Beach Blanket Santa (Holiday Brides Series) (2 page)

Sarah
Anderson refilled Elaine’s slender sherry glass, then lightly fluffed her veil.
“You look gorgeous,” she said. “Really you do.”

Elaine
studied her reflection in the mirror. Her blonde hair was in a perfect updo
with loose tendrils spilling forth. Though they were best friends, they
couldn’t have looked any more different. Sarah’s curly brown hair spilled past
her shoulders, its color matching her eyes. “I’m going to look gorgeous and
drunk if you pour me another glass.” Elaine took a sip and giggled.

Sarah
adjusted the wedding gown at the shoulders and smiled. “You’ll do just fine.”

Elaine
surveyed her maid of honor in the mirror. “Not drinking today, are we?”

Sarah
caught her breath, recalling the last time she’d indulged at one of Elaine’s
weddings. “I think it’s safer this way.”

“Well,
I wouldn’t worry,” Elaine said “The groomsmen here aren’t nearly as dishy as
the first time around.”

“Elaine!
You’re talking about Richard’s brothers!”

“Oh,
come on, Sarah. I may be engaged, but I still have eyes. Charlie and Hank are
hot enough, but neither one is eye candy like—”

Sarah
felt her cheeks flame. “Please don’t remind me.” It was all Sarah could do to
forget waking up in the gorgeous Matt Salvatore’s arms. He’d been the best man,
and she the maid of honor. After one too many glasses of champagne and a lot of
incredibly sexy slow dancing, they’d somehow wound up back at her place after
the reception. She’d had a secret crush on Matt ever since first laying eyes on
him at one of Elaine’s pre-wedding parties. And when he’d kissed her on the
dance floor, her knees had melted like butter. Sarah had never had a man kiss
her that way. No one before, and nobody since.

“Those
Salvatore men are pretty hard to resist,” Elaine said with a knowing look.

“You
divorced one of them.”

“It’s
true. But it was for the best. Just look at how things have worked out. Robert
met Margaret, and I’ve found”
—s
he sighed longingly
—
“Hank.”

Sarah
took away her sherry. “Richard. You mean, Richard.”

“That’s
right!” she said brightly.

Uh-oh,
Sarah
thought, wondering if maybe she’d poured one too many glass for the bride.

Someone
knocked on the dressing room door. It was Janet, Richard’s younger sister.
“They want us upstairs in ten!”

Elaine
hiccupped.

“Thanks,
Janet,” Sarah called, reaching for the water on the dresser. She gave Elaine
the glass, urging her to take a long swallow. This
sherry-drinking-before-the-wedding thing had been a tradition with their circle
of girlfriends ever since Elaine’s first time at it three years before. They’d
all opened two bottles about an hour ago and toasted to Elaine’s newfound
happiness with Richard. While the other girls finished getting ready in the
next room, Elaine had requested some time alone with her maid of honor.

Elaine
drained the glass, then met Sarah’s eyes. “Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.
Ask.”

“Do
you find it perverse I only fall in love with R guys?”

“R
guys?”

“Richard,
Robert, Rodney, Rafael… What do you think it means?”

“I
think you’re thinking too much about it. It’s a coincidence.”

“Hmm.”
Elaine reached for the sherry bottle, but Sarah stopped her.

“They’re
almost ready for us upstairs.”

“Right!”
Elaine straightened herself on her stool. “Which is why I need you to make a
promise.”

Sarah
pursed her lips a moment, eying her friend. “What kind of promise?”

“Come
on, Sarah. Just say that you’ll promise! It’s my wedding day, okay?”

“Okay,
okay. I promise.”

Elaine
beamed. “That a girl.”

“What-a-girl?”

“You’ve
just agreed to catch my bouquet!”

Sarah
swallowed hard. The last thing she needed to do right now was go catching
anybody’s bouquet. Especially Elaine’s. Given Elaine’s wedding was today, that
would put Sarah in line to marry next. Like that was destined to happen. Of
course, that was just a silly superstition.

Elaine
shot her a stern look. “You can’t drop it. That would be bad luck.”

“Maybe
one of the other girls will elbow in,” Sarah added hopefully. “Jennifer’s been
trying to nail down Louis for a while.”

“Forget
about Jennifer and Louis. I’m talking about you!”

“But
I don’t even have a boyfriend.”

“No,
Sarah. You don’t. You never have a boyfriend, because when a guy asks you on a
third date, you always run away.”

“That’s
not true.”

“What
is it
about that third date?”

Elaine
picked up the sherry, despite Sarah’s effort to stop her, and drank anyway. “Oh,
I get it.” She nodded in slow understanding, studying Sarah in the mirror.
“That’s like…getting-physical time, huh? You’re afraid.”

“I
most certainly am not afraid,” Sarah said, affronted. “I can…party with the best
of them.”

“I
wasn’t talking party. I was talking dancing.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Dirty dancing.
You know, the two-to-tango kind. Lovers between the covers?”

A
picture of her and Matt under the huge down comforter flashed through her mind.
She flushed, pushing the murky memory aside.

“You
have too much honeymoon on your mind,” she told Elaine.

Elaine
set down her glass, misty-eyed. “Yeah, maybe I do. Richard is
such
a tiger in the sack.”

“Okay,
up with you!” Sarah said, taking her friend by the elbow. “It’s almost time to
march.”

“Ooh,
I love this part, don’t you?”

“It’s
special,” Sarah said with a warm smile.

Elaine
pulled her into her arms, and crinoline crunched. “You’re special.” She stifled
a sob. “You’ve always been here for me. You’re such a good friend.”

Sarah
patted her back. “I love you too.”

“I
wish I could give you something for Christmas.”

“You
have. That beautiful bracelet.”

Elaine
pulled back from their embrace. “I gave one of those to all the girls. And
you’re my maid of honor. I should have done something more.”

“Just
being here with you is enough.”

“No,
it’s not. What do you want?”

“Want?”

“Go
on. Name it.”

“Elaine,
you’re getting married in eight minutes, I don’t think now is the—”

“How
about a vacation?” Elaine asked suddenly.

“What
do you mean?”

“You
love the beach.”

“Like
Hawaii?”

“That’s
a little hard to arrange last minute.”

“I
wasn’t asking you to!”

Elaine’s
face became alive with excitement. “Bring me my purse,” she said, pointing
across the room.

Sarah
crossed to the small love seat that held it and returned with it to Elaine,
perplexed.

Elaine
opened its clasp and extracted her key ring.

“What
are you doing?” Sarah asked.

“Giving
you my beach house,” Elaine said with a grin. “For the week.”

Sarah
loved the beach and adored Elaine’s cozy oceanfront cottage, but she couldn’t
possibly accept it so last minute. She had family to see in Bethesda and other
arrangements to take care of besides. “Oh, Elaine, that’s lovely, but—”

Elaine
removed one key from her ring, the one with the dangling fake sand dollar
hanging on a chain. “You simply can’t refuse a gift from the bride. Especially
on her wedding day.”

Sarah
thought of long walks on the beach…warm nights of reading by the fire… Elaine’s
cottage was the perfect getaway. And after the hubbub involved in helping
arrange this massive wedding, a peaceful retreat sounded good. Better than
good, almost like heaven.

“You
don’t have to stay there for Christmas, silly. Just use it as long as you’d
like. It’s my week, anyway. Otherwise it will go to waste.”

Four
hours later, Sarah saw the bridal bouquet hurtling in her direction like a
rocket. Only this rocket had tiny jingling bells attached to its beautiful
bright red ribbon. It had actually been Sarah’s idea to add this extra holiday
touch to the already festive candlelit wedding. It was one week before
Christmas, and the entire church had been bedecked in lush greenery, boughs of
holly draped from the arm of every pew. Sarah met Elaine’s eyes in a panic as
the flowers careened toward her. This was really happening. Elaine hadn’t even
bothered with the pretense of tossing the thing over her shoulder. She’d just
grinned and lobbed it straight at Sarah.

Sarah
swallowed hard as the musical menace closed in. Elaine’s earlier words rang in
her ears.
“You can’t drop it. That would
be bad luck”.
Sarah caught a glimpse of Jennifer standing in the wings and
a sea of waving female arms outstretched. It was nearer now, just overhead and
arching toward her. No! It was nose-diving to the floor! She had a split second
to react and avert catastrophe. Sarah leapt skyward, and the weight of the
flowers settled in her hands. There was a collective sigh from the guests, and
then, after a split second of silence, a loud round of applause.

Sarah’s
cheeks burned. How she hated being the center of attention, particularly at
moments like this. It was common knowledge she wasn’t seeing anyone, and folks
would wonder why she’d stolen the stage from Jennifer.

Louis
surprised her with his approach and jovially patted her arm. “Nice catch,” he
said under his breath. Across the room, Jennifer narrowed her gaze and walked
away. Sarah couldn’t have felt any more awkward.

Then
Elaine drew near with a stealthy thumbs-up. “I knew you wouldn’t let me down.”

Sarah
lifted white roses to her nose, inhaling their sweet scent. “Why did you make
me do that?” she asked in a whisper, disguised by the fanning bouquet.

“Because,
hon. I want you to be as happy as I am. And, after a while”
—s
he
nudged the bouquet still clasped in Sarah’s hands
—
“the
right guy will come along. You’ll see.”

“Sure,”
Sarah said, not believing it. She was thirty-one-years old and hadn’t met
anyone with marriage potential yet. Not that it bothered her most days. She
kept plenty busy with her work as an interior designer and truly loved what she
did. It was hard to look for a mate in her field, which wasn’t populated with
many eligible men. And because Sarah wasn’t into the bar or singles scene, she
wasn’t expressly searching anyhow. Who knew if the right guy for her was even
out there? Even if he was, history had taught her that he’d be awfully hard to
find.

“There’s
someone for everyone,” Elaine said, smiling sweetly. “And somewhere out there
is the perfect guy for you. You’ve just got to walk through the right door.”

Chapter Two

Sarah
let herself into Elaine’s beach house and called out loudly, “Hello?
Hello?
Is somebody in here?” There was
nothing but silence in return. Not that this surprised her. Renters at the
cottage next door perpetually parked in Elaine and Robert’s drive. She had to
admit the landscape was confusing. You had to nearly be a native here to
discern the obscure gravel road overgrown with sea ferns that included the
neighboring cottage’s drive. No matter. She’d stop by later and politely ask
the renters to move their car. At the moment, neither was blocking the other
in, so there was no real emergency.

Sarah
set her suitcases in the kitchen and looked around the bright open space. Sporadic
sunlight poured through the sliding glass doors adjoining a broad inviting deck
beyond the living area. One side of the room held a rugged pine dining table
with a matching bench and chairs. The other had a cozy stone fireplace
surrounded by a large, comfy sofa, teak coffee table, and two reading chairs. A
fire had been laid in the hearth with extra wood and kindling sticks stacked in
a holder nearby. Although, it was hard to imagine building a fire on a day like
today. The weather was unseasonably warm, in the sixties with partly cloudy skies
and a mixture of light and dark clouds dotting the horizon. She’d heard a hard
rain was coming and even that the weather might get dicey for a couple of days.
But she’d brought enough supplies to last her, and for now, the beach appeared
inviting enough. Sarah smiled as the ocean beyond the plate-glass windows
heaved and sighed, white-tipped waves crashing onto an empty stretch of sand. As
soon as she brought in her groceries, she’d kick off her shoes and go for a
walk.

Down
below the house and tucked in a corner behind the storage room, Matt finished
his outdoor shower. Since the weather was predicated to change later with a
cold front moving in, he’d decided to take advantage of bathing outside while
he could. It might prove a tad chilly for some folks, who weren’t as toughened
to the elements as he was. But Matt, who’d engaged in rugged camping trips
since he was a teen near Chicago, was well accustomed to some bite in the air.
Compared to the Midwest in December, being in southern North Carolina felt
almost like summertime.