Page 72 of For the First Time
I had a few minutes before lunch was ready and Oaks and Atlas would come home, so I decided to make a call.Not to the vendors, or even Rosalie.To Mom Elizabet, my omega mother.If anyone knew the most-current information for Chloe’s event, it would be her.
I pressed my phone between my shoulder and my ear as I finished setting up lunch.It was baked potato soup with my now-famous homemade barbeque chips, cornbread, sweet potato fries, mini corn of the cobs, and pink lemonade.The whole house smelled amazing from the crockpot.Everett wouldn’t get to enjoy it until tomorrow, since I packed the leftovers for his lunches.
The line clicked over right before I was sent to voicemail.“Hello?”
“Mom Elizabet, hi.”I glared at the stove, as if it was at fault for my awkwardness.This was my mother.She literally birthed me.I should be able to call her without feeling weird about it.“Do you have a few minutes to talk?”
“I was just about to get ready to meet your sisters for brunch, or, well, I guess it’s just lunch now.I got sucked into the TV, you know how I can be.But with everything going on in the news right now, it seems impossible to just walk away from the screen or I’ll miss something.”
I wasn’t sure if that was a no she can’t talk because she’s running late or a yes she can talk since she was already late so she can be later.“I just wanted to talk to you about Chloe’s event.”
“Oh, do you have some good news about the Monarch ballroom?I was speaking with Rosalie the other day and she said you weren’t able to book the space.I was quite disappointed to hear that.I know Chloe really liked the ballroom after seeing Beatrice’s party there.”
“I’m on the waitlist for it.You know how it books out so far in advance.For now, we are guaranteed the Grayling room.”
“And how big is that?”
“About two hundred guests worth.”
Mom Elizabet gasped.“Two hundred?That’s it?That’ll barely be enough for all the immediate family.Eve, we can’t possibly only do two hundred guests.”
I bit the inside of my cheek.It would do no good to remind her that the number includes staff as well.So it was truly more like one hundred and seventy-five guests.At most.I also refused to point out that it wasn’t my fault the Monarch ballroom was already booked.I knew she wasn’t blaming me, not really.Not even if it felt like it.
“We can make it work,” I told her.“I sent a list of other venues to Rosalie, but she hasn’t made any claims about preferring a change of location.The Botanicals Hotel is worth the reduction in guest number.It’s beautiful—”
“Of course it is.But the whole point of the party is to spend it with people.If they wanted an intimate gathering, they wouldn’t be holding any sort of event, now, would they?”
If they had wanted a large party, then they should have made a decision sooner.Reached out to me sooner.I couldn’t just make a party happen from thin air.It involved months of planning and scheduling and commissions.It was why people made careers out of it.
Something ...dark was settling in my chest.The emotion was so strange that I wasn’t sure what it was.I couldn’t identify it.And that scared me so much that the darkness nearly disappeared.Nearly.“I’m actually calling you about something else.For now, we’ll have to make the Grayling work.But I was wondering about the theme.”
“The theme?I thought I already told you.It’s about reflection of their time spent together already.Reflection like mirrors or lights shining off a disco ball.Nothing gaudy.I don’t want it to feel like we’ve gone back in time to a disco party.It’s supposed to be romantic.A reflection of the past but with a shining future ahead.You understand?”
“That’s what I thought, I just wanted to make sure since I was planning to make some calls today—”
“Calls?What calls?You haven’t started reaching out to the catering and vendors?Eve, I thought you were taking this seriously.Your sister’s anniversary event isn’t for you to slack on.”
That dark feeling was back in my chest.“I’m not slacking, but it’s hard to make calls and decisions on behalf of a pack that won’t talk to me.Rosalie is nearly ignoring my emails and calls—”
“That’s not fair.Rosalie as a job.She has her pack and your sister to look after.Where is all this coming from?”
“All what?”
“This negativity toward your sister’s pack.Have you been watching the wrong news?”
The abrupt change in topic had a small headache forming.I stared at the oven in front of me, at the large pot of soup, the cornbread with foil over the top keeping it warm, and the tray of corn.“What?”
“The wrong news.You know you can’t trust what all those outlets are saying, especially the ones trying to push their own agendas.All they’re doing is spreading lies about Adam, trying to discredit him because he’s putting an end to their corruption.”
I didn’t have any other word in my vocabulary.What was a dictionary?A thesaurus?I didn’t know.All I knew was the word, “What?”
“Honestly, Eve.I’m starting to worry about you.I know getting let go from the OC was a hit to your pride, but I didn’t think you’d be one of those betas who stopped caring about omegas once you didn’t interact with them anymore.Your sisters are omegas.Don’t you care what happens to them?”
“Of course I do.”The dark feeling was back in my chest again, staining my insides with its unknown emotion.“I just can’t believe you believe Representative Adam.He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
Mom Elizabet made a noise that sounded equally annoyed and pitiful.“So youarelistening to those lies about him.I’ll send you the list I saw about which proper news channels to watch.The ones thataren’ttelling lies.”
“Mom.Adam literally wants to kick betas out of packs.Wants to stop them from joining future ones.”
