Page 173 of Ten Day Affair

“So melodramatic.”

I nudge the napkin stack on the buffet table into alignment as Charity gives me the side eye. I blow her a kiss.

I scan the setup again. The candles on the mantle aren’t evenly spaced, and the bow on the left side of the mantel is cattywampus. God, how did I miss that? That was my specific job!

Charity dumps a box of tea lights onto the table. “Elle, thank you for being so on this. As much as we complain, we need your attention to detail. The set-up is stunning, and it is going to be the party of the year. You really did make this yard perfect.”

I bite back the urge to grab the ladder right then. The yard looks beautiful. I can fix the mantel in a minute.

“It’s Izzy’s night. It’s got to be?—”

“Magnificent?” Vic blurts as he tightens the light strand, muttering under his breath about slave labor.

“Yes,” I reply, lighting up. “Good word choice, Vic. She’s landed the love of her life. Now we get to celebrate. We should all be so lucky.”

Lucile, always in her Southern maxi dress, even in this weather, appears at the fence. Ice clinks in the full glass pitcher she’s carrying. “Lord, Elle, you’re gonna work yourself to death out here. Y’all need a staff. Brought some fresh iced tea for everyone.”

She sets the pitcher down on the silver-plated coaster on the table. I glance at the pitcher, willing it not to drip condensation onto the white tablecloth. That coaster is beautiful, but it will do nothing to protect it.

“She has a staff,” Vic quips. “Wearethe staff.”

Sophie stands from and brushes off her hands into thepot, eyeing me like she’s debating knocking me flat. “Elle. Have some tea.” She grabs a red Solo cup and fills it from the pitcher. “You’re overheating.”

She hands me the cup.

I take a sip, mostly to appease her. The sweet, sharp taste hits my tongue, cold for half a second before the heat swallows it up. I set the cup down on the brick ledge, already reaching to straighten a chair leg that’s shifted on the brick.

Charity laughs. “Remember Izzy’s birthday cake in college? When she tried to bake it herself and nearly set the dorm kitchen on fire?”

Vic snorts. “And Elle made a posterboard with oven temperatures and cook times to hang on the wall in the kitchen after that? It survived two years up there.”

“It was helpful,” I protest, stretching out my legs and finally allowing myself to relax. “We never had any more cooking catastrophes, did we?”

“It did come in handy,” Lucile adds. “And so Elle.”

I shake my head, but I’m smiling.

These people. Even when they're roasting me, I can't help but feel the love. We’ve known each other since college, and while we’re all spread out and adulting in our own lives, we’ve stayed close all these years.

Vic fans himself with a paper plate. “If it hadn’t been Fourth of July weekend, we could have found someone to do this. I’m certain of it.”

“That was never the plan, Vic. We were always going to do this.”

Charity taps her chin and looks up, as if she’s thinking hard. “Did Justin say he had a cousin or something that does this? I swear I remember that being floated when we first started planning this engagement party.”

The name catches for a second. Not painful, but it getsme right in the gut. I nod lightly as I imagine how different it might be if he were here. “Yeah, but where’s the fun in letting someone else take all of the credit?. I like it this way.”

“I’m not going to lie. I would have zero problem letting someone else do all of this. But now I have pride in how it looks, so I guess it worked out. Plus, we survived.”

“Agreed. Cheers,” Sophie says as she raises her red cup.

We all follow suit. A job well done.

“Well?” Vic asks with his crooked grin. “Can we stop now, boss?”

I beam proudly at our work. It looks like a picture out ofSouthern Living.

It is beautiful.