Daughters Of The Bride(46)

“A family heirloom. That’s so special. You’ll be connected with his past forever.”

There was a thought.

Kailie flashed her a smile. “You’re so lucky, Sienna. David’s the greatest guy. I know you’ll be happy with him.”

“Thanks.”

Sienna moved the flowers to the table behind her desk. That way she wouldn’t have to look at them. Although she could still smell them, and the rock in her stomach remained.

Just when she thought her day couldn’t get any worse, a short, curvy redhead stalked into her office and slapped a piece of paper down on her desk.

“Here. It’s all you’re getting, so don’t ask for more. I have no idea why my great-grandmother liked you, but she did.”

“Hello, Erika,” Sienna said as graciously as she could. “Would you like to take a seat?”

“No.”

“Coffee?”

Erika rolled her green eyes. “Hardly.”

Sienna picked up the check. It was made out for ten thousand dollars, as promised by Mrs. Trowbridge.

“Thank you for this,” she said. “It will help. Would you like to know how the money is used?”

Erika sank into the seat across from Sienna. Her mouth formed a pout.

“No. I don’t care. You’re not getting anything from the kitchen, just so you know. There’s nothing left.”

“Why are you so mad at me?”

“You stole my boyfriend.”

“That was thirteen years ago. Then you stole him back and dumped him.”

“I didn’t steal him back,” Erika pointed out. “You were already done with him. For the record, I only stopped dating him. You broke up with him after you were engaged. That’s a lot worse.”

Sienna thought about saying she and Jimmy had been young and foolish, and neither of them had been particularly heartbroken about parting ways. But that wouldn’t play into Erika’s self-talk.

“Thank you again for the check,” she said quietly. “Your great-grandmother was always a generous supporter and we will miss her.”

“Whatever,” Erika snapped. She rose and left.

Sienna completed the paperwork to record the gift and printed out the tax letter to be mailed to the estate. When she was done, she walked into Seth’s office.

“We have Mrs. Trowbridge’s donation,” she said. “Ten thousand dollars.”

“Excellent. There’s another duplex coming on the market. I’m hoping we can buy it.” He grinned. “I heard about the engagement.”

She did her best not to wince. “Did you?”

“You could ask the groom-to-be to buy us a house. That would be a great wedding gift.”

“For you.”

“And you. You support the cause.”

“Maybe I’d like some china instead.”

“That’s what a gift registry is for. Besides, you’re not the china type.”

“I’m not asking David to buy the duplex, so you can forget it.”

Seth sighed. “I hate it when you’re not a team player.”

“Ha-ha.”

She retreated to her office. She had plenty of work waiting for her. Work she enjoyed. Only, she couldn’t seem to focus. After about fifteen minutes, she realized part of the problem was that she could smell the flowers, even if she couldn’t see them.

She carried the bouquet to the lunch room, then walked back to her office and cracked the small window. With the first breath of fresh air, she felt herself relax. Everything was going to be fine, she promised herself. She didn’t know how, but it would be.





11

COURTNEY PULLED THE bag of limes out of the back of her sister’s car. Rachel already had the chips and salsa, along with a quart of guacamole they’d picked up at Bill’s Mexican Food on the way over. Sienna’s car was in the driveway of their mom’s house, next to Neil’s gleaming white Mercedes.

“I thought it was girls only,” Courtney said as they walked up the path to the front door.

“I’m sure Neil will be leaving. No way he wants to hang around for one of our evenings.”

Every couple of months the grown daughters were summoned to Maggie’s house for an evening of margaritas and fun. The tradition had been going on since Rachel had left home to marry Greg. Courtney remembered waiting anxiously to turn twenty-one so she could have real margaritas instead of the virgin ones her mother had made her drink until then.

Now she both enjoyed and dreaded the family nights. Sometimes they were a lot of fun. But other evenings were more of a challenge. Especially when her mother and sisters decided to tell her exactly how to improve her life.

What they didn’t know, mostly because she wouldn’t tell them, was that she was doing really well. She’d gotten a note from her professor telling her he was very impressed by her marketing project and suggesting she take his advanced by-invitation-only seminar next fall. Talk about a coup.