“How did it go?” Honor asked as Brenna trailed behind everyone.
“About like I expected.”
Honor rolled her eyes. “She’s already put up a fuss about the room not being big enough for her, and wants to know why she doesn’t have her own personal attendant. Do you think we could just lock her in there and tell Esther she fell down a well or something?”
“As ideal as that sounds, eventually we’d have to let her out.”
Honor shot her a look. “Would we, though?”
Brenna snorted out a laugh. “Honor. You’re ruthless.”
“I can be, when the situation calls for it. Besides, she’s on my last nerve.”
Which was saying something because Honor was always the picture of calm. It took a lot to get on Honor’s bad side. Dealing with overwrought brides and bridesmaids was her sister’s specialty. Nothing got to her. But this was Allison. Even back in high school when they were still friends, Allison had been a handful, always having one drama after another. It was either a fight with her parents or her older sister or a boy she was dating, or she was mad at one of the friends in their group. If there wasn’t drama in Allison’s life, it wasn’t a day ending in Y.
Clearly not much had changed.
Some women grew up and left those dramatic days behind them.
And some would continue it all their lives like they needed air to breathe.
She went into the room where the bridesmaids were, deciding she’d better eat something, because it would be a while before they ate dinner. The last thing she wanted was to feel faint tonight. She grabbed a plate and added some hummus and veggies along with a couple slices of cheese and some crackers, and poured herself a glass of juice. That would be enough. She didn’t want to eat anything more filling because her dress was tight enough.
The door opened and Allison stood in the doorway as if she expected the entire group to stand in awe of her. When no one even spoke to her, Brenna noticed the disappointment shadowing her face.
Really, did she think it was her special day? Somewhere along the way Allison lost sight of the fact that she wasn’t the bride. She almost felt bad for her.
Almost.
“Close the door, Allison,” Marie said. “You’re letting the hot air in.”
Allison huffed out a breath and shut the door behind her.
And now Brenna really felt trapped, because the ceremony would start soon, and they would all have to stay in here until then.
“You should all be standing,” Allison said. “Your dresses are going to wrinkle and you don’t want to look terrible when you walk down the aisle, or for pictures. Esther will be disappointed.”
Brenna knew for a fact that the fabric on these dresses wasn’t going to wrinkle. And she wasn’t going to get up. She was comfortable in this nice cushy chair and her boots were off.
“Did you all remember your necklaces, bracelets and earrings?”
“I took care of that,” Brenna said. “We all have everything we need.”
Allison looked around, then zeroed in on Brenna. “I don’t see the bouquets. Where are the bouquets?”
“They’ll be at the entrance to the barn and handed out right before the ceremony, so they stay fresh.”
“What about makeup? You know we’re all going to need lipstick touch-ups.”
Oh, she was definitely in a mood.
“The makeup artists are in with Esther right now. Before the ceremony starts they’ll do a final once-over on all of us to make sure we look our best. The photographer will lead us into the bride’s room to take photos with the bride as well. Is there anything else?”
Allison’s lips clamped tightly together, and she went over to the refreshment center and poured herself a glass of water.
Several of the bridesmaids sent Brenna looks of gratitude as well as smiles.
Brenna leaned back in the chair and decided that maybe this day wouldn’t be so bad after all.
CHAPTER
• • • • • •
eleven
FINN HAD BOUGHT a damn suit. He never thought he’d need one, until he realized he was going to have to be Brenna’s partner in crime. She was going to be all fancied up for this wedding, and him wearing a shirt and pants wasn’t gonna cut it. He called Jason since he didn’t have the first clue about dressing up and asked for his help. Jason went to the suit store with him and helped him pick something out that didn’t make him look like a lame jackass.
He’d discovered that nice suits cost a lot of money, but Jason told him that he could wear it to several functions and it would last him several years.
He’d taken Jason’s word for that, and it was a nice suit. A dark navy and he even bought a new shirt and a colorful tie. He didn’t buy shoes, because he had dress boots that could be worn with anything. Even Jason had concurred with that. He could only hope he’d measure up when he stood next to the beautiful Brenna.
At least the heat had broken—a little. It was hovering in the low eighties, which for late August was like a cold snap. Maybe Finn wouldn’t sweat through his shirt and the jacket of his suit.
He’d dropped Murphy off at the house earlier, not wanting to get any dog hair on the suit. He showered and dressed and made sure he was at the vineyard early, not that he had any duties other than being Brenna’s date for the event.
He also didn’t know anyone there since none of his friends were attending the event. Not that that would stop him from mingling with the crowd. Some of the people were taking seats and some just standing around. He made his way to the folks hanging out at the back and introduced himself. A couple of them were there with the other bridesmaids. Brenna’s ex, Mitchell, happened to be hanging with that group as well. Finn didn’t mind that at all.
He met William, Marie’s boyfriend; Dave, Sabra’s husband; and Sue, Andrea’s girlfriend. Mitchell just gave him silent looks while he learned that William was an insurance agent, Sue was a personal trainer and Dave owned a construction equipment company. Johan, Hilary’s date, was a chef. Finn told them what he did there at the vineyard.
“Did you build any of the things round here?” Dave asked.
“I had a hand in a lot of it.” He pointed out a few of the buildings he’d erected over the years.
“What an accomplishment,” Sue said. “I love working outdoors. I do a lot of my classes outside. Nothing like building up a good sweat to make you feel like you accomplished something. Except maybe in August.”
“August sucks,” Dave said.