Page 14 of Bride Games

“May I steer you ladies back to our original convo.” Nigel slid a stack of bridal magazines aside and flexed his fingers. “Not to be rude—and I’m happy to slug the bloke for you, Paige—but we should stay focused. Back to colors, dear Emma. Sunflowers are a golden yellow. What do you fancy to go with that?”

Emma exhaled loudly as she fixated on a crack in the ceiling tile. After a few moments, she said, “We’rereallystruggling with colors. I never realized how many details we had to plan. Eli is at a loss too. I—we—need your help with colors because…Eli’s favorite color isorange.” She wrinkled her nose. “It’s not my fave but he isn’t asking for much, so I want to include it.” After biting her bottom lip, Emma asked, “What goes with a golden yellow and orange? I’m at a loss. Lucy loves pink. Eli and I studied a color chart the other day. Do you think a bright pink could work?”

“Interesting choices. Bold colors. Bugger. Let me find a color wheel straight away.” Nigel lifted several hair pieces until he unearthed a color wheel. He placed it in the middle of the table. “We could use a split complementary, a double complementary, a triad, or?—”

“Are you giving us a master’s class on colors?” Paige chuckled as she pointed toward the wheel. “How about if we simplify this. It looks as though a cornflower blue or even royal blue would complement orange. Maybe even magenta.” Paige studied the color wheel. “Or…” Paige glanced at Emma. “Do you think you could convince Eli to go with coral instead of orange?”

“He wouldn’t notice the difference,” Nigel added, “since he’ll be concentrating on his beautiful bride.”

Emma winced. “Maybe. I don’t know. I suppose I can ask but this is theonlything Eli was definitive about.” She glanced around the messy employee lounge. “Do you have any color swatches, Nigel?”

“Do I have color swatches? Have you seen our hundreds upon hundreds of bridesmaid dresses? I have bloodyloadsof fabric swatches. Actually, that’s a brilliant idea.” Nigel hopped up until he found one with the colors already mentioned. “Take the swatches home and the color wheel. Study everything, compare, and show it all to Eli and wee Lucy. They’ll probably have a ball choosing the colors.” He handed a pile of fabric to Emma. “But don’t take too long. We need to get the invitations rolling.”

“I know, I know. And a cake. And bridesmaid dresses.” The color drained from Emma’s face. “This is a bit much.” Nigel and Paige gave her a group hug.

“That’s why we’re here,” Paige assured her best friend.

Nigel held his tuxedoed arms wide. “And don’t forget I’m an expert. Let’s go take a peek at some dresses for the wee lass or shall we wait until Lucy can come in?”

“Let’s wait. She’ll love trying on dresses.” Emma stared at Paige with wild eyes. “But we can look at bridesmaid dresses. That is,ifyou’ll do me the honor of being my maid of honor—or is it matron of honor?” Emma added, “I feel like I should get down on one knee to ask.”

“Silly, sweet girl.” Paige wrapped her arms around Emma. “Are you kidding? It would be my honor, Em. Thank you for asking me.” She chuckled. “And since I’m single, I think it’s maid of honor.”

“Thank you.” Happy tears trailed down Emma’s cheeks. “Once Eli and I decide on our colors, I want to come back with you when you try on dresses.”

“Okay,” Paige laughed. “But I’m not wearing orange, nor yellow. I look horrible in both.”

Emma’s face fell as Paige quickly added, “I’m kidding. I’ll wear whatever you want me to wear, even a potato sack. Well, maybe not that, but you know what I mean.”

“We’ll make sure it’s elegant enough for a TV star.”

“Since that’s sorted”—Nigel stood—“want to take a preliminary look at some dresses? It might help you decide on color choices.”

The women sat their coffee cups down and followed Nigel into the cheery atmosphere of Bride & Joy where several women of all ages, plus a few uneasy looking grooms-to-be stood among a vast array of frilly, silky, poofy, and sequined gowns. Nigel immediately walked up to a bride who appeared frozen in time, placed his arm across her shoulders, and told her she would be a beautiful, enchanting bride no matter which dress she chose. He seemed to break the woman out of a fearful trance while simultaneously motioning for Emma and Paige to follow him.

“You’re good,” Paige said.

“I try.” Nigel’s eyes bulged as a huge crowd of chattering bridesmaids practically squeezed themselves in the front door at the same time, laughing, and teasing the bride who was easy to spot since she wore a white satin sash that read,Bride.

Lowering his voice, Nigel said, “Bloody hell. They didn’t make an appointment and it’s almost closing time. He glanced at his watch. “I thought I could actually leave early for once.” Heturned to Emma and Paige. “Sorry but I’d better attend to this surprise bridal party.”

“No problem, Nigel. I have some emails to answer back at the station. We can do this another time, right Em? Maybe bring Lucy and have lunch afterward.”

“Definitely. That’ll be fun. No worries, Nigel.” Emma glanced at her watch. “Speaking of Lucy, I need to pick her upnow. With everything going on, I nearly forgot school starts in two days.” Emma blew out her breath. “This summer has flown by.”

Grinning, Paige said, “You’ve been slightly preoccupied.”

Emma chuckled. “You think? Just yesterday it seems as though we were decked out in patriotic red, white, and blue, devouring barbecue at a neighborhood potluck, and watching fireworks. I really don’t know where the summer went.”

Paige winked. “Summers always go fast, especially when you’re happy and busy.”

Nodding, Emma added, “That we have been. Thank goodness I already bought her school clothes.” Emma searched for a list on her phone. “I need to grab a few more supplies tonight.” She hugged Nigel. “Thanks for everything, you two. Ready to go, Paige? I need to shift my focus to Lucy.”

14

Emma

After barely eating a morsel of breakfast, Lucy said, “Mommy, school starts tomorrow!”

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