Before returning to Katherine’s office, I snapped a quiet cell photo of the casino picture. I might have to go try my luck at the slots before I headed east, as long as this casino wasn’t too far away.
The binder from the side table now lay open on the table in front of Alana. Katherine pointed to pictures in plastic sleeves. I hung over the back of the sofa to watch. The two facing pages were collages of gazebos, flower-strewn platforms, and vintage-looking arches with blooms and vines everywhere.
“These are some of the floral arrangements we can do over the nuptial arch,” Katherine said.
Alana glanced up at me. If that wasn’t panic in her eyes, I didn’t know what “Rescue me!” looked like.
Katherine flipped the page. “Now, for the table centerpieces, we offer a wide range of choices and prices, of course.”
“Of course,” Alana murmured. She cleared her throat, glanced at her watch, and said, “Would you look at the time? I have to pick something up from my parents’ lawyer, Katherine. I’m sorry to cut this short, but . . .” She stood.
Katherine jerked her chin back with a frown. “Oh. I guess I thought . . .” She let her voice trail off.
I straightened. Alana had made it clear at the beginning she wasn’t ready to sign on to anything.
Katherine finally stood, too. “Let me send you home with some printed information. Our services really are the best. As the bride, you shouldn’t have to worry about a thing.” She drew four sheets, each printed on different color paper, from a rack on her desk, and topped the stack with a glossy brochure. “My personal cell is right here on the back. Talk to hubby-to-be and Mom and get back to me at any time. The earlier, the better, of course! You wouldn’t want us to be out of availability for your dream weekend.”
Katherine’s tone was so false-cheerful brittle, I thought it would break.
“Of course.” Alana’s voice was her usual reasoned calm.
“Katherine,” I began. “I want to change up my vacation a little. Is there anywhere to gamble around here? A casino or something closer than Vegas?” I smiled with my best innocent expression, but crossed my fingers behind my back.
Alana whipped her face toward me as if she couldn’t believe what I’d asked. Katherine frowned and gazed right and left in a Where’d-the-real-Robbie-go? gesture. I didn’t say anything, not daring to communicate nonverbally with Alana. Plenty of time for us to talk later. We’d be back inside her car in a New York minute.
“Well, yeah,” Katherine said. “The casino is a half hour away over near Santa Inez. If you’ll excuse me for saying so, it doesn’t seem quite like your kind of place, though.”
“Thanks. I’m all about new experiences these days.” I shrugged. “I thought I’d see how the other half lives, or the other something percent, anyway. Who knows? Maybe I’ll win a few bucks.”
“Or not.” Katherine’s mouth looked like she’d bitten into the sourest of lemons. “Just don’t make a habit of it, Robbie. Trust me.”
Chapter 37
“You took, like, the world’s longest bathroom break,” Alana remarked after we pulled away from the Russom home.
“Sorry.” I lifted my hand to shield my eyes from the sun glinting in.
“I thought I was going to die in there, Rob. Katherine has to learn the soft sell. She didn’t listen to anything I had to say about what we want and don’t want. Instead she kept showing me pictures of high-end ceremonies.”
“Did you ask her what the sticker price was for any of them?” I angled sideways in my seat so I could see her expression.
“Once, when she showed me a series of shots of a wedding at the casino you asked about. As if I would want to get married at a casino!”
“I swear I can see the smoke coming out of your ears, Alana. Take a deep breath, now.” I waited until she obeyed orders before going on. “Better?”
“Yes. Where did you disappear to, anyway?”
“Honestly? I was snooping.”
“No, sir.”
“Yes. Trying to get the dirt on Katherine’s father.” I didn’t add, But don’t tell the detective.
“Well, thanks for coming back to the wedding ‘planning’ office.” She surrounded the word with air quotes. “I didn’t want to have to go looking for you, but I really, really wanted to get out of there. Can you even imagine paying forty thousand dollars for the privilege of having someone like Katherine run your wedding as if it was a Vegas show in a place where people are smoking, drinking, and gambling?”
I laughed. “I can’t, actually.”
Alana shook her head in disbelief. “My mom said she and Dad got married on a bluff in Corona del Mar with Dad’s uncle officiating. Everybody was barefoot, and Mom sewed her own white peasant dress. The reception was a potluck supper in the park overlooking the Pacific. Her parents bought champagne, and dessert was a big carrot cake my grandma made, with Snoopy bride-and-groom figures.”
“I like it.” Her parents’ kind of celebration did seem ideal. “No fuss, no muss, right?”
“Exactly. And affordable. I mean, Antonio and I earn decent salaries, but why waste it on some extravaganza when what you really want to spend money on is your first house?”
“Of course. What do you want to bet the thought of a homegrown wedding gives Katherine heart palpitations?”
“Her bad luck. I’m totally tending toward a super-simple wedding, maybe in Santa Cruz. You would come, wouldn’t you?”
“Alana, look at me.” I waited until she glanced my way. “Of course I would.” I opened my hands to the sides.
“I know.” She smiled back, then pursed her lips. “But Antonio’s Italian parents? I’m not so sure they’ll go for the
