Page 41 of Gabriel & Skye

“Congratulations,” Celeste chimes. “George told me about Friday and I’d love to come. We can celebrate then.”

“But first, check out the rock that Celeste has on her finger.” Georgia grins.

“Callan and I got engaged!” she shrieks, holding up her left hand.

While I vaguely remember that he’s their cousin, I haven’t met him yet.

The sapphire and diamond sparkler is stunning.

“Oh my God!” I gasp. “Celeste, congratulations to both of you.”

“Thank you. Callan popped the big one unexpectedly when we were in the spa. I was terrified I was going to drop the damn thing!”

“Can you believe that?” Georgia chuckles. “He was wearing it on his pinky finger!”

I laugh. “That’s so sweet!”

“It was his grandmother’s ring,” Celeste tells me. “So it’s very special to both of us. She was a really special lady.”

“And I don’t want to brag and say I’m going to be Maid of Honor.” Georgia nudges Celeste. “I mean, I am, aren’t I?”

Celeste puts her out of her misery pretty quickly. “Of course you are! It was you who encouraged me to go for it with Callan in the first place when I had those revelations, but was too chickenshit.”

“Ah, the memories,” Georgia sighs. “Why don’t we all go have a coffee and I can tell you about the time me, Celeste and Trudy all burned Celeste’s former wedding dress at the stake before Callan came around the corner thinking he was putting out a real fire!”

“Wow, what?” I laugh. “You burned the wedding dress?”

“It was a bad omen not to.” Georgia shrugs.

“It’s all true,” Celeste confirms as Georgia leads us out back to a very fancy-looking staff room. They have a couple of coffee pod machines and a milk frother. Georgia sets about making us coffee and I quickly explain I only drink tea.

“That’s easy,” Celeste says, filling up the kettle. “We have all kinds of tea, too.”

“Thanks,” I say, gratefully. “So, you’re engaged, Celeste. How does it feel?”

“It feels amazing this time around,” she says. “Callan and I used to date years ago, but I moved away to LA. I only came back a few months ago, after I was left at the altar by my ex-fiancé.”

“He was a complete money grabbing jerk!” Georgia adds, reaching for the cups in one of the overhead cupboards.

“Wow.” My eyes grow wide at her confession.

“He was definitely a jerk,” Celeste agrees. “In the end, he got his karma, but that’s a story for another day. The main thing is, Callan and I found our way back to each other.”

“And not before time, either,” Georgia adds.

“That’s so sweet,” I say. “It’s so refreshing to hear a love story like that. It sounds like Callan has always held a flame for you.”

“I’d like to think so,” she giggles, admiring her ring again.

It’s a lovely thing to see someone so happy after going through something so awful. I haven’t had a real relationship since I was in my early twenties. But sometimes you have to kiss a few frogs to find your prince.

“Anyway, back to the burning of the dress at the stake thing…” Georgia fires up the pod machine. “Celeste’s old dress turned up with her belongings instead of going to goodwill, so it was my idea to set the thing on fire. You know, to bury the hatchet and put all that stuff in the past. It’s bad juju to hold on to anything that causes you so much pain.”

“It seemed like a good idea at the time.” Celeste shrugs. “And it worked.”

I listen on, completely intrigued.

“So there we are, at the fire pit just out back here with Trudy — Callan’s sister — you met her on the weekend. And who should come walking around the corner…well at first it was Sunny — Callan’s gorgeous dog — so we knew Callan wasn’t far behind. When he saw the flames, he ran to get the fire extinguisher.” Georgia laughs, holding her sides. “Honestly, Skye. You had to be there. It was comical. Here we were, after a shot or two of the good stuff, Callan thinking we were drunk and had gone bonkers, not realizing we were doing a kindness for Celeste and ridding her of the bad vibes and giving closure to a shitty situation.”

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