Chapter Twenty-Six
The next morning, feeling a little nauseous, Tessa sat in her car outside the temp agency she’d contacted, looking for work. The sun beat through her windshield, warming her skin despite the falling autumn temperatures, while her mood radiated heat from inside.
She grabbed her phone to vent, and she messaged Grant first.
Tessa: That didn’t go well
Grant: Temp agency?
Grant: I told you not to go there
Grant: Do I need to come down there and set someone straight?
Tessa smiled at the image of a man who looked more like a hot professor than any kind of trouble coming to her defense. Yet, somehow, she didn’t doubt he’d do exactly that if she asked.
She let the tension in her muscles ease as she absorbed that truth. She wasn’t sure when she’d started texting Grant before Kate and Hallie, but she was thankful for his presence and their deepening connection, even if things never made it past friendship. Good friends were hard to find.
She hoped that she was one of Grant’s first to text too. The possibility sent a rush of something prickly, but wistful, through her veins.
Grant: Want to talk about it?
Tessa: a little
Grant: What did they say?
Tessa: I’m overqualified for the positions remotely within my field and unqualified for everything else available right now
Tessa: Kinda wish they’d have said that before I got here
Grant: No problem. You don’t want to do anything else
She gripped her steering wheel and tried to shake it. Then let her arms drop to her sides. She started the car and hit the AC before responding.
Tessa: My bills won’t pay themselves
She’d built a career she loved, which should prove dedication to her field, tenacity, and grit.
Instead, the interviewer advised that working at only one place since college was often seen as a problem, not a perk.
Apparently, it raised questions. Why hadn’t she tried to move up or move on?
Was she complacent? Unable to learn new things or adapt to new environments? Or worse, just lazy.
Grant: Breathe and smile
Tessa glared at her phone.
Tessa: Why would I smile right now?
Grant: For starters, you’re going to figure this out because you’re you
Grant: You brainstorm and find solutions for other businesses all the time
Grant: This is what you do and you do it well
Grant: The smiling part will just improve your mood
Tessa leaned forward, resting her forehead on the steering wheel, deciding how to respond. She sat tall a moment later.
Tessa: You’re right. I’m going to put up a website and offer freelancing services
Grant: See? Let me know if I can help spread the word
Grant: Wait. Were you joking? I can’t tell
She paused to consider the possibility. The sarcastic text was meant to mock his implication that she could solve her problem so easily after days of fret and worry. As if simply thinking about her predicament as if she was a client in need of sales would change everything.
But now that she’d put the words into existence, she wondered—
Tessa: I’ll have to let you know
Grant: Great! I’ll be waiting
She shifted into drive and eased into traffic.
A call rang through her speakers as she motored along, lost in the idea of taking her experience to the World Wide Web.
She knew how to create, launch, and monitor successful online ads and use digital newsletter marketing and social media platforms for maximum campaign performance.
What was stopping her from registering an LLC with the state and becoming her own boss?
Hallie’s name and number appeared on her dashboard screen, and Tessa accepted the call.
“Hello?” Excitement thrummed in her chest as she waited for the moment to tell Hallie about her new idea.
“Help,” Hallie whispered. “Come and save me. Bring Kate. I’m dropping a pin.”
“What?” Tessa pulled into a parking space at the curb and shifted into park. “Are you okay? What’s going on?”
A collection of female voices grew louder in the background.
“Coming!” Hallie called. Then, more quietly, she whispered. “It was an ambush!”
Tessa winced. “Hallie?”
“Hurry!” she hissed. Then, the call disconnected.
Tessa called Kate, already en route to Kate’s house and only a few minutes away. She picked her up, then the pair followed Tessa’s GPS to Hallie’s pin.
“You’re sure she’s okay?” Kate asked for the third time in ten minutes.
Tessa took the next turn and slowed to a stop at a red light. “She seemed panicked and unhappy, not in imminent danger.”
Kate kneaded her hands on her lap. “I don’t like this,” she said.
“Not after she ran away from you on the bridge that day, then went all squirrelly for a few days. And at book club she was cagey about what she’s been up to.
Not to mention she’s getting married this weekend, unless she’s planning to run away, and this is her big goodbye. ”
Tessa wrinkled her nose. “She seemed too urgent for that, and she wasn’t alone. She used the word ambush. I think she might’ve been with Bryce’s mom. I definitely heard women’s voices.”
“Hmm.” Kate thought for a long moment. “Oh! I’ll bet this is the special dress fitting Mrs. Haymaker roped her into,” Kate said. “Remember?”
Hallie had mentioned her mother-in-law’s sisters coming into town a few days early and wanting Hallie to try her dress on especially for them.
“That makes sense,” Tessa said, giving the GPS a closer look as they inched through traffic. “And we’re almost there.”
A few moments later, Tessa took the last open parking space outside Magnolia and Vine Bridal Boutique.
She and Kate climbed out and made their way quickly to the shop’s front desk.
“Can I help you?” the attendant asked.
“We’re with Hallie Montgomery,” Kate said. “We’re running late.”
“Of course.” The woman smiled and stepped around the desk to meet them. She wore a simple black dress and heels. Her nails were petal pink, and her hair was slicked back in a low ponytail. “I’ll take you to the bride and her party.”
They followed the attendant to an ivory-and-pink room with a horseshoe of mirrors at the far end. They’d been there before. First to select the gown, then to see the completed alterations.
If Mrs. Haymaker’s sisters were in town already, Hallie’s family would arrive soon.
Tessa adored the Montgomerys. They were fun and scrappy.
A little too loud for establishments like the wedding venue and this bridal shop.
But they were genuine and real, unapologetic, and overtly unbothered.
Tessa had envied their freedom since the first time she’d met them.
A group of women wearing varying shades of tan, and jewelry that looked valuable enough to buy a home in Tessa’s childhood neighborhood, turned to look in her direction. Their sleek, silver-and-blond platinum bobs swung with the movement.
“Mrs. Haymaker,” Kate said, switching into debutante mode. She extended a hand, fingers hanging down as she approached. “It’s so lovely to see you again.”
Bryce’s mother greeted Kate with a squeeze and a smile, then introduced her companions. “This is my best friend, Kitty, and my sisters, Sophia, Elizabeth, and Lemon.”
“You remember Tessa,” Kate said.
Tessa stepped closer, exchanging polite head nods with the women. “Sorry we’re late.”
“It’s no problem,” Mrs. Haymaker said. “We’re just getting started. Kate and Tessa are two of Hallie’s ten bridesmaids.”
“Lovely,” Lemon said. “Will you be fitted today as well?”
“They purchased their dresses months ago,” Mrs. Haymaker said with a downturn of her lips. “I wasn’t aware they were coming today, or we could’ve waited to begin.”
Everything about her tone implied she was lying about waiting.
Kate turned a charming smile on the other women. “We met Hallie’s cousins, the other bridesmaids, in Richmond to celebrate, and we visited some local boutiques. Everyone found a gown they loved there.”
The women nodded and grinned approvingly at the information.
Kate had pointedly left out the fact they’d met up at an outlet mall for the sole purpose of finding affordable dresses.
When they couldn’t find a style they all liked in every size needed, they each chose something different instead.
Hopefully the array of designs would seem intentional instead of chaotic.
It wouldn’t have mattered back when Hallie retained a thread of control over her wedding.
Back when she’d insisted on a small low-fuss event.
Before anyone had stepped in to deny her.
She’d wanted a short classic ceremony on a grassy lookout vista in a national park outside her hometown. Immediate family and friends only. Then a larger reception to follow at a nearby hotel.
The event’s scope had grown steadily with the guest list over each passing month.
Eventually, Bryce’s parents booked their country club with its massive historic home and gardens.
Hallie reluctantly agreed to have the ceremony in the country club gardens, but much to the Haymakers’ dismay, she’d insisted on a reception of her mama’s choosing.
Mrs. Montgomery was paying for that, after all, and according to Hallie, it was a point of pride for her family to pull their weight on her big day.
She’d booked the Barn at Baker’s Farm, a large two-story barn on the outskirts of town, where events were regularly held.
The property was scenic, historic, and owned by the same family for nearly 150 years.
Hallie’s family planned to transform it into the reception hall of Hallie’s dreams. They’d saved a mint by hiring a local catering service and planned to decorate the space themselves. Simple, elegant, country fun.
All in all, there had been a lot of compromising on both sides. Hallie’s hair and dress, however, remained nonnegotiable.