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Sav needs me to settle an argument over the wedding menu. For some reason, Sav likes to ask me questions about which wines pair with which courses. I know approximately nothing about wine, but I am the only one of our friends who works at a restaurant.
It’s not a reason that anyone should ask for my opinions. But I still try to be helpful as much as I can.
“I think you want—” I hiccup. I might be a little tipsy from those shots. “Sorry. I think you want to move from the lightest wine to the heaviest. Then, of course, you would move to champagne and port after dinner. Those are things that I’ve heard, anyway. You really should talk to my boss, Gem if you want a foodie’s opinion.”
Sav nods eagerly. “That’s exactly what I needed to know. I was telling Cole’s mom we would need a lot more champagne than anything else.”
I open my mouth to respond, but Sav is almost immediately pulled away by an older woman in a sterling silver dress. It’s Cole’s mom, I think. “Savannah! Come meet your new great aunt Beulah. She’s over in the corner.”
Savannah throws me a helpless glance over her shoulder as she is hustled away. I figure that’s to be expected at her engagement party. Can’t be mad at her for that.
I sweep my gaze over the room. The thought of returning to the patio to rejoin River is awfully tempting. Maybe if I move quickly, I might still find him out there.
I can’t believe I just opened my mouth and let whole drama with Aunt Delta come tumbling out. But River seemed to take it in stride. He actually seemed interested in what I was saying.
Actually, he might’ve just been trying to get close enough to me to kiss me. I flush.
Am I glad that Sav interrupted us?
I’m not sure. We could’ve had a lot of fun together tonight. In fact, there’s nothing saying we still can’t.
I just have to find River.
Everyone around me is dressed to the nines and sipping on champagne that probably costs more than my weekly paycheck. The chime of the bartenders pouring expensive wine into crystal glassware lets me know just what this is.
The engagement party is nothing short of a spectacle. It’s an explosion of blush pink and sparkling lights. Cape Bistro, the fanciest restaurant in town, has completely closed for the entire day just for this private event.
I work in a diner, a place way less nice than this. We’ve closed for Gem’s family events. And we closed for Mr. Anderson’s retirement party once; he was the local grade school janitor for fifty years. I know the faculty and his family paid Gem almost ten thousand dollars to close down the diner for a Friday night.
So, extrapolating from experience: the groom’s family must have paid through the nose for this dedicated staff and the event space. On a Saturday, no less. I can’t even begin to add up the chocolate fountain, the oyster buffet, the prime rib carving station. The cost must be in the tens of thousands, easily. Maybe almost fifty.
I tug at the lapels of River’s oversized black dinner jacket. It’s made of this almost gauzy, lightweight wool. Checking the pockets, I find a woman’s phone number neatly scrawled in lipstick on a black cocktail napkin. It’s probably not from here.
But it does remind me that River is very much a hot commodity. I bite my lip and search the room for him.
One of his brothers swans by in a blush pink tie and a dark suit. That’s another cost: the bride and groom paid to have matching pink ties and skirts delivered to each of their bridal party members.
So rachet that cost up by another ten thousand. Gulp. I am not used to being in a room with this much money being spent in such a casual and cavalier way.
"Can you believe this?" I murmur to no one in particular. As a waiter sweeps by bearing a tray of champagne. I shake my head. “This is insane.”
Champagne at the ready, mine for the taking. It's like being in a fairytale. If the fairy godmother wielded a platinum credit card instead of a magic wand, that is.
I sense eyes on my back and turn. It’s him, of course. River Bennett, with his piercing gaze that seems to cut right through the crowd.
He’s found me again.
I struggle to suck in a breath. How he does that to me with eyes cut from living sapphire, I don’t quite understand.
My cheeks heat up with a telltale blush as our eyes lock again. It's involuntary. It’s also embarrassing. I have graduated both high school and college. And yet I feel like I’m a little girl about to have her pigtails pulled every time River smirks at me.
I roll my eyes. I can’t react to him like this. Especially not when I am a guest at his family’s fancy celebration. I’m just here to enjoy myself.
Not give in to my impulses and stick my tongue down River’s throat like I want to. Badly. I just barely escaped acting on my impulses when Sav interrupted River and I circling each other.
I know how that will end. I’ll be momentarily satisfied and then I won’t be able to make eye contact with River at the many, many wedding-related activities that I know are planned for me as a bridesmaid.
"Stop staring," I chastise myself. It's about as effective as using a glass of tap water to put out a forest fire. I shake my head, trying to clear the fog that River’s smoldering looks seem to summon in my brain.
