Page 69 of First Comes Marriage

“See you at home, wife.”

Chapter Twenty-five

“I’m sorry we’re late!” Tessa burst into the ballroom at The Barclay, the boutique waterfront hotel at the center of Aster Bay’s tourism industry, a Styrofoam to-go cup clutched in one hand. Jamie trailed behind her. He set a tray of mini pastries in the center of the round table at the edge of the room that the Food and Wine Festival Committee was using for its meeting.

“We had to stop for a milkshake at Dockside,” Jamie explained with a good-natured roll of his eyes. “That’s the big craving for month eight. Milkshakes.”

Natalia, the lingerie shop owner, stacked a few of the mini pastries on a napkin as she asked, “Why didn’t you make the milkshake yourself?”

“Apparently mine don’t taste as good,” Jamie said.

“It’s not that they don’t taste as good. But they’re different.” Tessa lowered herself into an empty chair with a sigh. “It’s the ice cream. You use a different kind.”

“I use local—”

“It’s very good ice cream,” Tessa said in a way that made it clear they’d had this argument many times before. “But it’s different. Don’t argue with me. Argue with the baby.” She pointed at her swollen belly. “I don’t make the rules.”

Gavin stifled a laugh, wincing when Kyla elbowed him inthe ribs. “We were just talking about what packages we should offer this year, and how to gamify them.”

“The easiest thing to do is create a passport program,” Sabrina explained, handing Jamie and Tessa copies of the notes she’d distributed earlier. She’d been up until well after midnight putting all her thoughts together, perfecting the language, the visuals, and she would have kept going if Sebastian hadn’t insisted she come to bed—not that she needed all that much persuading. She pushed away the thoughts of all the ways her husband had found to use his tongue the night before and forged ahead. “Between all the tastings, the opening dinner, and the bonfire on the beach, there are plenty of events and we want to encourage people to attend them all. If they attend at least four events over the course of the weekend, they’d earn an entry in a raffle for some kind of fantastic prize.”

“Tell him about the themed tracks,” Kyla said, nodding encouragingly.

“You all already did a great job curating themed packages of experiences last year. This would take it to the next level. We create themed tracks of activities—a girls’ weekend, for example. A mini photo shoot at the boudoir studio, a visit to the lingerie shop, a manicure or facial at the spa—”

“A breakup party at Get Clayed,” Kyla chimed in, grinning.

“Exactly. And if you do all the items in the track you get extra entries in the raffle. That way we can encourage people to visit all the businesses in town, not just the ones participating in the festival,” Sabrina said.

“I like it,” Jamie said.

“You better watch out, Sabrina, or they’ll make you the next chair of this thing,” Tessa cautioned with a smile.

“It worked out alright for you,” Jamie said.

Tessa shrugged, dissolving into laughter when Jamie tickled her side.

The rest of the meeting flew by as the group brainstormedtracks that would send tourists all over town and introduce locals to places they might not have otherwise had occasion to visit: a session of goat yoga at the goat farm; a walking tour of the filming locations fromOnce Upon A Town, the reality dating show where Gavin and Kyla had gotten together; an escape room-style game at Aster Place, the historic mansion in town; a mulled cider workshop at Longfield Farm; a pub crawl through the bars, breweries, and distilleries in town—the list went on and on.

By the end of the meeting, Sabrina had her own list of places she wanted to visit in town. When the meeting was over, Tessa slid into a seat beside Sabrina. “Did you get an appointment with Dr. Rosenbaum?” she asked.

“I did! Thank you for the recommendation. I go next week. I can’t believe he got me in this fast.”

“Good gynecologists are hard to come by. I’m happy to help. Those of us who are newer to town have to stick together,” Tessa said. “Trust me, though, by the end of the year, it’ll be hard to remember why you ever wanted to live anywhere else.”

Sabrina turned Tessa’s words over in her mind as she said her goodbyes and drove back to Sebastian’s condo. It was already hard to remember why she’d ever wanted to live anywhere else. She’d always loved Aster Bay—the people and the waterfront, the shops and restaurants—and her summers visiting Aunt Lucy were some of her happiest memories, especially that summer ten years ago when she’d spent most of her time stocking food pantry shelves with the man who was now her husband. If things hadn’t gone south all those years ago, if she hadn’t believed that Sebastian would run her out of town with an angry pitchfork-wielding mob, she probably would have stayed in Aster Bay instead of skulking off to Maine to lick her wounds and rebuild.

And now, all these years later, she could truly call Aster Bay home.

She paused, a strange sense of dread creeping up her spine. Homes could be lost. Homes could betaken. If she wasn’t careful, she’d once again have to give up her favorite coffee shop and local ice cream and the friends that had come built-in with her marriage. Even her position on the festival committee, where for the first time in years other people were looking to her for answers, could be taken from her—after all, these people had been Sebastian’s people long before they became hers.

And where would she go then, when Aster Bay was no longer welcoming to her? How many lives was she going to fall in love with and have to give up? How many times would she be forced to start over?

It was exactly what she’d been afraid of, why she’d promised herself never to get married again.

Fat lot of good that promise did you. All it took was forty-eight hours in Vegas with Sebastian Graham to get you to abandon that plan.

Sabrina put her car in park in the spot designated for Sebastian’s guests and dug through her purse for her phone. She refused to lose another home. It was too late to go back in time and stop herself from marrying Sebastian, but it wasn’t too late to protect herself against the inevitable day when he decided he’d had enough of playing house.

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