Page 1 of Still Afraid

Chapter One

Anxiety swelled up in Chloe. The expression on Josh’s face as he glanced at the swirling dark clouds above the wedding venue scared her.

“Josh?”

He met her eyes. “I don’t like the look of those clouds.”

She stopped walking and glanced back at her Honda Pilot where Poirot, her chocolate lab, stuck his head out of the half-opened window. “Should we go?”

“We’re already here. Let’s just do what we need to quickly and get back to my house.”

His house. Only for sixteen more days. She’d already started moving her belongings to his place. Once they were married, she’d put hers on the market.

Today they were meeting with Breana Montego, the event planner at the wedding venue, Brier Glen Chapel, to finalize all the details.

The initial hope was to have a church wedding, but trying to find a June date when they got engaged only three months ago was next to impossible. Thankfully, this little chapel in the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains northeast of Knoxville had a cancellation. On the trip up, Chloe had glanced at the brochure again, where the face of the owner, Richard Montego, smiled back at her above the likely hand-selected five-star reviews. Hopefully the reviews were right, and the experience would be worth the cost.

Breana, a tall, slender woman with an athletic build, exited the building, the wind tossing her platinum curls across her face.

“Hey, y’all!” she yelled as she tried to remove her hair from her face without tripping on her four-inch stilettos.

Chloe waved and self-consciously ran her hand down the front of her bookish tee and casual, tiered skirt. Who cares what she’s wearing versus what you are, Chloe? she chided herself before they met the event planner halfway down the path.

Chloe extended her hand. “Thanks for meeting with us.”

“Of course. We want your special day to be oh so perfect. And it’s important to get another glance at the space and make sure we know exactly what you want.”

Josh released Chloe’s hand and shook Breana’s.

An aggressive gust of wind whipped around them, nearly knocking the women over.

Chloe grabbed Josh’s arm to steady herself.

Breana stared up at the sky. “You don’t think those clouds are going to drop hail on us, do you?”

In an attempt to quell her own fear, Chloe said, “No, it’ll be fine. Just a simple thunderstorm, right?” She glanced at Josh.

“Sure.” The scowl on his face was not convincing.

Breana gestured to the building. “Let’s get inside.”

They walked in, and the beauty of the space stole Chloe’s breath. Stained glass windows lined the walls and despite the gray skies outside, light of all sorts of colors flooded the space. The lightly stained maple that made up the walls, ceiling, and floor sparkled from a generous coat of polyurethane.

The front had no altar or stage as this was not a religious establishment, even if it originally had been built as a sanctuary for the Lord. Beautiful purple and white iris bouquets lined the sides and front, adding to the splendor.

Breana’s voice broke into Chloe’s admiration. “The space can be configured however you would like. We have simple white folding chairs as well as covers for the chairs if you want an additional splash of elegance.”

“How much more for the covers?” Josh asked, always the stereotypical financially conscious man.

Breana quoted a per-chair price that raised Josh’s eyebrows. Chloe’s heart sank—she didn’t want them that badly.

He glanced at her. With a slight croak in his voice, he said, “It’s up to you.”

“I think plain white chairs will be adorable.” Looking at Breana, she said, “Do you have kids’ height tables and chairs? We have quite a few nieces and nephews.”

It was Breana’s turn to look disconcerted. “Most of our clients have adult-only celebrations.”

The wind grew angrier outside, and something crashed against the roof, presumably a branch, causing all three to startle.