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I was so happy for them for working it out after all these years. It sometimes felt too cute to be true. I hadn’t even had a high school sweetheart. I’d been more interested in my studies and working at the winery to get into anything serious. And my experience in college with a series of terrible boyfriends had taught me that what Isaac and Peyton had was special and utterly unrealistic. The expectations I had from my parents and sister made all my relationships look like chump change.
“Okay, seester,” I teased. “Let’s go show you around the vineyard you grew up in.”
She rolled her eyes, tugging her cardigan tighter around her body. She was the artistic director for the Lubbock Ballet Company and still looked every inch the dancer from her perfect posture to her strict ballet bun. “It’s not about a tour. Nora wants to focus on the layout.”
“Whatever you want.”
Peyton and Isaac would be married at the end of May right here at Sinclair Cellars. We didn’t do a ton of weddings on-site anymore. Not since we’d expanded into higher production. Dad kept talking about opening a venue downtown that served food and our wine during the week and did events as a side project. But it had never happened.
It was one of the differences between us and Wright Vineyard. They’d immediately hired Nora to be their on-site wedding planner and dove straight into event planning while they got the wine side of the business off the ground. It helped that Nora was Hollin’s sister.
Peyton and I headed back up toward the main building. It was a large with a church facade and terra-cotta roof. We used it for our annual tractor rides in the fall, Christmas light rides, and wine tasting year-round.
Nora waited for us at the front entrance with her face buried in an iPad. She had on a green-and-white floral number on her barely five-foot frame. The platform heels made her look much taller than she actually was. She wore them basically everywhere, except the soccer field. I found it baffling. Her blonde bob was parted straight down the middle and had been recently cut to just under her chin. She looked up at our approach, and her blue eyes were nearly the same color as Hollin’s. I had to push aside that thought instantly.
“Hey, Nora,” I said, holding out a hand.
Nora swatted it away and gave me a hug. “We’re all family here.”
“Thanks for coming, Nora,” Peyton said.
She smiled wide. “I’m so excited for y’all. This is going to be so much fun. Y’all ready?”
“Sure,” I said.
Nora had only graduated last year, but she’d worked for a wedding planner all through college. She was good at her job. She walked us through all of the technical business—layouts, arrangements, flow. I was the maid of honor and promised to be there for Peyton through all of it, but I was starting to wonder if Nora was a magician. She juggled every little thing as if it were so easy.
“That about covers it,” she said an hour later as we sat around a table inside. “What do you think?”
“You’re a godsend,” Peyton said honestly.
Nora laughed. “It’s what I’ve always wanted to do.” She pointed at me and frowned. “Oh, one thing I forgot to ask about. Is Bradley still on for building the altar? The one that I thought we had on hold was scooped up. You said that he’d be interested if I couldn’t get the arch we wanted.”
I opened my mouth and then closed it. Well, fuck.
“What happened?” Peyton asked intuitively.
“We kind of broke up last night.”
“Again?”
I winced. “Yeah, but for real this time.”
“I’ve heard that before,” Peyton said.
“Well,” I said with a cringe, “I found an engagement ring in his bag.”
Nora put her hand to her mouth, and Peyton’s entire face softened.
“I realized that I could never marry him. So, yeah, it’s over.”
“I’m sorry,” Peyton said, putting her hand on mine. “You were together a long time.”
“That’s hard, Piper,” Nora said. She scribbled on her iPad. “I’ll handle talking to Bradley. Don’t even worry about it.”
“Okay, great.”
“But I guess that explains why you were wearing my brother’s shirt last night.”
“You were what?” Peyton asked. She fully faced me. “Is something going on with you and Hollin?”
“No. I wish people would stop asking me that,” I grumbled. “Bradley spilled a glass of wine on me, and Hollin had a spare shirt.”
“They were flirting,” Nora said with a grin.
“We weren’t flirting.”
“Would you be aware if you were flirting?” Peyton asked with a laugh. “You’re kind of oblivious, Pipes.”
“This conversation isn’t about me. We’re here about the wedding,” I reminded them. “Hollin is a manwhore. No offense, Nora.”
Nora raised her hands. “None taken. I know who he is, and I’d love to see someone put him on the straight and narrow.”
