Chapter Thirty
Hallie’s rehearsal dinner was on Friday at seven o’clock in the grand ballroom of the Silver Lakes Country Club. Tessa rode with Kate to the event. Hallie rode with her mama.
“Did you ever get drinks with the bar guy?” Tessa asked.
Kate pulled her Tesla into the valet line and smiled. “Yes.”
“And?”
“Sam is amazing. We met at Fox and Hound, then had dinner at Chez Margot, where we talked for hours. They finally gave us a bottle of wine and two desserts to go, so they could close.” She laughed.
“We took the gifts to the river and finished there. When I told him about the Lumineers in concert, he pulled up his favorite of their songs on his phone, and we danced under the stars. Guess what else?”
The valet appeared, and Kate climbed out. She wore an orange top with long puffy iridescent sleeves and chic wide-legged black pants and heels. Her blond hair hung loose over her shoulders, and her eye makeup had a slight shimmer in the lamplight.
Tessa met her on the sidewalk. “What else?”
Kate linked one of her arms with one of Tessa’s. “He was at that concert too.”
“No way.”
Kate nodded. “He went with his sister and some of her friends. They had an extra ticket, and he joined them last minute. We could’ve been standing in line together and never known it.”
“Aw.” Tessa pressed a hand to her chest. “I love that.”
“Me too,” Kate said. “It made me wonder how many times we’ve passed on a street in town or been eating at the same restaurant without noticing one another.”
“You really like him,” Tessa said.
Kate gave a cheery, wistful grin. “I do. He asked me out again before we even said good night, and he walked me to my door.”
Tessa felt her smile grow as they made their way along the flagstone path to the historic clubhouse entrance. Her thoughts moved swiftly to memories of Grant walking her to her door. “Did you kiss him good night?”
Kate tipped her head over one shoulder and offered her best get-serious face. “A lady never tells. And yes. I kissed him thoroughly and well.”
Tessa laughed. “Attagirl.”
Their laughter echoed through the night, and Kate paused for a deep inhale. “What about you and your handsome business guy?”
“I like him,” Tessa said. “Grant is brilliant and funny, easy to talk to about anything, and really ridiculously nice to look at.”
Kate shimmied her shoulders. “You’re smitten.”
Tessa rolled her eyes.
“It’s true, and you’re blushing all the way to your ears.” Kate reached for the giant clubhouse door and held it for Tessa to pass. “You should invite him to the wedding.”
“It seems too soon for that,” Tessa said. Though she had considered inviting him to book club. She’d ask the group for their thoughts on the matter after Hallie’s honeymoon.
They stepped into the cavernous foyer and paused to marvel at the gorgeous space and high coffered ceilings.
“Oh!” Kate’s gaze snapped back to Tessa’s. “I almost forgot to tell you. Sam’s sister started a Main Character Energy book club, too, and they’re doing our challenge.”
Tessa frowned, then laughed again. “What?”
“It’s true,” Kate said. “They’re not the only ones. Someone else made a similar comment on one of my posts. They meet at a library in Ohio.”
Tessa’s chest puffed with joy.
Kate moved to admire a row of oil paintings. “Look at this one.”
Tessa joined her before an image of the clubhouse in its original form, sans parking lot and awnings. Surrounded by gardens and women carrying parasols beside men in breeches. “This is fabulous.”
Kate faced her then, a small smile on her lips. “I took your advice and commented on one of the photos of my ass.” She whispered the final word, gaze darting around, in case anyone was listening.
Tessa brightened. “Yeah?”
Kate nodded. “Some people made jokes, but most were nice, and a lot more folks than I expected rushed in to defend me and tell me how awful they felt about what happened to me. They shared their own stories of moments they wished weren’t caught on camera.
You were right. I feel as if I took back a little of my power, and I’m glad for it. ”
Tessa wrapped her in a hug.
A whoop of laughter came from an opening door several yards away. Music and chatter rolled out with a woman Tessa recognized as one of Hallie’s cousins.
“We’d better get moving,” Tessa said.
She and Kate entered the ballroom and spotted Hallie with a group of women near the bar.
Tessa recognized most of the others as bridesmaids and Hallie’s mom, Claret, laughing loudly at something someone said.
Hallie broke free and headed directly for her friends.
“I’ll be right back,” she called. She wore a small white pillbox hat and veil that covered most of the purple in her hair and looked especially odd with her gorgeous black dress.
Hallie had chosen the vintage tea-length number for sentimentality, as it had also belonged to her great-grandmother.
She loved the small capped sleeves and full skirt, which she’d enhanced with layered black crinoline beneath.
To complete the ensemble, a white satin sash sliced across her middle, from shoulder to hip, and featured the word Bride in big pink letters.
Tessa and Kate waited for her to reach them.
“What is she wearing,” Kate whispered. “She looks like a wackadoodle.”
“I think her mom’s already drunk,” Tessa responded.
“Thank God you’re here,” Hallie said. She motioned for Kate and Tessa to follow her as she brushed past them and hurried into the hallway. “My cousin Olivia brought the sash and wants me to carry a bouquet made of bows from my bridal shower gifts stuck to a paper plate.”
Kate frowned. “Is that where you got the hat too?”
Hallie’s hands rose to her hair, as if she’d temporarily forgotten the little satin accessory. “No. Mrs. Haymaker said it’s some kind of tradition.”
“That’s a weird tradition,” Kate said.
Tessa bumped her elbow into Kate’s side.
“I’m sure she lied,” Hallie said. “I’m trying to pick my battles and focus my frustration on my family. They have to love me, even if I’m difficult. Meanwhile, Bryce hasn’t spoken to me since we left him in the driveway.”
Tessa’s eyes went wide. “That was days ago!”
Hallie nodded. “I didn’t want to argue again. You know I’m terrible at fighting. So I’ve made excuses to stay busy and avoid him. If I stay at his place, I work late on my food truck plans, until he’s asleep, before going to bed.”
“That’s not good,” Kate said. “Do you want me to get him, so the two of you can talk before the rehearsal? It’s getting down to the wire on this whole till-death-do-you-part business.”
She shook her head. “If I let things go, they’ll blow over.”
Tessa formed her blandest expression. Kate cocked one brow.
“What?” Hallie said. “It’s not as if I can call this whole thing off when everyone has flown in from out of town, taken time off work to be here, and spent thousands of dollars on all this.” She waved her arms in a wild circle around her head.
“Do you want to marry Bryce?” Kate asked.
“Do you love him and want to spend every single day of the rest of your very long life with him? Watching him eat? Listening to him breathe and snore? Helping him do all the things he will inevitably ask you to help him with, even though he can probably do them himself?”
“Are you ready to be Mrs. Haymaker’s daughter-in-law?” Tessa asked. Because, from what she’d seen and heard lately, that would be a big part of the role as Bryce’s wife.
Hallie opened her mouth in what appeared to be shock. “You’re telling me not to marry him? Now? You couldn’t have said this at literally any other time? We’ve been engaged for years!”
Tessa gasped. “We did not say you shouldn’t marry him.”
“I might’ve said that,” Kate said, one finger lifted before her, as if to pause the conversation. “Answer my questions, and I’ll decide what I said.”
Hallie folded her arms, then rushed down the thick plush carpeting of the massive corridor. They followed as she turned a corner and ducked into an alcove. “I don’t know,” she whisper-hissed. “I need more time.”
“You are out of time,” Kate said.
Tessa peeked around the corner, keeping watch. “Where is Bryce?” she asked. “Where are all the men, actually?”
“Outside.” Hallie rubbed her palms against her thighs.
She shifted nervously and leaned against the nearest wall.
“They’re drinking scotch, smoking cigars, and talking about tomorrow.
When to meet, where to meet, what to bring, et cetera.
” She rolled her shoulders and rubbed the back of her neck with one hand.
“What should I do, you guys? Bryce is a good guy. We have a lot of differences, but I love him. I’ve practically grown up with him.
When I think of what a child I was at eighteen.
How small my worldview was when we met. I’m so grateful for the way he changed my perspective on at least one hundred things. ”
Tessa could see the deep conflict in Hallie’s hazel eyes. Tessa couldn’t imagine being in Hallie’s position, torn between two perfectly acceptable outcomes. Only one would make her happy. But Hallie had to decide which.
“There you are!” Hallie’s mom cooed.
A pack of women followed on her heels.
“Are you ready?” a younger woman asked. “Mrs. Haymaker and her friends are out there, getting seated.”
Tessa and Kate turned to Hallie, prepared to buy more time or create some kind of distraction while Hallie climbed out a window.
“Ready,” Hallie said.
Tessa’s eyes widened, but she followed Hallie silently as she led the way to the clubhouse’s back door. She stopped and looked to her mama. “We’ll line up here. You can let them know we’re ready.”
Hallie trembled as her mama slipped through the door and made her way across the plush green grass toward the small gathered crowd.
Landscape lighting illuminated the rows of chairs and the white arching trellis that would be covered in flowers for the ceremony at this time tomorrow. A man with a Bible in hand moved beneath the wooden framework, and the groomsmen took their place on one side.