Daughters Of The Bride(65)

Jimmy stepped toward her. His expression was intense, his eyes gentle. “Sienna, we’ve known each other a long time. We’re friends. I care about you. If you ever need me...for anything, I’m here. You just have to let me know.”

“Thanks. I appreciate the reminder.”

“Are you okay?”

She faked a smile. “Never better.” She held up the bottle of water. “Thanks for this. I appreciate it. And I’ll see you soon.”

Jimmy looked as if he was going to say something, but in the end, he only nodded. “Say hi to your mom for me.”

“I will.”





15

COURTNEY WAS EXHAUSTED. Not from a lack of sleep. She’d gotten over that in a couple of days. No, her bigger problems were terror and faking it. Both had a way of draining a person.

It had been three days since her glorious night with Quinn. Three days of catching sight of him around the hotel and sharing a secret smile. Three days of sexy texts and a delivery of chocolate chip cookies, which was way better than flowers. Three days of thinking it wasn’t that the intimacy had been so great, it was that she really liked him. A given for some people, but her past choices for lovers had been on a scale of bad to worse. Which was why she’d decided to give up on the whole boy-girl thing for a while. She didn’t need the distraction.

But Quinn was different. If she was going to get weird about it all, she would say he was a positive force in her life. He wasn’t the kind of guy who had to put a woman down to feel like a man. He was actually sweet and sexy, and the things he’d done to her body...

Don’t think about that, she told herself firmly. Because her problem wasn’t with Quinn—it was with his grandmother. Courtney was terrified everyone around her could see that she’d had amazing sex with Quinn and that so wasn’t anything she wanted to discuss with Joyce.

For the most part, she’d been able to avoid her boss, but this afternoon was the first of many planning parties with Maggie about the wedding. It was being held in Joyce’s spacious office, and there was no way Courtney couldn’t attend. So she put on her best why no, I didn’t have sex with your grandson face and tried very, very hard to pay attention to the wedding planning details.

They’d already settled on the location—the lawn by the grand pavilion. There would be tents, similar to those used for the engagement party. The wedding would be at the north end of the property, the reception at the south end.

The chairs would have a nice drapey cover on them. Courtney was to check into color availability. The menu was still up for discussion, as was the cake. Although a discussion on the latter was going to be about what kind and flavor, not where to get it.

“I checked with Gracie,” Courtney said, consulting the notes on her tablet. “We’re not giving her nearly enough notice, what with how popular she is. But there was a cancellation, so she can fit you in. I’ve made an appointment for a design and tasting meeting.” She smiled at her mother. “I can come with you, if you want. Neil should be there, as well. And Gracie wants to know if you would like a groom’s cake.”

Maggie clapped her hands together. “I can’t believe I’m going to have a wedding cake made by Gracie Whitefield. She’s been in People magazine.”

“I remember,” Joyce said with a sigh. “No one loves cake like Gracie does.”

Courtney offered a silent apology to Gracie. She was sure the other woman was perfectly nice and deserved to be left alone to live her life in peace. But that wasn’t ever going to happen—not in Los Lobos.

Although Gracie was a few years older than Courtney, and the two knew each other only enough to say hello, the legend of Gracie lived on, even some twenty years after the fact.

When Gracie had been fourteen, she’d fallen deeply and totally in love with Riley Whitefield. He’d been a few years older and not the least bit interested. When Gracie had discovered he was seeing someone else, she’d done everything from putting a skunk in his car to nailing his doors and windows shut so he couldn’t go on a date. When Riley’s girlfriend had turned up pregnant and Riley had offered to do the right thing, Gracie had lain down on the road, in front of his car, and begged him to run her over. Because without him, life wasn’t worth living.

Gracie had been sent away for the wedding and hadn’t returned to town for nearly fourteen years. Courtney remembered some rumor about the girlfriend not being as pregnant as she thought, and the marriage had ended as quickly as it had begun. When Gracie had come back, Riley had been in town, as well. Somehow they’d gotten together. Courtney wasn’t sure of all the details, but in the end, Gracie and Riley had married and she’d moved her wedding cake business to Los Lobos.