Page 6 of The Secret to a Southern Wedding

“Tell you for what, Madam Assistant Principal? You can’t leave the school and come meet me. Not in the middle of a school day.”

Halle sighed. “I know and things won’t settle down here for a while. We have benchmark testing, it’s the middle of soccer season and we’re planning eighth grade graduation.”

“Please don’t tell me Shania graduates this year?” Imani squeezed the steering wheel. Her little cousin was still a snaggletoothed six-year-old in Imani’s eyes.

“Not quite. We’ve got another year before she moves to high school. I wish that were the only thing I had going with that girl.” Voices sounded in the background. “Okay, I’ll be right there.” Halle switched to the professional, clipped tone of voice she used at work which meant she wasn’t talking to Imani. When she spoke again, she was back to her regular voice. “Imani, I’ve got to go handle something. Call me later after you see your mom. Let’s hang out.”

“Where we gonna hang out in Peachtree Cove?”

“Girl, quit hating. Peachtree Cove has got a lot going on for it now. Just wait and see after you get here. And don’t give Aunt Linda a hard time. Let her be happy, okay?”

“I’ll let her be happy as long as he’s not a creep.” Or worse.

Halle laughed. “He’s not a creep. Bye, girl.”

Imani ended the call and sat back in the leather seat. She was tempted to let the top down on the convertible rental car she’d been stuck with after landing at Augusta Airport, but with no hat or scarf her hair would be a mess by the time she reached her mom’s house. Her heart leaped at the thought of seeing her mom, who’d effectively avoided all of Imani’s calls since sending the text with a picture of the wedding invitation. She had no problem texting Imani back to say, yes, she was getting married, and no, she hadn’t lost her mind. Imani assumed the refusal to answer the phone was her mom’s way of getting her daughter back in town.

Well, it worked.

The two-lane state highway that led from Interstate 20 into the east side of Peachtree Cove, Georgia, was lined on both sides by fields filled with rows of peach trees. All of them with empty branches that would soon flower as spring came in, before overflowing with leaves and fruit. Imani smiled despite her problems as she glanced at those trees. Every summer during high school, her cousin Halle and their mutual friend, Tracey, would make extra money harvesting peaches with the other seasonal workers.

It had been a fun and profitable part of the summer. Spending the mornings getting peaches or working at the peach stand on the side of the road for Mr. Shubert—the man who owned the peach field where they worked. Followed by afternoons swimming at the lake or hanging out at the skating rink. Back then life had seemed so simple and wonderful.

Simple and wonderful until everything shattered.

She crossed the line into Peachtree Cove. The familiar Welcome to Peachtree Cove, Home of the World’s Best Peaches sign greeted her. Imani shook her head and laughed. So that was still going on? The town of Peachtree Cove had a friendlyish rivalry with the City of Peach Valley located across the river in South Carolina. Peach Valley also claimed the “world’s best peaches” much to the citizens of Peachtree Cove’s dismay.

Crossing the border also meant she’d soon come across the Peachtree Cove Dairy Bar. The small restaurant located on the outskirts of town, but close enough to the interstate to advertise to travelers passing by, first opened in the seventies and had the best soft-serve ice cream and fried chicken in the area. That wasn’t what made her excited about stopping, though. They also had the best corn dogs outside of the state fair.

She shouldn’t stop. She really needed to get to her mom’s and get to the bottom of this. Her stomach growled just as the sign for the Dairy Bar came into view. Well, eating before getting there was a good idea. She didn’t need to be hangry when she confronted her mom about this impromptu wedding.

She pulled into the gravel parking lot. The Dairy Bar consisted of a one-room peach-and-blue building. Inside, the employees made the food customers ordered at the windows spanning the front of the building. A huge hand-painted sign hung over the windows with the variety of offerings. Covered picnic tables were lined in two rows on the side for those who wanted to eat at the location.

The Dairy Bar wasn’t too crowded for a Friday afternoon. Imani stood in line behind two other people after parking. She scanned the menu for any updates even though she knew what she was going to order and smiled. Halle may have said things changed, but this place hadn’t. Except for a few new ice cream flavors, the menu was the same.

“Next customer,” the young woman behind the window called out.

Imani stepped forward. “Yes, let me get a corn dog—”

“Regular or foot-long?”

Her eyes perked up and her stomach growled in approval. Imani shook her head. “Um...regular.” She’d tackle the foot-long when she had more time. “Add a Diet Dr Pepper with that, please.”

“Anything else?”

Imani shook her head and stepped to the side to wait the five to ten minutes the girl promised. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket to text her mom that she’d be there in a little bit.

“Hey, I’d like a chocolate-dipped cone, please.”

The sound of a man’s smooth baritone with a northern accent that said he was not from Peachtree Cove made her look up from her phone. Her head tilted to the side, and she took in a long breath. He couldn’t be from around here. Halle would have told her if there was new hotness like him in Peachtree Cove.

He was taller than her, but she wasn’t sure if he was much over six feet or right at it. He had golden brown skin, and a full beard with a sprinkle of gray surrounding thick lips. Tattoos on his biceps peaked out from the short sleeves of his cream-colored button-up shirt, and wine-colored shorts fit just well enough to draw her eye to his round ass. She liked a guy with an ass.

He turned her way. Dark brown eyes collided with hers and Imani blinked and looked down at her phone. Heat filled her face. Had she said that aloud? She bit the corner of her lip and kept her eyes trained on the phone.

The guy slid to the side after his order. Closer to her. She looked up and was surprised to see him watching her. The corner of his mouth lifted in a slight smile, and he raised his chin in hello. His dark eyes narrowed slightly as if he appreciated what he saw.

Imani smiled back as she stepped out of the way. Oh, he was cute, confident by the way his direct gaze followed her, and if she wasn’t in town to deal with her mom’s stuff, she might consider flirting. She was woefully single with no prospects. Not by choice, but due to lack of contact with a man she could tolerate for more than a half hour.

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