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“Only because you had a huge stomach ache,” Amanda said, finally finding a reason to laugh.
“Oh, gosh.” Susan placed her hand on her chest and smiled, then hurried to take a photograph of the cousins. “Say cheese, girls!”
Amanda and Audrey cackled, threw their arms around each other, and grinned at the camera.
“My cheeks are going to hurt so badly by the end of tonight,” Amanda said, deciding to focus on the positives rather than whatever Audrey and Noah were up to.
“That’s the sign of a successful wedding,” Christine said.
There was another knock at the door. Susan rushed for it, clearly on-edge, and opened it to find one of the downstairs hotel staff members, who’d brought the women a selection of pre-wedding snacks: slices of freshly baked baguette with various types of meats and cheeses, mini artisanal burgers, and mini cupcakes, slathered with cream cheese frosting.
“It’ll be a long time till we’re through the wedding and photography session,” Susan explained as she placed the hors d’oeuvres out across the table in front of them. “Hours and hours until we can eat properly again. Besides. Amanda and I worked very hard to pick out the perfect hors d’oeuvres, and I think we deserve to enjoy them. Don’t you think, Mandy?”
Amanda laughed, lifting a mini cheeseburger to her lips and eating delicately to ensure she messed up her makeup minimally.
“Lipstick can always be reapplied,” Lola teased her. “You’ll be doing plenty of kissing today, anyway.”
“I kept mine in my bra during my wedding to Scott,” Susan said mischievously.
“What a wonderful hack! Susan, I can’t believe you haven’t shared this before,” Christine said.
Susan shrugged as she ate a piece of baguette, her eyes closing over the tantalizing morsel and the melted cheese. “All women have secrets.”
Amanda, Audrey, Christine, and Lola howled with laughter, which eased the tension from Noah’s surprise appearance. Slowly, as they filled their bellies, Amanda allowed her nerves to float out the window and out across the Aquinnah Cliffs. It was nearly showtime.
ChapterSeventeen
Xander’s voice swept through the wind to find Kelli on the edge of the cliff. She turned as he approached her, his black hair whipping in the violent wind off the Sound, his smile big yet nervous. It occurred to her that she looked insane, standing at the edge of the cliff, as though she wanted to get as far away from the hotel as possible— even if that meant plunging into the depths below.
“There you are,” Xander said, linking his fingers through hers. Warmth and assurance flooded Kelli, and she fell against him, shaking her head against his chest.
“I’m in over my head,” she breathed.
“That’s the understatement of the century,” Xander said kindly.
“Did you ask the staff about the painting? Did anyone see who moved it? Or stole it?”
Xander sighed. “I talked to five different staff members, all of whom sped off after only a couple of seconds to tend to something else. Nobody seemed to know anything.”
“Isn’t that insane?” Kelli whispered. “I mean, it’s a large painting.”
“We’ll track it down after this wedding,” Xander assured her. “In the meantime, I really think we should take the next,” here, he looked at his watch, “approximately fifty-five minutes to chat with your family, relax a little bit, and prepare to watch Amanda’s wedding. We could get another round of Aperol Spritz and negroni?”
Kelli groaned. “You know what? That sounds like heaven on earth.”
Kelli and Xander walked hand-in-hand back toward the front door of the Aquinnah Cliffside Overlook Hotel, where they entered directly in front of the empty space on the wall where the painting should have been. Kelli bit her tongue and forced her eyes away. Xander was right. She couldn’t run around like a chicken with its head cut off to look for the painting, not with so many of her family members around. It was her duty to Susan, Amanda, and Charlotte to ensure this wedding went off without a hitch. The painting had nothing to do with that.
“There she is!” Steve, her older brother, appeared at the edge of the cocktail hour crowd, his grin sloppy and bigger than Kelli had seen it since the death of his wife, Laura. Beside him was his date, Rina, his daughter, Isabella, and her boyfriend, Rhett.
“Isabella, that dress is to die for,” Kelli said, impressed with the young lady’s dedication to vintage clothing.
“I got it at your boutique!” Isabella said.
“You mean Lexi’s boutique,” Kelli said. “She has total control these days.”
Kelli’s youngest, Lexi, appeared then, wearing a dark purple vintage dress she’d probably picked out for herself at the vintage shop, as well. Without hesitation, she wrapped Kelli in a hug and said, “This wedding is marvelous, Mom. I just love being in this hotel. It’s like being in a fairy tale.”
This was perhaps the sweetest thing Kelli had ever heard. “Are your siblings around here somewhere?”
