seeing what love could do to her mother, and the pain of losing her father, Elina refused to let love do that to her again. No matter how hard her mother tried to change that.
Nope, Elina had a singular focus—her career. There would be no falling in and out of love, no series of walks down the aisle. She’d seen it all. And weddings, love and relationships held zero appeal. She’d keep her eyes on the prize—kicking butt and showing Delilah what she could do.
Promises, promises. So what if Elina promised herself she’d never attend another wedding. She’d lied. At the time she never thought Reece would get married. But she would make it through this weekend. She had to.
Reece was waiting at the jitney stop with a convertible and a grin as the sun glinted through her golden locks. “Jesus, girl, could you be any more Hamptons?” Elina laughed as she strolled over to the car.
Reece was far more exuberant in her greeting. “Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod. You’re here, you’re here!” The screeching was punctuated with a running launch and a huge hug. It was a good thing that Reece was all of five feet tall, otherwise she would have knocked Elina onto her butt.
Although Reece was small, she was mighty. The hug she gave was strong enough to cut off crucial air supply. Elina hugged her back, reveling in the familiar embrace.
When they’d been paired as freshman year roommates in boarding school, Elina didn’t think she and the blonde Southern transplant from Georgia would have anything in common. But from the moment Reece had barged into the dorm room, she’d been one of those friends who wouldn’t let go. Reece was one of those people who left no option but to love her. And if you didn’t love her at first, she was going to make you love her. The girl didn’t take no for an answer. It was probably why the two of them got along so well.
“Honey, when I said I was coming early, I didn’t mean for you to pick me up personally. I thought you’d send Uber or something.”
Reece’s delicate brow drew up. “You’re kidding me, right? First of all, my mother-in-law and Mama have this thing on lock. All I have to do is show up. And I’m a happy bride for it, not having to make any decisions.” She laughed. “All I wanted was final say on the dress and the hair and makeup, because you know Mama would have me looking like a pageant girl reject if I let her. Southern women and the big hair. I didn’t give two flying figs about the whole Hamptons wedding nonsense. All I care about is Adam. So I have nothing to do except walk down the aisle.”
And that was why Elina loved her bestie. Keeping it real and keeping it relaxed. Most women, like Elina’s mother, would be in full bridezilla mode right about now.
Reece wrestled her bag from her and tossed it into the back of the car. “Gimme that.”
“Seriously, Reece, I’ve got seven inches on you. I can carry my own bag.”
“Look, I know how you feel about weddings, so I’m going to make this whole process as easy on you as possible.”
“You don’t have to do that. This is your day, or weekend rather.”
“I’m so glad you feel that way, so you might as well shut up and do as I tell you.”
Elina laughed. “Okay, suit yourself.”
“I will, thank you very much. We’re off to brunch.”
“Seriously? There has to be some wedding thing to do.”
“It is not my wedding day. I have nothing to do except hang with my girl. Not until tomorrow, anyway. This is the day before my wedding day. And I get to do what I want. We’ve already done the shower and the bachelorette party and everything, so we get to chill out. Come on, I’m starving.”
That was the other thing about Reece. For such a small woman, she ate enough for two grown men. “Then by all means. Let’s feed the tiny beast.”
By the time they were seated in a lovely café overlooking the water, Reece had already regaled her with stories of wedding shenanigans from both her mother and her mother-in-law-to-be. The two women got along, but they were so eager to one-up each other, things had gotten more than a little crazy.
“I mean, you should see the damn centerpieces, Elli. They’re huge. It’ll be any wonder the guests can see around the things to chat. And don’t even get me started on the gift bags. I mean who needs Tiffany’s cell phone charms? Explain this to me. Who?”
“Your mother?” Elina laughed.
“God, that woman is infuriating. Speaking of infuriating, how is Mama Sinclair?”
Elina sighed. “I’ve gotten three calls from her today alone, with two ‘call me’ urgent texts.”
“Maybe it’s important. You know. She might need you.”
She shook her head. “No. Since she has a habit of calling so often we established that if it was an emergency she needs to text 911, otherwise I’ll call her when I get a chance.” Elina shrugged. “And right now, I haven’t had a chance.”
Reece grinned. “Let me guess, you had to define what an actual emergency was at some point?”
Elina almost choked on her French fry she was laughing so hard. “It’s like you were there.”
“Nope, I just know your mother.”
“I mean who else has to explain to their parents that what to wear on a date is not an emergency. Or some guy not calling is not an emergency. Or that some guy sexting a pic of his schlong is not an emergency. I finally had to outline an emergency as something that involved the fire department, police, ambulance, illness, hospitalization or impending death. And even then, she called me once because she pulled a muscle at boot camp and the paramedic who came to the park to check her out was supercute. She claimed that required an ambulance so that was warranted.” Elina shook her head. “This is my life.”
Reece just laughed. “I love your mama, so awesome.”
“That hurts me right here.” Elina put a hand over her heart as she laughed.
“Enough Mama madness. How’s the job?” Reece asked.
“Great, actually. I came early because Delilah gave me the rest of the day off.” Elina filled Reece in on the details, and true to form Reece was genuinely happy for her.
They chatted for another half hour when Reece did a double take and beamed. “Look, there’s Adam and Gabe.”
Elina finished her fry and plastered a smile on her face. She had to go into happy wedding mode. Not that she had any problem with Adam. As a best-friend-in-law-to-be, he could have been worse. Adam was really sweet and loved her bestie, so he was okay in Elina’s book. It was just the whole matrimony thing. Why couldn’t they just be the Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell of normal people?
“Hey, ladies. Fancy meeting you here.” Adam kissed Reece on the nose. He and Reece were just about the cutest thing in the world to watch. Adam was maybe Elina’s height if she was being generous. And his dark hair
