“And I’m Georgie!” Georgie waves enthusiastically, her coconut bra clapping together as if offering up a spontaneous applause. “Honey, if my coconuts pop off before the buffet gets replenished, we’re going to have a full-blown crisis on our hands.”
She’s not wrong.
Emmie elbows her. “Georgie, let the woman breathe. Tessa, if you need any help with any of the culinary needs, I’ll be happy to help.”
“Thank you,” Tessa is quick to tell her. “I so appreciate that. I will definitely be meeting up with you. And thank you and your team for catering the luau. I know it was last minute.” She looks my way and smiles. “I hear your husband is good friends with the groom.”
“Both of our husbands, actually,” I tell her while hitching a thumb to Emmie. “In fact, they’re in the wedding.”
“Speaking of the wedding,” Camila says with that syrupy smile she reserves for maximum damage, “I used to date the groom-to-be way back when myself. Piers and I had quite the connection.”Oh, I remember that connection, all right. The way he used to make me scream his name—In fact, he’sstill hot. And ambitious. And flexible, if memory serves correct.
I gasp before I can help it.
Camila’s eyes narrow as she looks my way.I know darn well you’re prying into my mind, Bizzy Baker. You keep to yourself, or I’ll deny everything and make your life miserable.
The thing is, Camila found out I can read minds because Leo confessed to her while they were dating thathehas the same quirk. She put one and one mind readers together and figured it out, but I’ve never admitted as much to her. Smart money says I never will, but I shoot her a look despite the fact.
“Anyway,” Charlotte says, her voice pitched high enough to summon dolphins. “We were just discussing the proper protocol for uninvited guests at pre-wedding events.”
“I was invited,” Camila says coolly. “By the groom himself.”
“To document the wedding for your little YouTube show,” Charlotte snaps. “Not to parade around like?—”
“Ladies!” a male voice interrupts with the type of charm that probably got him out of speeding tickets. “What seems to be the trouble?”
I turn to see a man with sandy hair and a smile that could sell snow to Santa. This would be the groom. Piers Pemberton saunters toward us, all sandy hair and charming grin, looking like a boy-band member turned real estate mogul with a closet full of pastel polos.
And at his side is a man who could make mannequins feel insecure. Dark hair. Tall. Sculpted jaw. Shoulders that suggest protein powder and minor miracles.
Georgie clutches her chest. “Hubba hubba!I think my prince just showed up. And I’d happily let him rescue me—no horse required.”
“Piers Pemberton,” the sandy-haired charmer says, extending his hand her way. “And this is my best man, Conrad Carrington.”
Conrad nods politely, but his eyes are fixed on Tessa with an expression I can’t quite read. He offers a tight smile. “Best man. Emotional support adult. Occasionally used as a human ladder at parties.”
We all share a quick laugh with him.
“Nice to meet you,” I say. “I’m Bizzy, and this is my inn you’re about to turn into wedding central.”
“We can’t thank you enough,” Piers says, then nods at Charlotte. Something passes between them—the sort of look that suggests private arguments and public smiles. “Everything okay here?”
“Just a small misunderstanding,” Charlotte says, grabbing Piers by the arm. “We need to discuss the seating arrangements.Now.”
Charlotte hisses something in his ear. He scowls. She grabs his hand and yanks him down the sand, with both of them bickering all the way.
Conrad watches them go, then turns back to us. “Well. Here’s to true love, questionable choices, and open bars.” He looks directly at Tessa. “Try not to let any surprises ruin your plans. You might want to be careful around this crowd. Not everyone here has your best interests at heart.”
He says it with a smile, but there’s something underneath that makes my spine tingle as if he just issued a threat. He nods our way before walking off into the orange sunset, leaving behind the scent of mystery and really expensive cologne.
“Well,” Tessa says, smoothing down her hair, “let’s start over, shall we? I’m Tessa Greene of Something Borrowed, Knot Your Average Wedding.” She giggles as she says it. “I thought that was clever.”
“It is,” I agree. “Very punny. And I mean it.I’m always a sucker for a good pun. In fact, my mother and Georgie own a shop called Two Old Broads.” I wince a little because that’s less of a pun and more of a chronological fact, as my sister Macy likes to point out. She’s the one who helped them come up with the twisted moniker in the first place.
“And I run a YouTube channel called Gossip Gal,” Camila interjects, because she can’t go three seconds without having the spotlight on her. “I specialize in all the local gossip and then some. I’ll be doing a special feature on the wedding, so you’ll be seeing a lot of me.”
She looks toward where Piers disappeared and puckers her lips as if gunning for a kiss, and Emmie’s expression turns sour.
Oh great, cue the chaos gremlin,Emmie muses to herself, and I couldn’t agree more. Once Camila sets her sights on someone, she doesn’t let go—not even if he’s the groom in an upcoming wedding.
