Page 95 of Smuggler's Cove
Madison worked up an evite and sent a text to everyone:
Please Join Us
for
Dinner on the Patio
May 18th
Half past six
29 Portland Road
The Wainwright Family
Chapter Nineteen
Parties and Festivals
In less than twenty-four hours, everyone had RSVPed except for Viggo. Madison sat at her desk. She was deflated. Maybe he was out of town? Maybe he had plans? Then later that evening, he phoned instead. He apologized for not getting back to her sooner, but he was having trouble with his phone. He asked if there was anything he could bring. Madison hadn’t planned to bring Mario and Luigi until after the opening, so she suggested he bring Diogo. “Does he have good table manners?”
Viggo laughed. “Better than mine.”
“Perfect. If you’d like, he is certainly welcome.”
“Thank you. I’ll check to see if he’s available.”
“Is he vegan or have any food allergies?” she asked coyly.
“None that I am aware of,” Viggo said, as if he had been asked that question many times before.
Madison appreciated Viggo’s sense of humor, and apparently, he appreciated hers. There was an easiness between the two of them that she found refreshing.
They ended the call with “talk soon.” Yes, it wasveryeasy.
Her shoulders finally relaxed. Madison hadn’t realized how uptight she was before the phone call. She stretched her neck and looked down at Mario and Luigi, patiently waiting for their dinner. She explained about the dinner party and how she was concerned about whether or not Viggo would attend. The cats stared and blinked. Madison could have sworn Mario looked up at the clock. Had he been wearing a watch, he would have tapped it with one of his paws. “Okay. Okay. You guys are so pushy.” Then she laughed at herself. “Do you think Viggo talks to his dog the way I talk to you?”
Mario gave her aget busylook, and then rubbed his head against her leg.
The weekends that followed were jam-packed with meetings. Lincoln was meeting with the suppliers and his crew, and Madison and Olivia were meeting with the festival committee. Madison was very aware that the local townsfolk were still a little leery of them, and she held her tongue as much as possible. When she wanted to present an idea, she would use her tried-and-true technique and ask their opinion first. She won most of the time. For example, getting local radio stations to promote the event as a public service announcement due to the money raised for families of victims. It had never occurred to any of them to try that tactic, and it worked. They even got one of the stations to agree to broadcast live from the festival.
They hadn’t made any other friends aside from their little group, but that was fine with Madison. Her only agenda was to honor her uncle and have a special dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony. To that extent, she got no pushback.
* * *
The weekend of the dinner party had arrived, and the house was buzzing. Even though it was a small party of twelve, Madison wanted it to be exceptional. She especially wanted to impress Viggo with her hostess talents.
A few days before the party, Madison combed through her wardrobe in her apartment to find the perfect outfit. With all the commotion, comings and goings, and planning, she hadn’t given it much thought. The only dinner-party attire she had was white. She picked a white silk pantsuit. It was elegant enough, yet simple enough for the occasion. She took a few days off from work and arrived at the house on Wednesday, just in case anything needed emergency attention. But thanks to Olivia and Irene, everything was going according to plan.
On the morning of the party, the skies were threatening to rain. Madison paced the floor of the kitchen area. “What’s Plan B?” she asked Olivia.
“The same as Plan A. I ordered tents to put under the balcony, so we can still be seated outside.”
Madison hugged her sister-in-law. “You are amazing.”
“I learned from one of the best.” Olivia returned the hug.
The caterers arrived around four and began to set up the bar and the long dinner table, complete with linens. They hung string lights along the underside of the upper balcony, set the table with several floral arrangements of white peonies, and scattered tea lights in front of each place setting.
