Two Weddings (and One Near Funeral)

T-6 Days

“Have pity on my boyfriend, Nick.” Mackenzie rescued the phone from Nicole’s grasp and settled it on the bar. “Pretend it’s going to be the most boring bachelorette party in the history of weddings, because the seventeen thousand groomsmen are grumbling that Alec just wants steak and beer.”

“Of course he does. If he wanted to stare at anyone but Carmen naked, he wouldn’t be getting hitched. The strippers are for the groomsmen.”

According to Jackson, the strippers were for Julio. And maybe Miguel, and wouldn’t that be fun, when Andrew decided that Miguel ogling half-naked women was a betrayal of Kat. For a man who claimed he’d walked away, Andrew had a hard time not punching people over Kat’s happiness. “This is going to be a nightmare, isn’t it?”

Nick played with the straw sticking out of her soda. “As far as Conclave social events go? It’s going to be cake.”

If this was cake for the wolves, Mackenzie was glad to be a cougar and free of their mess. “For us, or for Alec and Carmen?”

“For us, definitely. But for them too, comparatively speaking.” She shrugged. “Why do you think Derek and I ran away to Barbados?”

Mackenzie hopped the bar and pulled open the fridge to retrieve a beer. “Honestly? I thought you wanted to avoid your sister having to deal with a lot of people.”

“There was that,” she admitted. “But Derek knew I wanted to avoid this stuff just as much. It’s a freak show, and I’ve never been any good at dealing with it.”

“At least Sera and Kat humiliated Alec’s dad into hiding. Did you hear what Sera said to him?”

“She called him Grandpa Jacobson,” Carmen supplied as she slid onto the bar stool on the other side of Nick. “It was sheer perfection. The man is such a creeper.”

“Hey!” Nick patted her hand. “Did you get your—whoa.”

Carmen’s face had collided with a cosmetics counter—and her wry smile showed she knew it. “Geraldine says they have to lay on the makeup for the pictures. I’ll need a hammer and chisel to get it off my face.”

At least the makeup looked expensive, if too liberally applied. Mackenzie pulled out another beer. “Need a drink? Or something stronger?”

“Thanks, but I’m good.” She looked almost mellow.

Nick stared at her. “You didn’t self-medicate, did you, Carmen?”

She laughed. “No, I’m fine. And sober.”

Mackenzie gripped her beer and studied Carmen. “She doesn’t look like she had a psychotic break. Does she?”

Carmen traced her fingertip over the bar in an absent circle. “I had...a realization. I’ve been getting through all of this by telling myself it’ll be over soon...”

“But it won’t,” Nick finished quietly.

“No,” Carmen agreed. “No, it’s just starting. So I had a good, long talk with myself about what I’ll do when every day is like this.”

Mackenzie leaned in. “Can you take it?”

“It won’t be fun.” She closed her hands into fists. “But I’ll have Alec. That’s all that really matters to me. Everything else is beside the point.”

“You’ll have Alec.” Mackenzie slid her hand over Carmen’s and fought to find some word of comfort. “It’ll get better. Maybe it won’t get great, but the new fascination’s got to wear off eventually.”

“Even if it doesn’t, I don’t care. We’re going to make it work.”

It made Mackenzie feel a little guilty, that Carmen was facing down a life of judgmental wolves and she was still running scared from one Southern mama. “You’re going to make it work. So tell us how to make this easier on you. Or, at the very least, tell Nick how many strippers she can rent for your party.”

Nick smiled wickedly, and Carmen burst out with a laugh. “Is that why my brother called and asked if it was okay for them to hire a few for Alec’s party?”

“Guilty,” Nick murmured. “What can I say? It’s tradition.”

“No firemen,” Mackenzie promised. “Considering Julio’s former occupation, that might be creepy. But hey, hot cops or cowboys?”

Nick made a face. “Assless chaps and a too-small fringed suede vest? Hell yes, that’s perfect.”

Carmen heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Fine. But there go all my best costume ideas for the honeymoon.”