Page 21 of Accidental Wedding Crasher
“How nice,” Ellen said. Her tone bordered on condescending. “I could never be a teacher myself. The pay is too low, and those public high schools are a mess.”
“I’ve heard the same thing,” her sister, Tabitha, put in. “Poor teachers like Mia here are worked to exhaustion. Aren’t you, Mia? But I suppose not everyone has a mind for business. We need teachers, too!”
Mia wanted to sink into the ground and disappear. Not only were they generally dismissive, but they were also attacking the career she’d dedicated her life to. She’d expected Evan to be the biggest problem on this trip, but maybe it was going to be his family instead.
“Excuse me.” As though he’d read her thoughts, Evan jumped into the conversation. “Mia’s work is incredibly important. She’s changing lives! Don’t you remember how much impact yourhigh school teachers had on you? She does more in a day than most of us do in aweek.”
Mia’s mouth almost fell open in surprise. Had Evan really jumped in to defend her like that? He was so supportive that she felt the ice in her heart melt a little.
Ellen and Tabitha stared at him, looking equally surprised. Then Ellen chuckled.
“Listen to you, Evan dear, standing up for your girlfriend. I love it. Maybe this is finally something serious.”
“Speaking of which, we still haven’t heard the story of how you met,” Tabitha added. “Mia, tell us everything.”
As Mia told the same mango story they’d told at the last wedding, she kept sneaking glances at Evan. She knew he’d only been supportive of her to maintain the ruse that they were an actual couple, but it still warmed her heart that he’d stood up for her. He seemed more like the man she’d met at the wedding than the one who’d ghosted her for the last month.
“I love that story,” Ellen said. “I didn’t even know that Evan did his own shopping.”
“I don’t always,” Evan put in. “But I’m glad I didthattime.” He beamed at Mia, who managed to smile back. Luckily, the conversation moved on to Ellen and Tabitha sharing gossip about mutual acquaintances, and Mia was able to finish her brunch in relative peace.
After everyone was finished eating, Ellen stood up and tapped her wine glass to make an announcement.
“Listen up, my dears! As you know, we have a few fun activities scheduled for the wedding week, starting today with a winetasting/cooking course. That’ll start at eleven o’clock on the dot. Don’t be late.” She winked and sat back down.
Mia was not looking forward to this event. She didn’t know much about wine, and she didn’t know how to cook at all, beyond boiling water for pasta. At least Evan would be with her, and he seemed willing to defend her if needed. Hopefully, he’d be ready to brush off her underwhelming cooking skills, too. Mia glanced at him. He was stirring his coffee absently as he listened to his mother and aunt talk, but she got the feeling that he was thinking about work.
They finished brunch and headed down into the kitchens, which had been made over for the event. Bottles of wine lined one shelf, along with a sommelier who greeted them all as they entered. Several chefs in white coats and aprons waited in front of counters spread with fresh ingredients, from huge dark-pink tomatoes to fresh-ground semolina to perfectly oval eggs to bottles of golden olive oil. Mia’s mouth fell open when she spotted monogrammed aprons for each member of the family, including her, hanging on pegs against one wall.
“Is your family always like this?” Mia whispered to Evan.
“What do you mean?” Evan asked.
“I mean...” Mia gestured around the room. “The monogrammed aprons. The chefs and a sommelier. This whole event.”
“Is this not normal?” Evan grinned sheepishly. “They do tend to go a little overboard. Get ready.”
Just then, his phone began to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket, gave Mia a guilty look, and swiped to answer.
“Hey, what’s up?”
A brief pause.
“No, no. Tell Creative that we’re not doing that. No matter how much they ask, it — okay. Okay. Give me a minute.” Evan hung up and turned to Mia. She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms.
“Let me guess.” She kept her tone as neutral as she could. “That was work.”
“It’s really urgent,” he said. “It’ll just take a few minutes.”
“Right. Well, I’ll come up with you, and?—”
“Mia, dear, don’t go!” Ellen appeared out of nowhere and took her by the arm. “Just because Evan has to work doesn’t mean you should miss out on the fun. Come on. It’ll be a nice opportunity for us to get to know each other.”
Mia shot Evan a pleading look, but he backed away, pointing to his phone. “I’ll be right back, okay?”
It wasnotokay. He was abandoning her with his over-the-top family within hours of arriving at the villa, and for work, no less. Mia looked around the room, her stomach twisting. She was going to have to make the best of this, even though it was bordering on a nightmare. Evan headed up the stairs two at a time as the chefs began handing out the aprons.
“We’ll get started with a small glass of wine each,” the sommelier explained. “This first is a semi-sweet white produced here on this vineyard.” He gestured to the lines of glasses he’d arranged on the table in front, and, as they got their aprons, the guests stepped forward to take some. Mia took a glass and drank the small amount of wine inside. It was… fine. That was all she knew.
