Why couldn’t she hang on to it?
Why couldn’t she love him like he deserved to be loved?
Maybe it was for the best. Maybe it was for his own protection. Thanks to her past, she was broken. Since she was so tragically flawed on so many levels, maybe Aidan deserved better than the broken pieces of herself she had to offer.
“Are you doing all right?” He handed her a glass of red wine.
She accepted it graciously, but the thought of it made her insides roil. Normally she loved a good glass of red wine, but not so much right now. Maybe this was how her nerves were manifesting. Maybe it was the side effects of standing here face-to-face with Aidan.
“It depends on how you define all right,” she said.
He raised a brow in that way that was so maddeningly attractive. She felt herself being drawn back to him.
She shook her head. She didn’t want to talk about it. Tonight was not about her or even about the two of them. It was about Gigi and Charles.
It was about true love. She shifted the wine glass from one hand to another.
“I’m fine. Really, I am. Thanks for the wine. And thanks for all your help getting things ready tonight. I don’t know what we would have done without you, Aidan.”
She wished she hadn’t said it.
He raised his brows and then slanted her a look. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but snapped his jaw shut, looking resigned.
She knew what he wanted to say.
She’d bet money that he had been about to tell her, You don’t have to do without me. Of course, he had way too much class to bring it up tonight.
Her sister Jane, who was setting out the appetizers, caught Kate’s eye across the room and pointed toward the kitchen door. Jane and Liam had returned from New York City a couple of days ago after a business trip for their restaurant, La Bula, and, in short order, had managed to dream up a scrumptious feast for the party.
“Excuse me, Aidan, Jane needs me in the kitchen.” Kate had never been so happy for an intervention.
“Of course,” he answered. “Let me know if they need another pair of hands in there.”
She just hoped her relief hadn’t shown on her face as she walked away from Aidan and made her way toward the kitchen.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Jane said. “We’re a little in the weeds in here. I want to have all the food out before Gigi and Charles arrive.”
Kate dumped the wine in the kitchen sink and rinsed the glass. She hated to waste good wine like that, but she still wasn’t feeling well. Since she couldn’t drink it, she didn’t want to take a chance of passing along a bug that she might be fighting.
“Any word on their ETA?” Kate asked before Jane could say anything else about interrupting her conversation with Aidan.
“Daniel went to the airport to pick them up. Their plane gets in around six thirty. They went through customs in New York, but they’ll have to get their luggage at baggage claim. That could take a while if the flight was full. Daniel said he would text Elle when they were on their way.”
Jane glanced at her smartwatch. “I figure we have about an hour...tops. Maybe not even that much. Could you help me set out the rest of the appetizers?”
“Absolutely. Just tell me what’s ready to go out—”
Before Kate could finish the sentence, Jane had handed her a platter piled high with brie and mushroom crostini that smelled so delicious they made Kate’s mouth water. She suddenly realized she was ravenous and wanted to eat for the first time today. If her hands hadn’t been full, she would have insisted on sampling one before setting them out where they would surely be devoured before she could get back to them.
Instead of noshing, she made her way out into the dining room to find a place for the tray.
They were having the party in the Forsyth Galloway Inn’s private dining room. The doors that separated private dining from the lobby room were closed, and a sign that read Dining Room in Use for Private Event rested on an easel to afford them some rare family privacy.
Even though paying guests who stayed at the inn basically had the run of the place, except for the family apartments and the kitchen, on special occasions the family would close the dining room for private celebrations.
Kate’s gaze landed on the elaborate centerpiece of fresh flowers on the formal mahogany dining room table, which was dressed with their great grandmother’s best tablecloth and pressed linen napkins. Though they weren’t the flowers her mother had received, Kate couldn’t help but think of them and how Zelda had managed to skirt the subject of the mystery sender. She still hadn’t confided the identity of the new beau who had sent them.
Kate was sure they were from a man.
If it had been a vendor, Zelda would have said so right away, but there was something in the far-off, dreamy way she had smiled—and the way she had evaded the question of who had sent them—that made Kate sure they were from a man.
Plus, every time she saw her mother lately, Zelda had been glued to her phone. Tonight was no exception. Whenever Kate glanced in her mother’s direction, she saw her reading a text or typing something on her phone, closing the screen when Kate or anyone else got too close.
Kate made a mental note to reopen the conversation about the flowers with her mother and ask about the text messages after the party.
Right now, everyone had plenty to do to put the finishing touches on tonight’s festivities. The table was set for twenty-five using the heirloom crystal and sterling silver. Kate placed the platter on the sideboard and walked over to the table to straighten a fork at one of the place settings. She adjusted the place card at
