Say Yes

by Mellie George

  Daisy looked at me wide-eyed. “Hey, no need to be snippy. I was just wondering why you guys were going so early, that’s all,” she said, a note of surprise in her voice. “I wasn’t meaning to tease or anything. Okay, maybe I was teasing a little bit,” she admitted when she caught my glare. “It just seems that you two have picked up right where you left off. Like these last eleven years never even happened.” She stopped and walked over to me. Gently raising her hands as if in mock surrender, she said, “Can I be serious here for a minute and you not get mad?” When I said nothing, she went on. “Lilly, I know that you are only going to be here for just a few weeks, but that is plenty of time to rekindle an old flame. I just don’t want to see you get hurt,” she admitted, her face stern.

  Suddenly, I felt my stomach flip. “What are you saying, Dais? You think he will hurt me?” I asked defensively.

  Her face softened. “Oh, honey, of course not. Luke is a truly great guy. I just think that the deeper you two let yourselves get, the harder this will be on both of you when it’s all over and it’s time for goodbyes. You think it was hard the first time? Add eleven years of ‘what if’s’ to that.” And, at that moment, I knew she was right. Since the moment I set eyes on him last night, I had completely lost myself. I was blushing and bumbling and stumbling over my words like that nervous girl on the porch that night so long ago. The truth was I was only here for a short time. Did I really think in my head that this was something more than it was? I mean, there was obviously still an attraction there between us, but that’s all this could be. Just an attraction and some simple flirting. If nothing else, after all this was over and it was time for me to go, I still wanted nothing less than to be his friend again. I wanted to be able to keep in touch this time, because I really had missed his friendship. He was the kind of friend that upon meeting the first time, you immediately felt at ease and knew that he was one you’d have in your life forever, in one way or another. I couldn’t bear to lose that again.

  “Daisy…I’m sorry for snapping. You are absolutely right. I can’t let this happen. It’s just that being here again just brought it all back home. I wasn’t expecting to see Luke at all, let alone for him to be best man in Violet’s wedding. I was just caught off guard, and I haven’t been handling it the way I should. Maybe I should just cancel this thing,” I said.

  Daisy stopped me. “Oh no, don’t do that! If nothing else, Lil, he’s still your friend. You still want to be, don’t you?”

  “More than anything,” I admitted.

  “Okay then. So, just go with him, have a nice time, eat some food, catch up on everything, and let that be that. You two are going to be seeing each other a lot for at least the next two weeks until Vi’s wedding, and I know that it will be so much easier for you both if you can just, I don’t know…coexist,” she said.

  Right then, I pulled her into a hug. “Daisy, thank you. I have missed you more than you know. When did you get so smart?” I asked.

  Patting my back, she said, “What do you mean? That question should be, how come it took you so long to realize my awesomeness?” At that moment, she reminded me a little of Tara. Except without the whininess and murder threats via text message. The thought made me chuckle. “Come on, we have a sister waiting in there on us, better not keep her waitin’,” she said, and we walked into the diner together.

  Chapter 7

  Strange Encounters

  As expected, Violet was waiting for us when we walked in, and already had a table. A very hard thing to accomplish on a Saturday morning at Grady’s Diner. Even at nine o’clock in the morning on a Saturday, Violet looked impeccable. Her long blonde hair was curled at the ends and it hung loosely around her shoulders. She wore a fitted red sweater, jeans (probably designer labeled), and tan UGG boots. She was adorable. As soon as she saw us, she gave us a wave. “Hey, y’all!”

  I walked over to the table and leaned to kiss her cheek. “Good morning, Vi. How was your night?”

  With a sly smile, she answered, “Oh, well, you know. It was great.” I totally knew what she meant, but it was still weird. “I ordered a pot of coffee for us, I hope that’s okay. How was it being back home your first night?”

  “It was actually really nice. Daisy and me stayed up most of the night catching up,” I said.

  “Yeah, it’s a shame you weren’t there, too,” Daisy answered, picking up her menu and starting to glance through it. “Ooh, these cheddar eggs look amazing.” Apparently her stomach wasn’t hurting anymore.

  I turned back to Violet. “It is a shame. Hey, maybe we should have a little sister-slash-slumber party thing before the wedding. One last girl’s night, just the three of us,” I suggested.

  Violet’s face lit up, and I immediately knew that she loved my idea. “That would be so much fun! We could do mani’s and pedi’s, order pizza, watch some gushy love movies…yes, let’s do that!”

  “Okay, we will definitely plan on that,” I answered, and I picked up my menu. I scanned the pages, but I already knew what I was looking for. “Oh, there they are. I know what I am having. Those damn apple cinnamon pancakes have literally haunted my dreams since I left home. Oh, yummy, yummy, yummy,” I said, and Violet and Daisy giggled.

  At that moment, a slender woman with red hair came to our table with a note pad and a pencil in her hand. She had her head down, not really glancing at us. “Good mornin’, welcome to Grady’s. You ladies ready to order?” she asked, not looking up from her note pad.

  Violet went first. “Yes, I’ll have the spinach and mushroom omelet, with whole wheat toast please,” she said, and then set her menu down. The waitress was scribbling fast, never looking up.

  Daisy went next. “I will have the triple cheddar omelet, bacon on the side, an order of hash browns, and a blueberry muffin please. Ooh, and an order of Belgian waffles,” she said. Violet and I gaped at her, and she said, “What are you looking at? I’m hungry.” I wondered at that moment how all that food was going to fit into that tiny woman.

  Then it was my turn. “I would like the apple cinnamon pancakes please, and I’d like to have bacon on the side as well.” I gathered all of our menus, and got ready to hand them to the waitress. When she was done writing, she put her pencil and note pad into her apron pocket, and started to take the menus from me. As soon as she looked up, and she saw me, her mouth fell open in surprise. Then she looked to Violet, then to Daisy, and her face fell into a look of shock before again resting her eyes on me. I looked back at her, feeling a little self conscious. Why was she staring at me like that? “Um, are you okay?” I asked.

  “You’re Lilly Harrington,” she said acidly. She said it more as an accusation.

  I felt my face begin to get red. “Um, yes, I am. It’s nice to meet you. And you are…”

  She tried her best to look friendly, and she let her face relax, but her jaw was still squared. “Oh, we’ve never met. It’s just that everyone around here talks about you so much I feel like I already know you,” she said, as if it were literally causing her pain to be cordial to me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Violet and Daisy exchange short, worried glances. She reached out her hand to me. “I’m Samantha Reed,” she said. Nervously, I took her hand in mine, we briefly shook. Who the hell was this woman?

  “It’s nice to meet you Samantha,” I replied, not really knowing anything else to say. She still wouldn’t take her eyes off of mine, and I was getting more and more uncomfortable by the minute.

  After a brief (but somehow long) moment, she seemed to realize she’d been staring longer than she should have, and a nervous smile spread across her face. “Well, it was nice to meet you too, finally. I am going to put your order in, and it should be ready soon.” And with that, she took off toward the kitchen in a hurry.

  I looked at my sisters. They clearly knew who this woman was. “What the hell was that about? Who is she?”

  Violet was the first to answer. “That’s Sam. She and Luke dated a while back. It wasn’t anything serious,�
� she said. At that moment, I remembered our conversation in the kitchen from the night before. Samantha was Sam…oh joy. So, my reputation must have preceded me.

  “If it wasn’t serious, then why the hell was she so weird to me just now?” I asked.

  Daisy answered that time. “Well, from what I gather from it, he mentioned you a bit when they were together.”

  “He did? How do you know that?”

  “Oh, Jack let it slip once,” Daisy said.

  “Well, she didn’t have any reason to be like that. I mean, we were never together,” I answered. “Oh wow, well, this wasn’t how I thought wedding planning was going to go this morning,” I said. I turned to Violet. “I am so sorry about this, Vi.”

  She reached over and placed her hand on mine. Giggling, she said, “Why on earth are you sorry? You didn’t know about this. If Sam is insecure, it’s not because of you. It’s something she needs to resolve with Luke.”

  “Either that, or move the hell on already,” Daisy scoffed. Just then, I heard someone call my name. Oh no, now what?

  “Lilly Harrington, is that you?” I turned around, and I felt at ease. I saw a big, beefy man with gray hair and a gray beard to match walking toward me. It was Mr. Grady, the owner of the diner. He walked toward me with his arms out.

  I stood up, and walked to him. “Mr. Grady! Hi, how are you?” I asked, hugging him.

  “I’m doin’ fine, I’m doin’ fine. I thought I heard someone say you were back in my diner.” My eyes quickly flashed to the counter, and I saw Sam glaring at me, and when our eyes met, she quickly looked away. “So, how you been, girl?” he asked, in his thick southern drawl.

  “I’ve been great. How’s your family?”

  “Oh, they’re great, thanks for askin’. Tell me about being a big chef in California. You haven’t tried stealin’ any of my recipes, have ya?”

  “As if I could. Your food is one of a kind. Believe me, I’ve tried recreating some of them, and I just can’t get them to taste as good as yours.”

  “Well, aren’t you sweet? I knew there was a reason I always liked you, Lilly,” he said, with a deep laugh. “So, you staying in town for the holidays after Violet’s weddin’? Which, by the way, thank you for invitin’ me to, young lady,” he added, winking at Violet. She smiled warmly back to him.

  “Well, that’s the plan. I thought since I was already here for the wedding I’d stay on until Christmas.”

  “Well, it’s good to have you home again, girl,” Mr. Grady said, giving me another quick hug around the shoulders. “Well, I’d better get back in the kitchen, I gotta make your food!” he said, laughing. “And, you ladies order whatever you want, as much as you want, because it’s on the house.” We all started to protest, but he shook his head and put his hands in the air. “Now, don’t argue with me, my mind’s made up.”

  “Thanks so much, Mr. Grady. It was great seeing you,” I said, kissing him on the cheek.

  He smiled, and said, “Oh, enough of that now. You keep that up, and I may never go back in that kitchen.” We all laughed loudly. “You girls make sure you say goodbye before you leave, you hear?”

  “Oh, yes sir,” I said, taking my seat again.

  “Alright, I’ll catch up with yun’s later,” he said, and walked back into the kitchen. After that warm welcome, my encounter with Luke’s ex girlfriend was all but forgotten.

  After eating myself into a pancake induced stupor, and looking through all of Violet’s plans from her “Wedding Bible” as she called it, I felt like it had been a pretty productive morning. This wedding really was going to be beautiful. She showed me some sketches of her wedding dress, which was gorgeous. I could not wait to see her in it. She also showed me a picture of Daisy in her bridesmaid dress, and I was ecstatic. They were beautiful, thank God. Surprisingly, her colors weren’t holiday themed, given the time of the wedding, which was only five days before Christmas. Our bridesmaid dresses were a delicate ice blue, and the only difference in them was Daisy’s dress was strapless, and mine had wide straps in order to distinguish us. They were fitted at the top, and then they started to flow out at the waist. Over the ice blue satin lay a sheer, almost tulle-like overlay, and the bottom of the dress flowed around like a sea of crystal blue water. They were so amazing, and I couldn’t wait to try mine on. Violet had really done an amazing job with this wedding. She wanted it to be like a winter wonderland, and I really think after seeing everything, she was going to knock it out of the park.

  Just then, I glanced up at the clock on the wall, and noticed the time. It was fifteen minutes until eleven. I started to panic a little bit. Luke was going to be here in fifteen minutes. I glanced at my watch, and Daisy noticed. “Hey, Violet,” Daisy asked, “we probably are done here today, right?”

  She smiled. “Can’t wait to be rid of me, huh?”

  “Oh, no, it’s not that. I think I ate too much or something, my stomach’s upset again. I think I may have to start carrying Tums around with me.” Daisy said.

  “Well, just because you can eat like a starving trucker doesn’t mean you should,” Violet said, laughing. “But in all seriousness, we are done here, so go home and get some rest.”

  “I think I will do just that. Lil, you ready to go?”

  “Yeah, just let me go and say goodbye to Mr. Grady.” I walked over to him and met him at the kitchen door, and he gave me a tight bear hug. He reminded me to come back and see him soon, which I promised I would. We all walked to our cars together, and I hugged Violet goodbye. “Well, thanks for catching me up, Vi. This wedding is going to be amazing.”

  “I’m glad you think so, and I am so, so glad you like everything. I have a rehearsal with my kids for the Christmas festival tomorrow, but would you maybe be up for a gown fitting Monday evening?” Violet asked.

  “Yeah, Monday is perfect. I’ll see you then. And give Evan my love,” I said, and we broke apart. Violet gave us one final wave, and she got into her car and left. I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks for helping me wrap this up, Dais. He should be meeting me here any time.” And right as I said that, his car rounded the corner and pulled in Grady’s parking lot. He slid into the spot that was next to Daisy’s car, turned off the engine, and stepped out of the car. I felt my breath catch in my throat. He was devastatingly handsome. He wore dark wash faded blue jeans, black leather boots, and a tan sweater under his black leather jacket. His hair was styled into a messy look with the bangs in the front spiked up just a bit, and he had just a bit of a five o’clock shadow on his jaw. He was so gorgeous it hurt. He smiled at me.

  Out of the corner of her mouth, Daisy noticed my reaction and mumbled, “Be cool, remember what we talked about.” I rolled my eyes and smiled.

  “Good morning, Lilly. Hey Daisy,” he said.

  “Hey,” we both said at the same time, and the three of us laughed.

  “Okay, so, how was breakfast? Did Old Man Grady feed you until you could barely move?” Luke asked.

  “Well, I ate the amount that a normal person eats. Daisy, on the other hand…” I trailed off.

  Daisy pointed her finger at me and said, “Hey now, I have been feeling sick the past few days. I had catching up to do.”

  “Well, hopefully you will feel better soon. Evan told me the other day that he has five patients due this week. He’s gonna need your help,” Luke answered.

  “Then I better go home and get some rest. Have fun you two,” Daisy said, winking at me. She got into her car, started it, and waved to us as she drove away.

  Luke turned back to me and smiled. “So, you ready to go, or do you want to wait? You did just eat.”

  “Well, you said that this place was outside Kingsland, which is over an hour away. That should give me time to get my appetite back,” I said, grinning.

  He smiled widely. “Okay, let’s go then,” he said, and opened the passenger side door for me. As I got ready to step in, I glanced at the front window of Grady’s Diner, and Sam was staring at us, her eyes burning. As s
oon as she caught my eyes, she quickly cleared the table she was cleaning and walked away. This woman was going to be a thorn in my side while I was here. I got in his car, and he closed the door. He walked over to the driver’s side and got in. Once he started the ignition, he revved the engine, and said, “Here we go.”

  Chapter 8

  Lunch with an Old Friend

  As Luke and I made the drive to the restaurant, we made small talk the whole way, catching up on this and that, but my mind was somewhere else. I kept thinking about what Daisy said to me. Maybe it was just me, but I could cut the sexual tension with a knife. This was going to be so much harder than I thought, but Daisy had been right. I had to make this work not just for Violet’s sake, but my new brother in law was going to be opening a practice with him. I just didn’t want to mess anything up. After about twenty minutes of idle chit chat, Luke finally cleared his throat. “You okay?”

  “What?” I asked.

  “I just asked you about your restaurant in California.”

  Wow…that was embarrassing. “Oh yea, sorry, I must have been thinking about something else.”

  “Are you sure you are up for this today? You have been a little cool this morning.”

  “Luke, I’m sorry. You are right. I have been acting a little strange. I guess it’s all still so…surprising seeing you again.” I admitted.

  “Surprising?” he asked, a little dazed. Then his face softened. “Good surprising?”

  “Yes, definitely a good surprise.”

  Smiling, he said, “That’s good to hear. It’s been nice seeing you again,” he said.