The Wedding Wager (McMaster the Disaster) Read Online Free

agreement. “So what are you going to do?” she asked.
    “I am not going to worry about it. I’m sure it will all work itself out.”
    Jen opened one eye, raising her eyebrow. “Really? You think Mattie, whose favorite thing in the world is to plan events, or your mother, whose favorite thing in the world is controlling things, will just somehow become worked out all on their own?” She shook her head and chuckled a little, leaning her head back again. “I sometimes wish I had your level of delusion. Life would be so much less stressful.”
    I reached into my bath and flicked a few drops of water on her.
    “I am not delusional,” I said. “I have just learned that these things tend to have a way of working themselves out.”
    She snorted. “Yeah, okay.”
    I turned on the soothing sounds clock radio, easing deeper into the couch and deeper into my relaxation.
    Until, that is, the door burst open and Mattie came flying through. “Have you seen these?” He asked, waving a pile of papers in front of him.
    I groaned. I was so over reading the tabloids. Honestly, you could only see so many lies about yourself until even you almost started believing them.
    “You are everywhere girl.”
    “So is it good or bad this time?” Jen asked.
    But of course, I knew the answer. It was always bad, even when it seemed good.
    “Both!” Mattie said excitedly, tossing a few of them my way and a few over to Jen.
    “Ooh la la,” Jen said, checking the front cover of the top one on her pile. “You are lookin’ smokin’ on this one,” she said, and I dared a peek.
    Thankfully, I did look pretty good. The picture was taken last month when Jake and I attended the premiere of the latest Clint Eastwood movie. Clint was currently courting Jake for his next big project. Jake looked unbelievable in his tux, and I was looking rather red carpet worthy in a black evening gown covered in beads that shone like glitter in front of the camera.
    I knew, however, that if I looked that good on the cover of one, I was going to look the same ratio of bad on the next. It was what they did. Back and forth from praising you to trashing you in the blink of an eye. They probably would have been happy with just the trashing, but they had to keep the interest of their readers somehow, and you couldn’t very well rip something to shreds if you hadn’t already painted the scenario into a picture of perfection. Oh how they love to see the mighty (much mightier than a person could possibly be in real life) fall.
    Mattie flopped onto the couch beside me, adjusting his thick, black-rimmed glasses. Seriously, he looked like he’d just popped the lenses out of those 3D monstrosities they hand out at the movies. Somehow though, he actually pulled it off.
    “Check this one,” he said, waving it in my face as I cringed away. “They’re taking bets on when the wedding’s gonna be.”
    I sighed. “What else is new?”
    Jen laughed over on her couch. “Oh my God, this one is having a shoe poll.” She flipped to the page in question. “Which designer will the bride choose? Will it be a Choo-tiful wedding after all?”
    I opened my eyes just to roll them.
    “Not if I have anything to say about it,” Mattie piped in from the peanut gallery.
    I closed my eyes quickly again and prayed that his comment would slip by without me having to acknowledge it.
    Of course, a lovely awkward silence just had to follow.
    “Oh good Lord,” Jen finally said after what felt like a millennia. “This one has four experts giving their opinion on when the divorce will be finalized.”
    “What divorce?” I said, only half paying attention.
    “Your divorce.”
    I shot up, grabbing the paper out of her hand. “They’re talking about my divorce? I haven’t even planned the wedding yet!”
    “We haven’t even planned the wedding yet,” Mattie said, gently pulling the paper out of my hand and folding it up neatly into four so the headlines were obscured by a mostly naked