Page 37 of Dreaming of You

"I don't know all the details, but her son called 911 when he realized his mother was stuck, and that's how they met. Jessica is a teacher in Half Moon Bay. She and Reid are moving into a pretty new house on the coast after the wedding."

"What about Maggie? What's her story? How did she meet her fiancé?" he asked with interest.

"She was working for a hotel in Napa, the Stratton, when a really grungy guy came in, and her manager insisted she give him the worst room in the house. He didn't want that kind of guest in the hotel. Maggie was reluctant to follow through, which was a good thing, because the guest was undercover. Cole was, in fact, the owner's nephew, and he was there to see how the hotel was operating. Maggie and Cole ended up falling in love, and they recently bought an old inn that is part of a winery in Napa. They're refurbishing it together."

"Another great story. Who else is in the group?"

"This cannot be interesting for you."

"On the contrary, I'm intrigued."

"Well, there's Andrea and her twin sister, Laurel. Laurel was the first to get married. She and Greg were high school sweethearts. Then her sister, Andrea, met Alexander Donovan, the billionaire toy and game maker, when she was sent to interview him. They fell in love and got married. Julie married a baseball player, Matt Kingsley."

"Wait, I know that name. He plays for the Cougars. He's a superstar."

"Not just in baseball, also in life. Julie was really reluctant to fall in love with him, because her father was also an amazing ballplayer but a not-so-great husband and father. She was afraid Matt would be the same, but he's not. Julie actually runs Matt's charitable foundation. And then there's Liz and Michael. They knew each other in high school and then fell in love when they were competing for some PR business. Michael Stafford was a pro football player, but he got injured and went into the PR business with his sister. But that didn't last too long. He's a coach at Stanford now."

"I don't follow football as much as baseball," Barrett commented.

"Last but not least is Isabella. She's a dance teacher and Nick is in the hotel business. They met when he had to learn the tango to impress an Argentinian investor."

Barrett laughed. "Come on. Seriously?"

"No lie. And Isabella said he was not the best student. But they fell in love."

"You have quite a crew."

"And it's getting bigger. Andrea and Liz both have kids now and Julie is expecting."

"Everyone lives close by?"

"Within a few hours."

"You're lucky."

"Really lucky," she agreed. "They're the best friends in the world, even aside from all the wedding mania. They're the kind of people who are there for you when you need them. I'm sure you have friends like that."

"Not quite so many, but I have a couple of friends from college and a few more from law school who I stay in touch with."

"Have you always worked in your own law office?"

"No. I started out in a big firm doing corporate law, working a million hours a week. I lasted about four years." He paused. "Vanessa's father was a partner at that firm. That's how Vanessa and I met actually—at a company party."

"Oh. Now I understand why she'd think you'd be interested in going to her father's retirement party."

"He was a mentor to me. I liked him very much. In the end, I probably liked him more than I did Vanessa."

"Did you leave the firm because of your divorce?"

"No, I left six months before we separated. I was tired of what I was doing, and I had an offer to work in family law. I liked the idea of doing something more personal. But taking that job was a step back, not a step forward in terms of money and stature, and Vanessa was not happy about it. She didn't understand why I couldn't be happy doing the same job her father had been doing for years. It was probably close to the final straw."

"Well, you should do what you're passionate about. And as your wife, she should have supported you."

"I thought so, too."

"It was your job, not hers."

"Exactly. But my salary went down, the people I was working with changed, and she felt like I'd changed, which I had. I was finally being true to myself. Now, I run my own firm, and for the most part, my clients are great. Tonight's incident was an exception."

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