then laughed a moment later. “Not even close. I’ll probably have to make a trip off-island soon.”
“I found a few options online that you might like. I’ll send you an email tomorrow with the store links, and you can get back to me with your thoughts when you have a chance,” Mia said. She had an idea now of Kate’s taste and had spent an hour or so searching online the night before while she and Penny were relaxing and watching TV.
Kate looked relieved. “Thank you. I’ll take a look and let you know ASAP.”
“No hurry.”
Angela sipped her wine and looked as though she was weighing a decision before finally saying, “Philippe and I were chatting last night, and he suggested I use a wedding planner. We still haven’t even set a date yet, and he thought it might make things easier. I’m so busy with work. I just hired two more girls today.”
“That’s wonderful!” Kate said.
Angela smiled. “We keep getting referrals, which is great. But it doesn’t leave me with a lot of free time to plan a wedding. Would you be interested, Mia?”
Mia knew their wedding was likely to be another big one. Angela was new to Nantucket but her fiancé, Philippe, was a celebrity of sorts. Several of his books had been made into movies and TV series so he spent a good deal of time in Los Angeles, and he seemed to know just about everyone on Nantucket and considered them all friends. Angela was easy going and hard-working. Mia knew she would be fun to work with.
“I’d love to. Let me know when you’re free to sit down and go over things.”
“Maybe next week? Monday mornings I clean the Beach Plum Cove Inn and usually come early to have breakfast with Lisa. We could do it then. I’d love her input, too, if you don’t mind?”
“Of course not.”
“Mom will love that,” Kristen said. “She adores you, and she’s in her glory with all these weddings.”
“She has a wedding coming up soon too, doesn’t she?” Mia asked. She knew Lisa was engaged, but she hadn’t mentioned the date.
Kate, Kristen, and Abby all exchanged glances before Kate spoke. “She and Rhett are not on the same page about when to have it or how big. If it was up to Rhett, it would be tomorrow with the whole town invited. Mom doesn’t want anything big and fussy, and she doesn’t want to overshadow our weddings. Which we, of course, told her was ridiculous.”
Lisa could tell by the smell that her meatballs were ready to come out of the oven. She opened the oven door and, as suspected, they were perfectly browned. She inhaled deeply as the scent rushed towards her. She’d been trying to cut back on red meat so she hadn’t made spaghetti and meatballs in ages. But it was Rhett’s favorite dish. She carefully dropped each meatball into the large pot of sauce simmering on the stove, took a small taste of the sauce and added another shake of Italian seasoning, a pinch of sugar and a splash of red wine from the glass she’d just poured. She gave it all a stir, then settled at her kitchen island with her laptop and glass of wine and hopped onto Facebook for a minute to see what her friends were up to.
Thirty minutes later, she heard the front door open, indicating that Rhett was home for the evening. She’d barely touched her wine—she’d been so busy chatting with friends online and was surprised by how quickly the time had passed. Rhett looked surprised and happy when he reached the kitchen.
“Something smells good. You made meatballs? I thought you were off meat. Glad to see you came to your senses,” he teased her.
“I’m not off totally, just cutting way back. But I love meatballs, too. Are you starving? Or do you want to have a glass of wine first? We can snack on some cheese and crackers. I got that cheddar you like, the one that has a hint of parmesan.”
“I did like that one. Let’s do it.” Rhett poured himself a glass of wine while Lisa got the cheese and crackers out and set them on the island between them.
“How was the restaurant today? Were you busy?” Lisa asked. Rhett had come to Nantucket when Lisa first opened the inn and decided to stay on indefinitely while he got his newly purchased restaurant ready to open for the season. It had been a hit and even