Read Online Confectionately Yours #4: Something New by Lisa Papademetriou - Free Book Online

when she finds out, and I kind of can’t deal with it. But she’s going to find out, sooner or later. I can’t keep putting it off.
    I know I’m probably making things worse by not mentioning it, but I can’t help it.
    I just can’t bear it.
    I just. Can’t.

“S it. No, sit. Sit. Like this!” Chloe gets onto her knees to show Tessie how it’s done.
    “Now that hound is training you,” Gran observes from her place at the dining table. It’s Sunday night, and we’re all scattered around the living and dining rooms. I’m lying on my stomach across the living room rug, decorating a H AYLEY H ICKS FOR V ICE P RESIDENT poster. Mom and Gran are sitting at the table in front of a messy pile of wedding magazines and brochures. And Chloe is trying to turn Tessie into a good dog with the help of a few Milk-Bones. Tessie hops around, eyeing the treat in Chloe’s hand.
    “I don’t think she’s getting it,” I tell my little sister, who gets back to her feet.
    “She’s pondering her options,” Chloe says, giving Tessie a treat.
    “Now you’ve trained her to ignore you completely,” I point out.
    “But she’s so cute! And she wants the treat! What am I supposed to do?”
    “Forget a future career as a dog trainer.” I go back to coloring in my name with a silver paint pen.
    “Just wait,” Chloe says. “I’ll train her to carry the rings at Gran’s wedding. Can I do that, Mom?”
    Mom and Gran exchange a look, and Mom laughs. “No.”
    “Why not?” Chloe demands. “Everyone would love it!”
    “Because you can’t even train Tessie to stop eating the edge of your quilt,” Mom says.
    “Because I don’t even care about that!” Chloe protests. “I think it’s cute! It’s not like Tessie can’t be trained. She’s house-trained, isn’t she? And paper-trained! She could totally carry the rings down the aisle if we tied them to her collar with a ribbon!”
    “Sweetheart, I don’t even know if Tessie will be with us that long.”
    “She definitely won’t,” I say, and Chloe looks horrified.
    “How can you say that?” Chloe wails, as if I’ve just won the Meanest Person on the Planet Award.
    “Don’t you want her to have a good permanent home?” I ask, and then I feel like a horrible sister because Chloe has tears in her eyes. “I mean … Chloe, we don’t even know when Gran’s wedding is going to be.” I’m backtracking madly. “It could be a year from now!”
    Chloe looks miserable, and clearly my mom thinks it’s time to change the subject. “Mom,” she says, turning to Gran, “Hayley’s making a good point — do you have a date for the wedding?”
    “Oh, not yet.” Gran holds up her teacup and purses her lips at the rim. Then she places the cup in the exact center of the saucer.
    “Well — I think you should decide soon. We can’t really book a venue or caterer or anything until we have a date.” Mom starts digging through the crazy pile and comes up with a brochure from Magic Hat Caterers. She frowns and flips it over. “Some of these people want a lot of lead time. How many guests were you thinking of having?”
    “Oh, hmm. I hadn’t given it much thought,” Gran admits. “Perhaps just a few people. Something small.”
    “Does Mr. Malik have a big family?” I ask.
    “Well, yes, quite large,” Gran admits. “But I don’t know if we’ll invite them all.”
    “You don’t want to offend anyone,” Mom says. “Maybe you should talk it over with him. Get an idea of how many people you might like to have, then we can start looking at places. I love this one,” she adds, pulling out a photo of a beautiful restaurant overlooking a waterfall. “That’s about half an hour from here, but they can’t take more than fifty people.”
    “Fifty? Rubbish,” Gran says. “I don’t need such an enormous wedding.”
    “Fifty is considered a small wedding,” Mom says, handing the brochure to Gran, who takes it reluctantly. Mom starts making notes on a legal pad.