Kate stared at her for a moment, silently trying to figure out who would want to be married to her for the rest of their life. She cleared her throat. “Right. What can I do for you?”

She scrunched her nose again, something she would inevitably get filled in when wrinkles started showing up in a few more years. “I have to say, I’m just not overwhelmed with these decorations. I expected the flowers to be… more…”

“More what?”

“Floral.”

Kate felt an urge to throat punch someone for the first time in her life.

“Floral? But, aren’t flowers inherently floral?”

“One would think. I feel we need some pops of color. After all, this is my wedding. It has to be perfect!”

Kate thought back to her own wedding to Brandon all those years ago. They were really just kids themselves when they got married, and it didn’t go well from the start. Having their daughter, Evie, was the glue that held them together for so many years. Without her, they would’ve divorced early on. They stayed together until she was ten, and then Kate just couldn’t take it anymore.

Now fifteen years old, Evie was a handful. The school was constantly calling, complaining about her skipping school, acting out and just generally being a bad kid. Kate often wondered where she’d gone wrong in raising her daughter. She’d had a wonderful single mother, so she tried to model her late mother’s strong spirit. Most of the time, she just wanted to lock herself in her walk-in closet and cry. She had no idea what to do with her daughter.

Brandon was in and out of Evie’s life, but mostly out. He’d been good in the first couple of years, taking her on daddy daughter dates every other weekend and even showing up at her soccer games. Then, he met Kara and moved to Mexico to start a new family with her. Evie definitely felt abandoned, but she wouldn’t voice it. She acted out instead.

“Hello?” Holly said, waving her fake fingernail laden hand in front of Kate’s face.

“Oh, sorry. I zoned out there for a moment.”

“Please call the florist and work this out. We only have a few hours before we exchange our vows, and this place is not ready. Honestly, Kate, I hired you based on the recommendation of my hair stylist, but I’m starting to wonder if you’re up to this job.”

Her blood was boiling. As much as she wanted to be successful in the wealthier circles in town, the people she had to deal with were some of the worst. She wanted to run screaming out of the building, but instead she pasted on a fake smile.