Gulf Coast Wedding by Maggie Miller

Chapter Two

Georgia stood at the kitchen’s island, gazing into the empty, soft-sided cooler and trying to figure out how she was going to pack all of the drinks and snacks she’d planned to take to Clayton’s football game.

The cooler looked smaller than she remembered. Or maybe it had shrunk, if such a thing was possible. Because it certainly couldn’t be that she’d prepared too much.

She bit her bottom lip as she glanced over at the plastic baggies of sliced apples and baby carrots, the containers of chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies, another of ham and cheese sandwiches, the small jar of pickles, several single-serving bags of chips, a quartet of yogurt cups, and a pouch of Hershey’s miniatures for good measure.

Maybe it was too much. That didn’t even include the canned sodas, bottled waters, or juice pouches. But there were a lot of people going to Clayton’s game and he’d at least be thirsty after playing, if not also starving.

She really felt like she needed all of this. Which meant she needed to get a bigger cooler. Thing was, she didn’t have a bigger cooler. A new thought popped into her head. Maybe they should get some small coolers for the inn that guests could use to take cold drinks to the beach. That would be a nice thing to offer, wouldn’t it?

They could even get one of those glass-front fridges and sell drinks at reasonable prices so that people didn’t have to go into town to get them. Maybe. Or was that too much extra work? Seemed like it would be a nice guest perk.

She made a mental note to ask Mia her thoughts on that when she came back downstairs. She was changing out some of the towels in the bathrooms for new ones that had just arrived. Georgia’s sister, Lilly was over at her new house across the street, taking delivery of her new deck furniture. Griffin, Georgia’s son, was working at home today on some photography stuff for the Blackbird Gazette, his part time job. His full-time job was keeping an eye on his baby daughter, Chloe.

Georgia couldn’t wait for them all to be together at Clayton’s game. It would be a lot of fun and they hadn’t had a family outing in ages.

In the meantime, Georgia needed to figure how to pack all of this. Maybe Travis had a bigger cooler. She pulled out her phone to text him just as someone knocked on one of the French doors in the breakfast room that was right next to the kitchen.

Her cooler problem could wait.

She set her phone down, went into the next room, and saw Travis standing there, waiting on her. She smiled as she opened the door. “I was just about to text you. You should have just come in.”

He shrugged as he gave her a quick kiss. “I didn’t know if you’d be showering or something.”

Something was wrong. She could just tell. The cooler was forgotten. “What’s going on? Don’t tell me the game was cancelled?”

He shook his head. “No, no. Just…” He let out a deep breath. “Sam and Levi are getting married.”

Georgia gave him a funny look. “I already knew that. They just got engaged last night at the barbeque place.”

“No, I mean, they’re getting married today.”

Before Georgia could respond, Mia walked into the breakfast room carrying a laundry basket containing the old sets of towels she’d replaced.

She jerked her chin up in greeting since her hands were full. “Hey.” Then she paused. “Sorry. Did I interrupt something?”

Travis shook his head. “No. I was just telling your mom that Sam and Levi are getting married.”

Mia squinted. “Didn’t we know that already?”

Georgia nodded. “We did.”

“You didn’t know this,” Travis said. “They’re getting married today. Right now. At the town hall.”

“What?” Georgia looked at him. “Explain.”

“Yeah,” Mia said. She put the laundry basket down on one of the tables. “What brought this on.”

Travis sighed. “Lavinia showed up at the salon. Somehow, she found out about the engagement, either from someone who saw them at Slater’s last night or maybe even someone who saw Levi in Feldman’s this morning buying the ring, who knows? But anyhow, Lavinia wanted to know if the engagement was for real, and Sam told her it was.”

Georgia grimaced. “And it didn’t go well.”

“Not even a little bit. Lavinia said some typical Lavinia things, then said she wasn’t going to let it happen.”

“Yikes,” Mia said. “So Sam decided to get pro-active and beat her grandmother to the punch.”

Travis nodded. “Exactly. So they’re at town hall right now.” He glanced at his watch. “Probably a done deed.”

“I completely understand and support her actions, but did they already have the marriage license?” Mia asked.

Travis looked up. “No. Why?”

“Because there’s a three-day wait in Florida after you get the license. If they didn’t already have one, they aren’t getting married today.”

Travis’s expression perked up. “Yeah?”

Mia nodded. “Yeah. I know because I’ve been researching it with all the wedding stuff I want to do for the inn. And I’ve been helping Beth Kingston with her planning, too. The soonest they could get married is Wednesday.”

Georgia gave Travis a closer inspection. “Do you look happy about them not getting married because you didn’t want them to? Or because you weren’t going to be there?”

“Because I wasn’t going to be there. Doesn’t mean I don’t think they’re rushing things a bit, but it’s not like they just met. And with Lavinia’s threats hanging over them, I actually believe it might be better for them to just get married and shut her up.”

Mia walked over to them with a big smile on her face. “Plus now, we could give them a real wedding.”

Georgia pressed her hands together and gasped. “Oh, we could. I know we only have a few days, but we could do something. Especially if we get Lilly to help us.”

“You think she’ll have time with all of the house stuff she’s got going on?” Mia asked.

“For a wedding?” Georgia laughed. “You’ll be lucky if she doesn’t take over. This is her cup of tea.”

“Hold on a second,” Travis said. “I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I’m not sure Sam wants all of this fuss.”

Georgia and Mia turned to look at him at the same time, but Georgia spoke first. “Travis Taylor. Not only am I sure your daughter would like some kind of ceremony, but don’t you think she deserves one for everything she’s been through?”

He chuckled softly. “No argument from me on that. All right. What’s this going to cost me and how can I help?”

“As little as possible and I don’t know,” Georgia said. She looked at Mia again. “Where do we start? What do you need us to do?”

“You call Aunt Lilly, I’ll call Coffee about doing the cake.” She pointed at Travis. “You talk to Sam and see if Wednesday works for her and how many people she wants to invite. Once we know that, we can handle the rest.”

He nodded slowly. “I can do that. And while I hate to throw cold water on all of this, you do realize that Monday is not only the day of the photo shoot, but it’s also election day.”

Georgia made a face. “You’re right.” Then she shrugged. “Just means we have to get as much done today, tomorrow, and Tuesday as possible.”

“Right,” Mia said. “I’ll call the officiant I found as well, but if he’s not available, we’re going to need a notary. Do you know any of those, Travis?”

“Actually, I do,” Georgia said. “Roger Gillum’s administrative assistant, Flora, is one.”

“So is Agatha Goodwin,” Travis added.

“Great,” Mia said. “If Reverend Bartholomew can’t swing it, they’ll be next on my list.”

“Reverend Bartholomew?” Georgia asked.

“He’s retired,” Mia said. “But he still does weddings. Beth Kingston is using him, so I put him on my resources list.”

“Sounds good to me. Although I bet Agatha would do it for free.”

“So will Reverend B when I get done with him.” Mia grinned. “Beth told me if you feed him well, he’ll give you a big discount. I’ll see what I can do.”

Georgia shook her head. Her daughter was something else. Then she clapped her hands. “Let’s go, people. We have a wedding to put on.”