Page 8 of My Accidental Holidate

Stella tsks beside me and squeezes my arm gently. “Call me Grandma or Grams, sugar. We’re practically family and I always did hate my name.”

I look down at her slightly confused, but nod at her request.

“Hello Lucy,” Beth beams from ear to ear. “You aren’ttheLucy, are you? My friends told me about this shop and the wonderful owner who doesanythingfor her clients.”

My cheeks heat a little from embarrassment, but I can’t help nodding enthusiastically in confirmation. I’m a proud business owner after all.

“Scribble & Scribe is my pride and joy. You must be here for the Reynolds invitations?”

“The girls are going to be surprised when I tell them we’re practically family now. You have an adorable shop and offer the best customer service and products in town as we hear and that’s not an easy feat here in this town.” Beth nods for emphasis before continuing, “And yes, the Reynolds initiations are mine. I ordered them ages ago. I hope they haven’t been in your way this whole time.”

“Not at all,” I assure her. “I had them tucked away in the office. I remember checking them when they came in and they’re stunning.” I guide Grams over to the counter, urging Beth to join us.

I open the box and pull out one of the cards. It’s thick stock in stark white. The edges have small silver hearts in two tones giving it a hint of dimension and the wording created in a silver metallic script. There are matching envelopes, the front being stark white while the outside has silver confetti hearts and the inside of the flap coated in silver metallic. I designed a silver seal to close the invitation as a thank you gift for the couple.

My face flushes thinking about this being a silly and maybe unwanted gesture, but Beth seems to love them. Pulling them out of their protective sleeve and holding them against the envelope for the full effect.

The bell above the door rings and I smile at the couple, momentarily distracted as they come in. Rosie hurries over to assist them and I turn my attention back to Beth who’s going through the rest of the items.

“These are perfect. They turned out even better than I imagined they would,” Beth says, placing the lid back on the box and looking at me with delight. “You’re coming to the party, aren’t you?”

Grandma Stella roams over to the wax and seals section, opening a few of the little drawers, poking the different colors of wax pearls inside.

“I don’t think I should,” I say honestly, turning back to Beth. “I’m not family.”

“Don’t be silly, you must come. I ordered way too much food and wine. You’d be doing me a favor. Besides,” she leans in and whispers to me conspiratorially, “The girls and I get a little competitive with our parties. If you come, it’ll be like having a celebrity there.”

I take a deep breath to respectfully decline, but Beth cuts be off before I can say anything. “Don’t say no yet. It’s not until next month, so you can think about it, okay?”

“Okay,” I semi-agree, more to end the topic than promise my presence.

We leave Grandma Stella to her browsing, and I help Beth pick out different items. The two of us exchange stories, her about how she and James, Kurt’s dad, met and fell in love. Me about how I started the business in a world growing with digital technology.

“I hate to ask this,” Beth says taking her credit card back and smiling to where Stella’s taking a cat nap. She cleared out a stack of journals I placed in the display chair with a fluffy blanket and fell asleep after getting settled. “Would it be okay to leave her here while I run down to the bakery? I shouldn’t be more than ten to fifteen minutes, tops.”

“Of course,” I say immediately. “We’ll be fine here and there’s no sense waking her up since she’s tired. I can also put your items behind the counter, so you don’t have to carry them around with you, if you’d like.”

Almost as soon as Beth is out the door, a young couple arrives for their appointment. Rosie shoots me an apologetic look, still assisting the first couple. I wave away her concerns and greet them, guiding them to a private table where we can discuss their ideas for their wedding invitations and go through examples.

“Tell me about the big day, have the two of you picked a date yet?” I ask pulling out a notebook to jot down their concepts.

“We were thinking about June,” the bride to be blushes and flicks her gaze to her fiancé.

“Oh, June is a wonderful month to get married,” Grandma Stella says, making her way to the table. “Everyone thinks April is the best month. And sure, if you want it to be cold and rainy with a chance of snow. And April showers don’t bring May flowers. May just brings cicadas and bugs. June is the best, don’t you think Lucy? It’s when I was married.”

“Eh, yes—” I get out before Grandma Stella continues.

“Good. It’s decided then. June. The magnolia and roses will be in bloom, so gorgeous.” She pauses and cocks her head slightly, reminding me of Kurt when he looked at me in the car the other night. “October or November could be okay though.”

“June is a wonderful month,” I say trying to take control of the conversation again. “What colors were you thinking?”

Stella looks at me, her eyes sparkling. “June it is. It doesn’t leave us much time for planning though.” She pulls the book of invitations toward her and beings flipping through. Pointing out her favorites while the couple agree with everything Stella says.

She takes the notebook from my hand and starts jotting down items. Reminding all of us that while we don’t typically have a lot of rain in June, we need to be prepared to move the wedding inside.

I notice that while Stella divides a page in the notebook and while she was jotting down notes from the couple, she was also tracking my comments.

No, I don’t like pink.

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