Page 30 of A Vineyard Love

Kelli blushed and waved her hand.

“It’s true,” Kerry reminded her. “Remember all those nights you spent at our house, telling me about your ideas for this very ballroom? You had a whole list of artists you wanted to feature. Local artists you wanted to uphold.”

Kelli remembered that long-ago day when the day-to-day logistics of the hotel hadn’t been a problem and she’d been allowed to revel in beautiful things.

“Show us some of that art!” Uncle Wes cried.

Kelli sipped her Aperol Spritz, allowing her anxious thoughts to slow. “Okay. Well. Up there, over the bar, is a beautiful take on Art Deco, but done by a wonderful Nantucket painter.”

“Oh! The other island,” Uncle Wes joked.

“Don’t worry. I have plenty of Martha’s Vineyard artists around here,” Kelli said, surprised that her smile felt natural. “There’s a great one in the lobby, actually. Let me show you.”

Kelli led her mother, her father, her fiancé, her uncle, and Beatrice into the foyer, where she hoped to show them “Vineyard Starlight,” a transcendent painting a Martha’s Vineyard artist had painted of the lighthouse at night. But when Kelli reached the floor directly beneath where she’d had the painting hung (an event she’d been present for), she gaped up at a wall that was now completely empty.

For a moment, her family was quiet behind her, clearly waiting for her to say something.But what could she say?

“Um. The painting was right here?” Kelli muttered as she turned back to lock eyes with her mother.

Kerry frowned. “Have your decorators moved things around on you?”

“Nobody was told to make any adjustments to the paintings,” Kelli said firmly.

Xander suddenly looked very pale. “Kelli…” he began.

“There has to be an explanation,” Kelli said. It suddenly felt as though the ground beneath her feet was uneven. “I mean, maybe they got some bad information. Or maybe the painting was damaged? Or?”

Kelli’s mother and father exchanged worried glances. In the strange silence, Xander stepped forward to take Kelli’s arm gently. “We’d better check on that together. Right, Kelli?”

“When you find it, I’d love to see it,” Uncle Wes said brightly, trying to soothe Kelli’s fears.

“Of course. You four will be the first people to see it once it’s back in place,” Kelli assured them. “Go back to the ballroom! Enjoy the party. The hors d’oeuvres are to die for. I didn’t hire one of the best chefs on the eastern seaboard for nothing.”

“Don’t tell that to Zach!” Uncle Wes joked, speaking of Christine’s husband.

Kelli feigned laughter until she and Xander turned the corner and stalled in the back hallway. Kelli felt out of breath. Just before she could speak, however, her phone buzzed with a text from Charlotte, her sister.

CHARLOTTE: Hey, sis!

CHARLOTTE: Happy wedding day.

CHARLOTTE: I’m in the kitchen of the hotel, looking for the big order of champagne. It should have been delivered this morning around ten-thirty. Any chance you know where it ended up?

KELLI: It’s got to be in the extra walk-in fridge in the back.

KELLI: The kitchen staffers were annoyed at all the space the wedding stuff was taking up, so I told them to put everything back there.

CHARLOTTE: A lot of that stuff is in there, yeah. But not the champagne.

CHARLOTTE: It should have been five crates’ worth.

Kelli closed her eyes, annoyance and fear rolling through her.

“What’s going on?” Xander asked.

“Apparently, Charlotte can’t find the champagne. And it’s not where I told the kitchen staff to put it.”

“I can head back to the kitchen to help her find it,” Xander said.

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