Page 89 of Bubbles at the Beach House Hotel

I hugged Randolph and said, “Stephanie is going to have dinner with us, and I’ll bring her back here for a visit.”

“Thanks,” said Randolph. “It was a lucky day when we had to bunk in with you folks at your house.”

“It truly was,” I quickly agreed.

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Later, when Stephanieand I made a brief visit to the hospital, I thought again about the relationship my family had with both Stephanie and Randolph. Though they’d served as Robbie’s grandparents for only a few years, I had a closer relationship with them than I’d ever had with my grandmother. Even in dying, she hadn’t allowed me to be close. She’d dropped dead of a heart attack while I was out of the house at my college class.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Saturday morning, Iallowed myself some extra time in bed. Lorraine and her assistant, Laura, were handling the wedding. Annette would be there to help. The thought of trying to deal with a fussy bride was very unappealing, especially when I knew how excited I was about Caro’s wedding tomorrow evening.

After getting up and dressing for the day, I called Lorraine to make sure everything was running smoothly.

“It’s going fine, although all of us on staff can’t wait to get this one behind us. The bride feels entitled to order people around, making one demand after another. Laura and Annette will take care of brunch tomorrow while I travel to New York. Why don’t you and Rhonda enjoy the day, knowing you’ll be busy with the next wedding?”

“Thank you. That sounds wonderful. It’s been a hectic week.”

After I ended the call, I phoned Rhonda. She was as pleased to follow Lorraine’s suggestion as I was. Weddings were a ton of work, and though we were excited to handle the one for Caro and Henry, we knew this break from the hotel would be helpful.

After I ended the call, I refilled my coffee cup and headed out to the lanai. Vaughn was sitting there reading.

“Guess what? I have the day off,” I said, sitting on the couch next to him. “Want to play?”

Vaughn laughed at my teasing. “I can think of lots of games to play with you. What did you have in mind?”

“I thought this afternoon, it might be pleasant to stroll through town and look at all the decorations.”

“I could do that and then take you to dinner,” said Vaughn. “Brett has already been here. He wants Robbie to go to Miami with him. His parents are going to look at a new boat, and he doesn’t want to go with them alone.”

“And Robbie said yes?”

“He’s excited about it. The boys will play some sort of computer game challenge on the way and back. And Charlie is going to let them help with the boat. They’re stoked about it.”

“Then we have a day to enjoy ourselves,” I said, becoming excited about the idea of a date with Vaughn.

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