Bridesmaid For Hire (Matchmaking Mamas Book 23) Read online

  “Hello?”

  “Hello,” a cheerful woman’s voice on the other end of the call responded. “Is this Gina Bongino?”

  “Yes,” Gina answered guardedly. “This is Gina.”

  She was prepared to terminate the call at a second’s notice if this turned out to be some clever telemarketer who had matched her name to her cell number.

  “Forgive me for bothering you so late on a Sunday, but are you the same Gina Bongino who advertises herself as the Bridesmaid for Hire?” Theresa asked.

  Before placing the call, Theresa had everything written down on a yellow pad and it was in front of her now. She didn’t want to take a chance on forgetting something or making a mistake. She, Maizie and Celia had covered all the major points before she’d even placed the call to Gina.

  “I am,” Gina answered, still wondering if this was going to wind up being a crank call, or if this was actually on the level.

  “Oh, thank goodness,” Theresa declared. “You don’t know me, dear, but I’m Theresa Manetti. I run a catering service and I’ve done a good many wedding receptions. Especially lately.”

  “Yes?” Gina responded, waiting for the woman to get to the point. She was hoping it involved what she did, but you never knew. Maybe the woman was just looking for some advice. Or even a referral.

  “I’ll get right to the point,” Theresa said as if reading her mind. “The reception I have coming up in three weeks just might wind up falling through. The poor girl who’s the bride-to-be is about to have a nervous breakdown and I was wondering—” Stumbling, Theresa took a deep breath and glanced down at her notes. She started again. “Someone told me that you offer a very unique service. You come in and handle any emergency that might come up connected to the wedding so that the bride can enjoy a stress-free wedding day.”

  “That’s right,” Gina said, beginning to relax a little. This might be a job after all.

  Schooling herself not to sound too eager, Theresa asked, “Just exactly what is it that you do?”

  “Essentially, anything that needs to be done in order to make the wedding proceed as initially planned,” Gina answered.

  “Such as?” Theresa prompted.

  Gina thought for a moment before framing her answer. “Such as anything from turning ugly bridesmaid dresses into flattering ones to lining up last-minute photographers to replace the one who dropped out. The same thing goes for hairdressers and makeup artists if the bride planned on having them. You name it, I’ve probably encountered it.”

  “Does that include being part of the wedding party? Because one of the bridesmaids suddenly just dropped out, leaving a lone groomsman,” Theresa explained, checking off a line on her pad.

  “I’m in the background,” Gina explained. It was not her intention to take a chance on outshining any bride. “But yes, that’s what the title implies. I actually am a bridesmaid for hire,” she told the woman on the other end of the call.

  She heard a large sigh of relief, something she was more than familiar with.

  “Oh, you’re a godsend,” Theresa declared, and she was only half acting.

  “I will need to talk to the bride herself to make sure she’s on board,” Gina told the caller before things progressed any further. “To be honest, it’s usually the bride or a member of her family who hires me. I’ve never had a caterer ask me to help out the bride before,” she said.

  “Oh, I quite understand and I realize this is unusual, but then, so’s a bridesmaid for hire,” Theresa pointed out.

  “Can’t argue with you there,” Gina agreed with a soft laugh.

  “I did talk to Sylvie about you as soon as I became aware that there was someone like you who did this kind of thing,” Theresa explained. “And she told me to go ahead and see if she could hire you. As I said, the wedding’s in three weeks and it seems like everything that could go wrong at this point has.”

  She’d dealt with situations like that before, Gina thought. “As long as the bride and groom are there, the rest can be managed,” she assured the motherly sounding woman on the other end.

  “Well, with your help, I’m sure that they’ll be there all right,” Theresa told her, smiling to herself. This was actually going to work, she thought. Wait until she called Maizie and Celia. “And they’re such a cute couple. They’re really made for each other.”

  The woman sounded more like a mother than a caterer, Gina thought. “Sounds good,” she told Theresa. “Now, if you can give me the particulars, I’ll place the call to—Sylvie is it?”

  “It’s Sylvia, actually. Sylvia Stevens, but everyone just calls her Sylvie. She looks like a Sylvie,” Theresa told her. There was a fond note in her voice that Gina immediately picked up on.

  “Give me her cell number and her address and I’ll give her a call first thing in the morning to make the arrangements,” Gina said.

  Theresa gave her the information, enunciating everything slowly so that Gina didn’t miss a thing. “I want you to know that you’re the answer to a prayer,” she added with just the right amount of feeling. She didn’t really have to pretend all that much. After all, Sylvie was going to pieces.

  “It’ll be my pleasure to do whatever needs to be done to make sure Sylvie has as perfect a wedding day as humanly possible,” Gina assured the woman.

  “Speaking of which, there is just one more thing,” Theresa said. She’d saved the most important part for last because she wanted to make sure that Gina was fully engaged in this endeavor before she told the young woman about this part.

  Gina had no idea why, but she could feel herself suddenly bracing. What was the woman going to ask for? “Yes?”

  “I’m going to be short staffed for the rest of the month—” Theresa began, easing her way into this final chapter.

  Gina wanted to quickly stop the woman before this went any further. “I’m afraid that catering the reception is a little out of my league, Mrs. Manetti. Especially if I’m going to be in the wedding party and seeing to other details,” she told Theresa.

  “Oh no, dear, it’s nothing like that,” Theresa was quick to assure her. “The fact of the matter is, the bride requested to have her cake done by this cake designer she heard about. His work is in high demand. Perhaps you’ve heard of him as well?” Theresa asked, hoping against hope that Gina’s answer would be negative. “Cakes Created by Cassidy.”

  Theresa held her breath, waiting for Gina’s response. She caught herself crossing her fingers as the seconds ticked by.

  “No,” Gina finally admitted. “I can’t say that I have,” she added, still waiting to find out just what it was that Theresa was going to ask her to do.

  Theresa slowly released the breath she’d been holding, being careful not to alert the young woman on the other end that there was anything out of the ordinary going on.

  “Well, because I have all these other catering affairs between now and Sylvie’s wedding, I was wondering if you could handle ordering the cake from this Cassidy person. Sylvie will give you all her requirements when you talk to her.”

  The request was doable, but it struck her as being a little strange. “Wouldn’t she and the groom want to sample the cake before they put in their final order?” Gina asked.

  In her experience, the bride and groom usually sampled a great many cakes before they settled on their final choice.

  “Oh no,” Theresa quickly shot down the idea. “Sylvie worked furiously to diet down so that she could fit into this dress. Now that she’s the right size, she’s desperately trying not to gain any weight between now and the wedding. That also includes not doing any cake sampling.”

  Theresa paused for a second to catch her breath before continuing. “That would be what she wanted you for, along with an entire myriad of other bride-related things that ordinarily don’t add up to that much but right now, as I told you, Sylvie is tottering on the brink
of a nervous breakdown. To be honest, no one knows what might just push her over the edge. Would you mind terribly meeting with this cake designer and taking care of this for her?”

  “Eating a slice of cake made by an in-demand cake decorator? No, not a bit,” Gina answered with a laugh. She glanced over at her melting rum raisin. “Is there anything else, Mrs. Manetti?”

  “No, nothing I can think of at the moment,” Theresa answered breezily.

  “Then thank you for the call and the opportunity. I’ll get right on this tomorrow morning,” she said again. “And I’ll call you once I speak with Sylvie.”

  “Wonderful. And I look forward to meeting you in person, dear,” Theresa told her. “And again, I’m sorry for having to call so late but I just got off the phone with Sylvie and I knew that something needed to be done quickly.”

  She did have one question. “Who told you about me again?” Gina asked. The woman hadn’t been quite clear as to who had given the caterer her name when she’d first called.

  Theresa quickly checked her notes, finding the name that she was told to use.

  “Virginia Gallagher told me about you, although her name is Price now. The Gallagher-Price wedding,” she threw in to substantiate her story.

  Gina thought for a moment. “I was in that wedding party over a year ago,” she remembered.

  “And Virginia—she’s a friend of my daughter’s—is still singing your praises,” Theresa said, hoping that would seal the deal.

  She knew that she and her two coconspirators in matchmaking needed to make sure that Gina didn’t suspect anything was amiss as she engaged the professional bridesmaid’s services to help smooth out another wedding in possible turmoil. That meant not focusing too much on the additional assignment of selecting the cake. The whole idea here was to get her down to the Cakes Created by Cassidy shop so she could cross paths with Shane after all these years.

  From everything that she and her friends had managed to uncover, Gina and Shane had once been the absolute epitome of a perfect match and for all intents and purposes, it seemed that they still were. They just needed to be made to realize that again.

  “Oh, and I intend to pay you extra for this cake service you’ll be performing since technically, it isn’t something you would ordinarily do,” Theresa interjected, hoping that would do the trick.

  But Theresa hadn’t counted on Gina’s integrity. “How’s that again? You want to pay me extra for procuring the wedding cake.”

  Theresa hesitated for a moment. “Well, the caterer usually provides the cake unless the bride has other ideas.”

  “Wouldn’t that still come out of the bride’s pocket—so to speak? That makes it part of the package deal between the bride and me,” Gina concluded.

  “Perhaps, but I don’t want Sylvie stressing out any more than she already is,” Theresa said, hoping that would satisfy Gina and put an end to any further questions, at least for the time being. “We’ll talk more tomorrow, dear,” Theresa promised just before she quickly terminated the call.

  Strange, Gina thought. But then, so was what she did for a living. Especially in her mother’s eyes. The bottom line was that she was employed again.

  This was good. This was very, very good.

  She could feel herself growing enthusiastic, the way she always did at the beginning of a new assignment.

  She looked over toward the coffee table. Her ice cream had turned into soup.

  Getting up, Gina picked up the rum raisin container and took it back to the freezer so that she could turn the soup back into ice cream again.

  She was whistling as she went.

  Chapter Three

  Gina felt that her phone call to Sylvie the next morning went well.

  Just as she’d been warned, she found that the anxious young woman she spoke to was indeed two steps away from becoming a bridezilla.

  Speaking in a slow, calm voice, Gina made arrangements to meet with the woman early the following morning. She promised Sylvie that everything would turn out just the way she wanted, then proceeded to give her a few examples of other weddings she had successfully handled.

  Listening, Sylvie seemed to noticeably calm down. She sounded almost eager to look up Gina’s website to read what other brides had posted about their own weddings and how potential disasters-in-the-making had been successfully averted, thanks to a few well-executed efforts.

  By the time she hung up, Gina was fairly certain that Sylvie had calmed down sufficiently to be downgraded from the level of “bridezilla” to an almost normal, anxious bride-to-be.

  While talking to Sylvie, she’d gotten very specific directions about the kind of multitiered wedding cake the bride and groom had their hearts set on—although she strongly suspected that the groom’s “heart” wasn’t nearly as involved in this choice as the bride’s was. She’d even had to promise Sylvie that she’d stop by the bakery to engage this so-called sought-after cake “artiste” known as Cassidy right after she ended their call.

  All in all, Gina thought, pressing the end call button on her cell, this was shaping up to be a really productive day.

  But before she did anything else, she decided as she grabbed her purse and her squadron of keys, she needed to stop at Manetti’s Catering. It was only right for her to thank the woman who had sent this new bit of business her way.

  Because of its ever-expanding clientele, the catering company had recently moved out of its former rather small, confining quarters to a genuine homey-looking shop where the shop’s homemade pastries and sandwiches-to-go could be properly showcased and also seen through the large bay windows.

  Located in the heart of an upscale shopping center, the sight of the food enticed shoppers to come in, sample, and, ideally, be inspired to book a future party ranging from small and intimate to a blow-out bash.

  Walking into the shop, Gina was impressed by what she saw and exceedingly pleased that she had managed to catch the attention of someone like Theresa Manetti. She was certain that if she came through for Sylvie, Mrs. Manetti could be counted on to throw more business her way down the line.

  It never hurt to network, Gina thought.

  “May I help you?” a soft, almost melodic voice asked, coming from behind the counter.

  “Hi, I’m Gina Bongino—the professional bridesmaid,” she answered, tagging on her signature label, hoping that would mean something to the older woman.

  Coming around the counter, the thin woman with salt-and-pepper hair took her hand in hers. “Gina, what a pleasure to meet you. I’m Theresa Manetti.”

  Gina’s first thoughts were that the woman looked just the way she had sounded on the phone last night. Warm and gracious. And genuine.

  Gina found herself eager to please the caterer who she had taken an immediate liking to.

  Theresa took out a folded piece of paper from her apron pocket. “I’ve written everything down for you,” she told Gina, tucking the paper into her hand. “That’s the baker’s name, phone number, the address of the shop and, of course, the kind of wedding cake Sylvie wants at her wedding.”

  Gina glanced at the paper, nodding. “She already described it to me when I talked to her this morning,” she told Theresa.

  “Well, it never hurts to have it written down in front of you,” Theresa said with a smile. “I’d take care of this myself,” she told Gina again, “but as I’ve already mentioned to you last night, we are extremely busy these days.”

  As if to bear her out, there was continuous noise coming from the back of the shop. Gina guessed that was where the kitchen was located and the woman’s employees were undoubtedly all busy working.

  Gina caught herself being very grateful that fate had somehow brought them together. She was sure that Theresa Manetti could throw a little business her way down the line.

  “Don’t worry about a thing, Mrs. Manetti,” Gina
replied. “I’ll take care of ordering the cake and everything else that I gathered Sylvie needed done.” She tucked away the paper Theresa had handed her into her purse. “I just wanted to come by and say thank you,” she explained.

  “I’m the one who should be thanking you,” Theresa told her. “My fees are nonrefundable, so it’s not a matter of my losing money. But I have to admit I get personally involved with all my clients and I really do want them, if at all possible, to come away happy and satisfied.”

  Gina could only smile at the woman. It wasn’t often she heard someone espousing something as selfless as that. Again she found herself thinking that she liked Theresa Manetti right from the start.

  “I have a feeling that this is the beginning of a wonderful friendship,” she told Theresa, preparing to leave.

  “I certainly hope so, dear,” Theresa replied, the corners of her eyes crinkling as she smiled. “I certainly hope so,” she repeated as the door closed on the departing enterprising bridesmaid for hire.

  * * *

  Following Theresa’s directions, Gina made her way to another, smaller shopping center. This one was located on the far side of Bedford. She briefly entertained the idea of calling ahead but decided against it. She wanted to be there on the premises in case she had to convince this “Cassidy” to accept the order and have it ready by the day of the wedding.

  She knew from experience that people who fancied themselves to be “artistes” were, for the most part, temperamental and constantly needed to have their egos stroked. She had learned that stroking was best done in person.

  So Gina went over to the Fairview Plaza where the shop was located, parked in the first empty parking space she saw, and set out to find the bakery and this Cassidy who created works of art that could be eaten with a fork.

  The store was so small and unassuming, she missed it on her first pass through the center. She was searching for something eye-catching and ostentatious.

  The shop, when she found it on her second time around, was neither. It was a small white shop with blue lettering and it was nestled in between a children’s toy store and a trendy store selling overpriced organic fruits and vegetables.