Gabby caught Maddie’s eye and shook her head as she clutched her handbag and headed to the door, the sounds of Doug’s laughter still roaring in her ears.
Yep, she thought, just like old times. And just like their high school days, she wasn’t about to back down easily. Doug Monroe had met his match!
Chapter Five
Saturdays meant weddings, and this one was just as lovely as the last, Gabby thought. If not more so, because it was set right on the sandy beachfront, evoking a perfectly summery, casual vibe that made Gabby want to kick off her shoes and wiggle her toes—if she didn’t have work to do.
The bride had asked for simple bouquets, and Gabby was always happy to accept that challenge. Sure, it was easy to get swept away and let the flowers be not only the center of the tables, but the center of attention as well, with grand arrangements in large scales, or covering every square inch of surface. She’d seen plenty of this in the magazines she subscribed to each month, and she’d also followed through on several bride’s wishes for just such thing. But there was so much to be said for letting the natural beauty of the flowers’ colors and textures speak for themselves.
Now, as Gabby took her seat at the singles table, sighing deeply after a long day on her feet, she was quite pleased to see that the mixed arrangement felt fresh and light and added a boost of color to the otherwise all-white décor.
She swept her eyes over the rest of the tables, smiling at the way everything had come together, from the warm day to the soft lake breeze, to the quintessential feeling of summer in Blue Harbor, but her smile immediately slipped when she saw Doug Monroe standing near the bar that had been set up near the band, a glass of red wine in one hand, looking about as lost as she currently felt.
What was Doug doing here? Her mind swam as she considered her options, her eyes darting to the place cards on either side of her, happy to see that the names were of men she’d never heard of before, probably cousins or friends from out of town. Single men. Eligible men. She sat up a little straighter and smoothed a palm over her low ponytail, wondering if she could discreetly add some gloss to her lips without anyone noticing.
Too late. She watched in growing dismay as Doug’s eyebrows shot up and, with dread, he began walking in her direction.
“We meet again,” he said, dropping into the seat beside her. “Let me guess. All these flowers were your doing?”
She pursed her lips. “My creation, yes.”
“You must go to a lot of weddings,” he observed.
“I do,” she said, nodding. “And I suppose you go to a lot of hearings.”
“When business is booming,” he said, taking a sip of wine.
“You mean when people’s lives are unraveling?” She tsked. “It doesn’t tire you to benefit from the misfortune of others?”
“I consider myself to be a helping hand. Someone to support them and their interests when they need it the most.” His mouth tipped into a grin. “You could say we help each other out. You help people get married. And I help them get…unmarried.”
The hood of her eyes drooped. “I think I need a glass of wine,” she said, standing. Only hers would be white wine because red wine at weddings made her twitch. Already she spotted a stain on the tablecloth at the next table over. “And just so you know, there’s no sense in trying to claim that seat as your own or switching the name cards. I know who is supposed to be seated to my left and my right.”
“You know them then?” He shuffled some cards around. Gabby noted that he was now seated beside his brother.
She couldn’t completely fight off her hopeful smile. “Not yet. But…I’m looking forward to knowing them.”
He nodded sagely. “Of course. I suppose if you believe in love and happy endings and all that stuff, then you are also optimistic enough to think that every single eligible person you meet could be the one.”
“Not every single person,” she said pointedly. “But yes, I do believe in all that…stuff.”
With that, she turned and made her way to the bar, cursing under her breath as she did so, wishing that at least one of her sisters or friends from school had been invited, but the bride and groom were a fair bit younger, and the bride was relatively unknown to anyone but her, seeing as the groom had been the one to grow up in town.
And down the street from the Monroe family, she thought, rolling her eyes skyward. She should have known better.
Sure enough, Carol waved to her eagerly from across the crowd. The poor woman; she had pinned her sights on the wrong woman, and Gabby hated the thought of letting her down. She took her time at the bar, sipping her crisp white wine and waiting for the crowd to thin and most guests to take their seats before she made her way back to the table, hope swelling in her chest when she saw her empty chair and the backs of two male heads on either side, one fair, one medium brown.
Doug caught her eye from across the table as she approached, seeming to hide a smile she couldn’t quite make sense of, until she slowly pulled out her chair, and found herself sitting next to a teenage boy.
Well, maybe he was more like twelve.
“Hi!” He grinned to reveal
