Page 32 of Except Emerson (Detroit ABCs #7)

I ’d been to a lot of weddings, like some on yachts, in the Caribbean, in Tuscan villas, and on the beach in Malibu.

But even though most of Grant’s friends had been Michiganders, we hadn’t attended many in our home state, so I’d never come to this venue before today.

It was beautiful, much nicer than the place we’d been on the Amalfi Coast and even nicer than the mansion in Palm Beach.

Levi’s cousin Britainy and her new husband had held the ceremony outside under canopies on the broad, green lawn, and they’d gotten very lucky that the weather had been perfect.

Now, we’d moved into a huge ballroom—which they needed, because there were at least five hundred attendees.

“I had no idea that Britainy knew so many people,” Levi had answered when I’d said something about that. He was bewildered. “We don’t have a big family, but maybe the groom does. I remember how expensive Ava’s wedding was…”

With my background as a guest, I was also aware of wedding expenses, and I quickly calculated the cost of this one from what I’d seen so far.

They’d used hundreds, if not thousands of flowers to decorate for the ceremony, exotic blooms that weren’t from Michigan and weren’t in season, and this ballroom was full of large arrangements, too.

Her dress was stunning, with a ton of beading and a long train, and they’d had fifteen attendants each.

The cost of feeding all of us was going to be astronomical.

“Your cousin must do very well for herself,” I said, and he answered that she didn’t and her parents were definitely middle class, but maybe her new husband was rich. No one knew him or his side very well, but Levi had taken pictures with them in the extended family group shots after the ceremony.

While he’d done that, I had looked around the ballroom again, admiring the décor.

I hadn’t yet seen the tables for dinner, but they must have been in another flower-filled area—which upped the price of this event even more.

If one of my bookkeeping clients had suggested spending this much on a single day, I would have said no.

No, that’s fiscally insane, and please don’t do it.

“Let’s have some champagne,” Levi suggested, and took two flutes from the tray of a circulating server.

“Your first?” she asked.

“Uh, yeah.” He handed one of the glasses to me. “What’s that word again?”

“ Salud ,” I answered, and we clinked them carefully. I sipped and then frowned. I wasn’t a huge champagne drinker except on special occasions like this, but I recognized that the liquid in my mouth tasted funny.

Levi made a face. “They’re not serving the good stuff,” he said. “It’s terrible.” He took the flute from me and put it on one of the tall tables along with his own. As he did, the band started playing. “I guess we’re already dancing,” he noted, and held out his hand. “Shall we?”

I had to think that his former girlfriend, Mary Evelyn, wasn’t very intelligent.

She’d cheated on him, which was stupid as well as cruel.

She’d been upset that he was “clueless?” I thought he was attentive and sweet.

And on top of that, he could dance. We glided around the floor and I felt like I was Cyd Charisse in The Band Wagon .

I looked up at Levi and found him watching me, not his feet, and smiling.

“We found something else we both like,” he told me.

“How did you learn?”

“Ava and Liv were friends with a family who lived near us. You met one of them,” he reminded me.

“Nicola. She and the rest of her sisters love to dance and they wanted a partner.” He nodded.

“I’m sure you can follow their line of thinking: here was a boy they could boss, just like Aves did. They made sure I picked it up.”

I owed those women, because this was wonderful. I closed my eyes for a moment and then opened them, but it was all real.

“It’s kind of funny that the band is so small,” he said, and I glanced over my right shoulder at a large but relatively empty stage. “Only three musicians and this is a huge room.”

“It’s beautiful,” I said, and meant it. “Is this what your sisters’ weddings were like?”

“Ava’s was about a quarter of the size and less fancy, and we had a lot of fun. Liv got married in her house in the woods with about fifty people and we also had a blast.”

“That’s the most important thing,” I agreed. I looked around at the other dancers and they seemed to be enjoying themselves, despite the bad champagne.

“Another important thing is food,” he pointed out. “Where are the hors d’oeuvres? Ava didn’t allow us to stop for lunch while we were racing from store to store.”

“Why didn’t you eat when you got home?” I asked, and he directed his eyes back down at me.

“Honestly? I got a little bowled over when I saw you, and I forgot. You’re always so pretty but now you look like you stepped out of one of your movies.”

“I think that’s your hunger talking,” I said, and he laughed. I knew it was a joke anyway, and the song ended so we went off to find some nourishment.

We were surprised that there didn’t seem to be any, not on tables or carried on trays like the champagne. Levi’s sister Liv claimed to have spotted a single waiter serving what looked like pigs in blankets, but that had been just as the reception started and no one had seen any sign of them since.

“Pigs in blankets, at an event like this?” Ava asked doubtfully, but her younger sister stuck to her story. “This is one way to lose the rest of the baby weight,” she continued, looking down at herself.

“You don’t need to lose weight,” her mom told her.

She asked about her grandchildren, who were all at Ava and Jeff’s with some trusted babysitters.

There were no kids allowed at this wedding, which I understood—but I would have liked it better if Ava’s trio had been here.

I’d always had a fun time hanging out with the younger crowd when they’d been allowed at this kind of event.

“Remember how my wedding was also child-free, and Aunt Kellie said it was because I was so career-driven that I didn’t understand the importance of family?

I haven’t forgotten,” Ava said. She finished her drink and put the empty glass on a high table.

“Do you think there are any chairs? I might not make it in these heels.”

“I haven’t seen any,” her mom answered. “I wouldn’t mind sitting, either.”

“By the way, it’s a cash bar,” Ava explained to us. “The first glass of champagne was complimentary but nothing else is, not even a second taste of that swill.”

“Are you kidding?” Levi asked. “We have to pay for drinks and there’s no food yet?”

“Remember how I planned my wedding for the week that Aunt Kellie and Uncle Arthur took Braylen and Britainy to Hawaii on a prepaid tour and they couldn’t change the dates?

” Liv asked, and her giant husband nodded with satisfaction and said she’d been smart, as always, because they’d only had the people they loved.

“I would only invite people I really like too,” I volunteered, but then realized that the pool of guests would be very, very small.

My guests would have been limited to Levi, Hernán, Ava, her children, and maybe Coral, depending on the day.

Also, I needed a groom; I had thought that person would be Grant, but he’d made it clear that it would never have happened.

“Just people you like. That sounds about right,” Levi said. He swung his arm over my shoulders. “Just the people who want to be there, and not the people who feel obligated to run around spending too much on a tuxedo.”

“And a dress that’s the right color number to fit the theme,” his little sister reminded him. She held up her full skirt and examined it. “I think I got close to the teal she wanted.”

She wasn’t close, but it was still very nice. My own dress was almost exactly the royal blue that the bride had required. Both Hernán and his daughter had given their approval when I’d sent pictures, too. Looking around, though, it seemed like a lot of people had gone with their own colorways.

“Order up,” Jeff said as he approached our group. He’d somehow procured a tray and had carried back a slew of drinks and a small bowl of peanuts.

“How did you get the snack?” Levi asked, and descended on the nuts.

“Levi, share!” Ava ordered. “Pass me some of those. The cheap champagne and watered-down drink I bought hit me hard.”

“It’s because someone didn’t allow lunch today,” her brother said, and Ava told him not to be annoying when she wearing these shoes.

“I have bad news,” Jeff informed us. “This is it.”

“You took the last of the peanuts?” Mrs. Lassiter asked. “Levi! You went to kindergarten. Share.”

“I mean, this is it for food,” Jeff said.

“Until dinner?” Mr. Lassiter checked his phone. “Damn. That will be at least an hour.”

“No, this is it for food,” Jeff repeated. “There’s nothing else. There are no more snacks, there are no appetizers, and there’s no dinner.”

We all stared at him. “What?” Mrs. Lassiter finally asked.

Jeff had waited tables in college, all four years, and he had commiserated with one of the servers while he’d waited for the (very expensive and weak) drinks. It was how he’d gotten the tray, the peanuts, and the whole story.

“This is it for food,” he said for the third time, and it finally seemed to sink in and we all looked at each other in dismay that bordered on horror.

“Apparently, Aunt Kellie called the caterers last week and tried to bargain down the price, but they had a signed contract. They also had a deposit so they said they would provide only what would be covered by the money they had in hand.”

“We’re out,” Levi told me, and took my arm.

“No!” his mom answered. “We’re family and we can’t just leave. We’ll start a stampede!”