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“Don’t you?”
“I know that Jasmine is happy,” she said purposefully. “Didn’t you mention that as a concern earlier about Liam?”
He was not chastised at all.
“Obviously, I don’t know Jasmine the way you do. But Liam is very...he’s comfortable, and it does raise an eyebrow that he’s tying the knot so swiftly with a barista he just met.”
Her spine stiffening, Maren struggled to contain her anger. What a jerk.
“You are correct,” she said in a low and cool voice, not wanting to be overheard. “Obviously, youdon’tknow Jasmine. But hey, her parents are here. Let’s ask them if their daughter is gold-digging. That’s what you’re suggesting, right?”
“I’m not suggesting anything—”
“Aren’t you?” Maren turned her back on Alec Sullivan and addressed the room at large, her voice returned to friendliness, or as much as she could muster. “If you will excuse me, everyone.Dinner is in five minutes. I’ll just duck into the kitchen and make sure everything is ready. Feel free to start heading to the dining room,” she said and pointed toward the end of the long room, “through those French doors there.”
Chapter Four
All right, she definitely knew what she was doing as far as running a bed and breakfast went. Though Alec was generally a cold beer guy, the martini she’d pressed into his hand was possibly the best mixed drink he’d ever had. And he wasn’t sure what was stuffed inside those mushrooms on that fancy silver tray in the parlor, but those things were magnificent, not soon to be forgotten. He was rather sorry that he’d not arrived in time for the full cocktail hour and more hors d'oeuvres.
He moseyed around the parlor, eyeing the well-stocked bar of the bed and breakfast. It was made quaint inside a refurbished China cabinet, which had been painted a soft blue and purposefully weathered, the back wall of which was wallpapered in a pale plaid pattern. The entire bottom of the piece of furniture had been reconfigured so that when you opened the lower doors, one side revealed a wine and beer cooler. Up top, there were bottles of brandy, whiskey, bourbon, and several cordials. Admittedly, it was too pretty to suit his tastes, but he appreciated how the old piece of furniture had been adapted.
He thought her little history lesson was rather cute. He could sense and hear her enthusiasm in her subject matter, the Inn and the small town, making even the most mundane details seem extraordinary. He felt a little bad for squashing her fervor. His little quip to announce his arrival had turned her attention toward him, but it was unfortunate that the sparkle of excitement in her green eyes had been nearly completely extinguished by the time her gaze had landed on him.
Alec wasn’t here to make new friends, and frankly he wasn’t too concerned about what people might think of his opinions about the too-fast wedding, but then he felt oddly,uncharacteristically bad for having upset Maren Scott, as he’d evidently done earlier in the parlor.
Admittedly, she intrigued him. She was gorgeous, captivating, and unerringly nice, even when he wasn’t. Unfortunately, that was a combination he didn’t run into so often in Austin. Maybe there was something to be said for small towns.
After a few minutes, Alec followed the inn’s guests to the dining room, where the table was set for twelve.
Maren and another woman came and went, bringing covered dishes to the table, where apparently they would dine family style. Maren waved a gloved hand, advising there was no assigned seating, and to just sit anywhere.
“Unfortunately,” she said, “Liam’s cousin, Jim, and his wife, Heidi, just sent me an email saying they were stuck on the thruway, where a tractor trailer has jack-knife. They’re still a hundred miles out and not sure if they can make it at all—or, sadly, even get off the thruway anytime soon.”
Which might mean, Alec guessed, that there were two extra places at the table.
He took the seat next to the chair at the foot of the table.
Alec was surprised by the arrival of the man who’d held the door open earlier and had ushered him into the inn. The elderly gentleman had changed into a pair of brown trousers, a dress shirt, and a cardigan sweater.
Maren, returning with another large dish for the table, introduced him warmly.
“I’d like you to meet my neighbor, Hal Miller,” she said. “He lives across the street and has made owning the Morning Glory so much easier, so much better for having him as my friend. Hal is a regular at the Coffee Loft and knows Jasmine as well as I do and will be joining us for the wedding.”
She then went around the table, introducing the three different couples, which actually helped Alec out as he didn’t know anyone here.
“This is Mr. and Mrs. Adamczyk, the very proud parents of the bride, our friend, Jasmine,” she said, moving around the table. “That’s Mark and Emily Thompson. Mark and Liam have known each other since grad school. Emily works at a non-profit organization, focusing on community development up in Buffalo. This is Rachel, Jasmine’s cousin, and her boyfriend, Dan. Dan, you teach computer science, right? And Rachel is a travel blogger—or is it vlogger?”
“I am a documenter of adventures,” Rachel corrected.
The purple-haired woman said this without emotion so that Alec could not tell if she was admonishing Maren for giving false information or if Rachel was merely attempting to embellish her job description.
“How does a blizzard rank by way of adventure?” Hal asked.
A tight and condescending smile was Rachel’s only response, which barely masked her disinterest in engaging with an old-timer like Hal. Though Rachel had turned her attention back to the phone in her hand, Maren stared at her for another second. Alec speculated that if there were no other guests, Maren might have allowed her lip curl to evolve, as it appeared she was holding something back. And then he wondered if Maren had any sort ofCheckout-Can’t-Come-Soon-Enoughlist of people, and if Rachel had just shot right to the top.
“And that’s Alec Sullivan,” Maren said next as she set down the platter at the other end of the table, “a friend of Liam’s as well.” Maren announced she had one more dish to bring and disappeared into the kitchen again.
Hal Miller took the chair at the foot of the table, giving a polite nod to Alec, and snapped out his napkin, laying it in his lap. “I hope you came hungry,” he said to Alec.
