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“We’re waiting on you instead,” Abbie said.
Sure enough, Abbie and Skylar went behind the bar to make drinks while Christian, Maura, Jude, Brooke, Zoey, and Jared set us down at the table in the center of it all. The rest of our friends gathered to check out my ring and congratulate me.
“We’re so glad you’re back,” Zoey said, plopping into the seat next to me. She was Jared’s wife, and because Jared and Bo spent so much time together, she and I had become good friends. “Please tell me you don’t have to go back on the road anytime soon.”
I shook my head. “We’ve got everyone up and running. We told Bo’s dad we want to focus on running this place for a while.”
Jared sat back in his chair, smiling. “This town needs you. Nobody can replace you.”
In the year they’d been together, I’d joined my now-fiancé numerous times behind the bar. Every time we were home, we’d get back there and show off what we could do. We were a fantastic team, having expanded the bar’s liquors and drink options well beyond what it had once had.
Skylar arrived, setting my new favorite nonalcoholic drink in front of me—the Phillips family sweet tea. Bo hadn’t been there to make it, but Abbie knew the recipe just as well as he did. That was one thing that never changed, no matter which one of them was running things around here.
“Okay,” Abbie said, plopping down across from me. “The appetizers are ordered and on their way. Now let’s start planning the wedding.”
Bo laughed and settled his hand on my left thigh. “Can we just enjoy being engaged for a minute?”
“No.” I looked over at him. “I want to be married by summer.”
His eyes widened. “You realize summer’s just a few months away.”
She shrugged. “You could get married right here in this bar, like Zoey and Jared.”
Abbie pointed to Zoey, who was now behind the bar, making drinks. Jared stood back there with her, arm around her as he watched her work.
“No way,” I said. “Nothing against this place, but I spend my life in bars. I’d like something a little more romantic for my wedding.”
“There’s a little chapel in Boone. My friend got married there.”
“I’d rather stay in Blackbear Bluff,” Bo said. “This is my home.”
“Ourhome,” I said. “This place gets in your blood. I want to get married in the same town where we’re going to raise our children.”
I turned to smile at him, and our eyes held in a long stare. Everything else seemed to melt away. That happened sometimes when we were tending bar. Our hands would touch briefly as I reached for something, or his eyes would meet mine as we worked. Every time, it gave me just the jolt of adrenaline I needed to get the work done.
“Okay, scooch over,” Cherry said.
The rest of our friends had now flooded the table, pulling chairs with them. Somehow, we managed to get all fifteen of us squeezed in around the restaurant’s largest table.
One of us has to have a destination wedding,” Skylar said, looking around. “Who’s going to volunteer?”
Abbie shook her head. “I’m not even in a relationship, so don’t look at me.”
“And she won’t have one anytime soon,” Bo said. “She wants to finish school first.”
“Yeah, that’s what I used to think,” Skylar said. “I wasn’t ready for a relationship, but love finds you when you least expect it.”
Abbie shook her head. “Not for me. I’m done with men.”
“So, you swing the other way, huh?” Maura teased.
“No.” Abbie rolled her eyes. “I’m just in love withmeright now. There’s plenty of time for marriage and kids later on.”
“I thought that too,” I said. “We have plenty of time. But I couldn’t wait to get started.”
Unlike my friends, who wanted to take time to travel and see the world, I’d always been the type who couldn’t wait to be a mom and a wife. While developing my mixology talent was still important to me, and I planned to use it as often as possible and even enter some competitions, I also wanted to make a home for myself and Bo.
“I’ll tell you what,” Abbie said. “If I ever get married, I’ll have a destination wedding. We can go to the beach.”
