Free The Bridesmaid's Checklist: Laura's Wedding (BCL Book 1) by K.T. Castle

you weren’t here when she arrived.”
    Oh, great. What now?
    Hopefully, she was excited and super grateful that everything was exactly as she’d wanted it to be.
    “Oh, sure. I’ll go look for her.” I left my spot at the door next to the girls and walked inside. Now I could really appreciate its beauty.
    The Garden was a really successful spot for events in recent months. When we’d attended Marisol’s civil wedding all those years ago, we hadn’t imagined it would become this successful. But Laura had her eyes on the place, even if Edward wasn’t part of her life at the time. It consisted of a series of terraces surrounded by the most beautiful landscaping. For Laura and Eddie’s party, we used the whole place, unlike in Marisol’s.
    The higher terrace was used as their seating area; in it were an dining table for the engaged couple and two other tables on either side—one held a beautiful, three-tiered fondant cake, and the second held their gifts. Its placement gave them importance and a view of everything happening at the gathering.
    The largest central terrace was used as the dancefloor, and around it were tables for the guests and the buffet stations. Overall, the place had an amphitheater vibe, mostly covered by majestic canvasses. Christmas lights hung in almost every tree of the place, and all centerpieces included white floral arrangements and candles at different heights. It felt magical, and I really thought the soon-to-be-married couple must be happy with the results.
    As I approached Laura, I noticed how beautiful she looked—really breathtaking. She’d selected a white, satin, heart-shaped fitted mini-dress with gorgeous lace detail all around. The lace covered her arms and back, which was mostly bare, so it didn’t look completely like a wedding dress—which was totally what she’d had in mind. She wore nude pumps, and had kept her hair and makeup classically understated. She left her hair loose to show off her ombré highlights, and her face looked angelically natural. Laura was the perfect bride-to-be.
    Edward didn’t look so bad himself. In fact, he wore exactly what I imagined he would if we’d ever gotten married—a three-piece, light gray suit with a silver, silk tie. I had to admit, he really looked handsome. What I didn’t expect in my juvenile fantasies was that he’d wear black leather gloves and dark lenses. That seemed a bit over the top. It reflected his arrogant and overbearing personality perfectly.
    “Laura, you look wonderful!” I approached her, looking for a hug that never came.
    She just glared at me reproachfully and said, “Why, exactly, are you this late, Kassie?”
    Was I hearing correctly?
    “I wasn’t exactly late, Laura. You must have been misinformed.” I didn’t know what to say. I was speechless. The last thing I imagined was Laura scolding me after I’d spent nearly two hours running around to make her party perfect.
    “Well, I arrived fifteen minutes ago, and you weren’t here.” She continued, “There were several things that needed correcting. If it wasn’t for Josh being here to help out, I have no idea what I would’ve done.”
    Josh was here helping? Of course he was! Who did she think had called him in the first place?
    I was so angry at him. I couldn’t believe he’d used this as an opportunity to place himself as the hero of the day. Sure he helped out—and he did help out a lot—but all of this didn’t happen only because of him. Had he not even mentioned my part in it at all?
    Now where the hell was he?
    “The poor thing didn’t even get a chance to go home and change,” Laura said as she pointed his way. Josh stood next to one of restrooms available for guests, and Twiggy-tall-blonde struggled with his tie. “He’d be here wearing jeans all night long if his date hadn’t brought him his suit. And where exactly were you, Kassandra?” Laura babbled nonstop about how Josh saved the day, all the things that went wrong