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Robin nodded. “I agree.” She did, but she hadn’t told anyone that Duke had come back from Alaska, and that they could honestly move into the house much earlier than she’d said. She wasn’t sure why she’d withheld the information, but Kristen was bringing Clara to lunch tomorrow. They’d all know then.
She hadn’t invited her mother to the luncheon tomorrow either, and she should probably do that too.
Her phone rang, and Robin took if from her pocket and glanced at it. The number on the screen was her business number, so she knew someone had called her secondary number, and it was being forwarded to this phone. She didn’t want to answer it, because that meant a new client.
She was already fully booked for the summer, what with her move and trying to get Mandie ready to live in a big city—a huge city—alone in only a couple of months.
“You’re not going to answer?” Duke asked, his voice soft and tender. She loved moments like this between the two of them.
“It’ll be a new client.” Robin lowered her phone to her thigh. “I don’t have room for new clients.”
“Mandie does,” he reminded her. “I heard you guys talking about your schedule the other day. She wants to take on more clients.”
“She can’t take on clients of her own,” Robin said. “I have to help her.” Not only that, but Robin wanted her daughter to leave Five Island Cove. Yes, she was sad her daughter and good friend would be off experiencing life without her. At the same time, Robin didn’t want Mandie to stay here for her entire life, the way Robin had.
She wanted more for her daughter, and if Mandie could take on clients of her own, and Robin taught her everything she knew, then what? Mandie would work with her or start her own arm of the event planning and never leave?
No, Robin told herself. She loved her life on Five Island Cove. It had been perfect for her. Mandie was destined formore, though. Robin wanted her to experience that more, and in the end, if she decided to come back to the cove, fine.
Her phone rang again, this time from a number she didn’t know. She watched the number, trying to place it. The area code wasn’t local, but it wasn’t far either. “Nantucket,” she said. “Or maybe New York.”
“Answer it,” Duke said. “It won’t be a client.”
Robin touched and swiped and then tapped the speaker. “Hello?”
“Hello, yes,” a woman said, her voice rushed. “Is this Robin Grover?”
She looked at Duke and rolled her eyes. This was totally a new client. “Yes,” she said wearily.
Duke’s arm along her shoulders tightened, and she leaned further into him. That was his way of saying he’d help her, but she’d like to know how he could do that from a fishing boat off the coast of Alaska.
“Yes, hello,” the woman said. She’d calmed already, and Robin could appreciate that. “My name is Madeline Lancaster, and I know this is a huge long shot. My son and future daughter-in-law have been engaged for almost a year, and they just found out that the venue they booked in New York City can’t accommodate their wedding. So I’m in a bit of a bind trying to find another venue.”
“It’s June on Five Island Cove,” Robin said. “Places book up here too.”
“I’m aware of that,” she said. “That’s why I asked Theresa Travis for your number.”
Robin pulled in a breath and held it. “Theresa Travis gave you my number.” She wasn’t asking, and she silently prayed Madeline would say no.
“Yes,” Madeline said.
Robin sighed and pressed her eyes closed. “Fine,” she said as she exhaled heavily. “When is the date?”
“Next, uh, Friday night.”
“Next Friday night.” Robin’s eyes came open. “You have to be joking.”
The woman laughed, but it sounded a touch manic. “I wish I was, trust me. My daughter-in-law is in tears; my son is raving and ranting. I’m the new manager at The Glass Dolphin, and I’ve already gotten permission to be able to cater the wedding. Not all of their guests will be able to come now, what with the location change, but if you could get us a venue, some flowers, some decent décor… They’ll take anything at this point. A beach, if possible, with some dressing rooms, even if they’re tents. I have some friends who are coming to help, and we can tie bows, make table centerpieces, anything you need.”
Someone else spoke on Madeline’s end of the line, so Robin didn’t launch right into her spiel about setting up an appointment to meet and go over everything. She’d have to get on the phone the moment she hung with Madeline to find a venue that wasn’t being used in only eight days, on the weekend, in the evening.
She honestly wasn’t a miracle worker, but if she could pull this off, she’d be as close as anyone ever had.
“Theresa says she can mobilize some women too,” Madeline said. “We just need your genius and the supplies. You tell us what to do, and we’ll do it.”
“You’re with Theresa right now?”
“Yes,” Madeline said.
