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“Good. I want to see what you’ve got out there. So, Tall Guy.”

“Ah, Jackson,” he said, and offered a hand.

She shook it. “Bree. How about hauling some of these plates out there? I’ll show you where once I see.”

She grabbed a carton of dessert plates and led the way.

“Okay, this is good. Looks good. Jackson, that table there. Under it for now. We’re going to do four stacks of twenty-five dinner plates, same with dessert plates. When they get low, servers will bring up more. Kitchen crew will take care of washing and sending more out as needed. Flatware—”

“We found these cute lined baskets.”

Bree frowned at Sonya. “Let me see them.”

While Sonya scrambled back for them, Bree worked her way along. “Hot dishes here, replenished as needed. Salads and whatnot, breads, rolls, your condiments. Desserts over there.

“This is good. You did good. This’ll work.”

Obviously satisfied with the arrangements, she paused.

“So who is everybody?”

“The tall guy bringing out more dishes is my father. The woman right behind him with I guess it’s dessert plates is my mother, Melly.”

“She’s got to be a foot shorter than him.”

“Fourteen inches as I recall. And there, the woman coming out with Sonya’s her mother, Winter.”

“Got it. Who’s the smoking chick coming out of the apartment?”

“My grand-mère.”

“Like grandmother? Hot grandma. You got some lucky DNA in there.”

She took one of the baskets from Sonya, studied it, nodded. “Okay, all right. These are nice. They’ll work fine. Hi, Sonya’s mom. Bree.”

“Winter. I’ve heard you’re an amazing chef and organizer.”

“I am all that. She got your hair. More lucky DNA. Okay—Wait, where are Trey and Owen?”

“They’re getting some chairs or benches or whatever works to set out front. A couple conversation areas,” Sonya explained.

“I’ll take a look when they’ve got it set up. So, here’s the schedule.”

Since she had it down to the minute, Sonya wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or terrified.

Bree approved the conversation areas, and Owen decreed all of it went back inside when the day ended.

They hauled, set up, hauled some more. And as intimidated as impressed with Bree’s efficiency, Sonya showed her coordinator a guest room, then dashed to her own to change for the party.

“She’s terrifying,” Sonya said when Trey came in. “I love her.”

“Given that, you must mean Bree. Nice dress, cutie. Really nice.”

“Is it? Not too much?”

She studied the look of the pale green dress in the mirror. Sleeveless, it had a square neckline she thought suited her, and an easy, fluid skirt that would dance around her knees.

“It’s just right.”