Chapter 2
Two
Jasmin
The last thing I want to do is hear this story again. My sister has told it a million times since Valentine’s Day and it’s getting on my nerves. Of course, I’m happy for her. But it doesn’t change.
“Then he pulled the blindfold from my eyes and stood me in front of a sign lit up with the words ‘Marry Me’. He was down on his knee to the side. It was so freaking sweet.” She shows the picture to everyone around the table.
As if we haven’t seen it before, and not only us, our mom, and brother.
“I’m so happy he hired a photographer to capture the moment. ”
“So sweet.” Mom nods her head while taking a sip of her coffee. “I’m glad to have him as part of the family.”
“He’s happy to be a part of it, too.” She smiles at her phone as if her fiancé is actually here.
“Now if we could find your sister someone…” Mom lets the sentence drift off. She knows this is a hot topic for me. I have nothing against relationships, but I need to spend some time with myself.
So much of my life has revolved around taking care of things for our family. Making sure everything happens when it’s supposed to that I’d like to focus on me in my adulthood. Why can’t anyone else understand?
“Mom, I’m not looking for love. There’s too much I want to do before I even think about settling down.”
“Your baby sister is getting married before you. That’s not right.” She sets her cup on the table. “I just want you to be happy.”
“I am happy.” The urge to roll my eyes is strong.
It takes everything in me not to because I know she’ll see it as a sign of disrespect, and that’s a whole other can of worms. Dad doesn’t give me this treatment.
Honestly, I don’t think he cares if I ever get married.
I wish he were here to defend me instead of at work.
“And I’m excited for Daniela, but you can’t force your ideas of happiness on me. ”
“If you marry her off, who is going to help me with my class work?” Adam groans.
“You shouldn’t need my help. All of your classes are pretty much the same introductory ones you had last semester.”
“Yeah, but I hate working on it by myself.” He lays his head on the table. “I miss high school.”
Mom shakes her head and stands to leave the table. It’s a sign for the rest of us to clean up the mess from breakfast.
But Daniela makes a noise before she gets too far. “Before you go, I have a question.” My sister turns toward me. “Would you be my maid of honor?”
I knew this question was coming. As annoying as she’s being about her engagement, we’re still each other’s best friend.
“Of course.” I wrap my arms around her to give her a hug. “I’d be offended if you didn’t ask. This day should be perfect for you. But…I’m not wearing some horrible color in the wedding.”
“Thank God.” She gives me a quick squeeze before releasing me. “I don’t know what I would do without you helping me plan this wedding. I asked Jacob, but he told me whatever I want is fine with him.”
“He doesn’t want to help you with planning?” They are the couple that does everything together. It’s weird he doesn’t want to help with this.
“He does. But not the location. He said he didn’t care if we got married in an alley.”
“That’s not romantic.” It would be funny to see us all dressed to the nines while standing in small space.
“Not even a little bit. I want the wedding to happen in a few months so we need to figure out a place sooner rather than later. I want something outside and beautiful. I thought about the botanical gardens, but they charge an absurd amount.”
“Is there a reason you want it to happen so soon?” Mom glances over the counter from us to Daniela’s stomach.
“Oh my God, Mom. I’m not pregnant.” Both of us burst out in laughter.
“I wouldn’t be mad either way.” Mom shrugs and heads to the kitchen, pointing at our brother to follow her. He does and we’re alone at the table.
“She’s trying to make me have an instant family.
” Daniela whispers because she doesn’t want mom to hear her.
“Like let us live as a married couple for a bit, thank you. Which brings me to the next point. Mom cannot have a say in anything to do with the wedding. She’ll try to take over like she does everything else. ”
That’s a feeling I know all too well. Welcome to the last thirty years of my life.
She’s done everything in her power to micromanage my decisions.
Let’s not forget the times she’s introduced me to sons of her friends.
Or that time she gave my phone number to a random guy she got a good feeling about.
I ended up having to block him because he wouldn’t take no for an answer.
“Done.” I won’t let our mother intervene. “Also, I have a suggestion for a location. It’s almost an hour from here, but it’s gorgeous.”
“How do you know about it?” She eyes me skeptically.
“Do you remember that Valentine’s event my friend forced me to attend?” She nods and I keep going. “Well, it’s this gorgeous winery. Someone who was working there mentioned they were expanding into events. I can see if we can take a look at it.”
I pull up their website and show her some of the pictures on the homepage.
“Is this where you met that one-night stand?”
“What was that?” Mom calls from the kitchen.
“Nothing.” Both of us shout at the same time.
“Yes. But that’s all it was. He doesn’t actually work there, so I don’t have to worry about running into him.” Even if he’s all I’ve thought about for the past month. I’ve never connected with someone who’s feels the same way I do.
“Okay. I’m not going to be like Mom.” She raises her hands in surrender. I know she won’t be that way as she’s been supportive of my anti-relationship status after realizing how much I’ve done for our family. “See what they have open in two days. You don’t start your job until next week, right?”
“Right.” It took longer than I wanted to find another job. But it’ll work for the time being. I scroll to their information section and see a form to fill out. “It looks like they have an opening in the morning and afternoon.”
“Afternoon. I have to open the boutique in the morning.”
“Must be nice to have flexible hours like that.”
“Only because Jacob’s mom loves me.” She smiles at me before watching me hit the confirm button on my phone. “What happens now?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe we’ll get a call.” A few minutes later an email hits my inbox confirming the appointment. “Looks like we’re all set.”
“Perfect.” She hugs me one more time. “Seriously, thank you for being my MOH.”
I ignore that she uses the acronym as if it’s an actual word. “You’re welcome. I’ll make a list of some questions and things we’ll want to ask and send it over to you in case you think of more.”
“You really are the best.” She gets up from the table and heads toward the kitchen.
As much as I want to focus on me, I know my baby sister needs my help with this. She’s not organized and makes decisions on vibes. It’s one last thing I need to take care of before I can take care of myself.
“Why does it feel like we’re driving to the scene of a horror movie?” Daniela stares out the window. There’s open land on to either side of us.
“What are you talking about? There are houses on this road.” I point to the one we just passed.
“Yeah, a mile apart from each other,” she mutters. “This place better be worth it.”
“Stop worrying.” If she wants my help so badly, she needs to trust me. I’ve never led her astray, and I don’t plan to start now. Not on one of the most important days of her life.
“Fine.” She pulls her phone out of the cupholder and takes a video of the field. When she sees me side-eying her, she snorts. “It’s video evidence in case we are in fact being led to our deaths by a serial killer.”
“You really need to stop watching scary movies no matter how much Jacob likes them.” We were never allowed to watch them growing up, and it’s like she dove into the deep end when they started dating.
I’m not sure if he knows they give her nightmares, but I plan on talking to him about that soon.
Especially if she’s thinking about it at the most random times.
“Oh my gosh, is that it?” She points to an old wooden sign with Starlit Fields Winery engraved in the wood.
“Yes?” I’m not a hundred percent sure because it was dark the last time I was here. Even when I left Parker’s house. He brought me back to the event when I kept getting text messages from my friend.
Daniela stares out the window as we pass trees and flower beds toward what I’m assuming is the main building.
We didn’t go to this area, so I’m not really sure what to do.
There’s a customer parking sign in front of the house, and I pull into a spot.
It doesn’t seem to be too busy. Maybe that means we’ll get a lot of focus.
I don’t know how these things work outside of what I’ve seen in movies.
“You were so right. It’s beautiful out here. Very serene.” My sister’s eyes are wide as she takes it all in. We’ve lived in the city our entire lives and rarely visited anywhere that wasn’t the same.
“Let’s go inside and see if they are ready for us.” We’re fifteen minutes early. I was scared of getting lost because I didn’t drive or pay attention to where we were going. The drive wasn’t too bad, though.
She claps her hands together and rushes past me for the door. “This is so exciting.”
I swear she’s prepared for this moment her entire life. She used to watch a bunch of romcoms and talk about their wedding dresses. She’d go into detail about what she would change. I rarely enjoyed watching them but did it for her.
She opens the door and I follow her in. There are framed photos of older couples hung on the walls.
I’m not sure if they are the owners or maybe family members.
I didn’t get the history of this place when I was here last. I also didn’t read the about section on the website.
Not that my sister would have given me a chance.
“Welcome to Starlit Fields Winery. You must be Daniela.” My feet stop at the sound of his voice. No way. He told me he was only working the event. There was zero mention of him actually working here…at the winery. “I’m Parker.”
“Yes, I’m Daniela. I’m excited to see the areas for a wedding.” She glances back to see where I am and waves for me to hurry and join her. “And this is my sister. She’s helping me plan the wedding.”
Parker’s eyes widen the second he notices me. I don’t know how to play this. There’s no way in hell Dani can find out this was my one-night stand. She’ll start to think its fate that I suggested this place.
He must be feeling the same way because he reaches out a hand. “I’m Parker, and you are?”
Thank God he took the lead on this. My poker face is horrible. “Jasmin. It’s, uh, nice to meet you.”
We cannot hold the wedding here. Not when Parker is the one we have to talk to. Not when we have history. This will ruin everything, and there’s no way I’m doing that to my little sister.