“I’m so sorry,” she said when she met Kelly’s eyes and shed her long black coat. It was a line Kelly had probably heard from her sister thousands of times over the years. “Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. Oh my God, Kel, it smells amazing in here.”
“You remember my perpetually late sister, Leah,” Kelly said to Dylan’s parents as Leah kissed the top of her head, then kissed Dylan’s cheek and wrapped her mother in a hug from behind.
“Of course.” Mrs. Maguire gave a tight smile.
“It’s nice to see you again.” Leah nodded to Dylan’s parents. “How are you?”
“Can’t complain,” Mr. Maguire said, his voice so deep you could feel it in the pit of your stomach. “And you?”
“Ready for a glass of wine, that’s how I am.” Leah smiled at him. “Busy day working at home trying to get some stuff done.” She held up the bottle she’d brought. “Mom?”
“I could use a refill,” her mother said. “There’s a bottle already opened in the kitchen.”
Leah almost laughed out loud at the unspoken message that passed between her and her mother. The one that said keep ’em coming. “Me, too, please.” She held out her glass.
Thanksgiving dinner went surprisingly well. Aside from requesting that they all say grace, which nobody had a problem with and Leah actually liked the idea of, they’d managed to avoid both politics and religion as topics of conversation. There had been little, if any, wariness around the table and Leah could see Kelly finally relax the smallest bit. She knew that, for her little sister, it was one thing to deal with the parent of one of her students who had drastically different views than her. She’d face them a few times and then they’d move on to the next of their child’s teachers. But her future in-laws? People she hoped to be tied to for the rest of her life? People who’d be an enormous part of her children’s lives? Yeah, that was a lot harder. So when a gathering that included them stayed tension free, Leah knew Kelly’s gratitude was huge.
Today was not going to be one of those days, though.
“So, Leah, you’re a lawyer, am I remembering that correctly?” Mr. Maguire forked a bite of pumpkin pie into his mouth.
“I am.” Leah took a sip of her wine. And here we go.
“Real estate? Contract? Patent?”
“Divorce.”
“Really?” Mrs. Maguire said, her perfectly tweezed brows flying up into her hairline.
“She’s very good.” Her mother reached over and squeezed Leah’s forearm. “She’s been at it for a while and has a stellar reputation.” She looked across the table at the Maguires as if daring them to say more, and Leah loved her for that.
“I’m sure she is,” Mrs. Maguire said. “But divorce? Doesn’t it get to you after a while? All those sad and angry people willing to call it quits on their marriage rather than do the hard work?”
Leah’s lips pressed together in a tight lineline, and when she glanced at her sister, Kelly pleaded with her eyes. Leah got the message.
“Actually, a lot of the folks I deal with are in agreement that they shouldn’t be together, and the majority of them have done the hard work. It just wasn’t meant to be. They are very often happier to have things done and over with.” She held up a finger. “Not always, but often.” She didn’t look at their mother then, but Kelly bet she wanted to. “The end of a marriage isn’t something I celebrate, if that’s what you think. My job is to be as fair as I can in getting my client what he or she deserves from the dissolution.”
The Maguires blinked. Mr. Maguire nodded slightly. Mrs. Maguire reached for her own wine.
“Seen any good movies lately, Leah?” Dylan’s question may have seemed to come out of nowhere, but the wave of relief was palpable. Crisis averted.
“I saw You’ve Got Mail at the Classic a few days ago.”
“Oh, we adore that theater,” Mrs. Maguire gushed. “We go at least once or twice a month. And that cute little café attached? Those desserts are decadent.”
“A good friend of mine is the pastry chef there,” her mother said.
“Oh, Mrs. Antonio?” Kelly asked and Leah remembered the small woman who always brought homemade cookies on visits when she and Kelly were small.
Their mother nodded, then turned to Leah. “She said she saw you there. She was too busy to say hello but said you were there with some gorgeous brunette. Her words, not mine.”
Kelly’s eyebrows flew upward and Leah could feel her waiting for eye contact. Which Leah worked very hard to avoid. Their mother looked from Leah (concentrating very hard on her pie) to Kelly, then arched an eyebrow.
Leah picked up her wine glass and sipped, grimacing behind the rim. Oh, they’d be revisiting this…
* * *
The Maguires were gone, thank God. It was amusing that Leah could see both Kelly and Dylan visibly relax once the door closed behind Dylan’s parents. They were nice enough people, if you could set aside their obvious superiority complex, but they were a lot.
Dishwasher loaded and running. Dining room table cleaned, centerpiece back in its place. A plate of cookies that nobody wanted but still nibbled from on the coffee table in the living room. Refilled wineglasses.
Leah flopped onto an overstuffed chair as if she was boneless, a rag doll with no ability to stand. “I am so full. That was fantastic, Kelly.”
“Mom did the hard stuff.”
“I did not. I supervised.” Her mother was in the upholstered rocker in the corner, one leg tucked underneath her, the other pushing it gently from the floor. She winked at Kelly, across the room on the couch, cuddled into Dylan.
“So, who’s the gorgeous brunette?” Dylan made air quotes.
Kelly turned to him, “I love you so much right now.”
“Wow, how long have you guys been waiting to interrogate me on that?” Leah asked.
“Since I mentioned it and you turned the color of a tomato and stopped talking.” Her mom grinned at her.
“I have a sneaking suspicion I know who she is,” Kelly said.
“You do?” her mom asked, sitting up a little straighter. “Are you going to tell me?”
“No, she’s not,” Leah said firmly.
“Of course she is,” Kelly said, waving a dismissive hand at her sister. “It’s my wedding planner.”
“What?” Both her mother and Dylan said it together, and it would’ve been comical if Leah wasn’t mortified.
“I know, right?” It was Kelly’s turn to sit up as she explained the situation to her fiancé and mother while Leah sat there helplessly. All she could do was watch. And turn red. “They hit it off immediately. Our first meeting? I was barely there. My hair could’ve been on fire and neither of them would’ve noticed.”
“Please.” Leah gave the best sarcastic snort she could manage. “That’s such an exaggeration.”
“It’s not, though. Your chemistry is off the charts.”
“And you’re dating her now?” her mom asked, sipping her wine.
“Oh, wait.” Kelly’s glee was so obvious. It was like they were kids again, Kelly with something to tattle about. Leah shook her head, wishing she could dive into her wineglass and swim away. “Teddi—that’s my wedding planner—finally realized why Leah’s name seemed familiar…” She let the sentence hang, presumably to see if her family could catch up on their own.
“No,” Dylan said, just before her mom said the same thing.
“Yup. She represented Teddi’s ex in their divorce.”
“Wow.” Her mother shook her head. “What are the chances?”
“Right? So then things got a little cool.” Kelly glanced across at Leah and gave her a smile, one that said she was sort of sorry for sharing the story, but not really.
Little sisters, man. Leah sat quietly.
“But they were out together on Monday night, right?” Her mom looked from Leah to Kelly and back. “Isn’t that what you said?”
Kelly looked toward Leah. “It is what I said. Is that who you were with, Leah? Was I
right?”
What was she going to do, lie about it? With a sigh of resignation, she said, “Yes, I was with her on Monday. But”—she cut off the chuckles and knowing murmurs—“it wasn’t a date. We didn’t go together. We both happened to be there, so we sat together in the theater.”
“And then went to the café together,” her mom added. As a reminder, apparently.
“Yes.” Leah’s glass was empty, and she desperately wanted it to be full, but she stayed seated.
“And?” Her mom was way too invested in this already.
“And nothing. There’s a history there that’s like a spot that won’t come out. You know?”
“You like her, though?” her mother asked. It was the first time it had been posed to her by somebody else, and while part of Leah wanted to stop, to really think about it, she didn’t allow herself to.
“It doesn’t matter, Mom. Are you listening? I represented her ex in her divorce. And while I won’t discuss the details of the case, I can tell you that she ended up pretty unhappy with the way things went, and she blames me just as much as her ex.” With a pointed look at her mother, she added, “You know how that is.”
Leah watched as the proverbial wind left her mother’s sails and she sat back in her chair again. “Yeah, I do.” Kelly seemed to deflate a bit as well, and while Leah wasn’t necessarily happy about them losing their glee, she was glad to put the subject to rest. Because the truth of the matter was, though she hated to admit it, she was just as disappointed as her family. She’d had Teddi on her mind since the café, even though it hadn’t ended well. She could still see that faraway look that had floated across Teddi’s face and settled behind her dark eyes. It had stayed with her for four days now.
The family moved on to other topics, gently letting Leah off the hook for now. Wasn’t it interesting, though, how the phrase for now had popped into her head? Because she had zero doubt it was the case. Something deep inside her, in her head, maybe even in her heart, told her that was the case. That there would be more. She wasn’t sure how or why, only that she was certain in general of one very specific thing: She wasn’t done with Teddi Baker yet. Not by a long shot.
Chapter Nine
Christmas weddings were gorgeous.
There was no doubt about it in Teddi’s mind. Combining the beauty of wedding gowns and bridesmaids’ dresses and red flowers with standard, sparkling Christmas decorations like garland and tinsel and tiny white lights made for a stunning backdrop to any wedding. It was true. That being said, trying to plan a wedding around the biggest holiday of the year could be brutal.
Teddi had managed several, so it wasn’t anything new to her, but it was extra strenuous. I have my own holiday stuff to do, people! ran through her head on a loop whenever she ended up with a bridezilla—a label she was not fond of, but one that often seemed alarmingly appropriate—who was losing her mind about tiny little details of her wedding. There was never any way to convince a bride-to-be that something she found super important—like whether the chairs at dinner had four slats or five or if her tablecloths were white or ivory—was something nobody else was really going to notice or remember. Teddi’s job required a ton of nodding and smiling and conceding. But she was also a pro at suggesting something strongly enough to make it seem like it was the bride’s idea all along. Those were her small victories.
It was December. She had the Sarto-Jennings wedding this weekend and the Carter-Bacon wedding the next. The week after that led into Christmas, and thank God she’d have a tiny bit of time to celebrate the holiday with her family and friends this year—last year, she’d had a New Year’s Eve wedding to run. She was definitely ready for some downtime.
Meeting with Kelly Scott was on today’s agenda, and Teddi tried not to dwell on that. More accurately, she tried not to dwell on whether or not Leah would be coming with her. She had for each past meeting, so there was no reason to expect otherwise, and she hoped it wouldn’t be awkward, given the way their time at the café had gone a couple weeks ago.
Thank God for the ringing of her phone. Thank God her job was a fast-paced one. It kept her from slipping down into the dark recesses of her mind. Places she shouldn’t go—no, places she wouldn’t allow herself to go.
The day went by in a flash of phone calls and timelines and reassuring texts, as it always did when there was a wedding the coming weekend. While Teddi was on the phone with a caterer, Preston pushed his way through the door, also on his phone. The two of them were having nearly identical conversations. She could pick up from his side he was dealing with a florist and having an issue even as she dealt with a menu discrepancy.
Ten minutes later, they were both free of their calls. Preston slid out of his coat, looking ridiculously put together in his dark pants, red oxford, and Christmas tie with snowmen on it. His dark hair was freshly cut and styled, and he looked like a model, like he’d walked into Hopeless Romantic directly from an issue of GQ.
“Why can’t they just listen to us when we suggest a vendor?” he asked as he popped a K-cup into the coffeemaker.
“That’s the age-old wedding planning question, my friend.”
“I hate Gerberman Flowers. Hate them. They’re the worst.”
“Should we Nope List them?” Teddi always did her best to remain open-minded and do what her client wanted, deal with whatever vendors he or she preferred, even if Teddi did not prefer them. It was rare that she openly steered a client away from a vendor. But over the years, that had become necessary with a few companies here and there, and she and Preston had come up with their Nope List. Vendors they would outright tell their client they refused to work with. And why.
“Yes. Please. In red Sharpie.”
“Ouch.”
Preston plopped himself into a chair next to Teddi behind the counter. “I hate being talked down to like I have no idea what I’m doing. No, I don’t know everything, but don’t be condescending. Don’t assume I know nothing.”
“Understood completely.” She called up Gerberman on her computer and added them to the list. “There. They are officially noped.”
“We ready for Saturday?” Preston sipped his coffee and they sat side by side, staring forward like mannequins. They desperately needed a break.
“We are.” Teddi gave one nod. “I contacted every vendor again today, clarified the details, you’re heading to the venue later, and I’ve sent about seventy-three hand-holding texts to the bride-to-be. So far.”
“Ah, yes. The usual pre-wedding panic.”
They both grinned. Hard-pressed to admit it in that moment of exhaustion, the truth was, she loved the job. The chaos lassoed into submission. The worries ironed into smoothness. The crazy schedule organized into a well-oiled machine. Teddi lived for this, and she knew Preston did, too.
An hour later, Preston was off to finalize everything with Saturday’s venue, the top floor of a high-end hotel downtown. Teddi was just hanging up the phone and about to head to the back storage area to inventory her Christmas lights for Saturday when the front door opened.
“I’m here. The party can start now.” Kelly Scott really was kind of adorable, and Teddi couldn’t help but grin. She had a woman with her. A woman who was not Leah, but looked a lot like her.
“Thank God. I’ve been ready for the party to start since about ten o’clock this morning.” Teddi crossed the shop floor and gave Kelly a hug—another thing she loved about her. Teddi often became friends with her clients, reached hug status pretty quickly. But some remained a bit aloof. Or Teddi did. And that was fine. Kelly Scott had fallen into the first category almost immediately. Totally hug-worthy. “And who do we have here? Another sister?”
The woman standing next to Kelly flushed prettily and smiled as she held out a hand to shake Teddi’s while also giving her a not-so-subtle once-over. She was about the same height as Kelly, which was to say not very tall at all, and her hair had probably once been a brighter gold but now was more of an ash blond. Her face had that slightly
weathered look of a woman who’d worked hard her whole life, likely in some kind of labor-intensive job, but that smile was inviting and friendly. “I’m her mother, and you need glasses, young lady.” Her grip was firm, her hand cold from outside, but her eyes were warm and kind and the same hazel as Kelly’s. “Patti Scott. It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard so much.”
“Uh-oh.” Teddi clenched her teeth and raised her eyebrows.
Kelly laughed. “Please. Like I’d have anything bad to say about you.”
Teddi held out an arm to indicate the table, and they all moved in that direction. “Is Leah coming?” The question left her mouth all on its own, and she almost winced when she heard it.
Something passed between mother and daughter as they exchanged a look that Teddi noticed right away. “She’s supposed to. You know her, though.” Kelly’s shrug was good-natured.
“Always late.”
“Always late.” Teddi and Patti said the two words at exactly the same time. Patti chuckled, and Teddi smiled weakly even as she felt like she was sitting in a thick stew of awkward as it simmered. Why was she so uncomfortable?
The three took seats and Teddi took out her tablet. “This meeting will be it until after the holidays,” she began. “So I’ve got a couple things you should try to get done and a couple things for you to think about. Homework assignments, to use teacher-speak.” Kelly grinned as she scooted her chair closer, and Teddi launched in. Losing herself in her work was always good. It could get her through almost anything, and she let her focus shift away from the facts that were bothering her right then: that Leah wasn’t there and that her mother was.
Of course, the moment she started to relax, to relax into wedding planner mode and feel like herself again, the door pushed open, letting in the sharply cold air from outside and Leah Scott with it.
“Hi,” Leah said as she hurried to the table, unbuttoning her long black coat as she did. “Sorry I’m late.”
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