Page 21 of Always a Bridesmaid
For a second, she was confused, but then she figured out he was counting Addie as a guy.
“What I should’ve mentioned is that I’m arecoveringbridesmaid.” Talking wedding options and showing proof of how many she’d gathered were entirely different things, and there was no way in hell she could show Lexi and Addie her binder with Ford there.
More than that, it’d be too painful, and she never should’ve sat down in the first place.
The alarm in her head wailed, behind as usual.
Recovery was a slippery slope—one she was way too close to sliding down headfirst.
“How’s it going over here?” Maisy asked as she approached the table. “I’m so sorry I don’t have a look book. I’ve only done a couple of weddings so far, but if you have a picture, I can make it.”
The apologetic note in her sister’s voice dug at Violet.
“I feel so unprepared,” Lexi said. “Maybe I should drive home and come back.”
“No,” Addie and Ford both said at the same time, and Addie elaborated with, “I don’t want you to go to all that trouble when I should be able to handle something so simple.”
Part of Violet wanted to suggest they search up cakes on their phones, but service in town was slow and spotty, and it was hard to make a solid decision on thumbnail images.
The chime over the door sounded again, and Maisy turned to greet her customers. Saturdays were busy, and right now the best way she could help her sister was by doing the last thing she wanted to.
Why me?“Okay, fine. I’ll be right back with something that might help.”
Bright side spin: if her binder could be used for good, maybe it’d help her let go of everything it stood for.
…
Damn, she smells nice.
The scent of Violet’s perfume lingered in the air, and Fordmight’vewatched her walk out of the bakery a bit too closely.
What on earth had she meant with thatrecovering bridesmaidremark? She’d made it sound as if wearing colorful dresses and holding a bouquet was an addiction she needed to kick. Didn’t mean she wasn’t engaged, and if she loved weddings as much as her spiel suggested…Yikes.
With her gone, it was easier to concentrate, but it wasn’t like he suddenly became a wedding-cake expert. Unless being sure he could eat a whole one himself was useful. To further complicate matters, he was growing more and more aware of the time.
Ford needed to get going on his day, but he didn’t want to hurt Lexi’s or Murph’s feelings. Addie would understand that he was on a tight puppy-training schedule, but she was the one who’d always been there for him. The one who listened without judgment when he told her about rough jobs and confessed that, once in a while, they got to him.
It’d taken months to open up to her about the aftermath of the last hurricane and everything that’d happened when he went down to the gulf. Of course Addie had told him he shouldn’t blame himself. She’d reassured him that people had to rest now and again and that anyone could’ve made the same mistake, but he couldn’t let himself off that easily.
The chime on the door sounded, and Violet strolled inside.
While yesterday he’d found her disheveled appearance a little too captivating, today she was less harried, her brown hair hanging in loose waves around her shoulders. Her shirt was about as red as her face had been when she’d come into the kitchen talking about hiding from him. He was still a big fan of the yoga pants, but her snug jeans also displayed her figure rather nicely.
As she moved closer, he caught sight of the glittery purple object in her hands. The very same item she’d snatched from him in the alleyway.
She sat between him and Lexi and plopped the binder on the table. Then she moved her fingers along the tabs, mumbling until she reached the middle section. A page slipped free as she opened the book, and she quickly tucked it underneath the back cover. “Here you go. Several cakes to check out.”
Ford glanced from her to the page titledmy dream wedding cakes. “Wow. That’s…intense. Like obsessive-serial-killer level, but for cakes you plan to murder.”
“Ford.Be nice.” Shep’s wife placed a hand on Violet’s shoulder. “Ignore him. What he meant to say is thank you.”
No, what he meant washoly shit, she has her entire wedding planned out.And he shouldn’t have touched her hand or teased her in the kitchen, and why did he hate the idea of her being already taken so much?
Bracing herself on her forearms, Addie leaned across the table. “Those are gorgeous. I see what you mean about the flowers, although purple isn’t really my color.” She spun the binder her way. “While I get your aversion to dandelions, Lex, I do like yellow. What about daisies and sunflowers—are they weeds? I realize they’re out in the fields, but I want the decorations to match how I feel about marrying Tucker: happy.”
Without warning, Lexi launched herself at Violet, arms winding around her neck. The legs of the chair wobbled from the impact, and Ford placed his hand on the chair back so they wouldn’t go down. While he wouldn’t mind seeing the two women plastered together on the floor, no one was going to get a concussion on his watch.
“Violet, you’re a miracle worker,” Lexi said, releasing her hold on the woman next to him but not relinquishing her personal space. “She picked a coloranda flower. Or flowers, as the case may be, but at long last I have something to work with.”
