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He disappeared from the family party in the next blink of her eyes, and Bea rejoined the festivities if only to get some cake before it was all gone.She didn’t understand why the Lord brought two people together who couldn’t be together.That seemed so cruel and so unnecessary.
She remembered something her mama had taught her:If it’s meant to be done, there’s a way todo it.
Bea had no idea if she and Grant were meant to be.She wasn’t sure how one ever knew that.She told herself as she took a monumental bite of chocolate cake that she didn’t have to know right now.She’d be back on the island in six more days, and then she and Grant would have more time to figure out what, if anything, they both wanted from their relationship.
“And I said, no, that’s how you get a chicken to fart!”Her daddy bellowed with laughter, and Bea shook her head.Grant would die here all right, and not just because Texas wasn’t his beloved Hilton Head.Then she remembered that Julie’s family was a little wild, and a little crazy, and a little loud.
Maybe Grant would fit in just fine here too.
No, Bea sentto the group text.She can’t have the pink one.CanNOT.So other than that one, what should she pick?
Honestly, Bea’s head had never hurt this bad.In a year, or two, and definitely in twenty, no one would remember what tint Meredith’s veil had held.The number of boxes that needed ticking on the checklist made Bea’s eyes bleed, and she just needed a break.
Whoever had thought a marathon five-day wedding planning session was a good idea should be shot.
Why can’t she have the pink?Bessie asked, and Bea growled under her breath.
Blue, Sage said, following the directions and just answering the question.
I’d say blue too, Cass said.
I’d go yellow and gold, Joy said.Feels more heavenly.
Lauren didn’t answer, not that it would’ve mattered.Meredith looked up from her binder and said, “I think I’m going to go with the blue one, Mama.What do you think?”
“I think that will be nice,” Bea said.She’d said a version of those words many times in the past several days.“With your darker coloring, it’ll be nice to have a cool color.”
Meredith nodded and wrote something on the page in front of her.Bea’s opinion was important to her, and Bea had learned within the first hour that Meredith really did want to know what she thought.She wasn’t just asking and then picking whatever she wanted anyway.
“You can ask Aunt Esther about the cake?”
“Oh, yes,” Bea said, her temples throbbing.Grant had said he’d call when he finished with a property walk-through today, and she expected her phone to ring at any moment.“I already asked her about it.”She tapped to get to the right thread.“This is what she sent.”
She laid the phone on the table between them, so the wedding cake pictures her aunt had sent could be seen by both of them.Aunt Esther was fifteen years younger than Bea’s mother, and she’d been making wedding cakes for four decades.She lived out in the Hill Country, so Austin wasn’t a big drive for her, and she’d seemed thrilled to be asked to make Meredith’s cake.
“How many tiers do you want?”
“I don’t know.”Meredith laid her head in her hands, her eyes still on the phone, taking in the texts.“Do I care?”
Bea gave her a tired smile.“Do you?”
Meredith returned her exhaustion.“I think I will tomorrow.”
Bea picked up her phone and said, “Then let’s do this tomorrow.”She slid the binder away from Meredith and closed it.She got to her feet.“What do you want for dinner?”
“Whatever,” Meredith said, and that truly testified of her mental doneness.She’d asked Bea for all of her favorites from her childhood every day this week.Spaghetti and meatballs.Barbecue beef bundles.Spiced potato skins with bacon and sour cream.
Her phone rang, and Bea’s adrenaline spiked at Grant’s name on the screen.“Hey,” she said, stepping out onto Meredith’s front porch.“How did your walk-through go?”
“I made it through,” he said.“How’s the wedding planning going?”
Bea sighed with the force of the wind, and Grant laughed.“That good, huh?’
“It’s just too much,” she said.“Too many decisions to be made in a short period of time.”
“I’m sure,” Grant said.A beat of silence went by, and Bea sank onto the top step.“It’s good to hear your voice.”
“Yours too,” Bea said with a smile.“I’ll be there Friday afternoon.My flight gets in—”
