Page 122 of Blue Jean Summer

“A luxury SUV to move a cow in,” Hayes teased.

I threw a pillow at him.

Hayes caught it and laughed. “Up and at ’em, pretty girl.”

—

From the moment my feet hit the floor, nothing went right.

The caterer called out sick. The bartender had double-booked. Hayes got an emergency call from one of the partners he worked with, forcing him to hunker down in the study for most of the day. The rental company that was supposed to deliver the tent, a bar, tables, and chairs had gotten the deliveries mixed up and brought couches and lounge seating instead. One of the team managers who boarded their horses at the estate took the turn into the gates too sharp and got his horse trailer stuck in the ditch. Thankfully, the trailer had been empty, but he had blocked the gates until Mason and a very cranky tow truck driver had gotten him out. Unfortunately, the minor accident had kept Jeremiah and Mike from being able to bring the Moo Brew trailer through the gates to set up for coffee service.

“Okay,” Hallie said as she, Savannah, and I hunched over the kitchen island like it was a wartime briefing in the Situation Room. “New plan. No bartender means we DIY the drinks.”

“What options do we have on hand? It’ll take too long to drive a county over to get to an ABC store,” I said.

“I can bartend if you’ve got liquor,” Savannah offered.

Hallie raised an eyebrow. “You know how to bartend?”

“I’m a great bartender,” she said defensively, propping her hands on her hips, making the stacks of gold bracelets jingle. “I know how to pour whiskey, whiskey on the rocks, whiskey straight up, whiskey neat—”

“So, whiskey and ice,” I said drolly as I rubbed my temples.

“Or without ice. Or shaken with ice and then poured,” she said.

Hallie shoved her pen in her mess of copper hair. “I mean, we do have Walt’s stash of moonshine down in the wine cellar. And a lot of wine.”

“Using the wine wouldn’t be a big deal,” I said. There were some rare bottles stored down in the cellar, but the rest was regularly used for events. We had used some of the nicer bottles for the wedding and the owners’ luncheon. “The liquor is a different story. It’s part of the history of the mountains. I’d feel bad serving it.” I let out a deep breath. “And honestly, I’m not sure if we should be serving that moonshine at all. Just because it’s local and handcrafted doesn’t mean that it doesn’t taste like jet fuel.”

Hallie thought for a moment. “We could make it a tasting rather than serving full drinks. There’s a journal in Walt’s study that has all the years and the names of who made it. It’s like a history book.”

“So, we’ve got liquor and no food,” Savannah said. “Even I know that’s a recipe for disaster.”

“Ye of little faith,” Hallie said as she yanked open the massive double-door freezer. “I’ve got damn near a hundred biscuits prepped and ready to bake. Homemade soups that are frozen and just need to be thawed and warmed. If someone can run into town and empty the produce section, that’ll give us fruits and veggies.”

I grimaced. “That sounds like a lot of work. And for a hundred people? Is that going to be enough?”

“A hundred rich people,” Hallie clarified. “I barely have enough food in this whole house to feed Mason, Levi, and Zach. But the beautiful thing about rich people is that the smaller the portion, the fancier they think it is. Leave it to me.”

“Okay. Savannah’s bartending. Hallie is cooking. Jeremiah and Mike just got here to set up the Moo Brew trailer—”

A door slammed, sending anxiety lancing down my spine.

“And Lewis is present and accounted for,” I hissed under my breath.

Savannah cracked her knuckles. “I know how to operate a backhoe.”

Hallie snickered.

My phone chimed as a text from Mason appeared, confirming that the rental company had removed the soft seating and delivered the actual items we needed. I let out an exasperated breath. “This might work.” I blinked back tears. “I don’t know what I would do without y’all.”

“You wouldn’t have looked nearly as good as you did on your wedding day without me,” Savannah said with confidence.

“You wouldn’t have had a wedding day without me,” Hallie said. “Scratch that. You wouldn’t have been having good sex without me.”

My cheeks turned cherry red. I started to argue, but Hallie cut me off.

“Oh, please. We all know you two are sleeping together. And honestly, I don’t blame you. Hayes is one fine, tall drink of water. Besides, at least one person should be getting laid in this house, and we all know it’s not going to be me.”