“Okay.” James drew out the word. “But how do I do that? Should I write a note? Send some flowers? Call her?”
Sally shook her head and rolled her eyes. “No. You show her bydoing. Once we find your perfect outfit, you’re going to run into Maxi on her own territory and show her you can be part of her new life.”
“I am?” James asked.
“Yeah, you are.” Claire motioned for him to go into the dressing room. “Don’t forget to come out and show us what each outfit looks like on.”
James felt stupid changing outfits and parading around in front of Maxi’s friends. But if it helped get her back, he’d do it. “So how am I going to run into her onherterritory?”
“You’re going to the Purple Blueberry,” Jane said. “I think she’s going to a wine tasting there this afternoon. I saw it circled on the paper on her coffee table last night.”
James stopped halfway into the dressing room and turned to face them. “But that’s a hangout for hippies.” James was very careful about where he hung out. He needed to keep up appearances.
“Yes, it is, and if you want Maxi back, it’s going to become a hangout for you as well.”
Chapter Fourteen
Jane returned to Tides after their shopping trip with James to find Andie on the phone in the foyer.
“Yes, we’ll make sure the candles are the perfect shade of blue.” Andie rolled her eyes, pointed at the phone, and mouthed, “Bridezilla.”
“The cake, too, yep,” Andie said into the phone. “Oh, we’re all invited? How lovely.” Andie made a sour face, which Jane echoed. “A full table of eight.”
A table of eight? Who in the world would she put at that? Claire, Rob, Andie, herself, Mike, Maxi... an idea ran through her head. She could invite James, and maybe that would be another thing that would help push him and Maxi back together.
She felt bad for James. The poor guy was making an effort. And he’d adopted a kitten for Maxi. If that didn’t spell true love, she didn’t know what did. The new clothes would make a difference. James hadn’t always been so stuffy either. When they’d been younger, he’d been much more casual. Like Rob and Mike.
Thoughts of Mike reminded her of the phone call he’d gotten at Tall Pines. She’d sensed that he’d gotten some disturbing news. He’d acted different afterwards but insisted nothing was wrong. It made her feel wary, and she wondered about their relationship. Things were going well, but maybe she should be more cautious. She wasn’t very experienced at dating and might be reading too much into things.
“Pink roses on the arbor?” Andie was still talking to Bridezilla on the phone. “Yes, those would look lovely with the blue bridesmaids’ outfits.”
Jane glanced out the window toward the garden. Andie had done a great job bringing it back to life. It was bursting with a rainbow of flowers and lush green leaves and teeming with butterflies and birds. But the rosebushes beside the arbor were red. They hadn’t fully climbed the trellis either. Why in the world was Andie promising pink roses?
“Yes, lovely talking to you too. Can’t wait to meet in person.” Andie hung up the phone.
“You handle people a lot better than I do,” Jane said. “You sounded so convincing and reassuring.”
Andie laughed. “Lots of practice with high-maintenance antique-appraisal clients.”
“What about the arbor, though? The roses are red. You promised her pink.”
Andie glanced out the window. “The rosebushes needed some work. I had to cut a lot back, so they aren’t tall enough to climb all the way up anyway. I’ve been thinking about how to handle that. Maybe we could buy pink roses and weave them in? Perhaps hang some pots of those small roses. Might look pretty to have pink at the top and red at the bottom.”
“That’s a good idea. I think Shane has some more work to do on the arbor. Maybe he could make something so that it’s easy for us to weave in fresh roses?”
“Oh, maybe.”
Andie looked like she was trying to pretend lack of interest, but by the way she perked up when Jane mentioned Shane’s name, Jane doubted she wasn’t interested. She’d noticed her sister looking around the inn as if looking for someone and had guessed it was Shane. He’d been helping Sally out with all the repairs they’d been doing but had been out of town for the past few days.
Jane decided not to comment further on Shane. “You’re a real asset to the inn. Honestly, I’m not good at handling people, especially when they are demanding like our bride.”
“I’m happy to help. Like I said, lots of experience.”
“Well, I might have to call on that help a lot over the next week. The inn is fully booked for the wedding, and it’s important that everyone is happy. That money is going a long way toward keeping Mom at Tall Pines, and good reviews will bring in more business.”
“Mom’s doing so good there. I’ll do my best to make sure the guests love Tides,” Andie said.
“Good. We don’t want to end up like Sadie Thompson.”
