Cold Feet

Chapter 4

CHRISTINE

I’m angry. I failed with Steve and his band.

I take a few deep breaths and begin to relax. Getting a wedding planner’s band is just one part of their business. There are many other parts to go after. However, I push the thought of other parts of the business aside as I think about the concept of the ‘wedding whisperer’ that Steve let slip to me.

I know there’s something important in it. It hovers just beyond my mental grasp like a carrot on a stick for the time being. I have to admit it’s a genius idea and I should be thinking of doing it myself. But there’s something else about it that I think is much more important than simply copying the idea.

I grab the brochure that I took from Viola’s booth and study it. There’s not a word in the brochure about a wedding whisperer. Nothing that even alludes to it as a service.

I check her website again. Nothing. Nowhere. The testimonials say nothing about it. How can she keep it secret? Surely the clients should be impressed with the added value?

Why would clients keep it secret? It’s not possible. Unless…

Unless what? I know it’s there but I just can’t grasp it. Frustrated, I finally try to push it away and focus on other work I have to do.

My assistant enters my office and I decide to bounce the idea off her.

“Lacy?”

“Yes?”

“I want to bounce something off you. An idea to possibly improve our service and differentiate us from other wedding planners.”

“Okay,” Lacy says as she sits down opposite me. “What is it?”

“A wedding whisperer.”

“A what?” Lacy asks not understanding what I’m talking about.

“A wedding whisperer. A person who I employ to encourage the bride or groom to put their last-minute fears of getting married away and go through with the wedding anyway.”

“Why on earth would you want to do that?” Lacy asks.

“Because clients fork out a lot of money on a wedding. Money they lose if the bride or groom decides to stand the other up at the altar. This person would help them get through their fear and walk down the aisle anyway.”

Lacy shakes her head. She’s conservative and I know I’ve done the right thing asking her. If anyone will have a negative objection it’s her. As much as her objections are negative, they do make sense most of the time.

“No way. That’s asking for trouble.”

‘Trouble? From who?”

Chris,” she says using the shortened version of my name. “It’s dangerous. A good idea but dangerous. Too dangerous.”

“Why do you say it’s dangerous?”

She leans forward, crosses her legs, and rests her elbow on her knee. In turn, she rests her chin on her hand as she always does when she’s about to make a very important point. “What happens if this wedding whisperer talks the bride or groom into getting married and a few months or years later, they get divorced?”

“I’m not sure I follow you, Lacy.” ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“Well, people get pretty bitter when they get divorced. They need people to blame. They need to put their anger on someone else and if they can say they got married because they felt pressured to do so by a wedding whisperer, I’d say you’re going to have lawyers kicking down your door very quickly.”

I absorb what Lacy has just told me. I know she’s right and in my mind, the donkey finally gets the carrot on the stick.

I nod my understanding. “Thanks, Lacy. That makes sense. I can always count on you.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” she smiles.

“That’s all for now.”

Lacy gets up and leaves my office.

I almost jump for joy. I can’t believe I didn’t see the possibilities of what she just told me. I look at the brochure again. Nothing. Not a word about a wedding whisperer.

And now I know why. It’s a bomb looking for a detonator and a place to be set off. Any wedding could be the place and the detonator.

I laugh with joy.

I know what I need to do.