My Spy 6: Private Eye

Headquarters

I knew I was either going to have to go to my mother's house to get an appropriate outfit for the pageant or risk running into people while shopping in town and having them ask me a million questions about the last couple of months. I was still living off what was in my suitcases when I went to Europe and the few outfits I bought in New York, so I needed to switch things up. I decided since I was now on speaking terms with my mother I should pick option A and dig through my old wardrobe. 

Ryan had practically been glued to me since the brick incident a few days ago, so I was surprised he allowed me to go visit my mother without him. He didn't even offer to drive me over, which means he really didn't want to risk another wedding conversation with my mother. 

When I pull up, I see her Mercedes sitting under the pergola and take a moment to prepare myself. The last time I was here, she stunned me with her reaction to my new last name but I can pretty much guess how this interaction will go. This will be the first time she's seen me since LulaBelle's and I have a feeling I am walking into wedding planning central. 

After pushing my way inside, I call out to her and she pokes her head out of the dining room.

 "Sawyer?" I walk towards her to the back of the house as I reply, "I came to get a gown for the pageant. Thanks for pressuring us into that one too by the way."

She frowns, "I can't believe she hadn't thought to ask you."

"Probably because I haven't been associated with the pageant world in years. I have put that horror story behind me." I mutter, but she still just stands in the wide door frame with her hands on her hips. I stop in the doorway with her elbows blocking entry and behind her, I see our dining table covered with magazines, fabrics, ribbons, flower displays, and poster boards. I flick my eyes back to her and hesitantly ask, "This isn't for the wedding is it?"

She grins, "I've been brainstorming! Scarlett and Lucy are comin' round this evening to help me sort some bits out. I didn't know if it would be odd for Scarlett to help plan another wedding for you, but she seemed eager to help." She spins around and tugs me into the workspace. She saunters over to the rings of fabric swatches and holds them out to me, "I am thinking a purple palette with silver accents or navy with rose golds. I am trying to make this a totally different affair so no one is thinking of Jackson on y'alls big day. And Don from the club said I can pretty much do as I please with the space, so I am thinking a church ceremony with an outdoor reception at the club since the last one was all an outdoor to-do." 

"Maybe don't mention my first wedding so much when Ryan's around. We don't need a reminder that we've all been here once before." I tell her with a grimace covering my face. I also quickly add, "Also, I'd rather have the ceremony at the reception site."

She glares at me, "You won't get married at the church?" 

I shake my head, "Ryan isn't all that religious, Momma. We can still have pastor Jed officiate." I then try to pivot the conversation away as I remember Annabeth's save the dates and add, "Oh and Annabeth was planning a navy and pearl wedding, so nothing that would make her think I am stealing her thunder."

"I will not be planning your wedding around one of Annabeth's whims, but I will remember not to use a navy palette." I think I have her onto the next topic when she adds, "And this will not be the end of the church conversation." She throws the fabric swatches to the end of the table and waltzes over to the assortments of flowers she has in a variety of small vases. She picks up a bouquet of calla lilies, "Now I know white means purity and innocence, which is so not you, but we might be able to get away with these if we combine them with something that adds a pop of color."

"I do not want any flowers that stink," I tell her as I scan over all the other assortments she has tied around the table. She drops the bundle and frowns, "I will not choose an odorey flower, Sawyer. This ain't my first rodeo darlin'." She quickly replaces the scowl with an eager wave of her hands and asks, "Now as for the bridal party, I assumed Annabeth and possibly Margot but I wasn't sure how many would be on Ryan's side. Annabeth can pull off most colors, but I don't know how her baby body will be in a couple months. Will she still have those big 'ol boobs? If so, I'm really going to have my work cut out for me finding a suitable dress." She's pulling out magazine cutouts and I see she already has a poster board with potential bridesmaid dresses next to tuxedo-clad men.

"This is going to be rather formal then?" I ask, looking at what she has picked out. I had imagined more of an afternoon shin-dig with wine and BBQ to celebrate with after. 

"It's a wedding Sawyer. A Sweeney wedding. I had hoped you wouldn't think your converse and Ryan's golf polo would suffice as appropriate attire," she says with a frown. 

"Excuse me, I wore a fall, ready-to-wear Dior gown to my courthouse wedding," I tell her with a scoff.

"You wore off the rack?" She says in horror and I glare at her. I slide my phone out of my back pocket and find a picture of Ryan and me from that day to shove in her face. 

"It was stunning thank you very much!" I say as she stares at the picture, but she quickly looks back at me in shock and gasps, "You wore black?!"

"It was Dior! And it was never supposed to be my wedding gown. It just happened to be the most expensive, most elegant dress I owned so I thought why the hell not?" I snatch the phone back from her. 

"Well bravo on the label darlin', it's just...you will be in a white custom gown at this wedding. That is non-negotiable." She says with a snap and then flips over the seating chart. "I need your guest list for Ryan's side and you never did give me an answer on your bridal party."

I sigh, "Well yeah, I imagine A.B. and I guess I can ask Margot." I glance to the bridesmaids glued to the poster board and wonder if that's all I really have. Gus would stand on Ryan's side and I can think of ladies I'd invite to the bachelorette party, but not to stand by my side. Whitney Carmichael quickly flashes across my mind and I shake the thought away. It's weird, the people I had assumed would be on my side on my wedding day now aren't even a contact in my phone. For my wedding to Jackson, we decided we'd only have a maid of honor and a best man because we couldn't choose which college friends we'd have and could never get an even amount on each side. Maybe I can convince Ryan to do the same, although he might not want to pick between his brother and Austin for his best man. I shake my frantic thoughts aside and reply, "I'll get back to you on that. Just pick colors for now."

She eyes me and drops the poster board back onto the table, "You are really lettin' me do all this? Your only request is no stinky flowers?" She lifts her penciled eyebrow skeptically and I shrug, "To me, this is just a formality. I am already married. I had a wedding, even if it did end before I got down the aisle. I did the bridezilla monster wedding planning and I really don't want to do it again."

"Well, this is Ryan's only wedding...I assume," she adds in after thinking about it for a moment. 

I laugh, "Ryan has never been married so yes, this is his first wedding. But I think he's just as nonchalant as I am about the whole thing."

"Well you double check with him that he doesn't have any particulars about certain things. Otherwise, I am going full steam ahead darlin'." She spins around and strides over to pictures of three-tier cakes, but before she can get me to commit to a tasting I raise my hand and say, "Cake is important and maybe the only thing I will want a say in, but right now, I really need to find a gown for this weekend." I think I have popped her bubble until she claps her hands and draws them under her chin, "Here I am planning a wedding and you're finding a gown for the Junior Miss pageant." I think she's genuinely tearing up and I look at her in confusion. "Maybe you'll be back to bein' my little southern belle after all?"

I sigh, "Momma, I only agreed to be a judge because Dot Cunningham is the other judge and I need dirt on her." She quickly drops her hands to her sides and shakes her head, "You couldn't let me have that for one moment, could you? Of course, it's always a shenanigan with you." She strides past me and as she gets into the living room she says, "Come on now, let's go find you something decent." I glance to the wedding headquarters and sigh. I should enjoy the few normalities in my life, but instead, I am about to go find a dress that would best hide a baby bump and a wire.