Something Old, Something New by Beverly Jenkins Page B

Warning you, though, she’s got a lot of her mother in her. She may not want your help.”
    â€œI won’t force myself on her if she’s not comfortable.”
    As the cast of diners came and went around them and the ruby red jukebox continued to kick out the jams, Rocky appeared, carrying a tray. She stopped beside Lily. “When are you going to get me that list?”
    Lily was supposed to have decided weeks ago on what food she wanted served at the reception.
    â€œYou’re going to mess around and have everybody eating peanut butter and jelly on crackers.”
    Lily hung her head.
    â€œGet with it, Fontaine,” she scolded and moved on.
    Gary quipped, “Rocky hasn’t changed much, either.”
    Lily sighed dejectedly.
    B ack at home, Lily took a cup of tea out onto her deck and sat down at the wrought-iron patio table. She could still hear Rocky’s admonishment ringing in her ear. Get with it, Fontaine. She supposed she should, but she didn’t want to. First, she didn’t want to take the time away from all the other stuff she was doing; who knew that town building would be such a rush? She loved her job, whether it be going over the blueprints for rebuilding Main Street, or arguing with the county over an out-of-date building code, or riding around in her hard hat and boots.
    The second reason was that she didn’t know the first thing about how to do it. When she married the first time, it had been a quick trip to the judge, and that was it. Although she wouldn’t mind doing that again with Trent, Henry Adams was a small town, and no matter how much she protested to herself, it was understood that her friends and neighbors would want the day to be one to remember, and because of that there had to be at least a wedding dress and a reception dinner.
    She let out a frustrated sigh. She needed to have someone else do the planning, which automatically meant Bernadine, but as she’d mused earlier, by the time the Boss Lady was done flashing her onyx card, there’d be glass slippers, seven dwarves, and lord only knew what else. There had to be a middle ground between glass slippers and a quick trip to the country courthouse, but she had no idea what it might be or how to go about finding a compromise that didn’t take away from her life. Yes, it was her wedding, but she was far more excited about marrying Trent than she was about the ceremony. She glanced down at her finger, sporting the beautiful sparkler he’d given her in San Francisco, and once again she voted to just elope.
    Lily heard Sheila Payne calling her through the screen of the front door, so she set down her tea and hurried inside.
    â€œHey, Sheila. Come on in. How are things?”
    â€œInteresting, let’s just call it that.”
    Lily directed her back out to the deck and offered her tea, but Sheila declined. Lily gestured her to a seat and waited to learn the purpose of her call.
    â€œFirst, thank you for counseling Preston.”
    â€œAbout what?”
    â€œPreston said you told him to talk to Barrett and me about his search for his birth family.”
    â€œAh.” She understood now. “I’m assuming he did?”
    â€œYes, but it’s not sitting well with Barrett. He and Preston are back to circling each other like boxers in the ring.”
    â€œI’m so sorry.”
    â€œBarrett’s just being a hard-ass. He doesn’t understand why Preston would want to do this, and frankly, he’s taking it personally, as if maybe Preston wants to leave us.”
    â€œIs that what you think?”
    â€œOf course not. Preston made it very clear what he’s about on this, and I told him I’d help in any way I could.”
    â€œGood for you.”
    â€œEven though Barrett’s not on board, I wanted to thank you.”
    â€œYou’re welcome.”
    â€œNow my second reason for coming is to offer to host a bridal tea.”
    â€œA