Chapter Two
“How long haveyou been married to Brian Wonder?” Cait Hart’s baby sister, Melisa, stared her down over a steamy cup of cappuccino. “And you still haven’t changed your name.”
“She doesn’t want to be known as the Wonder Woman,” Jenna, Cait’s second sister, smirked.
The three Hart sisters were sitting in their favorite booth at the Love Bean Coffee Shop having yet another wedding planning meeting.
Their family was well known in the Inner Sunset district of foggy San Francisco because their father and brother were the fire chiefs of the local fire station, and their mother was active with volunteer work and general meddling.
Cait, however, was a flaming redhead, okay, not quite, but with her dark, auburn hair, she definitely had a few recessive genes in her makeup. Her wonderfully beautiful and very blond sisters, Jenna and Melisa, made her stick out like a sore thumb, a sore red thumb, so she made up for her sticking out by being bossy and demanding.
Which meant that when both beautiful, and very blond sisters were about to get married, she, Cait Hart, would be the official wedding planner. Being that she was also the oldest and therefore wisest sister, they would have to do as she said.
“You’re letting her off the hook.” Melisa looked at Jenna and pointed at Cait. “She says we should change our names when she’s been married the longest, and she’s still Cait Hart.”
“Melisa Reed has a ring to it, and so does Jenna Davison,” Cait said, undeterred. Being the hot-tempered redhead among two blondes had great advantages for her self-confidence.
“Jenna Davison sounds like a hawker for pancake mix.” Jenna, who was a fashion designer, smoothed a hand over her sleek, silver-blond hair. “I own Hart in SF Designs, and my name is my brand.”
“True, Davison Designs doesn’t have that San Francisco thing going for it,” Cait mused. She could see Jenna’s point, especially since she was the only one of the three to own her own business. “But Melisa, you have no excuse. Why won’t you take Rob’s name?”
“All my students know me as Miss Hart,” Melisa said, taking a bite of her raspberry scone. “I can’t return from Christmas break with a different name.”
“Of course, you can,” Cait said, zeroing in on the sister most likely to comply. “Teachers are always getting married and changing their names. Besides, you’re marrying a doctor. You ought to show some respect for your husband-to-be.”
“We all know how little you respect Brian,” Melisa huffed. “You bring casseroles to the fire station, but never give him a home-cooked meal.”
“That’s because he’s at the fire station all the time.” Cait defended herself.
“And that doesn’t bother you?” Jenna twirled the end of the scarf she was wearing.
“Well, no, should it?” Cait gaped at her two younger sisters. Just because they were both engaged to be married didn’t make them relationship experts. “Brian is happy to hang out with the guys, and he’s very dedicated to his work.”
“Especially since he spends all his off hours playing video games,” Jenna said. Her fiancé, Larry, was one of the firemen and best buddies with their brother, Connor, the fire chief who had to order Brian to go home to Cait every so often.
Cait felt her face flush at her two younger sisters’ disrespect. As the eldest child in the Hart family, she was the most knowledgeable about family tradition and etiquette for everything from weddings to marriage. Since when had the wedding planning turned to a roast of her and Brian’s marriage?
She turned the tables back at her baby sister. “I suppose you’re planning on cooking meals for Rob every day?”
“Of course, I would.” Melisa raised her prim and proper head of blond curls. “He’s busy all day saving lives, why shouldn’t he be rewarded with a home-cooked meal?”
“How about you?” She zeroed in on Jenna who couldn’t cook her way out of a cereal box.
“Larry loves to cook.” Jenna flicked a piece of lint from her jacket. “I don’t see what cooking has to do with respecting husbands.”
“Me either.” Melisa tapped on her electronic tablet. “I do, however, have a question on the budget. Why are you suggesting an open bar before the wedding?”
“That’s because you’re getting married on New Year’s Eve one minute before midnight,” Cait explained. “An open bar will get everyone in the mood to do the countdown to the ‘I do’ moment.”
“An open bar can quickly get out of hand,” Melisa said. “I suggest people pay their own bar tab before midnight. We’ll have the waiters pour champagne afterwards.”
“Come on, you’re marrying a doctor.” Cait threw her hands up like a partygoer winning a raffle. “You’re having the wedding and reception at The Baytop. It’s going to be the swankiest New Year’s Eve party ever.”
The Baytop was a rotating bar and lounge on top of the Tower of Reeds, the tallest building in San Francisco. Booking their entire venue for New Year’s Eve was way above the means of Cait, Jenna, and Melisa’s father, a retired fire chief. Fortunately, Rob Reed’s father, a prominent real estate developer, owned the entire skyscraper.
“It’s my wedding, not a New Year’s Eve party!” Melisa slapped her hands on the tabletop. “Cait, this is getting out of control.”
“You have to think big.” Cait swept her hand across the view in her mind. “Three hundred sixty degrees of city lights, the Golden Gate Bridge glowing in the background, ribbons of red and white streaming across the highways below. You and Rob, holding hands and saying your vows as the clock counts down to midnight and a brand new year.”
