Poppy Harmon and the Shooting Star by Lee Hollis

Author:Lee Hollis [Hollis, Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2023-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

The bride and groom could not have asked for more beautiful weather on their wedding day. The sun was already setting and the temperature had already topped out at a comfortable eighty-seven degrees and was continuing to cool down. The large circular wedding arch made of white roses set up in the expansive backyard and the quintet ensemble playing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons classed up the affair quite nicely. Serena was staying hidden in the bedroom, not wanting to be seen before her grand entrance. Poppy hoped that she would not be wearing white given the long winding road behind her was littered with a slew of ex-husbands. Although with four marriages under her own belt, Poppy was not about to judge.

Sam had begged off earlier that day as Poppy’s date. He said he had woken up with a bad head cold, but Sam rarely got sidelined by a stuffy nose or scratchy throat. Poppy suspected he just did not want to come. Iris and Violet also chose not to attend, both struggling to come up with excuses, although Poppy knew neither of them particularly liked or wanted to support Serena, especially now that she was no longer a client. As for Matt, he had bowed out at the last minute too, citing a meeting in Hollywood with the producers putting up the money for his new neo-Western film.

So Poppy was on her own.

She mingled with a few of the guests, mostly friends and colleagues of Ned. Serena had so few people to invite—a former assistant, her agent and manager, one cousin out of seven in total, who was the only one she said she could tolerate for any long period of time. Poppy wandered over to the empty bar to order a drink, noticing the lavish spread of gourmet food set out on several long tables ready to be consumed right after the ceremony. She was certainly impressed. The happy couple had gone great lengths to make this blessed event a sumptuous affair.

As darkness fell, Italian string lights draped around the property blinked on and off as the quintet ensemble finished their classical set and took a brief break. The guests began to slowly find their way to their seats. Ned’s best man, Warren Ashmore, took his place down front, a few feet from Ned’s business partner Charlie, who had recently been ordained a minister so he could officiate the wedding. Serena was going to go without a matron of honor after Poppy had gently turned down the request that she do the honors. Despite Serena’s rewriting of history concerning their friendship, Poppy felt strongly that it would be hypocritical of her to pretend they were close friends, at least close enough for her to stand by her side at her wedding.

After the young flirtatious bartender handed her a white wine spritzer, Poppy turned to find herself face-to-face with Ned’s children, Willa and Gavin. Both had morose expressions on their faces, as if they were wishing they were anywhere else on the planet.

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