She blushed. Where had Wynn Kernstone been this whole time?
Just then, he grabbed her waist and pulled her closer. With a hungry look in his eyes, he leaned in and slowly pressed his lips against hers. She kissed him back, kicking her right foot up behind her.
As their lips touched, a part of her still wondered why someone like Wynn would be interested in her. Yet, the other part felt so tingly and warm inside, she didn’t care. Maybe—just maybe—he was the real deal. After all, she did seem to be on a lucky streak.
CHAPTER 8 Lexi
The Marsh View Country Club centered around an eighteen-hole championship golf course, perfectly manicured and scattered with mossy oak trees. While the rich old men who were serious about golf appreciated the club for that, everyone else joined for the social scene.
As Seth’s pickup truck drove through the black wrought iron gate, Lexi looked in the passenger seat visor mirror and reapplied her lipstick. She gave herself a little smile. Every other time they had passed through the gate, it was to have lunch or dinner with Seth’s parents, and every time she felt like an imposter on the grounds. But now, she felt like she finally belonged.
“Are you sure you want to do this, babe?” Seth asked, sounding hesitant. “I mean, it’s not too late to tell my mom we’re eloping.”
Lexi laughed. “Stop. It’s going to be beautiful.” She looked out the dirt-coated window, feeling slightly ashamed she didn’t think about going to a car wash—or just buying a new truck for Seth—before they came.
“Why do you want it here again?” he asked as they drove into the parking lot.
Lexi looked over at the clubhouse. The building, which looked elegant with its wide white columns and red brick, reminded her of the kind of place she’d seen in the pages of her fancy bridal magazine. The people who had weddings at places like this were sophisticated and classy. And now, she was sophisticated and classy, too—the kind of girl Seth’s parents would be proud to show off to their friends.
“Your mom made a lot of good points about the venue,” she said, remembering how convincing Nancy was during dinner last week.
“It would be so much easier to have the wedding at the club than to do everything yourself,” Nancy had explained. “They take care of a lot of the details like catering and setting up the tables.” Lexi hadn’t even thought about how hard it would be to organize an outdoor wedding on a hill at sunset, like she and Seth had fantasized about.
But it wasn’t just the logistics that sealed the deal. It was also the pure delight in Nancy’s voice when she talked about the possibility. “You know, Mackenzie Rogers has been telling me about her wedding plans there, and it just sounds lovely. I could only imagine with a budget like yours how much more beautiful it could even be.…”
Lexi nearly choked on her chardonnay at Nancy implying her wedding could be even better than Mackenzie Rogers’s.
“I’d be happy to set up a meeting with the club’s event coordinator,” Nancy said, pushing her large blond curls behind her shoulder. She leaned across the table. “I could help you plan, too! It’d be so fun.”
“If there’s one thing Nancy is good at, it’s spending money,” Seth’s dad deadpanned while chewing a piece of steak.
Lexi laughed and put her hands in her lap. “I’d love that,” she said.
Seth cleared his throat from across the table and gave her a look, but she waved it off. Sure, he was adamant about not taking his parents’ money so that he and Lexi could be in control of their own lives, but it was Lexi’s money now. She had all the power. Besides, it would be a great bonding experience with Nancy, she told herself.
Now Seth opened up the passenger side door, and Lexi took his hand and climbed down from the truck, admiring how handsome her fiancé looked in the designer gray sports coat she bought him over the weekend.
She smoothed out her new pink and blue Lilly Pulitzer shift dress as they walked toward the clubhouse, lifting her frosted-white-framed sunglasses to get a better look at the exterior of the building she had gone to a few times with Seth’s parents, but never really took the time to admire.
A large horseshoe driveway led to the entrance, which was flanked by tall white columns. The classic two-story building was surrounded by lush greenery, and an attached flag of the United States waved against the crystal-clear blue sky.
“God bless America.…” she whispered, biting the temple tip of her sunglasses.
Seth opened the door to the clubhouse for her and sighed. “You’re absolutely sure this is what you want to do?”
Lexi knew he wasn’t a fan of the club. His parents had been members since he was a kid, and he had grown tired of it through the years.
But she could see why people loved it. She stepped into the clubhouse and inhaled the scent of rich leather and cedar. The main room was outfitted in fine wood furniture and comfy couches centered around a cozy stone fireplace. A sideboard was topped with a glass beverage dispenser filled with fruit-infused water, and a crystal dish full of M&M’s—the fancy peanut kind—sat next to it. Lexi’s gold ankle-strapped sandals tapped on the solid dark oak floor as she walked over and grabbed a handful of candy.
Seth adjusted the collared shirt around his neck, looking visibly uncomfortable. He slouched down into one of the worn leather armchairs, and just as Lexi went to sit down next to him, Nancy opened the front door.
“Hey, y’all,” she announced in a deep drawl as she walked over to the two of them. She looked preppy in a blue-striped ruffled poplin blouse, white pants, and nude leather sandals. As many things as Lexi disliked about her future mother-in-law, the woman knew how to dress.
Nancy took off her black-framed Jackie O sunglasses and stuck them in her hair, which looked bouncy, like it was fresh off the hot rollers. “I couldn’t sleep last night—my mind was simply racing with ideas for this wedding!”
Lexi could practically feel Seth’s eyes rolling as he stood behind her. Maybe it was a little much, having this big wedding and involving Nancy in the planning. After all, Seth had warned her, “You give my mom an inch, she’ll take a whole football field.”
A lump of worry formed in Lexi’s throat. Perhaps she should have listened to him. But it was too late to change her mind now. A woman dressed in neatly pressed khaki pants and a green polo shirt stitched with the words “Marsh View Country Club” approached the three of them.
“Karen, darling!” Nancy greeted the woman. “This is my son and his fiancée.” She then turned to Lexi and Seth. “Y’all, this is Karen, the club’s event coordinator. Karen helped me so much for the charity fund-raising gala last year. This place looked spectacular, and people still tell me what a perfect party it was.” She put her hand on her chest, looking as if she was reliving the night in her mind, and then shook her head with a laugh. “Oh, but enough about that!”
Karen held out her hand to Lexi. “Hi, so nice to meet you,” she said in a professional tone. Lexi couldn’t help but stare at the woman’s makeup. It was so muted and matted that it made her look like a funeral director. “Why don’t I give you a quick tour of how a typical event would be set up here so you get an idea, and then we can sit down and hash out the details?”