Page 50 of Finding Forever

Beth laughed. “Kayla came to Sapphire Bay last weekend to finalize some of the wedding plans. Apparently, twenty-four people still requires four hundred decisions.”

Laurel’s smile widened. “That sounds about right.”

Beth looked toward the private room again. For all the lists, phone calls, and tiny decisions that had somehow become enormously important, she knew Kayla had made the right choice.

Their server arrived with the menus, but Beth barely glanced at hers. She’d eaten here enough times to know what she wanted.

After they’d ordered, Laurel folded her hands on the table. “Is Susan here today?”

“I don’t think so. I haven’t seen her.”

Laurel looked over Beth’s shoulder toward the kitchen. “She told me Paul has been doing most of the lunches lately because she’s helping with the office work.”

Beth smiled. Susan hadn’t been living in Sapphire Bay for very long when she met Paul Reynard, the owner of the Lakeside Grill. They’d fallen in love and now worked together at one of the busiest restaurants around Flathead Lake.

Sometimes, Beth didn’t know how Susan juggled the baking classes she ran, helping with community projects, and working with her husband.

Their drinks arrived, followed soon afterward by lunch. For a while, they talked about the wedding. Beth told Laurel about the flowers Kayla had chosen and the cake recipes they’d finally settled on.

Every time Beth thought they were getting close to the end of the list, Kayla seemed to remember something else. But Beth wasn’t complaining.

May twenty-third would arrive soon enough, and after that there would be no more weekends spent comparing flowers or discussing table favors over coffee. No more dress fittings or lists taped to Beth’s refrigerator.

She was going to miss it. The realization put a small ache behind her happiness.

Laurel cut into her lunch. “How’s the arts center going?”

The change of subject immediately lifted Beth’s mood. “Really well. Better than I thought we’d be at this point.”

“That sounds suspiciously optimistic for you.”

Beth smiled. “I’m capable of optimism.”

“When?”

“Occasionally.”

Laurel waited.

Beth laughed. “All right. Maybe not very often. But you should see the center now. The gallery wall is finished. Most of the flooring is down, the bathrooms are almost done, and we’re at the point where it looks like an arts center instead of a construction site.”

Beth heard the pride in her voice and didn’t try to hide it. There had been days when she’d wondered whether they would ever get there. Days when every wall seemed to hide another problem, and every decision led to three more.

Now she could walk through the building and imagine the community filling the rooms.

“We’re still on track for the end-of-April opening,” she added. “Assuming nothing terrible happens between now and then.”

Laurel frowned. “Don’t say that.”

“I know,” Beth said. “I’m tempting fate.”

“You absolutely are.”

Beth took another bite of her lunch.

Laurel watched her for a moment. “And how’s Dave?”

Beth nearly choked. “That was subtle.”