Nantucket Weddings

by Kelley, Pamela M.

“Will it be a surprise?” Mia asked.

  Lisa smiled and there was a gleam in her eye. “You could say that.”

  * * *

  Mia took herself out to lunch the next day. She had been craving the eggplant parmesan from Mimi’s Place since Angela had mentioned it, and she wanted to say hello to Mandy anyway and chat with her about possibly catering Angela’s wedding. They’d become good friends over the past six months as Mia had done several weddings that had either had the reception at Mimi’s Place or had them cater it. The restaurant had changed hands a little over a year ago when the owner died and left it to her three granddaughters and the chef, equally. Mandy and her sister, Emma, ran the front of the restaurant while Paul, the chef, managed the kitchen. Their other sister, Jill, was a mostly silent partner and ran a recruiting business in Manhattan.

  Mia stopped in at a quarter to two, as the lunch service was winding down. She knew Mandy would have more time to chat during the slower time. Mandy’s sister Emma was at the front desk and smiled when she saw her.

  “Hi, Mia. Do you need a table for lunch?”

  “I’m going to just grab a seat at the bar, I think. Is Mandy here today?”

  “She is. She’s in the kitchen talking to Paul. I’ll let her know to stop by and say hello when she comes back out.”

  Mia settled at the bar, which was empty except for an older gentleman who was sipping coffee and nibbling on tiramisu while he fiddled with a crossword puzzle. The bar was small, with about a dozen seats. Mia liked eating at the bar, especially if she was by herself. She also liked chatting with Gina, one of the bartenders. Gina smiled when she saw her.

  “Hey, Mia. Are you eating today?”

  Mia nodded. “Yes, and I don’t even need a menu. I’ll have the eggplant parmesan, a salad with the house Italian dressing and a club soda with lemon.”

  “Perfect, I’ll put that right in.” Gina punched the order into the computer and returned a few minutes later with Mia’s soda water, salad and a small basket of bread and butter. Mia tore off a chunk of bread and was spreading butter on it when Mandy came over and gave her a hug.

  “Nice to see you. Are you meeting anyone today?”

  Mia shook her head. “Nope, just me.”

  Mandy smiled and slid into the chair next to her. “Good, I can sit and visit with you for a while then. It’s slow and Emma is on tonight, so I’m finishing early. What’s new and exciting with you? We need a girls’ night soon.”

  “We do. My schedule is way more open than yours, so let me know what works for you.” Mandy was recently divorced and had two children, so nights out had to be scheduled and planned for in advance.

  “Hm, possibly Friday night. Let me see if I can line up a sitter and I’ll let you know.”

  They chatted for a bit, catching up on the situation with Mia’s condo.

  “Hopefully, it will be ready in a few weeks. It doesn’t look like it’s going to take as long as we originally thought.”

  “That’s a relief. I’m sure you’ll be happy to get back there and sleep in your own bed.”

  “Yes, though it’s really not bad at all being at The Beach Plum Cove Inn. I almost feel like I’m on vacation. Penny and I have been walking the beach every day, and it includes a full breakfast. It’s nice chatting with Kate’s mom in the morning, too.”

  “I’ve met Lisa. She’s very nice. She came to our big open house when we relaunched Mimi’s Place.”

  “That was a fun night and a great idea you had to do that. Which reminds me, I met with a new client yesterday. Maybe you know them, Angela and her fiancé, Philippe Gaston?”

  Mandy laughed. “Everyone on Nantucket knows Philippe. He and Angela were just in here last week for dinner, actually, and we were chatting.”

  “Well, they’d love to have you handle the catering for the wedding. But it’s going to be huge, six hundred and fifty, maybe a few more even. I wasn’t sure if that was something you’d want to take on?”

  “Wow. Well, I’m thrilled she thought of us. My first instinct is to say yes…but I’m not the one that will be cooking all that food. Let me check with Paul and see what he thinks. What date did they have in mind?”

  “She said ideally in two months or so. It sounds like they are flexible.”

  “Will it be a fancy plated dinner? What did she have in mind?”

  “Something a little more casual, a beach buffet. Italian themed. She mentioned eggplant as one of the options.”

  Mandy nodded. “That’s good. A beach buffet will be much more manageable for a party that size. I’ll go check with Paul now. Stay tuned.”

  Mandy headed into the kitchen and a few minutes later Gina returned with Mia’s eggplant parmesan. It was steaming hot, so Mia let it cool for a moment before digging in. She loved the way Mimi’s Place made their eggplant. It was sliced really thin and lightly pan-fried with just a dusting of flour before it was layered like a lasagna with cheese and baked until bubbly. She’d just taken her first bite when Mandy returned with an excited look and slid into her chair.

  “Paul says we can do it. He’ll just staff extra people that day to make sure the restaurant is covered for their regular service. For the weddings, he does as much of the prep work as possible ahead of time. And of course, I’ll be there to help coordinate it all, too.”

  “Perfect. It will be fun to do this wedding together. We make a good team.”

  “We really do,” Mandy agreed. They’d done four weddings together so far over the past year and had two more booked in the next six months. Mia liked Mandy as a friend, but really liked working with her, too, because they had similar styles. Both were very organized and planned well, so no details were overlooked, and things generally went smoothly.

  “Do you want to put a proposal together and I can go over it with Angela?” Mia suggested.

  “I’ll get something off to you tomorrow. We have some new menu additions that might be fun for her to consider.”

  “Oh, like what?” Mia never tired of discussing food.

  “Well, we just did this at a recent wedding, and it was a huge hit. Paul made tiny cheeseburgers on those melt-in-your-mouth brioche buns. They’re snack size and they bring them out along with fries towards the end of the night.”

  “Oh, that’s a great idea!”

  “It really is, especially if people have been drinking or didn’t eat much earlier and danced up an appetite.” A moment later she asked, “How’s Izzy doing? I haven’t seen her in a while.”

  “She’s good. I’m not so sure about her boyfriend, though. I’m not a fan,” Mia admitted.

  “Oh, no. I thought you liked him?”

  “I never spent much time around him until recently when I stayed there for a few days right after the fire.” She told Mandy about Rick’s moodiness and his temper.

  “Hm. That doesn’t sound promising. Your sister is too sweet to have to deal with that.”

  “I know. She says she loves him, though, and wants to try to make it work.”

  “That’s a tough one, then. There’s not much you can do, except be there for her.”

  “Right. I just worry about her.”

  Mandy smiled. “Of course, you do. Why don’t you see if she can come out with us on Friday? I should be able to get a sitter. I’ll let you know for sure tomorrow.”

  “That sounds good. I think she’d probably love to join us.”

  Chapter 11

  Mia woke the next day feeling unusually blue for no apparent reason. It wasn’t until she was sitting downstairs at breakfast enjoying her first cup of coffee with Lisa and Rhett that she realized what the date was, and her eyes immediately welled with tears. She tried to fight them back, to compose herself before Lisa noticed, but she wasn’t fast enough.

  “Mia, honey, what’s wrong?”

  Mia took a deep breath. “It’s nothing. I’m fine. I just…well, I just realized what today’s date is. It was Mark’s birthday. I still get caught off-guard sometimes, especially on the
holidays. I thought I was almost past this.”

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself. Grief doesn’t have a timetable. It’s different for everyone. My first year was the hardest, like everyone says. But I still have occasional pangs of sadness on those dates—birthdays, anniversaries, when his favorite song comes on the radio. It all depends how you’re feeling at that moment, too. Sometimes it just hits you harder.”

  Mia nodded. “Thanks. It helps to hear that.”

  Lisa was quiet for a moment. “Have you ever talked with anyone? A therapist or a bereavement group?”

  “No. No one. Izzy suggested I talk to someone, but I never did. It’s funny, Kate just mentioned a bereavement group the other day. A friend of hers told her about it. She gave me the information, but I haven’t done anything about it yet.”

  “Maybe you should. I went to a group like that. None of my friends had gone through it and even though they meant well, they couldn’t really understand. But everyone in the group knew what it was like. A few of them have become good friends. It helps to talk to people that have been through it.”

  “Maybe I’ll check it out. Can’t hurt, I suppose.”

  * * *

  The rest of Mia’s day was busy, and she didn’t give the bereavement group another thought until late afternoon. It had been a long day. Bethany was turning out to be a potential Bridezilla, and Mia was exhausted by the time she finished with her and headed home. Bethany had agonized over every tiny decision and kept adding demands to her list of must-haves.

  Mia thought she was kidding when she asked for a live zebra to roam the reception because she thought it would look really cool and she’d seen it on a reality show. Mia gently reminded her, because she’d seen the same episode, that the show was set in Hollywood and the likelihood of having zebras available in Massachusetts that could also travel to Nantucket was unlikely. Bethany pouted but agreed to settle for goat yoga at her brunch the day after her bachelorette party.

  Mia was on her way home and was planning to just heat up some soup for dinner, take Penny for a walk and have an early night, when the song Marry Me by Train came on the car radio and she felt the sharpest pain she’d felt in a very long time. That had been the song they were going to dance to at their wedding. It made her heart ache listening to it, but she couldn’t change the channel.

  By the time she reached the inn, the song was long over, but her eyes were still damp, and she knew her nose was red. She parked the car, grabbed her cell phone and her purse, and a scrap of paper fell out of it. She picked it up and sighed. It was the address that Kate had given her for the bereavement group. It felt like a sign. It was Wednesday, and the group met Wednesday nights at six at Janie’s Yoga Studio, which was just off Main Street. If Mia hurried, she would just about have time to walk Penny, have a little soup and head to the meeting.

  * * *

  At a few minutes past five thirty, Mia set out to go to the bereavement group meeting. She wanted to get there early to introduce herself and make sure it was okay for her to join them. She really didn’t know what to expect.

  When she reached the yoga studio, there were a few cars in the parking lot and when she opened the door, she could see that the room was set up for a meeting. A circle of a dozen chairs was in the middle of the room, and on a side table there was a platter of cookies and brownies, and a thermos of coffee. A tall, slender woman with shoulder length, slightly graying brown hair stood chatting by the coffee table. She smiled when she saw Mia walk in and went to welcome her.

  “Are you here for the bereavement group?” Her voice was warm and kind, and Mia relaxed a bit. She had tensed up when she first walked in.

  “Yes, it’s my first time.”

  “Well, welcome. I’m Janie Paul, the owner of the yoga studio. I’m also a retired social worker. I started this group when a friend’s husband passed a few years back and have kept it going.”

  “I’m Mia Maxwell.”

  “I’m glad you joined us, Mia. There’s coffee and some cookies and brownies if you’d like to grab a snack. We’ll get started in a few more minutes.”

  “Thank you.” Mia made her way to the side table and helped herself to a brownie. She nibbled it while she looked around the room. A few more people came in and stopped to chat with Janie. She noticed there was a mix of ages, from late twenties to seventies. She wondered if Kate’s friend Sam was coming.

  She finished her brownie just as Janie called for everyone to be seated.

  “Grab a seat everyone, wherever you like.”

  Mia sat next to a woman who looked to be in her early fifties. She smiled and introduced herself. “I’m Barbara. Is this your first time here?”

  Mia nodded. “Yes. I’m Mia.”

  “It’s a good group, Mia. I hope you like it.”

  The only empty seat was next to Mia, but then the front door opened, and a man came rushing in and apologized quickly before taking it. “I’m so sorry. My babysitter was running late.”

  “It’s fine, Sam. We haven’t started yet.” Janie looked around the circle before speaking again. “So, let’s go around the group, introduce ourselves and share how we’re feeling today. It’s up to you how much or how little you share. Whatever you are comfortable with.”

  Mia felt herself tense up again. She had that feeling like when she was in school, didn’t know the answer to the question and was hoping that she wouldn’t get called on. Mia hoped Janie would start with someone else, so she could listen and get a feel for what she should say.

  “Sam, why don’t you start us off,” Janie suggested.

  The man next to her smiled and Mia realized unless there was another Sam in the room, that he was probably Kate’s friend, the one that had suggested she come here. She was curious to hear what he had to say.

  “Hi everyone, I’m Sam. I lost my wife Mary a little over a year ago to breast cancer. I have twin seven-year-old daughters, Becky and Sarah. I’ve been here on Nantucket now for about a month. My parents are here and we live right down the street from them. Which has been great. My mother has been babysitting and the girls love seeing them. So, things are much better now than they were a month ago. But some days are still hard.

  “Mary was my wife, but she was also my best friend, and I just really miss her. Some days more than others. Today was one of those days. I was driving along, and her favorite song came on the radio. She used to always sing along whenever we were in the car together, and it just hit me hard. But then I went home, and my girls ran over to see me, and it lifted my mood. So, overall, things are looking up. Just out of the blue, sometimes it still hits me hard.”

  Mia looked around the room and saw that most people were nodding. They all understood. Janie motioned for the older gentleman next to Sam to go next and Mia realized she’d be last, which she appreciated. It gave her a chance to listen to everyone’s stories and to get to know them a bit.

  “I’m Ken and it’s been six months since my Susan passed. We were married for fifty years. Today was a good day. Susan never let me in the kitchen, she said that was her territory, and she was a darn good cook, so I didn’t argue with her about it. But I didn’t know how to even boil water. My granddaughter had to teach me how to cook, and I picked it up okay. I can make hotdogs and beans just fine. But a few days ago, she taught me how to bake a cake. And that was something else! You just open a box, dump it in a bowl with oil and eggs, and then bake it. So, when I went to the store today, I noticed there was a sale on those cake mix boxes and I bought a half dozen of ‘em. Those brownies on the side table? I made those myself, just this afternoon! So, that’s all I have to say.”

  “Ken, your brownies came out great,” Barbara said. A few others chimed in and Ken looked pleased. They continued on around the group. Some people were in worse shape than others. The ones who had lost a loved one more recently were having the most difficult time. Candy, who was the youngest, had lost her husband only three months ago to a drunk driver.

  “Yesterday
would have been our one-year wedding anniversary. We were going to go to New York City for the weekend and see Hamilton on Broadway. I just can’t believe he’s gone. I don’t feel like things are ever going to be normal again. Yesterday was just really tough. It hit me a lot harder than I realized it would.”

  “I’m sorry, Candy,” Janie said. She looked around the group. “I know you’ve all heard that the first year is the hardest and that it will get better after that. But please know that everyone is different, and it’s okay to feel what you’re feeling.”

  Finally, it was Mia’s turn.

  “Hi, I’m Mia. I lost my fiancé a little over a year ago in a car accident. It happened two weeks before our wedding. I work as a wedding planner, too, and I love my job. But it was hard for a while, bittersweet. It has slowly been getting easier, like everyone said it would. But I think I expected it to just stop after a year and to feel normal again. And I’m still sad. Not as bad, but it’s still there, and it hits me sometimes when I least expect it. A friend thought it might help for me to come here, but I wasn’t sure about it. Earlier today, when I was on my way home, the song Marry Me came on the radio and that was going to be our first dance song. I lost it a little and thought maybe it wouldn’t hurt to come tonight.”

  Janie smiled. “Well, we’re very glad that you did.” She looked around the room. “Does anyone else have any news they want to share?”

  Barbara raised her hand. “I do. I just wanted to let you all know that this will be my last meeting. I’m moving off-island next week. It’s all good, though. I’ve been coming here since Janie started the group almost three years ago, and I’ve stayed because many of you have become good friends. Some of you already know this, but I got engaged last week. I never thought I’d meet anyone, let alone get married again, but I met David while out walking Molly, my dog. We became friends and—well, fell in love. Neither one of us expected it. David was offered a wonderful teaching opportunity at a college in Boston, so we are moving to Somerville.”