Gulf Coast Wedding by Maggie Miller
Chapter Thirty-two
Lilly had just finished unloading her car with Griffin’s help when Mia walked into the breakfast room through the side door. “There you are. How was the workday?”
“Good! We got a lot done. Everyone was still working when I left, but Travis sent me home since he knew I had decorating to do.” Her gaze shifted to the bags covered several of the breakfast room tables. “What did you buy? And did you clean out the store?”
Lilly laughed. She was pretty happy with her haul. “As a matter of fact, smarty pants, I did leave a few things for other customers to purchase. But I got some great things. Come have a look.”
Mia put her hands on her hips. “I want to, but I’m gross and sweaty. Let me shower and change first.”
Lilly nodded. “Sure. I can organize all of this while you do that.”
Mia headed for her room. “I won’t be long.” Then she glanced toward the kitchen. “Where’s my mom? And Griffin?”
“Griffin had to sign some paperwork at the lawyer’s office, then Kelly asked him to stop by the newspaper. Your mom bundled Chloe up and took her down to the beach for a walk. I think she’s trying to tire her out a little so she’ll sleep tonight while the rest of us are celebrating. Don’t worry, though, they both know we need them for decorating.” She pointed toward the front room. “Griffin did everything you asked, though, so he’s already brought the chairs down and moved the furniture. He even started setting things up, but he wasn’t sure how you wanted it.”
Mia looked over her shoulder. “He’s been busy. That’s awesome. Okay, I’ll be back as soon as I no longer smell like a locker room.”
Mia went off to her room and Lilly started taking things out of bags and grouping like items on their own tables. She was pretty pleased with the simplicity of what she’d purchased. By keeping the colors to white, ivory, and gold, except for the strands of silk ivy, which were naturally green, the decorations could be used for a lot of things. Not just weddings, but anniversaries, or even a more sophisticated birthday party.
She’d just finished up and had taken care of the shopping bags when Mia rejoined her, damp hair clipped up.
“That is a lot of stuff, Aunt Lill.” Her brows were high on her forehead as she took it all in.
“But it’s all going to look great.” Lilly pointed to the first table. “That’s white tulle, silk ivy garland, and battery-operated fairy lights to wrap the stair railing with. They didn’t have any decent wide ribbon, so I passed on that. I’m sure I still bought more than we need, but better that than too little. And we can use it elsewhere if we want.”
“That will look beautiful.”
“This table,” Lilly said as she gestured to the next one. “Is all boxes of battery operated candles. You know those kind that look like they have a real flame, but it’s just an LED light that flickers? Well, believe it or not, they were having a closeout sale, so I got seven boxes with a set of five candles in each box for half price.”
“That’s a great deal. And I love those things. Please tell me they came with batteries?”
Lilly looked at the box closest to her. “I have no idea. But I will run over to Beachside Hardware and get whatever we need, I promise.”
“And table number three? I see lots of glass containers, bags of glass stones, candlesticks, and some stuff I’m not entirely sure of.”
“Most of that is to hold the candles so we can do little vignettes around the inn that will shine and sparkle. After all, it’s going to be dark about the time the wedding gets underway and what’s more romantic than candlelight?”
“Very true.” Mia smiled. “It’s going to look like a fairy tale.”
“I sure hope so. I also bought this chalkboard and easel. I thought it might be nice to set it up by the door with a little welcome to the wedding message. Something like that. But personalized. Actually, if there’s any tulle, ivy, and lights left, we could use that to decorate it, too.”
“Oh, I love that. Anything else?”
“I bought a couple boxes of white silk rose petals to scatter around. We don’t have to use those, but I didn’t know if Beach Blooms would be giving us anything like that. Not to mention, I don’t think putting real flower petals on freshly refinished hardwood for people to walk on is such a great idea.”
“I hadn’t thought about that, but it seems like the silk ones would be a better choice.” Mia came over and gave Lilly a hug. “You’re awesome, you know that? This place is going to be amazing because of all this extra stuff.”
Lilly hugged her back. “I think it will be too. And I was happy to do it.” Then she laughed. “Imagine if I’d had more time to prepare!”
Mia giggled. “It’s almost scary. What do you say we grab some lunch, then get started on this decorating?”
“Perfect. Shopping definitely works up an appetite. Probably not as much as all of your yard work, though. Will salad be enough?”
“So long as it has meat and cheese, I’m in.”
They headed into the kitchen.
“You know,” Mia said. “Coffee’s wedding menu isn’t exactly low carb. He’s making orzo pasta with the lemon chicken.”
“Don’t forget the cake,” Lilly added as she opened the fridge. Then she shrugged. “But it’s a wedding. If you can’t indulge for an occasion like that, when can you?”
“Right. And also, it’s Coffee’s food. So you already know it’s going to be worth the calories.” Mia got two big bowls down from the cabinet.
Lilly grinned. She pulled the lettuce, cucumber, onion, green pepper, and carrots from the veggie drawer, then reached for meat and cheese from the deli drawer. “That’s for sure. What kind of cake is he making?”
“Sam likes lemon and Levi likes chocolate, so when I told Coffee, he said he’d do both.” Mia took out a cutting board, then went to get a knife. “Not together but as alternating tiers. The way he described it, I think the bottom cake is chocolate with chocolate mousse filling, the middle cake is lemon with lemon curd filling, and then just a plain vanilla for the anniversary layer on top. And buttercream on the whole thing.”
“That sounds delicious. I guess I’ll be having two pieces of cake.” Two small pieces, but how could she not taste both flavors? “And that reminds me. Do they have a cake topper? A bride and groom?”
Mia shook her head as she grabbed some of the veggies and started slicing them up. “I don’t think so. I’m sure Coffee will just decorate it so that it’s not even missed.”
“Well, I did buy these pretty little gold-colored metal letters. An S and an L. I thought they’d be nice on the table, but they could go on the cake, too.” Lilly shredded lettuce into the bowls, then put the bowls in front of Mia’s cutting board and went to get forks.
“I like that idea. If there’s room, I say we do it.” Mia sprinkled sliced cucumbers over the lettuce, then started on the onion.
“Absolutely,” Lilly said. “I’m all in for anything that can make this wedding more special and personal. I mean, they were going to elope at the Justice of the Peace! After what they’ve been through, they deserve more. They deserve the best we can do.”
Mia smiled as she added some diced onion to the salads. “I think so too. I can’t wait to decorate.”
Lilly opened the fridge again. “What kind of dressing do you want?”
“That vinaigrette is fine.”
Lilly got it out. “Works for me too. You want a glass of water?”
“Yes. A big one, with ice. You wouldn’t believe how much I sweated today despite the cool weather. Thanks.”
A few minutes later and they were sitting down to eat. As they dug in, Lilly let out a sigh that was a little louder than she’d meant it to be.
“What’s wrong?” Mia asked.
“I just realized that not only do we need to decorate, rearrange all the borrowed plants, and make sure the front room is set up properly for the ceremony, but I need to make sure anything we don’t use gets put away so we can set up this room for the dinner.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll have more help soon.”
“True.” Lilly looked over at the long server that would hold the hotel pans for the meal. “We should do a cake table. I know this is a small wedding, but that would still be a nice touch. There’s got to be a nice white tablecloth around here somewhere, right?”
“Yep. In the linen closet. Several of them, actually. And you realize you’re making more work for us after you just commented on how much work there was to do?”
Lilly laughed. “I don’t care. A white tablecloth, a scattering of those silk petals, and a couple of those battery-operated candles, and it will look great. We’re going to make this place shine. And it will be worth it.”
Mia swallowed the last bite she’d taken. “Good, because I’m hoping to use some of the pictures to do a wedding package brochure. Otherwise, we’ll have to fake some. Or use stock photos, which I really don’t want to do.”
“Your brother takes great pictures. You’ll get everything you need tonight.”