Page 95 of Christmas in Paradise

Just to make things extra stressful, both events are scheduled for the same day: December first. Charly is only interested in the kickoff, including the parade with Santa and his reindeer.

But she’s a flower girl in the wedding, so that’s the only one of the two shehasto attend. And as part of the wedding planning team and one of the bridesmaids, I have to be there too. Even though, honestly, going to a parade and waving to Santa would be so much easier.

Mom and Dad arrive the day before the wedding for the rehearsal, where they also get to meet Seb. I introduce him as my friend, but we stand too close together, and Seb is way too nervous to just be a friend. They’re not fooled. I can tell by the looks they shoot Seb through the entire rehearsal and then afterward at the Garden for dinner with the entire wedding party and family.

We’re all sitting together at a table with Georgia and Zach. While Seb and Zach talk, Mom leans over and whispers, “Tell me who this boy is.”

“Adam’s cousin. We met this summer. He’s really great, Mom. I promise.” Then, to distract her from asking more questions I don’t know the answer to—like what happens when I go back to Kansas—I ask her if she’ll take Charly to the parade.

“Oh, I wish I could,” Mom answers while squeezing Charly tight to her chest, rocking her and cooing, “I missed my baby girl sooooo much.”

“But?” I lean closer and feel Seb put his hand on my back.

“I’d be happy to keep her at the house while I get ready for the wedding, but I don’t think I’ll have time to take her to the parade,” she says to me before burying her face into Charly’s hair and raising her voice to the baby talk octave. “Gigi’s got to put her face on for the cameras.”

I take a deep breath and bite back any comments about Mom not being the one who’s on camera. Because I don’t know for sure that she won’t be. She had her own TV career on Christian networks before she and Dad got married. I know she misses the spotlight, but she also won’t want to get caught in it without looking her best. And the time between the parade and the wedding is tight.

“I can do it,” Seb says.

Which gets both Mom and Dad’s attention.

“You have to get ready for the wedding too,” I say.

Seb lifts his shoulder. “All I have to do is throw on a tux. Groomsmen have it much easier than mothers or sisters of the bride.”

His attempts to charm my mom fall short, but I reward him anyway. “And I’m looking forward to seeing you in that tux.” I rest my chin on my hand and lean in for a kiss.

He complies and purses his lips. But our mouths barely brush before Dad clears his throat. I don’t need to see Dad’s face to know Seb has not charmed him.

We both sit back, but as soon as Dad isn’t looking, Seb moves his hand to my knee, sending a surge of heat up my thigh.

“You won’t have time to get her ready if she goes to the parade,” Mom says to me.

Charly turns her head back and forth to make the lights on her moose rack hat wiggle. “I see Santa amorrow.”

I can’t disappoint her, and Seb has proven he can handle Charly. Ignoring Mom, I turn to him. “I’ll do her hair before you go. If you get a spot right at the start of the parade, you can leave as soon as S-A-N-T-A goes by. If you don’t let her get messy, then all I have to do is get her in her dress in time for the wedding.”

“Got it.” He salutes me, then winks. “Totally doable.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “No ebelskiver, Seb. No matter how much she begs.”

He’s got her addicted, and there will be a stand at the parade selling them. Not Britta, obviously, because of the wedding. But ebelskiver, nonetheless.

“No ebelskiver.” Now he winks at Charly, who responds by using her fingers to pull one of her eyelids down in her own wink.

“I wike ebbesive…” the final letters disappear into a babble of nonsense words.

And right then, I should know this isn’t my best plan ever. In fact, it may be my worst.

Because the next day when Seb runs into the church preschool where all the bridesmaids are getting ready, it’s fifteen minutes before the wedding starts, he’s carrying Charly around her waist, and she’s definitely had ebelskiver. Her face is clean—mostly—but her clothes are covered in powdered sugar and some kind of jelly.

“Seb!” I cry, trying to keep Charly at arm’s length as I take her from him.

“Sorry! But she had fun!” He dashes off toward the other side of the church where the men are getting ready.

I shake my head, irritated that he didn’t follow my directions. But then I look into Charly’s eyes. She’s glowing like she does whenever she spends time with Seb, and I know she’s had fun, because he made the morning about her and what she wanted to do.

I also know she’s on a sugar high and will be crashing sooner than later. Hopefully later. Like after she’s made it down the aisle.

---