Chương 2
Caleb stared at her. “You said she declined.”
“She would have.”
“You told me she did.”
“She made it clear she didn’t support us.”
Lila almost answered. Caleb’s expression stopped her. Whatever happened next belonged first to the people who had planned to marry each other.
Grandma Eleanor did not share that restraint.
“She never met him until today,” she said.
“Grandma, please.” Savannah’s voice cracked on the last word, then steadied. “Please don’t.”
Eleanor’s hand tightened around her cane. “I asked where Lila was. Your mother told me she had chosen business over family. Then I saw the seating chart. There was no chair. No place card. No mention of her in the program. I found your cousin Beth in the powder room, and Beth told me you said Lila wasn’t welcome.”
Beth, standing near the pillar, looked immediately at the ground.
Savannah’s eyes searched the crowd and found no shelter.
Diane stepped between her daughters. “We are not doing this in front of everyone.”
“You already did,” Eleanor said. “You just expected Lila not to be present for it.”
“I didn’t know this was hers.”
“That is not the defense you think it is.”
Diane’s chin trembled. She turned to Lila. “Please. Open an office. A room. Something.”
Lila’s phone vibrated again. This time she glanced down.
Marcy: Minister asking whether ceremony is paused or canceled. Catering needs decision by 6:10 to preserve service. Groom’s mother demanding to speak to owner.
Lila checked the time. 5:42.
She had spent eleven years learning that crises did not care whether she was emotionally prepared for them. Grapes ripened on their own schedule. A cracked irrigation line did not become less expensive because someone was grieving. Staff still needed direction when the person giving it had been humiliated in public by her own family.
She looked at Savannah.
“Do you want the ceremony to continue?”
Savannah stared at her as though she had asked whether she wanted more wine.
Caleb answered first. “No.”
The word traveled through the crowd.
His mother made a soft sound near the arch. His father took two steps toward him. Caleb did not look at either parent.
Savannah turned to him. “You don’t mean that.”
“I mean not now.”
“We can talk after.”
“We need to talk before.”
“We have two hundred people here.”
“I know.”
“My dress—”
“I know.”
“The flowers, the flights, your aunt came from Boston—”
“I know, Sav.”
“Then don’t do this.”
His expression tightened. “I’m not the one doing it.”
The silence after that was worse than the shouting.
Savannah looked down at the lace over her ribs. Her fingers pinched a fold of the gown and released it. She had always done that with clothing when she was trying not to cry. At ten, she had twisted the hem of a yellow T-shirt while waiting outside the principal’s office. At sixteen, she had stretched the cuff of a sweater until the threads broke after their father failed to arrive for a school play. Lila had spent years noticing those small signals before anyone else did.
Her body still responded before her anger could stop it.
She stepped closer. “Savannah.”
“Don’t.”
“I’m not touching you.”
“Good.”
Caleb’s father arrived at his son’s shoulder. “We need to speak with the coordinator.”
Mateo said, “I can take you to Marcy.”
“I want the owner.”
“You’re looking at her.”
The man’s eyes moved to Lila and stayed there. He was a polished, silver-haired attorney who had shaken her hand that afternoon without recognizing her. Lila had been wearing work boots then, inspecting a leaking refrigeration connection behind the kitchen. He had asked if she could point him toward the manager.
Now he adjusted his cuff.
“Ms. Pierce,” he said. “We have a contract.”
“We do.”
“We expect the venue to fulfill it.”
“It will.”
“Even though the ceremony is being disrupted by your family.”
“The venue didn’t disrupt your ceremony.”
Savannah laughed again, softer this time. “Listen to her. She becomes a corporation when she’s cornered.”
Lila looked at the event director, who had finally reached them.
“Marcy, move cocktail service to the lower terrace. Keep the bars open. Give the minister and both families the west conference room. Hold dinner until six-forty-five, then serve unless Diane cancels. Tell the kitchen the head count remains two hundred twelve.”
Marcy nodded with visible relief. “And the ceremony?”
“Paused.”
Caleb said, “Canceled.”
Savannah turned on him. “Stop saying that.”
He swallowed. “Canceled for tonight.”
Marcy’s gaze moved between them. “I need one authorized client decision.”
Diane closed her eyes briefly. “Cancel the ceremony. Continue the reception.”
Everyone looked at her.
She opened her eyes. “People have traveled. Food has been prepared. We can’t send them away hungry.”
It was such a Diane sentence that Lila nearly smiled. The family could be breaking in public, but no one would accuse Diane Pierce of wasting plated sea bass.
Savannah stared at her mother. “A reception for what?”
“For the guests.”
“I’m not going in there.”
“You don’t have to.”
“Then what are they celebrating?”
Diane’s eyes flicked toward Caleb’s parents. “We will tell them there has been a delay.”
“A delay in marriage?”
“Savannah.”
“No. Explain it. You’re good at explanations.”
Diane’s face hardened. “This is not the place.”
Savannah spread one hand toward the vineyard. “Apparently this is Lila’s place. Maybe she can tell us where we’re allowed to fall apart.”
Lila felt Mateo shift beside her.
She said, “The west conference room is private.”
“I’m not going into your office.”
“It isn’t my office.”
“Of course not. You probably have a tower.”
“I have a desk above the loading dock.”
The answer confused Savannah for a second. That was useful. Confusion slowed anger.
Grandma Eleanor touched Lila’s arm. “I need to sit down.”
The sternness had drained from her face. Without it, she looked old and embarrassed.
Lila turned immediately. “Mateo, bring the cart.”
“I can walk,” Eleanor said.
“I know.”
May you like
“I walked out here.”
“You also hit the ground with your cane like Moses.”
