We’d invited a few dozen other cousins and friends who were staying in cabins just down the road from ours, including Katie and Matt. It felt good to have everyone here–even my parents. I couldn’t help wishing my little brother and sister had come, too.
Still, I couldn’t help but smile. The wedding was tomorrow, and it was going to be a relatively casual event. That’s how Harper wanted it. She’d actually said all she needed was me at the wedding. While sweet, I insisted that we at least try to make the wedding as memorable as possible. That’s why we wound up out here with the beautiful views.
While it was going to be casual, we did fail to keep the guest count as low as I’d imagined. Once word spread around Fairhope that we were getting married, people started to invite themselves. They weren’t all staying at the rentals with us, but just about every person in town was planning to come to the ceremony.
I headed downstairs toward the great room and bumped into my parents, who were just getting out of their rooms. My dad was gray-haired and relatively fit for his age. He had a permanently disappointed expression, like he’d just mistaken lemon concentrate for toothpaste. My mom hadn’t always resembled him so much, but over the years she’d taken on that same disapproving aura.
“Morning,” I said. Just a few months ago, I’d been completely fine staying pissed at them for the rest of my life. But Harper somehow changed that without saying a word on the subject. Maybe I just didn’t feel as bitter anymore when I had someone like her in my corner.
My dad dipped his chin.
“Hey,” I said, stopping them before they could walk off. “Do you guys know if Hailey or Patrick got my invite?”
My dad hesitated, almost like he’d prefer to ignore me. He eventually licked his lips and spoke. “Patrick will be attending, but he can only come for the ceremony tomorrow. We did try to reach out to Hailey, but there’s no telling if she got the message.”
I nodded. “Thanks.”
He gave me a stiff nod of his own and then pulled my mom along with him. It looked like they were heading out instead of joining us for breakfast–probably getting takeout from somewhere to avoid having to socialize.
I found Harper’s parents chatting excitedly with her at the counter. “May I borrow the chef?” I asked.
Harper met my eyes and grinned. Her short red hair had grown a little longer and she’d started tucking it behind her ears, especially when she was cooking. I pulled her into me and kissed her. I hadn’t planned on it, but self-control wasn’t exactly my specialty around Harper.
“Save some for tomorrow!” her dad laughed.
I pulled back from the kiss but couldn’t bring myself to let her go yet.
“My bacon is going to burn if you keep me hostage.”
“Your assistants can handle it.”
“Assistant?” Lin asked. “I could practically run the restaurant on my own by now.”
“Is that right?” Harper asked. “Because I’d love to take some afternoons off. You could handle lunch and I’ll take over dinner.”
“Easy,” Lin said.
“I like the sound of that,” I said.
“Me too,” Harper agreed.
“Oh, Lin,” I added, looking past Harper to Lin, who was moving the bacon off the heat. “I hope you don’t mind, but I invited that Kenny Mathers guy and his band. You two seemed to really get along so I thought you’d want him to be here.”
Lin went completely white.
“That was a joke,” I said.
She set the pan down hard and pointed a spatula at me. “It was a bad one.”
“Did he ever follow up with you?” Farrah asked. She was flipping french toast on a large griddle. “He said how he was going to steal you to come work for him or something, right?”
“You can’t trust anything he says,” Lin said. “Kenny is a snake. The only good thing about him is his little sister.”
“He has a little sister?” I asked.
Lin nodded. “She’s a few years younger than us. I heard Kenny keeps a roof over her head because their parents are deadbeats. But she’s super sweet, unlike her big brother. Anyway, I wouldn’t take a job working for Kenny, even if his life depended on it.”
“What if his sister’s life depended on it?” Farrah asked.
Lin rolled her eyes. “I’d rather talk about my best friend getting married tomorrow. I can’t wait to help do your hair, Harper.”
“Yeah,” Farrah agreed. “All twelve inches of it.”
Harper laughed. “Hey, it’s getting a little longer.”
After breakfast, Harper and I went out to the patio to join Gramps, who had lost his cheating buddies and was sitting by himself.
“Hey Gramps,” I said.
“What the hell is a four-letter word for something that burns?”
“Fire…” I said slowly.
“Aha!” he held his pen up high, then scribbled the word in and grinned like he’d been the one to figure out the word.