of this event even more. If one of my bookkeeping clients had suggested spending this much on a single day, I would have said no. No, that’s fiscally insane, and please don’t do it.
“Let’s have some champagne,” Levi suggested, and took two flutes from the tray of a circulating server.
“Your first?” she asked.
“Uh, yeah.” He handed one of the glasses to me. “What’s that word again?”
“Salud,” I answered, and we clinked them carefully. I sipped and then frowned. I wasn’t a huge champagne drinker except onspecial occasions like this, but I recognized that the liquid in my mouth tasted funny.
Levi made a face. “They’re not serving the good stuff,” he said. “It’s terrible.” He took the flute from me and put it on one of the tall tables along with his own. As he did, the band started playing. “I guess we’re already dancing,” he noted, and held out his hand. “Shall we?”
I had to think that his former girlfriend, Mary Evelyn, wasn’t very intelligent. She’d cheated on him, which was stupid as well as cruel. She’d been upset that he was “clueless?” I thought he was attentive and sweet. And on top of that, he could dance. We glided around the floor and I felt like I was Cyd Charisse inThe Band Wagon. I looked up at Levi and found him watching me, not his feet, and smiling.
“We found something else we both like,” he told me.
“How did you learn?”
“Ava and Liv were friends with a family who lived near us. You met one of them,” he reminded me. “Nicola. She and the rest of her sisters love to dance and they wanted a partner.” He nodded. “I’m sure you can follow their line of thinking: here was a boy they could boss, just like Aves did. They made sure I picked it up.”
I owed those women, because this was wonderful. I closed my eyes for a moment and then opened them, but it was all real.
“It’s kind of funny that the band is so small,” he said, and I glanced over my right shoulder at a large but relatively empty stage. “Only three musicians and this is a huge room.”
“It’s beautiful,” I said, and meant it. “Is this what your sisters’ weddings were like?”
“Ava’s was about a quarter of the size and less fancy, and we had a lot of fun. Liv got married in her house in the woods with about fifty people and we also had a blast.”
“That’s the most important thing,” I agreed. I looked around at the other dancers and they seemed to be enjoying themselves, despite the bad champagne.
