Blissed (Misfit Brides #1) by Jamie Farrell

later.
    But it had been almost five years now. Five years, and a few lifetimes’ worth of lessons from her parents and her son. Without Mom, Natalie had come to realize that the shop wasn’t something she should take for granted.
    It was something she needed to own. Not the shop itself—she would never own the building, never own the dresses and accessories in it. But she needed to own her own history as she faced her future.
    She needed to fit into herself again.
    Hard to do when she didn’t much like herself. “You know I never thought to tell her thank you while she was alive?” she said.
    “She knew, Nat.”
    “Maybe. But there’s no one else who knows these Games as intricately as I do.”
    “So they’ll learn.”
    Since her divorce, Natalie had known she wouldn’t take over the family business when her parents retired. Divorced people didn’t own shops on The Aisle. Period. Maybe if she’d gotten remarried, she could’ve kept the boutique, but Nat’s short marriage had shown she wasn’t cut out to be a wife. Natalie had still been her mother’s biggest helper in planning the Games every year though. They’d all thought they would have more time before Mom needed to worry about a real replacement for both the Games and the shop. “They can learn next year. But there will never be another golden anniversary of the Games. This is the first year since the flood that the hotels are booked solid. Bliss is finally back in the destination wedding game. Everything has to be right this year. And it’s not. Not even close.”
    Little boy giggles carried into the hallway.
    Lindsey looked toward the office, then back at Natalie.
    Pointedly.
    “Are you sure you’re doing this for Mom?” she said softly.
    Of course. Who else would she do it for? No matter how badly Nat wanted to still fit in Bliss, the QG had made it abundantly clear that Natalie was wasting her wishes. “How will Dad feel if the Games fall apart?” Nat said. “Mom’s not the only one I’ve let down. I can save Mom’s Games. I can do it for both of them.”
    “And then what?” Lindsey said.
    “And then—” Natalie’s throat clogged up and her breastbone ached as if her ribs were caving in.
    And then she would be done. It would be time to move on.
    To truly say good-bye.
    She inhaled and licked her lips. “I’ll worry about that after the Games.”
    “Nat—”
    “I’ll never have another chance to do this, Lindsey. Please don’t be one more thing standing in my way.”
    Lindsey crossed her arms. “You’re still only one person. Mom had a team behind her. You can’t—”
    “I can. I’m the only person who can do this right, and I’m doing it.”
    Noah darted out of the office. “Aunt Lindsey! I made you two dinosaurs!”
    “Saved by the preschooler,” Lindsey murmured. She went down on her knee to his level while he launched into the story of the epic tea party the dinosaurs were having.
    Natalie ruffled his hair—he was adorably irresistible this morning—then caught Lindsey’s eye. “Send him back in when you’re ready to go. I have some work to do.”
    Lindsey nodded, but Nat had known her sister long enough to get the message behind the nod. Don’t work too hard .
    She’d take that into consideration.
    After Knot Fest.
     

Chapter Six
     
    CJ STAGGERED back into St. Valentine’s rectory early Monday evening after spending the day cleaning Bob and Fiona’s gutters over in Willow Glen. The rest of his family had scattered back to their respective homes and jobs, leaving just him and Basil in Bliss.
    Him and Basil and the Queen General, who was perched as delicately as a Queen General could be at the edge of the stiff pleather sofa in the rectory living room. She held a basket of cake balls that were decorated like little brides and grooms. The fact that CJ even knew what cake balls were gave him serious concerns about his own balls.
    “You have a visitor,” Basil said.
    His Holy Wimpiness snagged his