A Vineyard Vow (The Vineyard Sunset Series Book 6)

by Katie Winters

  But seconds later, somebody passed her a glass of champagne. Wes clacked a fork against his glass and produced a speech that seemed to come from a previous version of Wes Sheridan — without any dementia-effect.

  “We wish you the very best, my beautiful Susan Sheridan,” Wes announced over the top of so many beautiful Montgomery and Sheridan heads. “We love you. And we want nothing more than to welcome Scott into the family. Happy New Year, everyone!”

  Chapter Seven

  Twenty minutes after midnight, Amanda eased herself away from the crowd to check her phone. She was giddy with excitement for her mother’s engagement, so grateful that Susan had been given this gift of second-chance love. Still, she couldn’t fully escape her inner-most fears surrounding her own fiancé, her own pressing engagement.

  And when she lifted her phone from her pocket, her heart dropped like a stone.

  Chris hadn’t called. He hadn’t even texted to wish her “Happy New Year.”

  It was like they were strangers, instead of people meant to love and care for one another for the rest of their days.

  Amanda was stubborn. She’d always appreciated this about herself, as she’d been unwilling to accept anyone else’s opinion of her as fact and chosen always to build her own reality. Now, she lifted the phone to her ear and listened as it rang across the Vineyard Sound, all the way back to Newark.

  He had better answer.

  “Hey babe, Happy New Year.”

  His voice was gritty, dark, and unwelcoming. Amanda’s nostrils flared. “Happy New Year!” she tried. Her voice was false and bright, such a contrast to his. “How are you doing?”

  “Oh, fine. Me and some of the guys from work are out,” Chris explained. “A bit hammered to tell you the truth.”

  Amanda giggled. “Me, too.”

  There was silence. In the background, there was the thud-thud of whatever speaker system Chris’s bar had.

  “Guess what?”

  “Hmm? What’s up?”

  “My mom got engaged just now,” Amanda said. “I can’t believe it. My mom and I are both engaged at the same time. It’s like a Lifetime movie.”

  Chris laughed dryly. “Scott’s a good guy.”

  “He really is.”

  Again, silence. Amanda’s tongue felt heavy and parched. She wanted to ask him: Why are we so off lately? What is going on? But she didn’t want to get into it or start something that wasn’t necessary. She didn’t want to stare at the problem too long, for fear that it would only get bigger as a result.

  “Well, anyway. I better get back to the party,” Amanda said. “My grandpa keeps giving silly speeches, and I don’t want to miss any of them.”

  “Cool, yeah. I better get back. I’ll see you at home in a few days?”

  “Yep. I’ll text you my plans tomorrow.”

  “Okay.”

  Another pause. Finally, Amanda forced herself to say it.

  “Chris?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I love you. Happy New Year.”

  “I love you, too,” Chris replied. “See you soon.”

  THE OMINOUS CONVERSATION stuck to Amanda’s psyche like glue over the next day. It was like a cloud over everything, even as she gossiped and laughed with Lola, Audrey, Christine and her mother over brunch the next day. As she stabbed a fork through a blueberry pancake, her mother asked off-handedly, “And how was Chris’s New Year’s? I’m sure he hated that he couldn’t be here.”

  “Oh, it was fine. Good,” Amanda said, dryly. “I talked to him a little after midnight since I was out watching your engagement.”

  Susan’s eyes glittered with joy. “What did he say about you and I being engaged at the same time?”

  Uhhh. He didn’t seem to care at all.

  “He loves it!” Amanda lied. “He thinks it’s fantastic.”

  Susan chuckled. “That’s good, isn’t it? I don’t want to take any of your attention this month, though. It’s your turn to get married. It’s all you from here on out.”

  As they finished up brunch, Charlotte arrived with her daughter, Rachel. They drew chairs around the little kitchen table and spoke excitedly about the engagement and about Amanda’s upcoming wedding.

  “I just wanted to square a few more things up with you before you head back to Newark,” Charlotte said, catching Amanda’s eye. “I don’t want you to be nervous at all leading up to your big day. Everything is planned and coordinated.”

  “I mean, you did just host the wedding of the century,” Audrey said with a laugh. “You’ve proved yourself worthy of any wedding.”

  Charlotte chuckled. “My gosh, when I think back to November, I have panic attacks. And now, Ursula has been out on these islands for their forever-long honeymoon. I mean, her husband plays in the NBA, and he flies back and forth for games and practices and then meets her back on the islands when he can. It’s insane to me. Look at these photos...”

  Charlotte pulled up her social media account to show off Ursula and her gorgeous husband: beach-side, drinks in-hand, with million-dollar smiles proof that it really was splendid to be so rich.

  “I actually just hooked up an acquaintance, Jennifer Conrad, with their social media account,” Charlotte went on. “Ursula was complaining that she didn’t want to manage her own social anymore, and Jen was the perfect solution.”

  “Oh, right. Jennifer Conrad,” Lola chimed in. “She’s around Christine’s age, right?”

  “Yep. All those girls are,” Charlotte said. “They all ran around Edgartown together.”

  “When Jennifer’s twin, Michelle, drowned, that was such a tragedy,” Lola breathed. “It was like deja vu after what happened with Mom.”

  Silence fell over the room. Nobody knew quite what to say.

  “Actually, I recently spoke to Jennifer,” Christine offered finally. “Her mom had a stroke a few weeks before Christmas, and Jennifer took over the Frosted Delights Bakery alongside her social media business to make sure the bakery survived. She’s one of the strongest women I know.”

  “And the Frosted Delights have pretty ridiculous pastries,” Susan said. “I remember going there as a teenager. Scott and I would split like four pastries as a snack, and then I would go to the beach in my bikini.” She chuckled then added, “Those were good times.”

  “Why don’t we go there some time?” Lola suggested. “Jennifer and her friends support the bistro. I’ve seen them. We should return the favor.”

  “Why not later today?” Charlotte asked. “I’d love to check in with her and see how it’s gone with Ursula.”

  A little while later, the girls piled into their vehicles and drove toward the Frosted Delights Bakery on this sleepy yet blue-skied first day of the year. Sunlight sprinkled itself across the thick, rolling snow. Amanda dropped her head back in her mother’s car and focused on her breathing. In, out. In, out. Chris loves you. Everything will be all right.

  They reached the Frosted Delights Bakery and hopped out of their vehicles. It was a picturesque, quaint building in Edgartown, which was close to the beach. The place was bustling, stuffed to the gills with Martha’s Vineyard’s happiest and most-sweet-toothed. The smells of gingerbread and sugar cookies wafted through the air. Several people Amanda didn’t recognize, greeted them and said, “The Sheridan girls are here!” At this, Lola and Susan smiled brightly, while Christine grimaced. Charlotte just rolled her eyes and said, “Us Montgomery girls could never compete.”

  A gorgeous forty-year-old woman with vibrant red hair and a perfect smile greeted them at the counter. “Hey there!” she beamed. “Charlotte, I’m so glad you stopped in! And Christine, Lola and Susan, gosh, everyone’s here.”

  The woman, Jennifer Conrad, stepped out from behind the counter to hug Charlotte and greet the others properly. “Christine, I’m surprised you aren’t stationed at the bistro on a day like today.”

  “We’re actually closed today,” Christine explained. “Zach needs the day off. He’s been killing himself. And to be ho
nest, the thought of baking yet another croissant turns my stomach.”

  Jennifer laughed appreciatively. “I’m still pretty new in the baking business. I think Mom will be able to come back by spring at the earliest, although she’s chomping at the bit.”

  “Of course she is. I can’t imagine taking more than a few days off,” Christine offered. “It’s my life.”

  Charlotte introduced the other members of their party — Amanda and Audrey and Rachel. Audrey joked that she had to eat double the pastries to account for her “bun in the oven,” and Charlotte said that Amanda was “the Sheridan girl getting married this month.”

  Jennifer’s eyes brightened. “That’s right! Amanda, congratulations! Wow. How exciting.”

  Again, Amanda’s stomach flipped over. All these people looked at her like she was this perfect bride. “Yes, it is,” she forced herself to say.

  Jennifer arranged a large platter of pastries and donuts for them and placed them at the center of a larger table where they could see the view outside. She grinned as they sat and doted on the selection of maple-glazed donuts and chocolate-stuffed eclairs and little mini slices of carrot and lemon cake and a few too many Christmas cookies. On the wall over them hung a photo that looked to have been taken about twenty years before, maybe more. Jennifer’s eyes turned toward it as Susan commented.

  “I think I remember those girls running around together so long-ago during the summers,” she said.

  Jennifer chuckled. “It used to hang in the back, but I brought it out here the other day. That’s us—the Sisters of Edgartown.”

  “Wow. You must have been... fifteen?” Susan asked, turning to look at Jennifer.

  “Sixteen. Close. Yep.”

  “There you and Michelle are,” Lola said with a sad smile. “You really were the exact duplicate of one another, weren’t you? It’s uncanny.”

  Jennifer nodded. “It drove people crazy. We always played pranks. I sent her out on a few dates with my boyfriend, just to try to fool him.”

  “No! That’s crazy,” Audrey cried in shock. “I would have loved to do that. Mom, why am I not a twin?”

  Lola rolled her eyes. “I know you would have gotten into too much trouble. God himself put a stop to that.”

  Jennifer laughed good-naturedly, even as her eyes shone with sadness. “Anyway, you girls, tell me if you need anything else. I’ll head back to help Connie. She’ll have my head if I make her work alone too long.”

  They dove into the pastries after that. They spoke about the wedding, the proposal, and what would lie ahead in the New Year. They also discussed Jennifer as quietly as possible, and Lola mentioned that she was pretty sure she’d gotten divorced in the previous year.

  “Wow. We’re all going through stuff, aren’t we?” Christine murmured with a soft laugh.

  “It’s the only constant,” Lola affirmed.

  Back at the Sheridan house, Susan admitted she needed a nap; Lola headed off to find Tommy, and Christine decided to do a yoga video upstairs to clear her head. This left Amanda and Audrey downstairs, both quiet, their eyes to the floor. Amanda shivered so much she made the couch shake around them. Audrey’s hand traced over hers and clutched it.

  “I feel so terribly sad today,” Audrey whispered.

  It was strange to hear Audrey say that as she was always the first to deliver the perfect joke or keep the conversation lively. Amanda hated to see her this way. But her mood suited it perfectly.

  “Me too,” she confessed.

  Amanda grabbed several blankets from the closet and piled them up over both her and Audrey. For a long time, they were quiet. But when they finally mustered the courage, they exchanged their deepest fears as the sun drifted low on the very first day of the year.

  “I don’t know if I should be getting married,” Amanda whispered.

  Audrey gave no indication that she was shocked. Instead, she responded with just, “I don’t know if I should give my baby up.”

  Amanda nodded somberly. “I don’t know if Chris really loves me.”

  And Audrey returned with, “I feel like the worst person in the world for leaving my daughter in pursuit of my selfish career.”

  “I don’t know why I thought getting married to Chris would solve all my problems.”

  “I don’t know what I’ll feel watching Christine raise my baby.”

  “I don’t know if I’ll be happy in Newark.”

  “What if my daughter doesn’t love me because I leave her behind?”

  “What if?”

  “What if?”

  Their whispered questions echoed as they suddenly both looked at each other. They sat beneath blankets, both frozen in terror about a future they couldn’t comprehend. Even still, it felt nice to actually say their fears aloud. It felt nice to look them directly in the face.

  Chapter Eight

  “How are you doing, bunny?” Susan cupped the phone against her cheek as she tousled her growing locks in the mirror. “Just one more week till the wedding! You must be so excited! I know I am.”

  Amanda’s voice was bright. “I mean, I’m such an anxious mess, but I guess that’s what I was always meant to be.”

  “You’re right on time for that,” Susan agreed. “But you’re always on schedule, aren’t you?”

  “Very punctual. That’s Amanda Harris’s motto,” Amanda joked over the line.

  “How’s Chris doing?”

  Amanda paused for the briefest of seconds before she answered. “He’s great! He’s been extremely busy with work, but I know he wants to get everything straightened out with his promotion before we head out on our honeymoon this summer. I’m really proud of him.”

  “That’s great, honey. I’m so glad you’ve found a partner like that,” Susan affirmed.

  “Yep. Well. I have to run. Brittany, Piper and I are off to lunch.”

  Brittany and Piper were two of Amanda’s oldest Newark friends. Susan had practically watched all of them grow up together. Now, Brittany and Piper were Amanda’s bridesmaids. Surprising everyone, Amanda had actually asked Audrey to be her maid of honor, even after such a short cousin-relationship. They had a friendship that Susan didn’t fully understand, but she liked that about it. It made her happy that Lola’s daughter and her own had secrets beyond their generation.

  Susan had a full day of errands before her. She wanted to stop by at the Sunrise Cove to make sure all was okay on Natalie’s end, say hello to Scott as he fixed up a few of the wardrobes in the upper-floor bedrooms at the Sunrise Cove, and maybe grab a quick bite with Christine. After that, she was off to Claire’s flower shop to check in on Amanda’s wedding order. Amanda would be back to the Vineyard in just a few days, and Susan wanted to make sure all loose ends were tied up.

  It was her only daughter’s wedding, and both mother and daughter were perfectionists. There was no way this ship would sink.

  Susan stepped into the flower shop just after one in the afternoon. The smell was dense, layered with lilies and roses and daffodils. It was difficult to get accustomed to it, as though your lungs had to search for the oxygen beyond the scent.

  Claire popped up from behind the counter, holding onto a huge bouquet of lilies. The bouquet was much too large for her, and it made her look on the verge of tipping over. She grinned from behind them and then slowly splayed them across the counter.

  “I think the guy who ordered these didn’t understand how many he really ordered,” she said with a laugh. “A little goes a long way. It’s quite a gesture, though, isn’t it?”

  That moment, the door jingled open to reveal a handsome man with dark hair. As he swept past Susan, his expensive coat whirled out on either side of him. He looked like New York money.

  “Hey there!” Claire said brightly. “I don’t suppose you’re Derek Thatcher?”

  “That’s me,” the man replied. “And those must be mine as well. Wow. That... is quite a few flowers.”

  Claire laughed. “I was just saying. You might have bitt
en off more than you can chew.”

  “Well, I want to make a statement. I guess this is the way to do it,” Derek Thatcher said as he reached for his wallet in his back pocket.

  “She certainly won’t forget it,” Claire stated.

  Susan lingered to the side as the handsome man paid and took the massive bouquet in his arms. He nodded toward Susan as he headed out and then began to whistle to himself. Susan was struck by the glow in his eyes. It was clear: this man loved whoever he meant to give these flowers to. He loved her very much.

  When the door slumped closed, Claire put her hands on her waist and said, “I guess you’re here to check in on your daughter’s flowers.”

  “That’s right. Just want to dot my i’s and cross my t’s, that sort of thing,” Susan said.

  Claire nodded. “I can show you the arrangements I’ve been thinking of so far. I have all these photos in the back. Come on.” Claire turned on her heel while motioning for Susan to follow her.

  Susan curved around the counter and followed Claire into the back belly of the flower shop, which was even denser with floral smells. Mid-way back, they caught sight of Gail and Abby, practicing French braids on one another and gossiping.

  “Thanks for all your help, girls,” Claire said sarcastically as she cast a bright smile toward Susan. “I get it. They don’t want to be florists when they grow up. My dreams of having a family business will probably die in this old place. Not like the Sunrise Cove.”

  Susan smiled. “We’re lucky to still have it.”

  Although still, she couldn’t help but feel that nagging sensation —that she’d never wanted to be an owner of an inn, that she missed her old career. It was something she had to continually shove away in the back of her mind. It wasn’t worth the time or energy to think about and besides, it really was nice that their family business remained in the family.

  Claire began to show her the drawings and photographs that had inspired the looks she wanted to build for Amanda’s wedding. It was all glorious, Pinterest-approved, and Susan “ooohed” and “ahhed” everything, so much so that she very nearly forgot what she was doing and lost track of what Claire said.