Second Chance at the Orchard Inn, page 19
Jude kissed her again, clinging to their past and praying they had a future.
Chapter 20
Was that Jude?” Cece pounced on Aurora as soon as she walked into the inn.
It was barely six in the morning. “Why are you up so early?”
“That was Jude’s truck. He’s dropping you off and he was kissing you. Did you spend all night with him?”
Beth chose that moment to join them, her mouth hanging open. “What?”
She’d had zero coffee, and she’d finally slept with her high school sweetheart.
She couldn’t deal with any of this just yet.
“I need to start breakfast.” Aurora trudged past her sisters and reached what was normally the safety of the kitchen, but they followed her.
First, she poured herself a cup of coffee and took several sips. Then she got out a carton of eggs and some cheese, not completely sure what she planned to do with them.
“You need to answer the question.” Cece dogged her every move.
“You were with Jude all night?” Beth’s eyes were comically wide over her coffee. Like an overcaffeinated owl.
“I need to cook.” Aurora picked up a skillet.
“You need to talk. Stop…” Cece grabbed the skillet and took it away. “Stop doing kitchen things and start talking.”
“Fine. Yes, I was with Jude. Yes, that was Jude dropping me off after we spent the night together.”
Cece’s mouth fell open.
“Did you talk to him about being chef at the farm-to-table restaurant?” Beth asked.
“Did you not just hear the woman?” Cece spun on their sister. “The two of them had s-e-x. I think a restaurant is the least of their concerns.”
“Actually.” Aurora jerked the skillet away from Cece. “We did talk about the restaurant, and you don’t have to spell sex. We aren’t teenagers.”
“I know, but you were. It’s teenage love, rekindled. That makes it even more romantic.” Cece clasped her hands together.
Aurora plunked the skillet down and turned on the burner. “Let’s pace ourselves.”
“What we need are details. How did this happen? Did he kiss you first or vice versa?”
“Did you tell him you’re interested in being chef at his new restaurant?” Beth persisted.
“Beth,” Aurora ground out, grabbing a spatula from the pottery canister of utensils.
“What? I think that’s a very important bit of information that he’d be very interested to know.”
“Okay, stop it. Both of you.” Aurora brandished the spatula at her sisters. “I need to start on breakfast, and I can’t concentrate with the two of you in my ear.”
Cece looked offended, but Beth had the grace to look properly censured. “Let’s let Aurora fix breakfast, and we can continue this discussion while getting ready for Erica’s visit.”
Right. Erica Burr’s wedding. Fun.
“Erica is visiting again?” Cece asked.
“Yes, it’s on your Outlook calendar. She wanted to do a run-through of everything well before the wedding in case there needed to be any changes.”
“What changes?” Cece chided. “There isn’t much to it.”
Aurora snorted with laughter.
“Don’t be rude. We’re going through the ceremony with the bride and groom and going over the details of the reception now that Aurora has them. We can talk about all of this later.”
Except later came, and there was no time.
Aurora spent all day in the kitchen, juggling wedding cake ideas with how she was going to text her boss later and turn down the job offer. Refusing the Malibu chef gig would mean her termination, and then where would she be? Right here at the inn, making more wedding cakes.
Her situation could be worse, but it still astounded her to be in this position.
She wanted to be head chef at a farm-to-table in Texas.
Her high school sweetheart’s farm-to-table, to be exact. A complete one-eighty from just a couple months ago. But so much had changed in those two months, not the least of which was reuniting with Jude.
Aurora smiled, her limbs warm with thoughts of last night.
“Stop it.” She fanned herself on the way to meet with her sisters. She couldn’t show up all pink-cheeked and grinning or there’d be another round of rapid-fire questions.
Aurora joined them in the sitting room, cake details in hand. A classic white cake with buttercream frosting—baking cakes still wasn’t her strong suit, but she could pull off a classic as needed—but with beautiful fondant frosted roses she’d taught herself how to make.
The finished look would be elegant and sophisticated. Both things that Erica prided herself on.
“How are we looking?” Aurora plopped down beside Cece.
Cece lifted an eyebrow. “Great, except for the lack of a bride.”
“Excuse me?”
“Erica. She’s over an hour late and won’t respond to Beth.”
Aurora searched Beth’s face for confirmation.
“I’ve texted and called. No response. It goes straight to voice mail.”
“You don’t think…?”
A shadow passed over her sister’s face. “I wish I wasn’t thinking that.”
“Thinking what?” Cece asked.
Aurora sat down next to Beth. “That Erica is running away from this wedding. Or worse yet, the whole thing was bull, meant to waste our time.”
“What?” Cece joined them, sitting on the ottoman. “No way. Seriously?”
“It’d fit her character more than this simple wedding facade,” Aurora snipped.
“I think it’s more likely she’s a runner.” Beth clutched her phone. “I hope anyway.” She dialed Erica’s number again on speaker but got no answer.
“Have you seen or heard from Ted?” Cece asked.
“No, but I rarely do, so that’s not unusual. Erica is the primary for everything.”
The coin dropped for Aurora. “Try Erica’s mom,” she suggested.
“You think she’d know, and talk to us about it?”
“Absolutely. They’ve always been close. Erica used to brag about it constantly, like she somehow knew my mom and I had a tenser relationship. I think she liked rubbing it in.”
“That’s so mean.”
“That was Erica. Focus. And if she is legitimately running from this wedding, then I’ll take back my hypothesis. Erica’s mom won’t be able to lie about what’s going on, either way. That woman is a drama queen of the highest order. She’s just waiting for someone to call so she can vent.”
Beth picked up her phone again, nodding at the screen as she dialed. “It’s worth a try.” She held her phone to her ear. “Hello? Mrs. Burr? Yes, this is Beth Shipley, from the Orchard In—oh. Goodness. Okay, um.” Beth’s eyes went big as quarters.
Aurora could hear Erica’s mom voicing her displeasure.
So a runaway bride after all.
“Do you know how we could get in touch with her? Or where she might be?” Beth snapped her fingers toward a pad and a pencil. Aurora handed both over. “All right. Okay. It will be okay. Everything will be fine. We’ll find her and talk to her. I’m sure it’s only nerves. We see it all the time. Yes, ma’am. Okay, we will.” Beth hung up. “Erica called the whole thing off and won’t take her mom’s calls either.”
Cece gasped. “What are we going to do?”
“Let her go?” Aurora offered.
“Aurora,” her sisters chirped in unison.
“I don’t mean that in an ugly way. I’m saying, and I can’t believe I’m saying it, maybe we take Erica’s side. If she doesn’t want to marry the guy, we can’t make her. It’s her life.”
“I’m not suggesting we make her do anything.” Beth planted her hands on her hips. “Her mom sounded really worried though. Said she’s been acting weird the last few days and was probably wandering around downtown or in the parks. She won’t answer her mom’s calls, but apparently, she texted Ted earlier today and he called Erica’s mom, none too pleased.”
“Sheesh.” Cece twisted a finger in her hair. “She could be really upset. I feel like we should try to talk to her. Emotions make people do crazy stuff.”
Beth nodded. “We can’t be all c’est la vie about her personal well-being.”
Aurora grimaced. She hadn’t thought about it that way.
“I need to see if I can get in touch with Ted.” Beth scrolled through her phone. “I have his number in here somewhere.”
“I can go look for Erica,” Aurora offered.
Beth’s gaze jerked to hers. “You can?”
Aurora shrugged. “My life is like a whole retrospective lately. I’m on a healing-old-wounds kick. Might as well go help my high school nemesis.”
“I’ll go with you.” Cece got to her feet.
“Great.” Beth took a breath, her wheels turning. “You two look around downtown. I’ll call her mom again if I can’t get in contact with the groom. If you find her, just make sure she’s okay. This is her decision, and we respect it. We just want to make sure she’s well.”
“Got it, sis.” Aurora waved as she and Cece left the inn.
They went up and down the long, straight roads of town. Past the shops and restaurants, German bakeries and small parks. No sign of Erica.
Cece let Aurora out at the corner of Main and Crockett.
“I’ll check Old Fair Park and the Marktplatz. You keep driving around.”
“Got it. Text me if you find her.”
Cece pulled away and Aurora began walking. First to the gazebo, but all she found were a few couples strolling hand-in-hand. Then to Marktplatz von Fredericksburg. There were a lot more people there, milling about as they finished shopping or headed to dinner. Children ran around and played; a few tourists read the plaques for the town’s replica Vereins Kirche, Fredericksburg’s first school and church, built in 1847.
And on one of the benches around the octagonal building sat Erica, all alone, her knees pulled up to her chest, chin resting on them.
“Erica?”
Erica dropped her knees, sat up straighter, and jerked her face toward the sound of Aurora’s voice.
“Oh, it’s just you.” She looked relieved. “Hey, Aurora.”
Only Erica could manage to sound pleased yet dismissive all at once. Aurora approached slowly.
“I was worried you were my mother, and I was about to get the biggest lecture of my life.”
Maybe things between Erica and her mom weren’t so perfect after all.
“May I sit?” Aurora asked.
Erica scooted over, but her stare remained distant, on a far-off point outside Aurora’s reach.
“Are you okay?” she tried.
“Sure. I’m supposed to be going through all my wedding plans and instead I’m sitting in the park with you.” Erica snorted. “I’m fabulous.”
Aurora bit back her retort. Erica was hurting. Maybe it was okay to let her have this one.
“I’m sorry.” Erica shook her head. “That was really snide.”
“No, it’s fine. You’re allowed. Besides, I have plenty of experience with you being snide.”
“Ouch.” Erica looked at her.
“Sorry. Now I’m being snide.”
Erica lifted a shoulder. “No, it’s okay. I deserve it. Kinda surprised you didn’t give it to me when I talked to you at the inn the other day.”
“I couldn’t.” Aurora managed a laugh. “You were being mostly polite. You threw me off and I didn’t know what to say or how to act.”
Erica chuckled. “Yeah. I threw myself off too.” She brought her knees back up and wrapped her arms around them. “I thought polite and malleable was what a guy like Ted wanted in a wife. Agreeable, no ripples.” Her derisive laugh chilled the air. “Turns out, being a doormat doesn’t fit me.”
“Yeeeeeah.” Aurora drew the word out. “About that. I know it’s not technically any of my business—but you are supposed to be getting married at my family’s inn, so it’s kind of my business—what the heck is going on there? What’s going on with you?”
“Other than hiding from life right now?”
“Other than hiding from your life.”
“I don’t know exactly.” Erica sighed. “But I do know, I don’t want to marry Ted.”
Aurora found her muscles relaxing, and her world, once again settling back on its axis. “Thank god.”
Erica turned to her with a baffled expression. “I didn’t know you cared.”
“Well, I…” Wait, did she care?
Had she forgiven Erica? Let go of the past long enough to at least want her to be with a decent guy? What even was her life anymore?
Aurora shook her head, confounded by how the last few weeks had played out. “I guess I do care. Kinda. I know you and I aren’t besties, but that guy…”
“Sucks,” Erica finished.
“Yeah.” Aurora chuckled. “And then, you wanted to get married all low-key and simple? None of it made sense. Low-key and simple goes against everything I know about you.”
Erica laughed again, but this time joy threaded through the sound. “Right? All of that minimal and simple crap was his idea. His insistence. I am not minimal and simple.”
“Exactly. I wondered if something had changed or this was a new you.”
“It was all him,” Erica ground out the words. “But there didn’t need to be a new me. I was wonderful as is.”
“See.” Aurora held out her hands toward the woman beside her. “This Erica, I know. This makes sense to me.”
“Plus, I’m not sure I want to marry anyone, any time soon.”
Now that did surprise her.
“My mother, on the other hand, thinks I’m shriveling on the vine, and it’s past time. Tick tock, tick tock, biological clock and all that nonsense.”
“Oh.”
“I think I knew the whole time that we were engaged that I was forcing myself to fit a mold made for someone else, but…” Erica let the sentence drag, but Aurora knew to be quiet and allow her the time to get this off her chest.
“Dating Ted was fine at first. Great even. We had fun. He’s got money, so we traveled, we were always doing things, eating in the best restaurants, going to events. He courted me, hard, and really showed me how much is out there. Ted got me out of the bubble of this town, but turns out, he’s a jerk.”
“Wow.” Aurora tried to sound surprised.
“All the money in the world doesn’t make up for being a jerk. I know I can be a lot, but I’m not mean like I used to be. Once he won me over? Mean as all get-out. He’s rude to everyone. And he’s actually cheap.”
She bet that didn’t fly at all with Erica.
Erica shrugged. “He wasn’t at first, but once we were together, he stopped trying. I got my real estate license and I’ve slowly been making my own money. Growing my brand. I kept hoping his bad attitude was just a phase. Nope. Just a cheap jerk once he thought he had me. I told myself it’d get better. He’d mellow out once we were engaged.”
Mmm. In Aurora’s dating experience, things rarely got better once the worst of a person came out.
Erica leaned toward her. “Spoiler alert, it never got better.”
“It usually doesn’t.”
“Then, everything I wanted to do was suddenly vetoed. Mentioned an engagement trip to New York City, but no way was that happening. I wanted a big wedding and reception, and he’s suddenly pinching pennies, even when my family offered to pay for a lot of it.”
Aurora shook her head. “You sound pretty mismatched.”
“I know.” Erica groaned and buried her face in her knees.
“Then why force it?” Aurora asked.
Silence stretched out, but she waited patiently for an answer.
“I don’t know,” Erica finally answered. “I’ve wondered the same thing. But a lot of it was because this is what I’ve always wanted. Or what I thought I wanted. I’ve wanted to get married and be someone’s wife since I was a little girl. The notion that I was wrong, that I’d made a mistake, or rather changed my mind, on something so important. I don’t know. It took a while to comprehend.”
Erica’s words hung in the air, a reflection of Aurora’s life.
The circumstances were different, their dreams distinctively their own, but a basic truth remained.
They’d both had big plans for what they thought they wanted. What they wanted was genuine and well-meaning, but life had a way of making you grow. Change. And if your dreams didn’t change with you, they died.
“I’m not sure when I changed my mind or why,” Erica continued. “But the idea of being trapped in a marriage right now makes me want to run and hide. I want to travel. I want to do things, go places, experience life. I want to see the world. And it hit me the other day, I’d rather go to some far-off country, all alone, than marry Ted.”
Aurora nodded. “Being stuck in an unhappy marriage, in any situation you don’t want to be in, all because you once thought it’d make you happy, would be a nightmare.”
“I never again want a man to tell me where I can and can’t go. I want to make my own decisions. Not my parents, not my fiancé, not my friends. Me.”
Though hesitant to admit it, Aurora was proud of Erica. She was finding the strength to figure out what she wanted and the courage to go after it.
“Good for you,” Aurora told her.
“Thank you.” Erica smiled. “You know, I was so jealous of you when you moved away after school.”
The admission caught Aurora off guard. “Seriously?”
“Very serious. I thought I wanted to be a big fish in a small pond, but I don’t. It sucks.”
Aurora wasn’t sure she could agree. Being a small fish in a huge pond wasn’t great either.
“I don’t want to be with someone who doesn’t love me. I don’t want to be with anyone at all. At least not for a long time. And when I am, I want it to be someone who believes in me and encourages me.”
Aurora thought of Jude, and his words to her last night. That she should follow her heart, and make her decision based on what she wanted—nothing else.
Erica’s honesty and openness about her faults and where she’d failed showed her in a new light. She was another person, doing her best, trying to find herself.
