“I wish you a cornucopia full of luck,” she said.
“I’ll try to live up to that.” He slipped away into the darkness and for a moment she lost sight of him, but then she saw him at the end of the buffet line. There weren’t many people there, as most were sitting at the tables. Toby expected him to pick up a plate and start to fill it, but he did an odd thing. He spoke quietly to one of the staff, a pretty female. She nodded, disappeared for a moment, then returned with a tray.
Turning, he looked at Toby, just her face visible at the doorway of the tent, and raised his eyebrows in question. She nodded. Yes, the tray was fine.
She watched as the man followed the waitress down the line and pointed out foods to be put on the tray that she, not he, carried. He spoke to a young man behind the long table, who turned away to the grill that had been set up. He said something to another waiter, who went to the bar and returned with a bottle of champagne and two flutes. By the time he was a quarter of the way down the line, Jared’s cousin had three people hurrying to do his bidding. “How extraordinary,” Toby said out loud.
“There you are!” Lexie said as she came to stand next to Toby. “Why are you out here? And what is extraordinary?”
Toby didn’t look at Lexie but put her arm out to motion her to get out of the light. “Sssh. I’m hiding.”
“So am I.” Lexie moved behind Toby and peered around the doorway. “Who are you hiding from? For me, it’s Nelson and Plymouth.”
Toby shook her head when the waitress held up some white bread with tongs, then nodded at a whole-wheat roll.
Lexie followed Toby’s line of vision. “Isn’t that the guy we saw in the bar? The one you were so nasty to but who walked you down the aisle anyway? You stood so far away from him you were practically off-island.”
“It wasn’t quite that bad,” Toby said. “But then, there are two of them.”
“So you snubbed both of them?”
Toby nodded at some coleslaw the waitress held up. “What’s his name? I can’t remember it.”
“Which one? The guy in the bar or the one you walked down the aisle with?”
“This one, the aisle one,” Toby said. “What’s up with you? You sound like you’re angry.”
Lexie stepped away from the tent opening. “Four people told me that Nelson bought an engagement ring.”
“For you?”
“You’re not funny,” Lexie said.
Toby gave her last nod at the food, then stepped away to look at her friend. “You knew this was going to happen. You’ve been dating the guy for years, so of course he’s going to ask you to marry him. Do you think he’s going to do it tonight?”
“Probably. Which is why I’ve been avoiding him. And it doesn’t help that Plymouth is here. I’ve been hiding from him too.”
Roger Plymouth was Lexie’s boss and it was Toby’s opinion that he thought of Lexie as a great deal more than just his personal assistant. Even though they’d been roommates for over two years, Toby had only recently met Lexie’s boss. She’d heard not even one good thing about him, so she was shocked when she saw him. Roger Plymouth was tall, muscular, and drop-dead gorgeous. He was so beautiful that people often just stood and stared at him. But Lexie swore she was immune to his external assets and that he was the biggest pest on earth. “Did you ever think that your hesitation about Nelson has to do with your attraction to Roger Plymouth?”
“Since there is no attraction, how could I think that?” Lexie asked. “The man is nothing but a great nuisance.”
“Sure he is,” Toby said as she glanced around the side of the tent, wondering when the man was going to show up with the food.
Lexie was watching her. “He went off into the bushes with someone.”
“Who?” Toby asked.
“The man you’re so fascinated with. His name is … Grayson. No, it’s Graydon Montgomery. What made you stop sneering at him?”
“I’ve never sneered at anyone in my life!”
“Ha!” Lexie said. “I’ve seen you turn men into whimpering idiots with that how-dare-you-even-think-of-touching-me look of yours. I wish I could do that! I’d give it to Plymouth and watch him crawl.”
“He’d crawl along behind you,” Toby said. “So who is Graydon talking to?”
“I didn’t see, and they went into the bushes. It’s not a female, if that’s what’s worrying you. When he gets here I’ll leave. Tell me what to do about Nelson and his ring.”
“You should say yes or no to him,” Toby said. “Let him know one way or the other. Do you love him?”