Page 46 of The Bourbon Bargain

“Call me Sir again. I like hearing that from your sweet lips.”

Oooh. He’s jumping from our humor to wanting more dirty talk from the naughty version of me he’s created. “What will we be doing later, Sir?”

“If you’re a good girl, I’ll give you anything you want.”

This is a bit weird for me. I’m okay using some of the naughty words while in the moment, but this has me outside of that headspace. I laugh nervously. “I think I’ll have to practice that a bit more to feel comfortable doing it on command.”

“It was worth a shot, and practice is always good.” There is a twinkle in his eye even as he acknowledges my discomfort, so I know I didn’t turn off the mood completely.

“Would you please drop me off at Mama’s? Hopefully, I can be finished with all of this mess if I start early enough. There has to be an end to her preparations at some point, and I’d rather get it over with as soon as I can.”

Hayes pouts, hilariously pushing out his bottom lip so I laugh. “I was hoping you would stay with me longer, but you’re right. I can drop you at her house and head straight to the office.”

When I walk in the door at Mama and Daddy’s, all hell has broken loose. There are multiple strangers at every table and seat in the parlor. Some have fabric samples, others have laptops out typing furiously, some are painstakingly creating a seating chart with beautifully handwritten calligraphy, and there are a few orbiting Mama like little moons as she moves from one room to another, dictating her wishes to each group. I hang my garment bags in the hall closet and make my way toward Mama, fighting through the throng that surrounds her.

“What’s going on?” I ask, as soon as I can make it close enough to hopefully grab her attention.

“Oh, Paige, you’re here. Finally.”

“I told you I would be gone overnight, and now I’m back. What’s on the schedule for today?” I work to keep any frustration out of my tone. I don’t want to upset her first thing after taking away a day of her precious time by doing my own thing.

“We are finalizing all of the reception details. I brought in extra help from the Savannah College of Art and Design to make it go faster, so I’m overseeing each team and ensuring they’re doing it correctly.” She looks over the shoulder of a girl who can’t be older than me, holding out fabric samples with locations written on cardstock pinned to them. “Not like that, you buffoon. We are not using blush pink in the swags from the ceiling, it’s ivory only, with green on the walls. The pink is just for the tablescapes.”

The girl scurries away, clutching fabric samples in her hands when Mama is done dressing her down. My eyes widen in horror at her tone and the way she spoke to the girl. I know the feeling all too well of being on that side of Mama’s cutting remarks.

“Was that necessary?”

“They need to know their place and how not to mess up. I let them learn the hard way and the lessons stick better. Now, did you manage to find a worthwhile dress in that godforsaken city, or do we need to return to the bridal boutique to try on the dresses I have on hold again?”

I beam at her, despite her disbelief that I could have achieved my goal without her. “I found all of the dresses I will need. I put them in the hall closet.”

She raises an eyebrow at me. “How many dresses do you expect to wear to one event?”

“I have a ceremony dress, a reception dress that’s a bit easier to move in, and something less formal for the rehearsal dinner.”

“Hmm. I want to inspect these dresses. Your bridal shoot is tomorrow, and we can’t have something completely wrong on hand. Maybe we should head to the bridal shop now while we have time,” she muses.

I take a deep breath and pray for patience. I knew she would second guess all of my choices, not trusting me to pick out anything worthy of the image she has for the party she is planning, but it hurts anyway.

“The dresses are perfect. They are altered and fit my body exactly as they should, and I feel so beautiful in them.”

Mama purses her lips and looks me over, taking in my slate blue silk blouse and cream skirt like they offend her and any dress I could have picked will be just as terrible.

“Very well. Show me what you bought. You there,” she says to a passing young man with artfully messy hair and a septum piercing. “Take the garment bags in the hall closet upstairs to my bedroom and hang them on the wardrobe.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the unidentified man says, hurrying out to the foyer.

“I’m perfectly capable of carrying the bags myself,” I remind her.

“We have the extra hands, might as well make use of them.” She waves off my concern and turns to the three people still trailing her. “You three start on the place settings. I want to see all of the options we have when I return.”

They scuttle off toward the dining room and I feel sympathy for them welling up in me. Who knows what she has subjected this army of assistants to in the last twenty-four hours? And where did they all come from? SCAD should still be on holiday break. If she went dredging up all of the wayward souls left in the city during the break, she really must have been desperate for help.

My thoughts of the assistants are cut off as Mama places her hand on my back and marches me into the foyer and up the stairs to her room. I try to shake off her hand, but she just moves it to my upper arm instead and I roll my eyes, submitting to being dragged along with her.

The garment bags are hanging on her wardrobe when we enter her room and I smile at the white bags knowing what’s inside will have to pass Mama’s inspection. There is no way she can complain, though she will try.

I go to the heaviest bag and unzip it, folding the edges around the hanger and pulling the bottom of the dress out of the bag so the train can be displayed. “This is the ceremony dress.”

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