When his confused brow raised over the edge of his glasses, I explained my initial statement. “In case you haven’t noticed, I now have an entire wedding to plan!” That made Devin grin as I added, businesslike, “You know, I should probably admit here that I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing on this project.”
He looked down to his menu, smirked and asked, “You think I should get someone else to fill the position?”
“Devin! Don’t you dare!”
That had us laughing as our waiter returned and asked, “Well, have we made up our minds yet?”
I smiled and started to place my order, but Devin cut in. “Are you really getting that again? I thought you were only joking before.”
I gave an apologetic glance to our waiter, feeling bad that he had to stand there waiting while my fiancé and I conferred in a sidebar.
“Why would I be joking? The sea bass is amazing.” I smiled wide-eyed to the waiter, who promptly agreed.
Devin shook his head, amused yet incredulous. “Alright. I thought the mahi special sounded right up your alley, but you go ahead and get what you want.”
I considered his suggestion briefly, but knew I’d be deciding against it. I was really in the mood for the sea bass. I knew Devin was just trying to get me to be a little more adventurous, trying to help me expand my horizons, and I appreciated that about him, really. But I still felt overly self-conscious as I directed my reply to our waiter. “I’m sure it’s fantastic—everything here always is—but I think I’m going to stick with my original order, thank you.”
Who cared if I was playing it safe? Better that than taking a chance on the unknown. It wasn’t every day that we went out to such an expensive restaurant. Not that Devin couldn’t afford it, but I would have hated wasting his money on a plate of food that went untouched when I realized I didn’t like it, sitting there starving and annoyed that I hadn’t gone with my first choice. There’s nothing like having disappointment for dinner.
“Okay, okay,” Devin laughed out, playing the brow-beaten boyfriend, “The lady knows what she likes.” He gave me a quick wink before placing his order. “I, however, would like to give the sturgeon a try.” I may have imagined it, but I thought I saw his eyes slide in my direction on the word “try”.
The waiter clasped his hands together, gave a slight bow and said, “Very good,” before excusing himself to put in our order.
Devin tucked his glasses back into his pocket and said, “So... We were discussing your recent workload?” He smiled and added, “Have you any thoughts regarding the wedding?”
Just hearing him say the word “wedding” caused my stomach to drop. I guessed it was the first time he’d used that term out loud, and I must have been excited at the sound.
I knew I was expected to have been in possession of a slew of bridal magazines that I’d collected over the years, diligently rifling through them from the time I was old enough to walk. But the truth was, I was always more of a tomboy growing up. The whole wedding thing was as foreign to me as it was to Devin. So, no. I had no thoughts regarding our wedding.
I responded, “Not really. Not yet anyway. You?”
He chuckled and answered, “No. I guess I hadn’t really thought about it either. Hmmm... Off the top of my head though, I’m thinking maybe the spring? What do you think?”
Even I knew that there was no way to pull a proper New Jersey wedding together in under a year. Besides, my cousin was getting married in May. I thought that expecting my entire family to do the whole wedding thing twice in one season would be asking a lot, and told Devin as much.
Then I asked, “Oh, hey. Are you coming with me to their engagement party? You were going to check your calendar and see if you were free.”
Devin finished his sip of wine and asked, “Whose engagement is it again?”
When I gave him a “really?” look across the table, he put his hands up, laughing. “Whoa. I was a little consumed with our engagement these past weeks. Can you blame me?”
I ran a hand over my ring, gave him a fake dirty look and answered, “No, I guess not.” Then, in answer to his inquiry, “My cousin Jack, remember? He popped the question a couple months ago? His fiancée Livia did that photo shoot for us back in the winter. You liked her work.”
The crinkle in Devin’s brow relaxed. “Ah, yes. Jack and Livia. The party’s on the...”
I blew out an exasperated breath. “The twenty-ninth. September twenty-ninth. It’s a Friday.”
He cracked his neck, then looked at me guiltily. I already knew what was coming. “Uh-oh. Layla... honey... You’re going to kill me, but I just booked my flight for that conference. I’ll be gone the whole week.”
I didn’t know if I was surprised, but I definitely knew I was pissed. “Devin! I asked you about this weeks ago!”
He gave a quick glance to our surrounding area, mouthing a shush in my direction and motioning his hands for me to keep my voice down. “I know, I know. I feel horrible, hon. I really can’t cancel, though. I swear I would if I could.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”