Chapter 2-1
920 Words
Chapter Two
I finished grocery shopping and went back to Opposites Attract, pushing Ginny from my mind. I didn’t tell Kiana about her father, or that Ginny was going to fight to have the wedding there. I had enough of my own family drama to get in the middle of theirs.
I’d gotten in the habit of cooking lunch on Mondays for everyone in the office using the last of whatever we had left from the weekend. It usually ended up as a buffet of sorts with two or three of each thing, but it gave me a chance to try out new recipes and get more creative with my cooking. It was the first chance I’d ever had to cook anything I wanted.
I organized chicken cordon bleu bites, spinach dip cups, shrimp scampi pasta, and goat cheese stuffed mini peppers on the table and went to tell Kiana lunch was ready.
“I’m starving,” she groaned, immediately turning from her computer. “Thank you for cooking again.”
I nodded and went down the hall to let everyone else know. Sawyer met me on my way to his office and grinned. “Lunch?”
“Yep.”
“I can smell it. Thanks for cooking.”
“You’ll have to let me know what you think of the chicken cordon bleu bites. It’s new this week.”
“Is that what I smell?”
I nodded. “Probably.”
Sawyer rubbed his stomach as it growled. “Well, it smells good.”
We laughed and joined Kiana, Jack, and Ada in the dining room. Briella took off after the meeting, but everyone else was there for the day.
“This is so good,” Ada groaned around a pepper. “Wow.”
“Thanks,” I said with a grin, popping one in my mouth.
“What are you serving this weekend?” Kiana asked, putting one of everything on her plate.
“They wanted finger foods and a very casual kind of feel. I’ve already decided on sliders, both beef and chicken. I’m thinking of doing fresh cut fries, maybe sweet potato chips if you’re okay with it. The peppers are under serious consideration. Fruit salad in mini cups and veggies with a few different dips. Maybe a couple other things.”
“I’m so glad I’m officiating this wedding,” Ada said with a grin.
“It all sounds good,” Kiana said. “They were pretty laid back with their food. I think they’ll love it.” She sighed. “I’m glad someone will be happy with their wedding.”
Sawyer leaned over and kissed her head. “My brother will be fine.”
Kiana snorted. “It’s not your brother I’m worried about.”
“Tara will be fine, too. I promise. She’s not bad, especially for a former actress.” Sawyer winked.
Kiana groaned. “Oh, God. I forgot she used to be an actress. She could destroy my entire business!”
Sawyer closed his eyes for a second then smiled at Kiana. “She’s not going to ruin your business. She’s a good person. She wants this to be a success as much as you do. Stop stressing. I’m sure Micah will come up with an amazing menu. Hey, maybe you can do something with coffee since they’re getting married at the plantation.”
Sawyer grinned like it was the best idea ever. I kept my mouth shut, hoping someone, anyone said something, and stop me from having to answer.
“Micah can do anything,” Ada said. “There are tons of recipes that use coffee. But let’s make sure Mr. Kelley lets us use the place first.”
I breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
“I have no idea what I’m going to do if he says no,” Kiana whined. “It’s the only place on the island where I have a connection to get in at the last minute, but that I haven’t used before.”
“Just tell Tara. She’ll be fine with the wedding not being completely unique,” Sawyer said.
Kiana scoffed. “The one time I don’t deliver what I promised is not going to be for your brother’s wedding to a former actress. No. This will happen. I don’t know how, but this has to work. Mr. Kelley has to say yes.”
“He will,” Sawyer said. “There’s no reason he wouldn’t.”
“He would if he thinks it’s too much for Ginny,” I muttered.
“What? Did she say that? Did you talk to her?” Kiana pounced on me immediately.
Shit.
Everyone stared at me, waiting for me to say something. So much for staying out of it.
“I just heard her arguing with him when I went to the store.”
“He said we can’t do it there?” Kiana shrieked.
I shook my head. “She was going to go talk to him again.”
Kiana jumped up and paced the room, shaking her hands and mumbling. “Oh, my God. He said no. We can’t do it. Where am I going to have this wedding? I’m screwed. I’m so screwed. What am I going to do?”
Sawyer guided her out of the room and a few seconds later a door closed. Jack and Ada stared at me expectantly.
“What?”
“How are you going to fix this?” Ada asked.
“Fix? What? How?”
“She’s freaking out. Why did you say that?” Jack asked.
I sighed. “I shouldn’t have said anything. Ginny said she was going to talk to her dad. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, but it might not be. And now Kiki’s freaking out because of you,” Jack said with a glare.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to upset her. It just came out.”
“Keep it in next time,” Jack snapped.
Ada shook her head. “Give him a break. He wasn’t trying to upset her. Everything with this wedding is making Kiki nuts.”
“Where else can we go if he says no?” Jack asked.
Ada sighed. “I don’t know. I’ve been trying to think up options. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that.”
Jack threw me a look. “Well, it sounds like it might.”
- Writer
