“Seventy-five people?” Joe interrupted. “Mom, we have a family of six, with no cousins or aunts and uncles to speak of. Where are you getting seventy-five guests from?”
“Our rancher neighbors. The MacCreadies, Carrigans, Sheenans, Vaughns, Hollises, Douglases, Tates… oh dear, who am I forgetting?”
“About six more families. But, Mom, you can’t invite every ranching neighbor.”
“Why not? They’re always looking out for us, and it’s time we included them in something. We spend too much time only worrying about ourselves.”
“That’s because we’re a little bit removed overlooking Pray.”
“Even better. And don’t you want them to meet Sophie? That way they know who she is and can keep an eye out for her.”
“Put that way, yes, fine.”
Mrs. Wyatt looked at Sophie. “Now you come from a large family so we could easily be inviting twenty-five to thirty people, right?”
Sophie shook her head. “No. I’m not inviting my family. It’s a long way to come. It’d be at least two flights for most, and that gets expensive.”
“No one? Not even your mother and father?”
“My father passed away a couple years ago and my mom doesn’t travel on her own.”
“What about brothers or sisters? Couldn’t one of them bring your mother?”
“Not on short notice.”
“What about friends?” Mrs. Wyatt persisted.
Sophie felt Joe’s hand slip into hers and give a faint squeeze. She gave a squeeze back, grateful for the gesture of support. “I think it would be difficult for people to come from California on such short notice, and I’m good with that. I really would prefer a small, simple ceremony without any fuss.”
Mrs. Wyatt looked baffled. “Surely, there is at least one person you’d like to invite?”
Sophie thought of her family, and then her colleagues from Brazer Farms. Her family and her work were so intertwined, there was no way to separate one from the other, not anymore. “Maybe I could invite some of the girls from the salon in Marietta. Amanda had already offered to do my hair, so maybe she and her husband could be included?”
“Charity’s sister?”
“Sophie works for Charity’s sister, yes,” Joe said. “I think that’s a great idea to have Amanda and her husband come.”
Mrs. Wyatt looked at them for a long moment before slowly, laboriously typing notes on her iPad. She then turned to her son. “Joe, what about you? I’ve already put your brothers on the list, but wasn’t sure which of your friends you’d want to invite.”
“I don’t really have anyone to invite, either,” he answered. “I’ve lost touch with most of the guys I went to school with. I’d probably just invite Sam, Billy, and Tommy. They’re my best friends.”
“I can’t believe there’s no one else,” she said.
“Lots of the neighbors you’re inviting are my friends. If I happen to think of anyone else, I promise to tell you.”
Mrs. Wyatt looked down at her iPad and scrutinized her list. “So ninety people roughly? Twenty-five to thirty invites?”
Sophie gripped Joe’s hand hard. He just gave her a faint shrug.
“Mrs. Wyatt,” Sophie said as calmly as she could, “that’s a lot of people. Maybe too many people?”
“That’s just who we’re inviting,” Mrs. Wyatt answered. “Who knows how many will actually come?”
*
The rest of the week passed and Sophie was ambivalent about the weekend. She was looking forward to being off work Sunday and Monday, but she had a feeling Mrs. Wyatt would be keeping her plenty busy discussing this proposed wedding.
She cornered Joe in the kitchen Saturday morning where he was reheating a cup of coffee. “Joe, you have to help me. We didn’t want a big reception. We were happy with how we got married. I think we’re just going to have to tell your mom we’re already married.”
“Have you seen my mom’s expression? Have you seen how happy she is? She’s on cloud nine. Who knew that planning a wedding was all she’s ever wanted to do?”
“But we don’t need a wedding. We don’t need a party. We don’t need all this fuss.” She wrapped her arms around his waist, and tipped her head back to look into his face. “Please tell me we aren’t really going to do this.”
Joe’s arms circled her, his hands low on her back. “Would it be such an awful thing to have a second ceremony? Would it be the end of the world to have this reception?”
“Joe.”
He shrugged. “I don’t get the whole wedding hoopla myself, but she’s having so much fun.”
“Then you come sit with her and look at the magazines. You study flowers, and discuss cake, and debate beef or chicken for the dinner entrée. I can’t do it. I told you when I arrived that I never want to plan another big wedding—”
“And you’re not having to plan it. My mom is happy to organize everything.”
“That’s not the point.”
“What is the point? Because I’m confused.”
“We were going to do a quiet, practical ceremony—”
“Which we did.”
“And there was not going to be any fuss.”
“And there was no fuss.”
“But now, suddenly, we’re keeping our marriage secret and agreeing to a wedding that makes us the focus of everyone’s attention and, Joe, it’s overwhelming. I’m not good with attention. I don’t want to have to playact our way through the entire reception, but we will.”
“We’ll just stay on the dance floor the whole time so no one can talk to us.”
She made a face. “And I’m a terrible dancer.”
“I’ll help you.”
Sophie closed her eyes. “This will not end well,” she said darkly.
“Let’s be optimistic.”
“Okay, fine. I’m positive it’s going to blow up in our face.”
He laughed softly and pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “At least you make me laugh.”
His kiss was so good, so persuasive that Sophie promptly forgot what they were talking about, and stood up on tiptoe to feel even more of him.
They were still kissing when Granddad walked in and they quickly broke apart.
Melvin Wyatt looked from one to the other and then shook his head. “No need to look so guilty. I’m not the kiss police.”
Sophie and Joe looked at him, and then each other, before bursting into laughter.
“I like him,” Sophie said, when Mr. Wyatt had exited the kitchen.
“I do, too.”
*
Mrs. Wyatt loved her iPad because she could talk to it, and Siri would help her find the things she wanted without having to type everything into the search engine. She also seemed to be very proficient at looking things up because every day, Joe’s mom had new saved searches for Sophie to look at. On Sunday, the list was endless—
Rustic country wedding invites.
Country wedding decor.
Chic barn weddings.
Hay bale couches.
Barn wedding ceremony ideas.
Cowboy wedding cake.