Page 1 of Hot Mess Wedding

prologue

Cleary

It’s wine and chat night with my besties. It’s both a good and bad thing. Good, because I adore these girls; they’re truly my sisters from other misters. Bad though because we live all over the country. Thus, wine and chat night is over our phones. Sometimes we video chat. Tonight we’re just texting.

Gem: Valentine's Day sucks.

Cordy: Nope. No way! We are not moping on Valentine's Day this year!

Tabitha: We always mope on Valentine's Day.

Me: It’s our thing.

Devyn: It's why we have wine.

Gem: You have wine. I’ll stick to my chocolate liqueurs. Booze and chocolate without the hangover.

Mandy: And cake! Cake is a must!

Peyton: Don’t forget book boyfriends. They help ease the ache, lol.

Me: Especially when paired with “the rose.”

I snicker to myself because we’ve had many conversations about that particular “personal massager.” I don’t mention that I’m not drinking wine either. Generally speaking, wine makes me hot and sleepy. So I stick to bubbly water.

Cordy: I have an idea.

Peyton: Wait up. I just need to grab a flak jacket.

Gem: Oh, lord! Last time you had an idea, we almost got arrested. And I never did find my inflatable dolphin.

Devyn: That was the night I came home with one shoe. Your dolphin’s probably with my lost sparkly stiletto.

Mandy: Rum and I broke up after the last time we all got together. I can’t see a bottle without feeling a little nauseous.

Peyton: See? That’s why I keep my nose buried in a book. You girls are dangerous.

Cordy: I'm not that bad.

Me: YES, YOU ARE!

Peyton: Cordy, I love you, but you are on a whole other level.

Me: Peyton’s not wrong, sweets. You should come with a special kind of warning label.

Cordy is, in many ways, our ringleader. She’s the first who suggested we meet at a reader-con a couple of years ago. Thankfully it was within driving distance for me, so I made the trip. Still, she’s always coming up with crazy ideas.

Cordy: ANYWAY. I think we should make a pact.

Mandy: What kind of pact?

Gem: This better not require a blood sacrifice.

Cordy: We're all spending Valentine's Day doing something we'd never do.

Devyn: Like what?

Cordy: Whatever you want. I saw an ad in the paper this morning for a mountain man looking for an assistant for two weeks. Maybe I'll call.

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