Brooke was having none of it. She gave a little smile and motioned Gabby to the seating area in the center of the room. On the marble coffee table was Brooke’s lookbook, similar to the one Gabby had back at Sweet Stems—a brag book, essentially, full of photographs of their best work; only in Gabby’s shop, customers came around the counter. There was no velvet seating in her shop. No ball gowns either, she thought, letting her attention drift to the corner of the room where one of Brooke’s newest designs was on full display.
“Your mouth says one thing, but your face says another.” Brooke’s expression was rueful when Gabby finally looked away from the soft and lovely and oh so romantic creation. “What happened?”
Gabby sucked in a breath, not sure if she wanted to bother with the details of her morning, but instead settled on the bigger issue. “I have a wedding every month through September.”
“So do I,” Brooke said. “Not that I’m complaining. Business has been better than I could have hoped, with a little help from you, of course.”
Gabby managed a smile. It was true that as sisters and fellow shop owners who both catered to the bridal industry, they were able to cross-promote, or at least send a client in each other’s direction. Though some of those clients they probably preferred to have never met.
“Candy was in today,” Gabby said drolly.
Brooke rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “She was here, too. Now she wants to shorten the train! Well, little does she know that I’m not doing it. Knowing Candy, she’d change her mind and want it longer at the last minute, and it’s much different to add fabric than it is to take it away.”
Gabby laughed. “You sound like me. I already told her the sample bouquet won’t be ready until the day before her wedding. I usually do that weeks in advance.”
“At least she can use it for her rehearsal,” Brooke pointed out.
True. Her sister was smart, and not just in business. She’d picked the right guy years ago, even if she hadn’t exactly found eternal bliss with him until recently when she’d moved back to town and opened her shop. Like Gabby, Brooke prided herself on her creative energy, but unlike Gabby, Brooke had managed to find a personal life too.
“She was trying to push me to invite Jackson to the wedding as my date, even though he’s already invited, of course.” Gabby sighed, and Brooke could only laugh. Not only was this classic Candy, but Brooke knew Gabby well enough to be sure that Jackson was not long-term relationship material.
Maybe no one was. With a wedding every weekend between now and Labor Day, the single men were quickly being snatched up, for good.
“I suppose that I should be grateful for a free glass of champagne after a long day,” Gabby said, thinking of the wedding she had tomorrow, down at the Yacht Club, a popular destination in town for such things. She usually got to know her brides so well, they were all too kind to invite her to stay and enjoy their big day, even if, lately, she wished they wouldn’t.
“A reward for your efforts! Look at it like that.” Brooke reached over and squeezed her hand. “Besides, you love a good wedding as much as you love one of those paperback romance novels you read by the dozen.”
Gabby went quiet. It was true that once she loved standing behind the guests, watching from a professional distance as the bride began her wedding march, and later, her eyes would mist as the happy couple took their first official dance as man and wife, but something had shifted, and this morning hadn’t helped matters. She’d dared to hope, but now, that hope was starting to fade.
“I’m nearly in my mid-thirties,” she said bluntly.
“So?” Brooke straightened the items on her coffee table.
“And Blue Harbor isn’t exactly crawling with men.”
“Hasn’t stopped me,” Brooke replied. “Or most of our cousins.”
“Are you saying that there is something wrong with me?” Gabby wasn’t insulted, and this sisterly banter wasn’t new either. They’d had this conversation hundreds of times through their teen years when Gabby was always single and Brooke was happily dating Kyle Harrison. She knew exactly what Brooke would say before she even opened her mouth. Sometimes, she needed to hear it, though.
“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I think you could stand to be just a little less picky,” Brooke said pertly.
“And date Jackson Bradford?” Last Gabby had checked, the man didn’t date, at least, not for long.
“Not Jackson,” Brooke said to her relief. “But maybe, keep your heart open.”
“My heart is open!” Gabby cried, sitting up straighter. Or at least, it had been. So she thought.
“For something less than perfect?” Brooke raised an eyebrow.
“What’s wrong with holding out for true love?” Gabby retorted. “Are you suggesting I lower my standards?” Settling down was one thing, but settling? She couldn’t imagine anything worse.
“I just think that relationships take work and compromise…”
“I’ve never really had a long-term relationship, as you may recall,” Gabby reminded her sister. The sad truth was that she wasn’t even often asked out on dates. Sure, there had been a few setups over the years, a few casual weeks with tourists or summer staff. “And now I don’t even have a date to these weddings.”
“Maybe that’s a good thing,” Brooke said.
Gabby perked up a bit. “It’s true that the singles table are where the eligible men would be…”
Brooke swatted her. “I mean, take some pressure off yourself. Go to the weddings, have some fun. Be yourself. Go for a good time, not to look for your soulmate.”
Be herself. It was so seldom that she met a man that checked her boxes, that Gabby wasn’t sure she could trust herself to be anything less than her best self, meaning she squared her shoulders, smiled her best smile, and
