Page 7 of The Estate
When Lottie laughed especially loudly, Rachel saw Katherine, Lottie’s mom, turn and glare over at her daughter. It almost sent Rachel’s exceedingly short temper of today into overdrive.
Katherine had appeared in the doorway of the bridal suite this morning like a specter from the underworld, dripping in disdain and condescension. She had proceeded to dismiss and belittled her daughter’s massive accomplishment of designing the wedding gown.
The damn woman had been in the room for under ten minutes, and even in that short amount of time, Rachel wanted to smack her. Lottie’s mother was incapable of seeing what an amazing daughter she had, and it was infuriating.
And unfair.
How was it that Lottie’s judgmental, callous mom, got to be around to be crappy to her kid when Rachel’s own mom—who was fantastic—wasn’t? In what world did that make sense?
Losing both her parents in a car accident when she was in college seemed like the lowest the universe could get. When she was at an event like a wedding she’d be struck with grief all over again. Her mom would never plan a wedding with her and her dad would never walk her down the aisle. Sometimes it felt like losing them all over again.
She didn’t scowl back at Katherine even though it was very, very tempting to do so. The thing she had to do was get herself out of this funk. The argument with Cal had certainly sent her into a negative headspace.
“Shall I get you something from the bar, Rachel?” Adam asked, interrupting her train of thought.
“Oh. You don’t mind?”
“Not at all.”
“That’s so nice of you,” Rachel said, contemplating what she wanted. A nice smooth bourbon sounded like exactly the thing she needed to turn this day around and get into a celebratory frame of mind. “I’d love an old fashioned, if you could. And can you make mine a double?”
Adam nodded and moved off toward the bar. “A double,” Lottie said. “Really?”
“Was the kitchen that bad?” Lisa chimed in. “You never answered Lottie’s pizza question. Should I be finding a place that delivers?”
“No. No,” Rachel raised her hand to stop them. “The kitchen was fine. I mean, the meal is fine. The guy I had to put up with wasn’t, but Alex’s wedding dinner will be.
“Ohhhh,” Lottie propped her head on her hand. “Do tell.”
Rachel sighed.How to describe her encounter with Cal?“He was… I just couldn’t… Well, he was an ass,” she stated finally. She didn’t like the way Lisa was looking at her. As if she were a puzzle Lisa was determined to figure out.
“I didn’t even get into the kitchen. Just as I was turning in, some guy ran me down and then wouldn’t let me enter.”
“I hate him,” Lottie declared.
Rachel looked at her friend, thankful the universe had intervened, so she and Lottie crossed paths. She was fun and thoughtful and a wonderful person, but tipsy Lottie might be her favorite person.
“Thank you,” Rachel said, dipping her head to Lottie and smiling. “I appreciate you taking my side.
“Anyway, I got into it with this guy about the dinner. I was simply trying to help, and he told me off.”
“Well, now I absolutely hate him,” Lottie said.
“I might be with you,” Lisa chimed in. “Not for nothing Rachel, we sent you because you’re the calm, reasonable one.” She smirked. “What’s his name? We’ll hunt him down and beat him. Or at the very least report him to his boss.”
“Yeah,” Lottie chirped. “What’s his name? I bet it’s something like Bronson Alexander or Xavier Maximus.”
“Xavier Maximus?” Lisa asked. “What the hell kind of name is that?”
“Well, it’s better than Reginald Aloysius Manfredjensen.”
“You think?” Lisa intoned sarcastically, making Lottie giggle.
Rachel couldn’t help it. She laughed which set Lottie off, and eventually Lisa. This is what she needed. The walk in the gardenhad been great, but what she required was a good laugh with friends to remind her of what was important.
“Oh my god,” Rachel said, wiping the tears from her eyes. “You two are too much. I love it, but just… too much.” She took a breath, feeling so much better about the night. “And we can’t report him. He owns the place. But it doesn’t matter. I never have to seeCalagain.”
“Cal,” Lottie drawled. “What kind of name is Caaalll?” she drew out his name even more.
