Magnolia Bride. Tara Randel
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took a deep breath since she couldn’t close her eyes and count to ten. Hollywood clients could be a challenge, but her boss even more so. She’d loved her job when she first started four years ago, but as the company grew, their stress levels had gone off the charts. Her boss knew Nealy had come home to visit her family, yet she phoned as if it were a snap for Nealy to handle the problems from Florida. So much for her vacation.
“Okay, I’ll give him a call as soon as I can. Then I’ll get in touch with Marsha at Elegant Linens. She owes me, so I’m sure she’ll make the changes. Can you speak to Michele and see what she can pull off with the flower arrangements?”
The rustling of papers sounded over the line. Nealy formed a mental picture of Crystal sitting at her desk, her attention already focused on a different problem while Nealy tried to fix the current one.
“Hmm. Michele? Yes, I’ll contact her.”
Nealy breathed out a sigh of relief. “Good. I’ll call Mr. Taylor. And, Crystal?”
“Yes?”
“Then I’m on vacation, okay?”
“Of course. Unless I need you.”
Crystal signed off. Nealy knew it wasn’t the last time she’d hear from the woman during her much-needed break.
In the past year, Nealy’s workload had doubled. She never complained because she appreciated the steady paycheck. With the prospect of a new client signing with them soon, her workload was about to get even more hectic.
An up-and-coming fashion designer, Ashlee James, popular with young stars, had shown an interest in hiring Milestones by Crystal to plan her clothing launch and then take care of all subsequent events. Everyone at the company had their fingers crossed the contract would come through, especially Nealy, who was tapped to lead the project. Interacting with elite clientele from Hollywood and L.A. had its moments, but Nealy logged long hours arranging an event. Did she have time for a social life? Please. Dating? Forget it. She hadn’t seen Sam, her kinda, sorta boyfriend, in three weeks. Though when it came to Sam, her workload wasn’t the only cause for the distance between them. He put in just as many hours at his office, which made their relationship status vague.
She pushed her dating woes to the back of her mind. She had more important matters to fret over. Namely, her sister’s multiple engagement parties. Yes, multiple. What had started out as an intimate gathering of friends and family to celebrate the joyous occasion soon morphed into adding an additional party to allow the senator—the fiancé’s father—to invite his political friends and financial backers so they, too, could offer their best wishes. Between the demands of the two families, her sister had booked both engagement parties for this weekend.
When Nealy’s sister Juliet had called to tell her about the engagement, she begged Nealy to plan the bigger party. Since she was marrying into an illustrious political family, Juliet wanted to impress her future in-laws. She complained because the coordinator she was working with didn’t have ideas grand enough to make an impression on the senatorial family. Juliet wanted the glitz and glamour of a Hollywood A-list event. Nealy could make that happen.
Nealy had her reservations; after all, it wasn’t as if she lived close by. Juliet put her in contact with the coordinator at the venue where both parties would take place and the two got down to business. Soon, Nealy realized her sister’s frustration with the woman. To say her ideas were lackluster was being kind. Sure, a traditional party might be nice for the quaint coastal town of Cypress Pointe, but it would never do for her sister’s opulent vision. Nealy took over and before long was working her magic from the other side of the country. Now she had only a few days to finalize the arrangements for the two events.
In addition to the engagement parties, Nealy’s second mission involved Cuppa Joe, her grandmother’s coffee shop. When her grandmother found out Nealy would be coming home, she asked Nealy to run the shop while she went on a seniors’ cruise. Growing up, the coffee shop had been Nealy’s second home. She loved the place and would do anything for her grandmother, so she agreed, but secretly wondered if she was pushing herself too hard.
She couldn’t remember the last personal day she’d taken, let alone her last real vacation. Was it the first year she worked for Milestones by Crystal? Once she decided to come home to Cypress Pointe for her sister, she’d stood firm on using the vacation days she’d accumulated, knowing once they landed the Ashlee James account, there would be no more free time for visiting family. Okay, so this had turned into a working vacation, but after years of working nonstop, could she picture herself relaxing and doing nothing? Hardly. She’d been born in high gear.
Driving past Swindler’s Ice Cream Shop, Nealy noted a young couple walking out the door, hand in hand. Her heart pinched at the sight. How many times had she and her ex met there for what they thought was a secret rendezvous? Another blast from the past. Until now, she’d kept the special memories from that summer tucked away. But really, what did she expect? Had she thought coming back to Cypress Pointe wouldn’t stir up a mess of emotions? She thought she’d recovered from her heartache, but driving through town proved challenging.
Her cell phone rang. “Not again,” she muttered, and immediately dismissed the leftover romantic notions and adopted her usual business tone. “Nealy Grainger at your service.”
“Where are you?” her sister Juliet whisper-hissed into the phone.
“About ten minutes away.”
“Step on it.”
“Mom getting on your last nerve?”
“I swear, I’m about to break something. Tonight was to be spent visiting with you. It wasn’t supposed to turn into let’s-interfere-with-every-little-detail night.”
Today, Wednesday, the women of the family were getting together to make last-minute tweaks to Nealy’s plans for the weekend. The next several days would be a whirlwind of formal social gatherings and casual meet-and-greet time as the families got to know one another.
“When did my engagement turn into a national event?” Juliet asked.
“When you agreed to marry a senator’s son.”
“I know I asked you to go big, but this has turned into a media frenzy. And who ever heard of a three-day engagement party?”
Their mother. When Nealy’s older sister got married it had been a rushed affair because Lanie had been in college at the time, which left their mother disappointed at its small scale. Now they were going to be related to a senator—her mother’s dream come true—so the ante had gone up. And up. And up.
“Where’s Grandmother? She’s good at distracting Mom.”
“She’s fed up, too.”
Not good if Dorinda Hobart, the voice of reason, couldn’t fix things.
“Hold on. Sanity’s on the way.”
Nealy ignored the usual foreboding that accompanied anything to do with their mother. Instead, she enjoyed the balmy breeze tickling her face. She’d been putting off the prodigal return and the old twinge of inferiority crept up on her, well aware certain family members wouldn’t welcome her with open arms. She didn’t expect them to behave any differently. She’d burned her bridges years ago and dreaded the cool reception awaiting her.
It doesn’t bother me.
Right. If she repeated the mantra enough times, she might believe it.
Instead of dwelling on her insecurities, she turned her attention to her sister. Juliet would be fretting over the details, because, well, that’s what Juliet did. As the baby of the family, they went overboard to pamper and protect her.
Then at fourteen, Juliet had been in a horrific automobile accident. Hospital stays and months of rehab had been the norm for her for a long while. The physical scars had healed, but the emotional toll? Nealy wasn’t sure her sister had ever recovered. So how could she deny her sister when she begged Nealy to come home, claiming she needed her cool, professional