He just had to find Luca first.
“Emerson!” A short, curvy dark-haired woman stumbled into him. He reached out to steady her, recognition hitting a second later.
“Dahlia,” he said. “You okay?”
When he had first seen Dahlia and her partner London the night before, they had both seemed sofamiliar, but it had taken him an hour to place it. When it’d finally clicked into place—that he’d watched Dahlia and London on TV years before as contestants onChef’s Special—he’d grabbed Luca’s thigh under the table so hard that Luca had choked on his beer.
“I’m great!” Dahlia chirped now, eyes bright, cheeksflushed. “I’ve been looking for you all day. Sorry I didn’t find you until now. I’m normally not quite this tipsy when I make a pitch.”
London sidled up behind her, resting a reassuring hand along her hip.
“Anyway, I have a YouTube channel where I post cooking videos? Oh, I’m Dahlia Woodson, by the way.”
“Yes.” Emerson couldn’t help but smile at the fact that she’d apparently missed him calling her by her name thirty seconds ago. As if he weren’t aware there were veritable celebrities currently hanging out on his little farm. “I know.”
“Oh, cool. So in addition to my regular cooking things, I’ve started a series where I interview small farmers about their work and our food chain supply, and while I’ve mostly been focusing on farmers in Tennessee—oh, that’s where we live—I would love, love, love to do a short video tour and interview with you about this place, if you’re up for it.”
“Um,” Emerson said. “That would be just fine.”
“Great! The thing is we’re not in town very long. Would we be able to do it tomorrow afternoon? Or is that too soon? It’s okay if you can’t.”
“I think—” Emerson felt more flustered than he probably should have. It was a pretty straightforward request, and Dahlia was warm and approachable, and he didn’t have anything pressing on his schedule for tomorrow, in anticipation of spending most of the day recovering from this event.
He just, in that moment, wished Jayden were there. He would understand more about the significance of an influencer like Dahlia shooting something on the farm, and how Emerson should prepare for it. But Jayden had already left, was already on his way back to Daisy.
“That…should be fine.”
“Oh, swell. That’s just lovely. Ican—” Dahlia patted the bodice of her dress. “London, can you give the nice man my number?”
“Only if you can confirm that you just said the wordswell.”
“I did. I’m feeling festive, and it felt right. Don’t shame my festiveness.”
“I would never. Emerson, could I have your number?” London was already holding their phone. Emerson recited it, and London slid their phone back into their suit pocket. “We’ll give you a heads up when we’re on our way.”
“Cool. Um. Thank you.”
“Thankyou,” Dahlia said, tipping closer to Emerson’s chest in her enthusiasm. London tightened their grip around her middle, pulling her closer. With a wry smile, London gave Emerson a nod before turning them both away.
“Before you go,” Emerson said suddenly, remembering his mission, “have you seen Luca?”
London and Dahlia both looked at him blankly before Dahlia said, “I’m so sorry. I don’t know who that is.”
And the idea of that—not knowing who Luca was—seemed incomprehensible to Emerson. But—whywouldDahlia and London know who Luca was? The last twenty-four hours had been a long blur; both Emerson and Luca had mostly kept to the background. Yet Dahlia had apologized so sincerely that Emerson wanted to hug her.
“It’s okay,” he said. “Thank you.”
He wandered five Luca-less minutes more until he ran into the men of honor.
“Hey,” he said. “How’s your wedding been?”
Ben and Alexei smiled, both of their faces red and damp, the collars of their dress shirts unbuttoned.
“Sogood,” Ben said.
“The best,” Alexei said, giving Emerson a look that was both the most serious and happy thing Emerson had ever seen.For a moment, Emerson’s breath caught, arrested by the raw joy of a friend.
Emerson hadn’t actually talked to Ben all day, but he had been able to catch Alexei hours earlier, when an assortment of random Caravalhos had been getting ready inside his house before the ceremony.
