Page 32 of Unbroken
The Heart Wants What the Heart Wants
Afewdayslater, Maggie found herself paying an emergency maid of honor call out to Dani’s house. Her friend had called in a tizzy and begged Maggie to come out to help. Something about plates.
Maggie had been helping Sofia clean up after the lunch rush when Dani called. “I need you out here asap,” she said, sounding decidedly distressed.
Maggie immediately stopped what she was doing and clutched the phone. “What’s happened? Are you ok? Did something happen to Levi?”
“Your mother was just here.” Maggie could practically hear her friend’s jaw clench through the phone.
“Oh, my,” Maggie responded, her posture relaxing and her mouth quickly quirking up. Her mother had volunteered to be Dani and Levi’s wedding planner, whether Dani wanted her or not, and was about to drive her to distraction. “What has she done now?”
As Dani regaled her with the million tiny decisions that Mrs. Wade was prodding her to make that Dani didn’t care a flip about, Maggie thought of what her mother had accomplished. Though she often completely exasperated Maggie, she was proud of her. Though they had often resented being unpaid labor throughout their childhood, she and JT had learned all aspects of her business and it had helped them immensely when they had decided to open Common Grounds. Her mother had also become a shrewd investor and now only had to take on projects she wanted to. Apparently, she was very enthusiastic about Dani and Levi’s wedding.
Maggie realized her mind had wandered and Dani was still going on. Something about place settings now. “I have a dozen place settings sitting on the big dining room table that I’m supposed to see how I feel about,” Dani railed. “They’re dishes, Maggie! What are you supposed to feel about dishes?”
Maggie stifled a laugh. Dani was so accomplished in her professional life, but she was hopeless domestically. “Let me finish up here and I’ll be right over,” Maggie said soothingly. “We’ll have some wine and see what we can figure out.”
She hung up and turned to Sofia. “It looks like I’m going to have to head out a little early. Are you good?”
Sofia giggled. “Oh, I’ll manage. It sounds like a real emergency.”
Maggie gave her a wry smile. “I have to go save Dani from my mother’s machinations. It may take a while.”
“I’m sure you’ll handle it perfectly, like everything else you do,” Sofia offered. “Don’t worry. JT and I can close up. No problem.”
She could tell Dani was in a state when she pulled up and saw her sitting on the porch swing, her I WILL STAB YOU wine glass in hand. The riot of red curls on her head had given up any semblance of style. It couldn’t even be called a messy bun at this point. The state of her curls almost always reflected exactly what was going on with her emotions.
Maggie let loose a little laugh before she got out of the car and straightened her face into an expression of sympathy. “It can’t be that bad,” she said coming up the front porch steps.
Dani eyed her narrowly and raised a hand toward the house. “You say that now, but go look. Go look at what I’m dealing with.”
Maggie fought a grin. “Oookaaaay,” she drew out, “let me see.”
Maggie stepped into the wide hallway and her hands flew to her mouth to stifle the laugh that wanted to fly out. Every wall was draped in different swaths of silky fabrics in a myriad of colors. The large antique dining table that was normally pushed against one wall was pulled to the middle of the shotgun hallway and was set with twelve different place settings as well as multiple groups of floral arrangements in various styles and colors. Her mother was apparently going all out on this wedding. She could see why Dani was so overwhelmed.
She took a minute to compose her face again and walked back out to sit beside her friend on the swing. Dani handed Maggie her only other wine glass and poured her a glass from the bottle sitting at her feet. “So, that’s pretty extra,” Maggie finally said, glancing askance at Dani on the porch.
“Right?” Dani pounced on her agreement. “Really, Mags, I love your mom so much but this is getting over the top! I’d love to let her just make all the decisions for me but I’m afraid I’d end up in a royal wedding nightmare if I didn’t try to rein her in. It’s a wedding in a barn, for fu—uh, Pete’s sake! What do I do?”
Maggie hid her smile in her wine before she answered. “I’ll help, don’t worry. I have a plan. You and Levi wanted a buffet for the reception anyway so we can do the regular white buffet plates for that.” Dani nodded appreciatively. “But, you’re going to have to give her carte blanche on the rehearsal dinner. That way she can satisfy her need for grandeur but on a much smaller scale. And don't worry about the budget. She wants to do this for you.”
Dani gulped her wine with a hunted expression but nodded. Maggie put her arm around Dani’s shoulders and squeezed. “Don’t worry! It will be fabulous!”
Dani blew out a long breath and took a more normal sip of her Moscato. Maggie could see her shoulders slowly coming down from around her ears and her tightly pursed lips relaxing. They sat on the swing in companionable silence for several minutes before Dani turned to her with a gleam in her eye.
“So, when were you going to tell me?” she asked.
Maggie looked at her, confused. “Tell you what?”
Dani rolled her eyes. “About you and Zane. I hear you had a sleepover and I want details. Now!”
Maggie could feel the rush of red up her face. “Where in the world did you hear that?”
“JT,” Dani said. “Found him whittling a stick into a very pointy weapon Sunday morning outside the cafe.”
Maggie shook her head. “I swear! I am going to kick his behind. He has got to get over this overprotective, caveman attitude he’s taken over Zane. If I have my way, he’s going to be around a lot more so that brother of mine is just going to have to get used to it!”
Dani grinned. “I’m sure you straightened him out, Mags. In fact, before it was over, I had him grudgingly joining Team Zane.”