Gretchen: :(
Gretchen: Was it me? Am I that annoying to be around when drunk?
Gretchen: Did someone say something? Do I need to throw down the hammer?
Daphne: Ha—no, no one hurt my feelings. It was just me.
Gretchen: You’re sure?
Daphne: It was . . . hard being around all the drinks. I left so I could be strong.
Gretchen: Oh god. Did I think I was a terrible sister before? Because now I feel ten times worse.
Gretchen: You’re out of REHAB and I invited you to a bachelorette party!
Gretchen: I’m the worst. I’m so sorry!!
Daphne: It’s okay, really. And you had this planned for a long time. I thought it was sweet of you to invite me, regardless.
Gretchen: I just wanted to hang together, you know? We never get to anymore now that you’re all famous and shit.
Daphne: I would love to hang out with you more. I mean it. I’m in NYC for the next few months and I’ve been missing family. Will Audrey mind?
Gretchen: Don’t care if she does! I’d shamelessly invite you over to help me bake for tonight’s rehearsal dinner but I suppose that would be too much to ask. . . .
Daphne: You’re right, that was pretty shameless. :)
Gretchen: I fired the bakers so I’m going to be nonstop in the kitchen for the next 10 hours, god help me.
Daphne: Aw. All right, I’ll be over there in about an hour or so?
Gretchen: You’re the best. And bonus: I know you won’t eat the stuff while we bake because that sexy trainer of yours is a slave driver!
Daphne: Har de har.
***
A drill screeched overhead as Daphne tried to ice a red velvet cupcake, startling her and causing her to nearly drop the bag of frosting in her hands.
“Oh my god,” Gretchen shrieked, her voice growing louder with each word. She shook a spatula at the ceiling. “I’m going to straight-up murder those jerks if they aren’t done by tomorrow!”
“What is all that noise for anyhow?” Daphne asked, leaning over one of the cupcakes to carefully pipe a swirl of frosting onto it. She was in charge of decorations, since Gretchen had declared her “assistance” with the actual baking to be more trouble than anything else. She didn’t mind—it was fun to just sit in the big kitchen and ice cupcakes, and a bûche de Noël, and more of the croquembouches and sugar cookie trees. Since it was Christmas and Gretchen loved to bake, she was loading her guests up with sweets instead of a sit-down dinner. And while Daphne had been tempted at the pudding-filled eggnog cupcakes, she hadn’t eaten a bite of the forbidden treats. Last night’s close call had been enough for her. She couldn’t stop thinking of Wesley and his depressing story—no wonder he was so devoted to his work. He didn’t have anything else. That made her sad for him—didn’t he have anyone in the world that cared about him?
Other than her, of course.
Maybe she’d get him a gift. But what? It was the day before Christmas Eve, and she hadn’t shopped. Ugh. Her assistant normally handled everything, but Snoopy had decided to take a month off to visit her family and Daphne hadn’t even thought about the holiday. Then again, she normally didn’t have anyone she shopped for other than coworkers—
“Water damage,” Gretchen declared, angrily whipping egg whites with a whisk.
“Huh?” Daphne looked up from the cupcakes.
Gretchen pointed at the ceiling again. “Water damage next to Hunter’s office. I haven’t seen it, but he says it’s pretty awful. The crew’s been up there for a few weeks now.” She shook her head. “And Hunter swore to me that they’d be done before the wedding, and I’m going to lose my lid if someone starts a drill in the middle of the ceremony.”
“I’m sure they’ll be done,” Daphne soothed. Weird how she was turning out to be the calm one right now and Gretchen was the frantic mess. Normally it was the other way around.
“I thought about what you said,” Gretchen commented, whipping the egg whites again.
Huh? “About what?”
“About, you know . . .” Gretchen shrugged, her whisk going a mile a minute. “About what I would do if I found out there was something wrong. Like, would I break off the wedding or would it change anything.”
“Oh?”
She nodded. “And . . . I still want to marry him. I trust him. I know he’d never cheat on me, so it can’t be something awful. I’m going to trust him and love him and take what comes our way together.”
Daphne smiled and finished a thick frosting swirl on her cupcake. “That sounds wonderful to me.”
“Me too. How about you and Trainer Beefcake?”
Daphne glanced over at her sister. “How do you know he’s a beefcake?”
“Because he’s a trainer, duh.”
Good point. Daphne sighed and began to ice another cupcake. “I’m pretty much head over heels for him and he thinks I’m a job. Nothing more.”
“That sucks.”
“Yup.”
Gretchen paused in her whipping to pour the frothy egg whites into a new bowl. “Bring him to dinner tonight and wear something super slinky. Show him the hot, sexy Daphne instead of the gym Daphne. You know how to catch a guy—I’ve seen you in action. Show him you’re interested and he’ll be putty in your hands.”
Daphne paused mid-cupcake. “Am I invited to the rehearsal dinner?”
“You are now.” Gretchen grinned impishly. “It’s for family, right? And the good news is that I’m catering it myself, so I can add two more to the list.” She studied the pan of cupcakes and then made a face. “You might want to come armed with carrot sticks, though. I think eggnog is the leanest thing on the menu.”