“I sure did, and my hands have never looked prettier.”
Jessica ushered Emma, Gabby, Gabby’s mom, and her friend Chloe into the treatment room and got them all seated. Three of Jessica’s employees followed them in to do the other women’s treatments.
The bridal party spent a few minutes picking out polishes. Gabby was the first to make her selection. She took her seat and handed Jessica a glittery silver polish. “That’s for my toes,” she said. “They’ll match my shoes. I want a French manicure for my hands.”
“You got it.”
An hour later, Jessica was finishing Gabby’s French manicure while the girls chatted excitedly about the wedding. Gabby’s hands, she noticed, were shaking. “Nervous?” she asked.
“Terrified,” Gabby admitted. “Not about marrying Ethan…but the ceremony, the wedding itself. It’s all so nerve-wracking.”
“You’ll be fine,” Emma said. “The worst part is walking down the aisle because everyone’s looking at you, and you just know you’re going to trip or puke or something.”
“I’m not sure you’re helping,” Gabby said, her eyes going wide.
“But really, who cares if you trip?” Emma said with a giggle. “We’ll laughwithyou, notatyou. And I was two months’ pregnant at my wedding so the puking thing was probably just me.”
“She’s got a good point,” Jessica said as she applied the clear, sealing coat of polish to Gabby’s left hand. Despite the intermittent shooting pains in her right hand, she’d managed to apply the polish perfectly.
Gabby looked down at her polished fingers with a dreamy smile. “I can’t believe it’s really happening today.”
“I still remember having my nails done the morning I married your father,” Gabby’s mother said. “I’m so happy for you, sweetie.”
“Thanks, Mom.” Gabby’s eyes had gotten glossy.
Jessica finished up and stood. “You ladies take all the time you need in here and feel free to help yourself to more drinks and snacks in the lounge before you leave. There’s no one booked in this room until later this afternoon.”
“Thanks so much, Jessica,” Gabby said.
“My pleasure. Good luck with the rest of your preparations, Gabby. I can’t wait to watch you walk down that aisle in a few hours.” Jessica gave her shoulder a squeeze, as both of Gabby’s hands were currently resting under the dryer.
Jessica headed for the front desk, where Maritza was on the phone booking an appointment. Dana came up behind them. “Go. We’ve got everything covered for the rest of the day. Go on. Rest up and get ready for the wedding.”
Ordinarily, she’d never bail on them like this, but she’d looked at the schedule, and it was true. They were covered. And she was dead on her feet. “Okay. Thanks, Dana. Just call if anything comes up, okay?”
“Will do, but we’re fine. Go on. I can’t wait to hear all about the wedding tomorrow.” Dana grinned. “Never thought I’d see the day Ethan Hunter got hitched.”
Jessica smiled too. Yes, Ethan had been one of Haven’s most notorious bachelors. “I’ll take pictures.”
She said good-bye to Dana and headed to the break room to get her things. Then she was finally, blissfully, on her way home. The exhaustion she’d been fighting all morning rose up and swallowed her the moment she stepped inside. She limped to her bedroom, flopped onto her bed, and was asleep almost before her head hit the pillow.
When she woke up, the clock read two thirty-three, and she felt like a whole new woman. Maybe she’d jumped back into work too quickly after kicking the flu, but she hadn’t exactly had a choice. And she hated sitting home doing nothing.
After a long, hot shower, she stepped into the blue satin dress she was wearing to the wedding. She’d originally picked out a pair of strappy heels to go with it, but her knee was still bothering her so she went with simple black flats instead. She added a few chunky necklaces and a pair of matching earrings, and she was ready to go.
The wedding was at a beautiful estate on the outskirts of Haven. Jessica parked in the gravel lot behind the estate house with the other party guests and made her way to the area on the back lawn that had been set up with rows of white chairs facing a flower-draped arbor. The Smoky Mountains smudged the horizon beyond, and a vineyard to the east added to the beautiful scenery with its rolling hills lined with grapevines.
Here and there, couples walked around, laughing and talking before taking their seats. Jessica clutched her bag and looked around for someone she knew. Attending weddings by herself was such a drag. She needed a boyfriend, like yesterday.
Dammit, she was so tired of being serially single, but where were all the eligible bachelors? Because she’d done the online dating thing all summer, and it had yielded nothing but a series of duds and a few seriously cringe-worthy moments.
With some relief, she spotted her friend Carly Taylor and her boyfriend, Sam Weiss, seated about halfway back on the aisle and made her way toward them.
“Hey, you guys,” she said, sliding into the empty seat beside Carly.
“Hi.” Carly turned to her with a wide smile. “Isn’t this place absolutely breathtaking?”
“It really is,” Jessica agreed.
