Page 42 of A Vineyard Love

Noah gaped at her.

“Noah? What is going on? Stop looking at me like I have four heads!”

Noah stuttered. “It’s just that, well. I didn’t want to tell the guys yet…” Noah sighed and glanced back at the other groomsmen. “But I haven’t been able to find the rings in over an hour.”

Kelli’s shoulders fell forward.

“Noah, are you serious right now?” Sam’s childhood friend sputtered.

Noah dropped his gaze to the ground. “I told Audrey a little while ago, and she told me to keep looking. But I’ve searched everywhere. I even drove home, thinking I’d left them there. Nothing.” He then flinched to add, “I don’t know. Maybe they’re wherever all the other jewelry is?”

Kelli gaped at him, her head swimming.How was it possible that she’d come here to put out one fire only to learn about several new ones?As the groomsmen gaped at Noah, mostly perplexed, Kelli muttered, “Noah? Can I talk to you in the hallway?”

Noah followed Kelli into the hallway as though he was a student getting in trouble at school and Kelli was his teacher. He hung his head. Kelli closed the door between them and the other groomsmen, “I’m going to ask you a question.”

Noah looked stricken. “I really didn’t mean to lose them, Kelli. I swear. I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I’m usually pretty dang responsible. I mean, I’m practically a father to Max, and…”

“It’s not about the rings,” Kelli cut him off. “It’s about Sam.”

“What about him?”

Kelli swallowed the lump in her throat. “Is it possible that Sam is having an affair?”

Noah’s jaw dropped. “What?”

Kelli continued to stare at him icily.

“I mean, no? That’s the most laughable thing I’ve ever heard?” Noah said, although he wasn’t laughing. “What makes you say that?”

“I think I might have seen something,” Kelli said.

“It’s impossible,” Noah said. “Honestly, that guy is crazy for Amanda.”

But Kelli wasn’t sure she could believe Noah. First off, she was pretty sure all men stood up for one another, no matter if they believed in one another’s actions or not. Secondly, maybe Sam was a mastermind, the sort of guy who’d been able to manipulate those around him easily. That handsome smile had taken him far.

It wouldn’t have been the first time someone in the Sheridan family had been manipulated and taken for all they were worth. The Sheridans and Montgomerys believed in the goodness of people. They believed in second chances. Sometimes, that meant they got burned.

Kelli knew that firsthand. She’d been married to Mike for years— and genuinely had thought theirs was a true, fiery love, even when it had gotten emotionally volatile.

“If you’re really sure,” Kelli said, giving Noah another chance. “Because if you’re marrying Audrey, Amanda has to come first for you. Not Sam.”

Noah set his jaw. “I love Sam like a brother. I know he would never do something like this. Period.”

Suddenly, from down below in the foyer, Kelli heard a strange and erratic voice. “Are you listening? It’s all gone! It’s all taken! Do you know how much it was worth?”

Something cold and hard fell into Kelli’s stomach. Slowly, she tip-toed toward the edge of the staircase to peer down at yet another rich-looking woman dressed to the nines, screaming at a bell hop that her things were missing.

“Keep looking for the rings, and keep trying to get a hold of Sam,” Kelli instructed Noah quietly. “We have fifteen minutes to make this wedding happen. We can’t let Amanda down.”

ChapterTwenty

Amanda stood in front of the double-wide glass doors downstairs, peering out at the two-hundred-plus guests who’d traveled from all ends of the United States to see her marry the love of her life. After nearly two hours of conversation and cocktails, they’d begun to quiet, sitting in white-painted chairs and glancing back toward the exit of the hotel expectantly, eager to see the bride. The string quintet continued to play “Pachelbel’s Canon,” perhaps for the third time, awaiting a cue from Charlotte that the bride was ready. Amanda had been scheduled to walk down the aisle two minutes ago, in fact.

But Noah had just stormed through the glass doors to announce that both the rings and Sam were missing. And Amanda couldn’t very well walk down the aisle to nobody.

Behind Amanda, her mother, Aunt Christine, and Aunt Lola were dressed to the nines and whispering nervously, exchanging ideas on where to look for Sam. Amanda’s friends from Newark were very quiet, giving one another glances that pitied Amanda. Only Audrey stepped forward and stood next to Amanda, her chin quivering with fear.

“I’m sure he’s around here somewhere,” Audrey muttered. “I mean, it’s Sam. He loves you.”

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