Page 130 of Champagne Fizz

I remind myself that this is Ned and Olivia’s wedding, not Mrs. Voss’s. Ned and Olivia hired me, not Veronica West.

“Why the hell is my mother in this hotel?” Connor snaps, picking up on the other end of the phone line. “I know my mother, she doesn’t book accommodations herself. She has her assistants do it. Let me guess, she said five-stars and a water view and you chose the Atlantis?”

“It seemed like a no-brainer,” I reply. “The wedding’s here after all.”

“Yes,” he agrees. “The wedding is here—where you told Ned and Olivia to get suites. And Flambé is also here—where Arie and I work. What aboutkeep my mother a secretdo you not understand?”

“I didn’t know she was coming!” I snap. “It was last minute, I didn’t think!”

“Obviously.”

“Look, it doesn’t matter,” I grumble, angry now. “What matters is you checked in right before Mrs. Voss did, and now her room is right next to Ned’s room!”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, Mrs. Voss is in the elevator right now headed to room 3035.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I wish I was.”

“I’m going to kill you, Kendall.”

“Nah,” I wave my hand dismissively, “you probably won’t kill me before Ned kills me when he sees his mother. So …”

“Get her another room!”

“I tried! But you know your mother. She doesn’t approve of thehelpproviding opinions on where she stays.”

Connor curses. “Of course she said something awful like that to you. That’s just like her.”

“It’s done. What matters is the missile is incoming,” I point out. “You have one minute before your mom is walking down the hall toward your suite. So, keep Ned occupied! I’ll see if I can change his room instead, because Heaven-forbid I attempt to change hers. Hopefully, the walls of the Atlantis are thick enough that Ned won’t hear her berating the bellhop and recognize her voice.”

“He will recognize her voice.”

“That’s not reassuring,” I grumble, heading toward the front desk. “Let’s hope he doesn’t realize when it’s out of context. He doesn’t expect her to be here.”

“True,” Connor agrees. “Let me know when you have our new room number.”

“On it.”

“Ned!” I hear Connor call out. “It’s time to open that expensive bottle of whiskey you’ve been holding out on.”

The line clicks dead as I walk up to the desk clerk who gives me a frown.

“Hi,” I say, no longer attempting a smile. “I’m the wedding planner for the rooftop event on Saturday. We need to make some changes to my groom’s suite.”

“You realize we’re fully booked,” the receptionist says.

“I do,” I nod. I learned that when I called to get Mrs. Voss a room. “Nonetheless, I have some requests.”

If I’ve learned anything from Mrs. Voss, it’s that five-stars means ask and it better happen.

36

SIMON

Mason has successfully turned the Gin n’ Lava into his own personal strip-club-tiki-wet-dream. Ned’s bachelor party includes two exotic dancers twerking on the bar in coconut bras and mini grass skirts that don’t hide their thongs. There are three more women in the center of the room dressed as mermaids, wearing sequin fins and pink seashell pasties that effectively make them topless. The mermaids are doing some kind of make-shift pole dance in front of Ned as they undulate with a stuffed swordfish and a harpoon in hand.

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