LITMIR.BIZ

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Elizabeth trailing behind her to help and probably sample the frosting.

      Haley’s mother stood and started stacking dishes. “If all this had happened one day later, we would have had an even bigger dessert. Amy’s staff would have already started on the cake, so we could have split a three-tier wedding cake seven ways.”

      “I would have taken that challenge,” Matthew said. “Imagine that, a baker’s son who still loves wedding cake.”

      Haley cleared her throat to get their attention. “Sure glad my sad story is a punch line for everyone.” She frowned first at her mother and then at Matthew. “Why didn’t you just keep tiptoeing around the subject? You were doing a good job of it.”

      “Because you need to talk about the wedding,” Trina insisted. “It’ll be easier to heal if you do.”

      “I don’t want to talk about it, Mom.” Not here. Not in front of these people.

      Matthew spread his hands wide. “Then you don’t have to talk about it, at least not until you’re ready.”

      Trina blew out a frustrated breath, but she nodded. “Fine. When you’re ready.”

      Amy picked that moment to return with the cake, her assistant following closely behind. “Now everyone had better take a piece, or I’ll be offended.”

      Despite the warning, Jenna attempted to decline but ended up with a big piece in front of her anyway. Soon appreciative murmurs filled the room.

      Haley studied the people around her as they ate. How many times had they gathered around a table just like this one, sharing food and their lives? These people were like her extended family. They’d been there for her during the trials of her childhood, and they were there for her now, waiting to talk about her life-changing day until she was ready. Maybe she could talk about it after all.

      “Boy, it’s a good thing there’s not going to be a wedding.” Haley waited until all those surprised faces turned her way before she continued. “After this dinner, I never would have fit in my wedding gown.”

      “You’re not getting married?” Elizabeth asked.

      Matthew sent a wary look his daughter’s way. Of course, no one had thought to tell Elizabeth.

      “No, sweetie,” Haley said. “We canceled the wedding.”

      “But why?”

      Haley shrugged, uncertain how to explain to a child what she didn’t know for sure herself. “My fiancé decided he didn’t want to marry me.”

      Elizabeth sat straighter in her seat and crossed her arms. “He was mean not to marry someone nice like you.”

      They all laughed at the child’s summation of the situation, except Haley, who managed a smile. She wasn’t ready to join in the laughter, but she didn’t feel the need to sob on the floor, either. It was a start.

      With the taboo subject of the canceled ceremony now on the table, the women began dividing up their assignments for the next day. Jenna would meet with the florist who had to cancel a whole order of white roses, while Haley took on the bridal storeowner and Caroline faced off with the caterer, dealing with cancellation policies. Haley’s mother had volunteered for the task of phoning all the guests.

      Caroline looked up from the notebook she’d pulled from her purse, with the first two pages already detailing the next day’s chores. “Too bad Mom doesn’t have a best friend who is owner of one of these other businesses.”

      “We did get special treatment there.” Trina turned to Amy. “I don’t know how to thank you for returning the deposit.”

      Amy waved off her friend’s thanks. “What are friends for? You might recoup some of your money on the dresses, too, if the bridal shop owner agrees to sell them on consignment. It’s good when couples can reclaim some of their costs, so they’ll be able to focus their attention on what to do next.”

      Haley could feel Mrs. Warren’s gaze on her, but she couldn’t bring herself to look at her. Beyond tomorrow’s chores, she didn’t know what she would do next. She realized that she needed to carve out a new life for herself now, a focused life, but how could she find it when she didn’t know what she wanted?

      “Okay, what’s my job?” Matthew asked as he leaned forward, bracing his forearms on the table.

      “Hang around and nod your head a lot,” Jenna supplied.

      Caroline looked up from her list. “You could check off chores on the list while the rest of us do the jobs.”

      “Or,” Amy paused for effect before adding, “you could tag along while Caroline talks with the caterer.”

      Matthew shot a frown his mother’s way, but then he turned back to the others.

      “What is this? I thought you were all evolved, twenty-first-century women, and here you are applying a double standard by saying a man wouldn’t know his way around wedding plans. I’ll have you know that I plan the music for all the weddings at our church, and no one ever complains.”

      “Then what do you want to do?” Jenna asked.

      “I don’t know.” He hesitated, as if he’d just realized what he’d gotten himself into. “I can handle anything as long as it doesn’t involve frilly dresses or makeup.”

      Caroline glanced down at her list and then at Matthew again. “You could help repackage the gifts for return.”

      He turned to Haley. “You have to return the gifts?”

      “That’s how it works,” Haley said.

      “She doesn’t have to return mine.” Caroline crossed her arms over her chest. “Single women can use blenders, too.”

      Matthew was grinning over Caroline’s feminist perspective when he turned back to her youngest sister. “You don’t need to open Caroline’s gift since she gave away the surprise. It’s a blender.”

      “It is not,” Caroline insisted, but everyone laughed again, anyway.

      Haley even chuckled this time, the light feeling in her chest offering another surprise in a day chock-full of them. She’d planned to be at her rehearsal dinner tomorrow night. Surprise. She’d expected that the details in her life would be neatly in order by Saturday afternoon. Surprise. And now she’d discovered that with the support of family and these friends, she might someday have more reasons to laugh again.

      The two families were working together to clear away dishes as they’d done so many times over the years when Amy Warren cornered her son in the kitchen.

      “I have a better idea for something you can do to help Haley,” she told him.

      He lowered an armload of half-empty platters on the counter. “What’s that? And don’t tell me it’s by going out with a certain sister of hers, either.”

      “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

      “Mother,” he said in a warning tone.

      “We’ll worry about that later.” Glancing at the door separating the kitchen from the dining room, she gestured for him to come closer to the sink. She spoke in hushed tones. “You can kill two birds with one stone. You need a child-care provider, at least a temporary one, and Haley needs a job.”

      Matthew was shaking his head before the plan was out of her mouth. He felt badly for only thinking of his own problems when Haley was having a crisis, and he’d wanted to help her in some way, but this wasn’t it. “You’re not serious.”

      “Of course, I am.”

      “But this is Haley Scott we’re talking about.” Haley, whose résumé was too long to fit on one page, and not in a good way. Haley, who switched college majors and jobs as often as other people changed clothes. But he said only, “I don’t think that’s a good

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