“Of course I wish you both all the best, Dad. I’m just surprised. I had no idea you’d wanted to get married again.”
“ ‘Again’ makes it sound like I’ve been married several times over, and recently, at that. I’ve been single for twenty-four years now.”
Jared was not oblivious to the edge in his father’s voice.
“I just meant I didn’t know you were thinking about marriage. I guess I thought since you’d been together for so long, neither one of you wanted to make it permanent.”
“We both feel the time is right for us.”
“Then I’m happy for you. I really am. For both of you. Delia’s . . .” Jared laughed. “Delia is Delia.”
Gordon laughed, too. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”
“So when’s the big day? And where? And do I need to get a tux?”
“Three weeks from Saturday, at Delia’s home in Pennsylvania.”
“Three weeks? That’s not a lot of time. Are you sure you can pull off a wedding in three weeks?”
“This is Delia we’re talking about. She has everything under control, as you’d expect.”
“So how do her kids feel about having a stepfather after all this time?”
“They’re really happy. Nick is walking his mother down the aisle and Delia’s daughters and daughter-in-law will be bridesmaids. I’d like you to be my best man, son.”
“I’d be honored, Dad,” Jared said sincerely. “I truly would be honored.”
“Great. That’s settled, then. Hold on, Jared . . . here’s Delia.”
“You may call me Mom, or not,” Delia Enright said in that always slightly dramatic tone of hers. “Or you may continue to call me Delia. You may not, however, refer to me as your stepmother. It sounds so Grimms’ Fairy Tale–ish. In return, I promise not to be evil.”
“You’ve got a deal.” Jared was grinning. Whatever he felt about his father remarrying, he was glad it was Delia whom Gordon had fallen in love with.
“Did your father tell you the festivities are going to start on Thursday night?”
“No, he just said the wedding was three weeks from Saturday.”
“Take all this down. Thursday night we’re having a general get-together. Both families. All the kids and grandkids. Very casual. It’ll be such fun. Then Friday during the day, we’ll have activities for everyone. The Brandywine Valley is such a beautiful part of Pennsylvania, I want to share it with you all. Plan on sightseeing. It’s a very historical area—the Battle of Brandywine, the Brandywine River Museum, the Wyeth paintings, Longwood Gardens. Look it up if you don’t know it. Then Friday night, rehearsal dinner. Saturday, the wedding. Sunday, brunch and perhaps some more sightseeing if anyone is still on their feet from the night before. Questions?”
“No, ma’am.”
“ ‘Ma’am’ is also off the table, Jared. It makes me sound ancient.” Delia paused. “You haven’t written down a word, have you?”
“No, ma’—Delia. But I have an excellent memory.”
“That’s what your father says, too. I’ve found it to be an exaggeration. Of course, he claims his age is responsible. You have no such excuse. I’m giving the phone back to your father now. Oh, and bring a date or you’ll throw off the seating.”
“Did you catch that last part?” Gordon was back on the phone. “Bring your latest girl.”
“I caught it, but there is no latest girl. I’m not dating anyone right now.”
“Well, sometime over the next few weeks you’re going to have to find someone. Delia is deadly serious about the seating.” Gordon chuckled. “Besides, knowing you, there’ll be someone soon enough.”
“Doubtful. But hey, I wish you both all the happiness in the world, Dad. Let me know what you want me to wear, and I’ll take care of it.”
“Thanks, Jared. I’ll see you soon.” Gordon paused. “I love you, son.”
“I love you, too, Dad.”
Jared remained on the balcony, staring at the water, wondering what had possessed his father to want to get married. You’d think after Amelia . . . But that wasn’t fair, and Jared knew it. Delia wasn’t his mother. She wouldn’t be going off and disappearing into another life that didn’t include him. Funny, though, that his father had fallen in love with two women who were independent and had careers that took them away from home. The difference between them, as he saw it, was that Delia had been going on book tours for many years, and she’d never failed to come back to her children.
For a time, when he was younger, he thought that’s what mothers did. They traveled and did things that were so important they didn’t come home. Then he got a little older and had friends whose mothers were home every night, and he started to wonder what his mother did that was so important she couldn’t come home, too. When she died, he’d expected to feel more than he did, but she was a woman he’d never really known, a woman who had so little presence in his life that he honestly didn’t miss her.
Why would his father want to get married now? Jared was at a loss to explain it.
That’s what he could have told Chrissie, that an unexplainable thing was how a man who’d been abandoned by one wife would want to marry again.
And Delia was demanding that he bring a date for the wedding. A date for a four-day weekend? Delia obviously had no idea what she was asking of him. He couldn’t think of one woman he’d tolerated for four days except his sister, and sometimes that had gotten touchy. Besides, chances were Rachel would be bringing her husband.
He speed-dialed Rachel’s number and couldn’t help but smile when he heard her voice. He really did love his little sister.
“So, you’ve heard Dad’s happy news,” she said when she picked up. “Isn’t it wonderful? He and Delia are really getting married. They’re so perfect for each other, don’t you think?”
“Yeah. Perfect.” He tried to sound upbeat.
“We’re over the moon. The boys are so excited. They’ve never been to a wedding. Of course, they’re mostly interested in the cake, but it’ll be a great time. They’ll meet their . . . what would you call them, stepgrandkids? What would the relationship be between Delia’s grandkids and Dad’s?”
“I don’t know. Listen, Rach . . .”
“Dad says you’re bringing a date to the wedding. Who’s the lucky girl?”
“There is no girl. Lucky or otherwise.”
“What, you can’t decide between the bevy of beauties that always seem to follow you around?”
“There’s no bevy. No beauties. Nada.”
“Jared, have you been sick? ’Cause the only time I remember you not having at least one girl in your life was when you were in South America and caught that fever and—”
“I’m not sick. I’m just not dating anyone. I’m just working.”
“I was under the impression you weren’t working. Dad said there was a lull.”
“Right. But we expect to get called back at any minute.”
“How’s that cramping your style?”
“Look, I’m just having a nice, peaceful layover in a quaint little historic town, taking nice long walks, eating some great food . . .”
“Okay, who are you really, and what have you done with my brother? Because if you knew him at all, you’d know he doesn’t take nice, peaceful long walks in little historic towns.”
Jared laughed. “It’s just a change of pace while I’m waiting to get back to the diving, that’s all.”
“So how’s there no woman involved?”
“There just isn’t.”
“Wow. This is a whole new Jared.” Rachel paused. “Are you honestly saying you haven’t had female companionship since you got there?”
“Well, I’ve made a friend, but seriously, just a friend. We just hang out.”
“You hang out and take long walks through a charming little town, something you never do, but she’s just a friend.”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t remember you ever ‘just hanging out�
� when it comes to women.”
“Maybe I’m an older, wiser Jared.”
“That’s a novel concept. I wonder what that would look like.” Rachel paused. “But back to the problem at hand. Delia said you have to bring someone. How ’bout that woman you dated last summer? Jenna?”
“Jessica. And no, thank you.”
“The one from New York, the one you had with you at the Halloween party, then.”
“She really was a witch.”
“Ha-ha. And here we thought it was just a costume. Okay, then, I guess I’m just going to have to set you up with someone. Oh, hey, I have this friend who—”
“No. God, no.”
“She’s really nice, Jared. And cute. Well, in her own way.”
He groaned. “Is she anywhere near as annoying as you are?”
Rachel laughed. “Almost.”
“Look, it’s not that big a deal.”
“Apparently it is to our future stepmother.”
“If you value your life, you won’t let her hear you call her that. I’ve been warned. I’m passing that warning on to you.”
“Please. I’m not the one who’s threatening to throw off her seating arrangement.”
“I don’t even know what that means.”
“It means she wants an even number of people at every table. If you come alone, there will be an extra space at your table and she doesn’t want that.”
“It sounds silly to me,” he muttered.
“Well, you’re not the one who’s getting married. Find yourself a date, bud, or I’ll be forced to find someone for you.”
“Don’t bother. I’ll think of something.”
“I’m not bluffing, Jared. I will bring someone, and if you don’t act like she’s your real date, you will look like the biggest loser ever.”
The sad truth was that he knew Rachel’d be good to her word. And the only thing he could think of worse than spending four days with someone he didn’t know just might be starting off on the wrong foot with his stepmother.
He corrected himself. Delia.
• • •
“OH MY GOD, Chrissie, you’re not going to believe what happened.” Sophie was waiting for her when she arrived at Blossoms on Friday morning. “Dallas called last night. She’s having a big meeting of her entire production staff to introduce them to the actors she’s chosen to star in her new movie. They’re all coming to St. Dennis. The stars, the staff, right down to the script people and the camerapeople. And she wants to have a brunch. Or lunch. I can’t remember which she said. My mind sort of went blank when I realized what she was asking me. And I said yes. And now we have to do it.”
“What did you say yes to?” Chrissie’s head was spinning, Sophie’d been talking so fast.
“Brunch. Or lunch. Here. At Blossoms.”
“Take a deep breath.” Chrissie waited. “Now, when is this brunch? Lunch. Whatever.”
“Sunday.”
“Next Sunday?” Chrissie walked past her and hung her bag on a hook near the back door. “That’s totally doable.”
“Ah, no. This Sunday.”
“Day after tomorrow? You’re kidding.”
Sophie shook her head. “She’s a friend, but she’s also Dallas freaking MacGregor. I’m really grateful she thought of me. This could be really good publicity for Blossoms.”
“Do you really need publicity? It seems to me you do okay.”
“We do okay, yes, but we’re coming into tourist season and there are a lot of places to eat in St. Dennis. There’s so much competition for those tourist dollars. This is free publicity. People are nuts, you know that. They’re going to want to eat where Dallas ate. Dallas and the stars she’s bringing with her. And people are going to wonder, If I eat there, will she come in?” Sophie tied on her apron. “You can see where this could be really big for me, right? We don’t get the foot traffic that places like Lola’s and Captain Walt’s and the other places that are right in the center of town do. We’re off the beaten track. I mean, you have to have a reason to come out this way. River Road isn’t exactly Charles Street. But if Dallas can put us on the map, more of those tourist dollars will flow our way because people will come looking for us.”
“True. So what are you planning on making?”
“I don’t know. I can’t pin down the menu. I think brunch, then I think maybe more like lunch.”
The front door opened and Dana called to announce she’d arrived. Chrissie looked at the clock. It was getting close to opening time.
“Look, let’s get through today and after we close, we’ll sit down and work something out,” Sophie said. “I know I’m a little rattled. It’s just huge for a place like ours to have an opportunity like this.”
“Well, you do takeout for Dallas and her employees all the time. This isn’t so different. They’re just all coming here to eat.”
“You’re right. I know I’m overreacting.” Sophie took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m over it now. Let’s get on with it.”
They were particularly busy, it being Friday, a day when more people seemed to go out for lunch, and the first of the early season’s visitors began to trickle in. Not the droves Sophie counted on for the summer, but a few more tables than usual were filled. By two o’clock, Chrissie was as ready as Sophie to put the CLOSED sign on the door.
After they’d cleaned up from the day, they went into the restaurant and sat at a table, Sophie with a yellow legal pad and a glass of decaf iced tea in front of her, while Chrissie had fixed herself a cup of coffee.
“Okay. Dallas did mention eleven thirty or so for the time. So I’m thinking brunch, though I will confirm that with her. We’ll need a few appetizers to set the mood; we’ll make those stationary because we’re not going to have a lot of waitstaff. We have Dana and Margarite, and they both said they could work on Sunday, but we’ll need a few more. Dallas agreed to keep the number of guests to match the tables and seats we have, which is forty.”
“The weather’s supposed to be gorgeous on Sunday. Maybe we could do the appetizers out back on the patio, then come in here for the main course and dessert.”
“I like it. I don’t have that many outside chairs, but people tend to stand around and mingle at cocktail parties, so it’ll be fine. And we’ll have to get the outside furniture out of storage and clean it up. I’ll ask my husband to do that.” She made a note on her pad. “It’s May already. I should have it out now anyway.”
“So we need some appetizers,” Chrissie noted. “Since we’re on the Chesapeake, we should have something with crab. Either a hot dip or mini crab cakes.”
“I think the crab cakes. Dip can get messy.” Sophie made another note.
By the time they’d finished, they’d decided on three appetizers, a strawberry salad, and three main dishes.
“We’ll serve the salads, then we’ll set up the entrées on the counter and serve those buffet style,” Sophie said. “And we can serve dessert at the tables. One dessert. Something springy.”
“I have a great recipe for a rhubarb upside-down cake,” Chrissie told her. “I used to make it at Luna and everyone loved it. We should have an ice cream to go with it.” She thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers. “Steffie had the best mint ice cream. I wonder if we could get her to make enough for Sunday.”
“Perfect. Rhubarb is definitely a spring thing. And mint ice cream would be exactly right. I’ll give Stef a call tonight.” Sophie made a face. “I don’t have a liquor license, though. I can’t sell alcohol.”
“Why not ask Dallas to bring the wine or whatever she’d like to have served? If it’s a private party, I don’t know why there’d be a problem.”
Sophie nodded. “I’ll ask Dallas what she wants and how she’d like to handle it. I expect she’ll want to have some beer, since her brother is half of MadMac Brews.”
“Ah yes, the St. Dennis brewmeisters. I had some of their beer at Owen’s. It was great, but I don’t know that beer goes with brunch. She’ll prob
ably suggest it, but you might want to shoot that down. Gently of course, since the customer is always right.” Chrissie got up and stretched. “So we have our menu. Let’s go into the kitchen and see what we’re going to have to bring in tomorrow to make this thing happen.”
• • •
ON SUNDAY MORNING, Chrissie and Sophie stood side by side in front of the glass portion of the back door at Blossoms and watched the stars walk not the red carpet, but the blue-stone walk to the patio behind the restaurant. They’d been preparing, cooking, baking since five that morning, and were ready to start serving. Dallas’s husband had dropped off the wine and champagne earlier, and had lent a hand by taking the wineglasses onto the patio and icing the champagne.
“All set to play bartender today?” Sophie had asked when he arrived.
“One of my favorite gigs,” he assured her. “So much easier than spaying dogs.”
Sophie had turned to Chrissie and explained, “Grant is the town vet. He also has a rescue shelter for dogs, if you ever find yourself wanting furry companionship.”
“We do have cats, too,” Grant told Chrissie as he carried the cases of wine through the back door and set them on the ground in front of the table that would serve as the bar. “Not so many, because we’ve found out that my daughter Paige is allergic to them.”
“Okay, let’s just take a moment and get all our fangirling out of our systems at the same time,” Chrissie suggested now. “Otherwise we won’t be able to function for the rest of the day.”
“Agreed. I could die just looking at Chase Winston.” Sophie clutched Chrissie’s arm. “He’s actually standing on my patio. Looking at my restaurant.”
“Ah, actually, he’s looking at you, Sophie.” Chrissie turned away from the window. “He apparently likes what he sees.”
“Wow. We made eye contact.”
“Might be a good time to step away from the glass.” Chrissie gently pushed Sophie aside. “Wait till he gets a glimpse of that belly of yours.”
“I’ll convince him it’s his.” Sophie definitely looked starstruck. “We’ll run away to Tuscany and have a dozen more babies.”
“Jason might have something to say about that.” Chrissie laughed as she removed several trays of roasted tomato tarts from the oven and placed them on racks to cool.
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