Mia waved her off. “We can look at it after dinner.” She smiled across the table at him and he realized just how much he couldn’t wait for all this wedding business to be done. In three more days, they’d be on a plane to Hawaii, and in his mind, it couldn’t get here fast enough.
“I know you’ve been crazy busy,” Jill went on, “but how is the book coming? Have you had any time to write?”
Austin was probably the only one who noticed the tension in Mia’s shoulders, but he didn’t want to chime in and speak out of turn.
“The words aren’t coming quite as easily as I’d hoped,” she replied diplomatically. “I sit down to write every day, but I guess I’m really too distracted. I find myself having both screens open–one is the book, and the other is something to do with the wedding, and before I know it, I’m down the rabbit hole of all kinds of non-book stuff.”
“You can’t possibly still have anything to look at, Mia! The wedding is just a few days away! What else could you still have to do?”
“I’m watching the weather–both for here and Hawaii– and dealing with emails from family and friends who are either unable to attend or just have questions about staying here in Magnolia.” She shook her head. “I swear, people think they’re coming to the boondocks. I’ve been asked about whether there are paved roads or cable and Wi-Fi. It’s insane.”
Everyone laughed, but Dex spoke up first. “I have to admit, it is a bit more rural than I imagined. I’ve never spent any time in a place like this, but it definitely has its charm.” He took a sip of his wine. “But you can’t tell me that you don’t miss living in a big city, Mia. It’s just not possible.”
Austin was about to speak up, but his lovely bride-to-be beat him to it. “It’s very possible, Dex,” she said pleasantly. “I never enjoyed city life but didn’t realize just how much I disliked it until I came here. I found that I’m much more creative in this environment, my stress levels are way down, and you can’t beat the view.”
“You have to admit that your dining options are a bit limited,” Dex challenged lightly.
“You know, I grew up here and thought that things would be so much better if I moved to a big city,” Austin said conversationally. “I moved away for college and then lived and worked up in Baltimore for years and thought it was great. But once I came back, I realized there is a lot to be said for small-town life. There’s less traffic and congestion, we know all the local business owners, and while we might not have a hundred restaurants to choose from, what we do have here is pretty damn good.” He shrugged and picked up his wine glass. “Plus, we can always hop in the car and drive to find something if we can’t find it here.”
“Wilmington has a lot more to offer than Magnolia,” Mia added. “And we’ve gone into Raleigh several times and stayed the weekend.”
“How far away is that?” Dex asked.
“Three hours,” Austin replied. “We don’t do it often, but if we decide to go, we make a weekend out of it.” He looked over at Mia and winked. Her blush told him she remembered their last stay in Raleigh and how they’d utilized almost every surface of their hotel room.
Then he realized that he was remembering too much of that weekend and needed to change the subject.
Fast.
“So, Simon,” he said almost a little too loudly. “Tell us about yourself.”
The kid looked a little like a deer in the headlights as he stammered a bit. “Um…”
“He’s from Jersey,” Dex took over. “He’s got an amazing voice. He was a runner-up on America’s Next Singing Sensation and I just knew the audience got it wrong. Simon was the real winner.” Then he shrugged. “But their loss is our gain because he has the freedom to get the contract he wants and make the music he wants.”
From the look on Simon’s face, Austin wasn’t so sure that was particularly true.
“Wait until you hear him sing live,” Dex went on. “It’s like listening to Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, and John Legend all in one. He’s crazy talented. Just wait until you hear what he can do with some classic Elton John. You close your eyes, and you’d swear it was the real thing.” He chuckled and looked at Simon. “Come on, sing a little ‘Tiny Dancer’ or ‘Your Song.’ Go ahead. Let them hear it.”
Austin saw the flush on Simon’s cheeks and came to his rescue. “Dex, dude, come on. Let the kid eat his dinner. We’ve heard the recordings and know he’s got a great voice. Let him relax for tonight. He’ll be singing all day tomorrow and then again on Sunday.”
Mia gave him a smile of gratitude and took it upon herself to change the subject a little more. “Thank you for picking up dinner. Wait until you see what I have for dessert. The local bakery here is the absolute best I’ve ever had.”
“Are they the ones making your wedding cake?”
“Yes. Mrs. Henderson is almost like family,” Mia told her. “There’s no way we could’ve asked anyone else to do it.”
“Well…” Austin reminded her. “She had to have emergency surgery and her niece is handling almost everything. So we’re hoping it’s going to be okay.”
“Oh, stop! I went in there just yesterday and met with Aislinn. She’s delightful, and…we can never tell Mrs. Henderson, but…I happen to like her buttercream frosting better.”
“No!” he said, laughing. “It’s not possible.”
“Trust me. It is.” She pointed to the pile of pink boxes on the kitchen counter. “She sent all that over today because she knew we had friends and family arriving and figured we’d be entertaining. So everyone has to eat a lot of it tonight. Otherwise I’ll be tempted to eat it myself and won’t fit in my gown Sunday!”
That made everyone laugh, and fortunately, after that, no one mentioned Simon singing or how choosing to live in a small town was a bad decision.
Actually, conversation flowed as they finished dinner and moved on to dessert. Aislinn had sent cupcakes, brownies, and cookies, so there was something for everyone. Austin showed everyone the plans for the house they were building and even got to brag about the work he had put into this particular house they were renting.
“This is the infamous house that had my little mild-mannered author ready to commit murder,” Jill told Dex and Simon. “Mia was renting the house next door while Austin was doing the renovations here and it was the inspiration for Deadly Renovation! Can you believe it?”
Simon’s eyes went wide. “Seriously? I love that book! That is so cool!”
Mia blushed. “Yes, I’m not proud of how I took out my frustration, but…”
“Are you kidding?” Jill laughed. “It’s your best selling book!”
Austin wanted to preen a little since he knew he was the inspiration, but…it still made Mia a little uncomfortable so he refrained.
“Can you share with us what you’re working on now?” Simon asked, and everyone groaned. “What? What did I say?”
“Um…”
“Mia doesn’t like to talk about her work until it’s done,” Austin explained. “To anyone. Hell, even I don’t know what she’s working on right now and I live with her.” He looked at Jill. “Surely you know a little about it since you’re the editor.”