Call Me Irresistible (Wynette, Texas #5)(131)

It didn't take Meg more than five seconds to decide her master's degree could wait. Working with the man she loved on a project like this was her dream job.

Ted was jubilant when she asked if she could work with him. They talked for hours about their future and the legacy they intended to build together. Instead of poisoned land, they'd create places where all families, not just wealthy ones, could gather to have a picnic or throw a ball-places where kids would be able to catch fireflies, listen to birds sing, and fish in clean, unpolluted water.

She ended up scheduling her wedding for exactly one year, minus one day, from the date Ted was to have walked Lucy down the aisle, a decision Francesca hotly protested. She was still complaining about it when Meg-diploma finally in her possession-returned to Wynette three days before the ceremony.

While Ted raced into town to unveil a new display at the reopened library, Meg plopped onto a counter stool in her future mother-in-law's kitchen for breakfast. Francesca passed a toasted bagel across the counter. "It's not as if you didn't have plenty of dates to choose from," she said. "Honestly, Meg, if I didn't know better, I'd swear you were trying to jinx the whole thing." 

"Just the opposite." Meg slathered blackberry jam over her bagel. "I like the symbolism of bright new lives arising from the tragic ashes of the past."

"You're as odd as Teddy," Francesca said in exasperation. "I can't believe it took me so long to realize how perfect the two of you are for each other."

Meg grinned.

Dallie looked up from his coffee mug. "People round here like that she's a little odd, Francie. It makes her fit in better."

"She's more'n a little odd," Skeet said from behind his newspaper. "Hugged me yesterday for no reason at all. 'Bout gave me a heart attack."

Dallie nodded. "She's strange that way."

"Sitting right here," Meg reminded them.

But Skeet and Dallie had moved on to discuss which of them was better suited to give her golf lessons, disregarding the fact that Meg had already chosen Torie.

Francesca once again tried to get Meg to spill the details about her wedding gown, but Meg refused to talk. "You'll see it when everybody else does."

"I don't understand why you let Kayla see it, but not me."

"Because she's my fashion consultant, and you're merely my nagging future mother-in-law."

Francesca didn't bother to argue the second point, only the first. "I know as much about fashion as Kayla Garvin."

"More, I'm sure. But you're still not seeing it until I walk down the aisle." She gave Francesca a sticky kiss on the cheek, then ran off to the inn to meet her family. Not long after that, Lucy arrived.

"Are you sure you want me there?" Lucy had said over the phone when Meg had asked her to be part of the wedding party.

"I couldn't get married without you."

They had so much to talk about, and they drove to the church where they could catch up without anyone eavesdropping. Ted eventually found them lounging at the side of the swimming hole. The initial awkwardness between the former lovers had vanished long ago, and they chatted like the good friends they were always meant to be.

The rehearsal dinner was at the country club, just as it had been the first time around. "I feel like I've stepped through a time warp," Lucy whispered to Meg not long after they arrived.

"Except this time you can relax and enjoy yourself," Meg told her. "It'll be entertaining, I promise you."

And entertaining it was, as the locals cornered Jake and Fleur to sing Meg's praises. "Your daughter was the best executive employee I ever had at the inn," Birdie told them with all kinds of earnestness. "She practically ran the place. I hardly had to do anything."

"She's quite bright," her mother replied with a straight face.

Zoey tugged on an exquisite set of Egyptian earrings. "You have no idea how much she's improved my wardrobe." She slipped her hand into her pocket where Meg happened to know she'd stowed a glittery bottle-cap necklace she could slip on when Hunter Gray's mother appeared.

"The country club hasn't been the same since she left," Shelby gushed. "You would not believe how difficult it is for some people to distinguish between regular Arizona iced tea and diet."

It was Kayla's turn, but Birdie had to poke her in the ribs to drag her attention away from the gorgeous Koranda brothers. Kayla blinked and dutifully did her part to burnish Meg's reputation. "I swear I gained six pounds after she left, I was so depressed. Her jewelry was practically keeping my shop afloat. Plus, she's the only woman other than Torie and me with an appreciation for cutting-edge fashion."