Chapter Five
“THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME OUT THIS MORNING FOR A FEW hours with Lydia. My mom and sister both had other obligations this morning or they would have taken her. My sister’s going to pick her up this afternoon, though.”
“Not a problem,” Audrey assured Holly. “We love hanging out together, don’t we, Lyd?”
“I love Auddy,” her daughter said, smiling brightly at the older girl.
“We’re going to do some crafts then I told her maybe we could watch a Christmas movie,” the older girl said.
“Sounds perfect. You should be able to find something on one of the various streaming services we have.”
Though she had set up a comfortable media area in the break room of Evergreen & Ivy, she tried not to use screen time as a babysitter for her child too often.
“Don’t worry about us. We’re fine. Take care of what you need to. We’ll find plenty to do, won’t we, Lydia? Maybe we can bundle up and take a walk through the park.”
“Yes! I want to take a walk.”
“Thanks again, Audrey.”
She hurried out to the shop floor, where she planned to wrap up the fresh flower centerpieces for the Myers-Balboa wedding later that day.
She had approximately three hours to finish before she had to head to the wedding venue, a lovely primitive barn that had been renovated into a reception space, with a huge wall of windows overlooking Lake Haven.
In between the occasional customer coming in for get-well flowers, party centerpieces or birthday bouquets, she was able to finish in plenty of time.
She was setting the final centerpiece in the box she would use to transport everything to the venue when the bell on the door rang as Lydia came out of the break room.
“Grandma!” Lydia’s voice rang out and she ran toward the door with Audrey close behind.
Holly looked up in time to see Lydia hugging a slim woman with dark hair and trendy glasses, followed by a younger woman who looked a great deal like her.
Not her own mother, she saw at once. Troy’s mother. Her former mother-in-law, along with the bride-to-be.
“Hello, darling.” Susan gave Lydia a warm squeeze and so did Kristine.
Holly looked between mother and daughter. “I’m sorry. Did we have a meeting set up today?”
Her packed schedule loomed as large as the mountains outside. She knew from experience her former mother-in-law could quickly swallow up every available minute of her day if she let her.
Susan shook her head with a reassuring smile. “Not officially, no. But we were in town picking up some little gifts for the bridesmaids and wanted to stop in and check to see if everything is on track with flowers.”
Kristine’s wedding was still two weeks away. She had two others to worry about first.
“It’s all going to plan. I’ve ordered everything and should be able to set aside plenty of time right before the wedding to create the arrangements, so everything can be as fresh as possible.”
Susan adjusted her glasses and moved closer to Holly. “I hate to be a pain, but is it too late to make any changes?”
Yes , she wanted to yell. For the love of all things holy, the wedding is only two weeks away and we’ve been over and over this .
Instead, she forced a calm smile. “What sort of changes?”
“I’m having second thoughts about the calla lilies. They’re so beautiful and elegant but my friend Barbara told me lilies are considered bad luck for a wedding. What if we went with white roses instead?”
She fought the urge to close her eyes and pray for patience.
Kristine was the baby of her family and the last one to be married and Holly knew Susan wanted every detail to be perfect.
She could understand that. Still, everything had already been ordered weeks ago.
If she had to change the plan now, there was no guarantee she would be able to get the new supplies in time and Evergreen & Ivy might be stuck with four dozen calla lilies that would be tough to unload right before Christmas.
“The lilies will be gorgeous, I promise. Just like the inspiration board pictures you brought in, only better.”
“Are lilies considered bad luck at weddings? We’ve had enough divorce in our family. We don’t need to invite more trouble.”
Then maybe you should have taught your son not to cheat on his wife with his personal assistant. Again, she bit back the tart words. It was only stress and fatigue lending a sharp, waspish edge to her thoughts. She didn’t need to turn those thoughts into words she couldn’t take back.
“It is true that some cultures associate certain kinds of lilies with funerals, but calla lilies are different. They’re elegant and demure.
Kristine will look so beautiful carrying a bouquet with two or three lilies as part of the whole package.
As we have red roses planned for the bouquet, I think the contrast of the white lilies will be nothing less than striking. ”
Susan looked conflicted. “I want everything to be perfect.”
“It will be absolutely perfect,” Kristine said, sending Holly an apologetic look. “I love the calla lilies, Mom. They’re the flowers we picked. As I told you on the way here, I don’t think it’s fair to mess everything up for Holly when we’re only two weeks away from the wedding.”
Her expression twisted into sudden panic. “Oh man. I’m getting married in two weeks. I’m not ready!”
Maybe Susan ought to focus on allaying her daughter’s panic instead of trying to mess up all the plans they had agreed upon weeks earlier.
“I’m ready,” Lydia informed her grandmother and aunt. “I have a new dress. I look like a princess.”
Her words did the trick of distracting Kristine. She swallowed hard and hugged Lydia again. “I know you do. You’re going to have so much fun being a flower girl. Thank you again for helping me.”
“Welcome. This is Auddy. She’s my friend.”
Kristine smiled at the teenager. “Hi. Any friend of Lydia’s is a friend of mine.”
They visited for a few moments about other details for the wedding. As Holly was trying to think of a tactful way to excuse herself so she could return to her lengthy to-do list, Susan glanced at her watch and winced.
“We should go. We still have to go check on the catering to see if they can add a different vegetarian option, since my cousin’s son is allergic to onions.”
Holly truly pitied the catering company handling the wedding. She suspected Susan had already changed menu items multiple times.
“Thanks for stopping by. As I told you, everything has been ordered and is either already here or on the way.”
“And you’re still coming to the bridal shower, right?”
She nodded, though fitting one more social engagement in her packed schedule was about the last thing she had time for.
“Wouldn’t miss it,” she said, giving Kristine a hug.
Troy’s family had always been warm and friendly to her throughout the years she dated him and after their marriage.
She considered his mother and sisters to be close friends and she adored his aunts.
Those relationships were still important to her and she worked hard to maintain them, for her own sake as well as Lydia’s.
“I made a Christmas tree. Want to see?” Lydia asked, slipping her hand into her grandmother’s.
“Of course I do. I’ll take a quick look, then we really have to go.” Susan smiled as Lydia tugged her into the break room, leaving Kristine and Holly alone.
“I’m so sorry about the whole calla lily thing,” Kristine said in an undertone. “She’s driving me crazy. She wants to change everything. You’d think she hasn’t done this before.”
“You’re her baby and she wants everything to be perfect for you.”
“I know she does. And I’m grateful, believe me. But at this point I keep asking myself why Matt and I didn’t simply fly down to Vegas and get it all over with.”
Holly remembered that vague feeling of panic all through her wedding preparations. In her case, she suspected some part of her psyche was telling her not to go through with the wedding.
She should have listened to it, but then she wouldn’t have Lydia.
“Enough about me,” Kristine said. “I promise, I’m trying hard not to be a bridezilla, completely focused on myself. Have you found a date yet?”
“I have a date,” she answered calmly. “Lydia.”
Kristine frowned. “As amazing as she is, you know that’s not what I meant. You need a date-date. Someone you can dance with to the kickin’ band we’ve hired.”
“Are you kidding? I love dancing with Lydia. We have lots of dance parties at our house.”
“I’m sure you do. But I would love to see you dancing with a great guy. Matt has a couple of single friends who work with him at his tech company. They’re cute and smart and make great money. I would love to set you up with one of them.”
She forced a smile. Over the past two years, she had found that one of the hardest things about being divorced was the well-meaning but misguided efforts of those who cared about her constantly trying to set her up.
“I appreciate that, but it’s not necessary.”
“I want you to be happy, Holly. You’re the nicest person I know and you deserve better than what my stupid brother did to you.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.”
She could tell by Kristine’s concerned expression that the other woman didn’t believe her. Later, when she was kicking herself for opening her big mouth, she had no idea what made her say it, other than she didn’t like the pity in Kristine’s eyes.
“I’m fine because I already have a date,” she blurted out without thinking it through. “I think you’ll like him.”
Kristine squealed. “Oh, I’m so glad! Who is it? Anyone I know?”
What had she done? Holly tried to figure out a way to backpedal but nothing came to her. She didn’t want to lie or make up a name so she quickly improvised.
“Um, he’s still not sure if he can make it so I would rather not name any names. It’s early days yet.”
“Is he nice? What am I saying? Of course he’s nice. You wouldn’t be going out with him if he wasn’t great.”
Holly didn’t bother pointing out that she had not only dated Kristine’s brother but she had been married to him. And look how great that had turned out.