Brooke could relate to that.
“There’s always someone who catches the bouquet, next in line. I can hand them your card along with mine.”
“I still need to get those made,” Brooke thought, now wishing that she’d brought a tote bag large enough to hold her planner, even though her cross-body purse looked so much better with her outfit.
She could hear her boss now. How could someone so creative be so rigid?
For many reasons, Brooke thought.
“When is your opening?” Bella wanted to know.
“The moving company arrives Monday, and I’m hoping to have everything set up by Wednesday. It will be a soft opening, no big party or announcement or anything.” The last thing she needed was to draw more attention to herself. She’d gotten used to a private life in Manhattan. She’d gotten used to being alone.
“Well, between you and Gabby, you’ll have the market covered just in time for wedding season!” Jenna was clearly happy for her, and Brooke was grateful for it. Still, her nerves fluttered when she thought of all that she still had to do…and what she had done. That she was here. That she was going to open her own shop. And hope that someone would actually buy something.
Tempering expectations, she said, “Oh, most spring brides have probably already picked out their gowns by now, but some summer weddings, maybe.”
“Wedding season.” Gabby looked wistful. “Is it crazy to think that I’m always the one making the bouquets and never the one catching them?”
Brooke patted her hand. “Eventually the odds will be in your favor.”
“What’s this I hear about weddings?” Britt and Cora appeared at the table, both happy to bend down and greet Brooke with a hug.
“I hear you’re back together with Robbie,” Brooke said to Britt once everyone had settled into chairs. “Any wedding bells in the future?”
Britt’s lips thinned. “The only bells I’ve been hearing are the ringing in my ears when Candy starts practicing the song she wants to sing for my dad at their reception.”
The entire table laughed. Even though Brooke had never met the woman who was going to be marrying her Uncle Dennis, she’d heard enough about her to form a vivid picture. Slightly younger, eager to please, and a personality that couldn’t be topped.
“Where are Amelia and Maddie?” she asked, eager to see the other two Conway sisters.
“They’ll be here once Amelia closes up the café,” Britt said.
“Heidi and Natalie should be here any minute too,” Bella chimed in. Like the others, she kept tabs on her sisters, remaining as close with them in her adult years as they’d been as children. She motioned to the bar, where Jackson was pouring drinks, just as he was doing the last time Brooke was here, years ago. “I’ll get this round.”
Happily, they all told her their orders, most of which consisted of white wine.
“Look at us,” Brooke said with a sigh. “All out on a Saturday night. All grown up.”
“Not that much has changed,” Gabby said. “None of us are married. Yet,” she added, flashing a look in Britt’s direction.
Brooke saw her cousin’s cheeks turn pink, but it was Cora whose eyes widened in horror. “Well, Brooke was married,” she corrected Gabby gently.
Gabby gave Brooke a guilty smile. “I’m sorry, hon. It was so long ago, and we’re used to seeing Kyle around as…”
“A single guy?” Brooke didn’t know why the thought of it caused a knot to form in her stomach. After all, she’d dated a bit in New York.
Her heart sped up as she waited for one of the women to answer that question because she wasn’t so sure that she wanted to hear what they had to say.
They’d been each other’s first loves. Too young for anything more serious beforehand, too content to think about ever taking a break and testing the waters. But now they’d been apart, hadn’t even spoken, living separate lives. Single lives.
She swallowed hard, pushing back the urge to inquire about Kyle’s romantic status, and brightened when Bella reappeared at the table, juggling three glasses of wine in two hands, and the topic was forgotten.
“Jackson’s right behind me with the rest,” Bella said, just as he appeared.
He grinned at them all, his gaze landing on Brooke. “Well, I’ll be. Brooke Conway. I thought I saw you sitting over here. What brings you back to town after all this time?”
“I moved back,” she replied, again surprised that news hadn’t traveled by now. Her family didn’t tend to gossip, but considering that she’d rented space from Patsy, she had half expected welcoming signs to parade her into town.
“Whoa. Does Kyle know?” Jackson was older than Kyle by a few years, but they’d always been friendly, and Brooke assumed more so as they’d aged, even if they did technically run competing operations. The nice thing about Blue Harbor was that tourism was such a big draw that the pubs were rarely in need of business, and on the off season, the locals were loyal patrons. There weren’t many places to hunker down in the brutal winter months when the snow hit and stayed and the lake effect wind made you want to stay inside and never leave.
The pub of the Carriage House Inn had been around for generations, and so had the smaller establishment owned by the Harrisons, though theirs was solely a restaurant and bar, not one of the many white wood framed inns that lined Main Street.
Gabby swatted Jackson painfully.
“It’s okay,” Brooke assured them. Everyone had a past. “And yes, he does know. I bumped into him yesterday.”
The amusement in Jackson’s eyes told her that he was eager to ask how that went exactly,
