and fix her hair. She ran a curling iron through it to give it some soft waves, added a final swipe of pink lipstick and she was ready.
Sam arrived fifteen minutes later and at first glance, he took her breath away. She’d only seen him dressed casually before. He looked elegant and so handsome in his black suit and blue-gray silk tie. His shoes gleamed and his hair was lightly gelled and his eyes—had she never really noticed his eyes before? How green they were? Maybe it was the black suit, but it really made his eyes stand out. Especially when he smiled.
“You look beautiful, Mia.”
The butterflies came rushing back. “Thank you. You look very distinguished and handsome, too. Let me grab the tickets and we can go.” She found them in the kitchen drawer, put them in her small black evening bag and they headed out. They probably could have walked as the event was being held at the White Elephant, but it was a hot and sticky night and Mia didn’t want to go too far in new shoes. Sam drove and when they arrived, handed his car off to the valet parkers.
There was a steady stream of well-dressed people making their way into the event. Mia looked around to see if anyone was there that she knew and smiled when she saw Ben and Bethany in line at the cocktail bar. She should have known that they’d be at this event.
They made their way in and went to get a drink. Ben looked pleasantly surprised to see them.
“Mia! I didn’t know you’d be here. We have room at our table, join us after you get a drink. I’m buying, what can I get you both?”
“Chardonnay for me, thanks.”
“I’ll have a Dewar’s and water.”
Once they all had their drinks, Ben led the way to their table. It was a round table that sat ten people, and Bethany’s fiancé and Alexis were there as well. Mia noticed with interest that Ben handed Alexis a drink and then sat next to her. Maybe Bethany’s matchmaking efforts were paying off.
A few minutes later, though, Ben wandered off to talk to some friends and Bethany did the same.
“Do you want to walk around and check out the silent auction?” Mia suggested.
“Sure, let’s go.” Most of the silent auction items were signed first editions from authors that were participating in the book festival. There were a couple of lunches with the author, too. Mia noticed that Kate, Tyler and Philippe all had signed books up for auction and Philippe also had a ‘lunch with the author’. He would host ten people at his Nantucket home, serve them lunch and answer all their questions. Mia smiled. She could picture him doing it. She looked around to see if Kate and Jack were there. She’d talked to Kristen the day before, and she’d said that Tyler wasn’t up for going. He hated those kinds of events and Kristen wasn’t a big fan of them, either, so they were staying home. But she said she’d thought Kate would be there. Mia had left Kate a message, too, but they hadn’t connected.
The room was filling up fast. There was a good crowd and Mia was a little surprised at all the familiar faces she saw—authors that she recognized from the back of their book covers like Jodi Picoult, Nancy Thayer and Elin Hilderbrand.
“There you are! Kristen told me you were coming, and Sam, too. I’m so glad you guys are here.” Mia turned around to see Kate behind her, looking gorgeous as usual in a sleek gold dress. Kate was so tall and slim that everything looked good on her. Jack looked sharp in his suit, but a little less comfortable than Kate was. Mia suspected that, like Kristen and Tyler, he’d rather be home but agreed to go because Kate wanted to.
“Did you just get here? I think there’s room at our table. We’re sitting with Ben and his sister Bethany.”
“We just walked in. Lead the way. I want to put my stuff down and then get a drink.”
The next few hours flew by and it was a really fun night. There was an elegant dinner, followed by music and dancing and the silent auction. They all needed to dance off all the food they’d eaten and as soon as the band started playing and the music was good, they made their way out to the dance floor. Mia and Sam danced and danced, one song