The Wedding Planner by Kimberly Thomas

Author:Kimberly Thomas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: women's fiction, sisters fiction, small town fiction, clean & wholesome fiction, divorce fiction
Publisher: Kimberly Thomas
Published: 2021-04-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

The reinstated Archer Christmas party was growing some serious legs as car after car rolled into the parking lot at the inn, dispensing the same faces Rina had known for years, despite a few more wrinkles here and there. Rina was still walking on cloud nine, her new diamond necklace casting a glow around her, but she was hesitant to show it off. The last few times she’d seen these family members, these long-time friends, it had been for birthday parties, neither of which had been Rina’s, and had insisted the light-heartedness that usually attends a celebration of life. Christmas was different. Of course, it was still a cause for celebration, but paired with that was near-constant reminiscing. What better subject to bring up at Christmas than the events of Christmases past?

Rina went to the kitchen to see if there was any behind-the-scenes work that she could do to help Amy, who was in a flurry of activity, dashing back and forth from the stove to the wine cellar to the walk-in cooler, and so on. “I don’t know how you do it, sis,” Rina said, watching Amy as she stirred the sauce and seared the darkening meat that made a wet hiss from the pan. “You realize some catering crews couldn’t even pull this off, right?”

“I’ve worked with a few of them,” Amy laughed. “Sorry, Rin, I really gotta focus here, or I’ll burn the place down. Why don’t you go join the party?”

“I’ll wait for everyone to get settled,” Rina stammered. “I don’t know. I guess I’m not really in the Christmas spirit just yet. Mind if I grab myself a bottle?”

Amy gave her a quick glance before nodding tersely and returning her attention to the steam rising all around her. Down in the cellar, Rina took her time looking for a bottle that spoke to her, appreciating the labels with their portraits of winery facades, elaborately posed animals, family crests. There wasn’t, she supposed, a bad bottle in the lot, but isolated down there, unable to hear the party roar to a fever above her, she mentally ran through her biggest fears for the evening. How much of her situation, her life she’d naively thought of as a secret, were all these guests in on? Certainly, they knew that Dennis had died. Nelly was close with the editor of the paper, so there was a chance that they had run his obituary. She was ready for the sympathy, for the consoling hands on her shoulders and persistent stares, half expecting Rina’s tears. But would these stares also hold the sparks of good gossip?

A battering at the cellar door interrupted her thoughts, and she grabbed a bottle of white and went to answer it. There were her boys, Connor behind Trevor, both sweating and wearing the most horrendous Christmas sweaters Rina had ever seen. “You have to be kidding me with those,” she said, holding back laughter.

“Hey, not all of us wanted to break out the fancy jewelry,” Trevor replied with a wry grin.

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