Runaway Bride (Across the Stars: Book 2) (4 page)

Chapter Four

“Lexie?”

Blinking, Lexie turned her attention back to her mother who was sitting next to her in the caterer’s kitchen.

Lexie’s mother motioned to the menu in her hands.  “We definitely need fish and steak for a good balance.  But I was thinking shrimp cocktail and stuffed mushrooms would make excellent appetizers.  Ice cream and red velvet cake would be good for dessert.”

“That stuff is fattening, Mom,” Lexie protested.  “I think a salad would make a good appetizer and I think we should skip dessert.”

“Who cares if it’s fattening?  This is your special day.  We want people to remember the terrific menu.  It’s better than the all-you-can-eat buffet your sister insisted on.” She rolled her eyes.  “I can’t believe how low class that fiasco was.”

“It wasn’t low class,” she whispered, her gaze going to the caterer who was talking on the phone.  Good.  She wasn’t listening to them.  “It was a nice reception and everyone ate what they wanted.”

“You will be a doctor’s wife.  The doctor even said he’d pay for the caterer.  That’s a wonderful gesture, and he likes red velvet cake.”

“Nick might be paying for it, but I don’t want to waste his money.”

“Lexie, Lexie, Lexie.” Her mom patted her hand and smiled.  “Your wedding is the most important day in your life.  Your wedding guests will be impressed if you have a fancy dinner to serve them.  In the doctor’s line of work, it’s imperative you do everything you can to make him look good.”

With a sigh, she said, “Whatever you want to serve is fine.”

“It’s not my wedding, dear.  It’s yours.”

No one would know it by the way her mother took control of everything, but Lexie didn’t feel like arguing so she settled for nodding.  Her cell phone rang, and she eagerly retrieved it from her purse and flipped it open.  She hesitated when she saw Nick’s number on the caller ID.

“Pick it up, Lexie,” her mother said.  “It’s the doctor.”

Irritated her mother had leaned over to see who it was, she stood up.  “I’ll take it outside.” Without waiting for her mother to respond, she stepped onto the patio and leaned against the deck’s rail before accepting the call.  “Hi Nick.  What’s up?”

“Lexie, I just got invited to an exhibit at the Emerald Art Gallery,” he began in an excited tone.  “Doctor Morris’ wife is one of the artists being featured.  This is the perfect opportunity for you to get to know her so you can become good friends.  If you make a good impression with her, she’ll invite you into her Samaritan Ladies group.  Can you imagine how awesome it would be if they took us on their yacht?”

Her heart raced with a mixture of apprehension and dread.  “Doctor Morris?  Isn’t he the one who is really hung up on how people talk and dress?”

“Yes.  Don’t worry.  I’m going to give you a book on etiquette when we go on our next date.”

“Okay,” she slowly replied and glanced at her mother who was adamantly talking to the caterer.  “You’ll be at this exhibit so you can remind me of what I need to do, in case I forget something?”

“Of course, I will.”

She relaxed.  “Good.  I wouldn’t know what to do or say there.”

“You’ll learn.  I wouldn’t have picked you to marry if you weren’t smart.  Hey, I just got paged to see a patient.  I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Okay.”

After she hung up, her mother opened the patio door and waved her in.  She went back into the house.

“Lexie, I told Simone the menu you wanted,” her mother said, motioning to the caterer.  “She assured me that the red velvet cake is to die for.”

“It is,” Simone replied.  “I can give you a sample if you want to taste it.”

Her mother grinned in excitement.  “We’d love it.”

While Simone went to get the sample, Lexie sat next to her mother and put her cell phone back into her purse.

“What did the doctor want?” her mother whispered.

“Oh, there’s an art exhibit coming up and his supervisor’s wife will have her painting on display,” Lexie softly replied.

“How exciting!” Her mother leaned toward her and clasped her hand over hers.  “This will be an excellent opportunity for you to get in with the right people.”

“As long as I don’t make a fool of myself.”

“You won’t.”

“Nick’s going to give me a book on etiquette.”

“He doesn’t have to do that.  I already know everything on the subject, but if it makes him feel better to give you a book, then let him.  But I can still teach you what to do at an art exhibit, and I know the perfect dress for you to wear.  We’ll have to go shopping.  That’ll be fun!”

“I’m sure I already have a dress that will fit the occasion.”

“This is a very important night for the doctor, Lexie.  You must get a new dress.  This is your debut in front of a group of influential people.  If you mess this up, they might never let you in.  You have to do everything you can to make a good first impression.”

Lexie’s stomach tensed into a knot.  She thought meeting Nick’s parents and his coworkers was nerve wracking enough, but this was worse.  This time her mother had that ‘my daughter is going places!’ look in her eye.  She hated it when she got that look.

“When is your next date with the doctor?” her mother asked.

“In three days.”

“And when will you go to this art exhibit?”

“I don’t know.  He didn’t say.” And she hadn’t thought to ask.  She was tempted to call him but remembered he was with a patient.  “It won’t be until after our date.  I’ll ask him next time I talk to him.”

“Good.  You and I can use that time to shop and go to the art gallery where we can practice the proper etiquette you’ll need to make a good first impression.”

Lexie hid the urge to cringe.  The last thing she wanted to do was spend the next three days getting tips on what to do for the upcoming exhibit.  But she had signed the prenup promising to do everything she needed in order to get along with Nick’s colleagues.  It seemed that ever since she got engaged, she didn’t have much time to relax and be herself.  Everything revolved around Nick.  She took a deep breath and slowly released it to calm her racing heart.  The stress wasn’t doing her any good.

“I have the samples,” Simone called out as she carried a plate of two bite-sized pieces of red velvet cake to them.  After she placed the plate on the table, she handed each of them a fork.  “Let me know what you think.”

“I don’t need to sample it,” Lexie said, ignoring the way her mouth watered in anticipation.  “I already know it’s good.” Any kind of cake with frosting on it would be good, and it seemed like forever since she last had one.

“Oh that’s silly,” her mother replied and took the forks.  “Every chef makes food taste a little different.”

“You do it for me,” she insisted.  “I trust your judgment.”

Looking flattered, her mother shrugged.  “Well, if you’re sure…”

“I’m sure.  You have good taste.” That much was true.  Her mother had the ability to pick out the best of everything.

“Since you insist.” Her mother took a bite, closed her eyes, and moaned.  “Oh, Lexie.  This is absolutely delicious.” She opened her eyes and held the fork to her.  “Are you sure you don’t want to try it?”

“No.”

“Alright.” Her mother turned her attention to Simone.  “We’ll have this cake.”

Relieved, Lexie handed Simone the plate and forks, glad she’d managed to avoid tasting it.

As she and her mother stood up to leave, her mother said, “We’ll start your training tomorrow after you get off work.  Come to my house.”

“Sure, Mom,” she replied, thinking that the next three days just might be the longest of her life.

***

An hour later, Lexie found a parking spot along the beach.  She hadn’t planned on going there today, since she’d spent a lot of time at the caterer’s house, but she knew her mother would be teaching her everything she knew about art etiquette for the next three days.  And that meant she wouldn’t be able to stop by the beach for a while.

She got out of the car, flung her beach bag over her shoulder and headed for her favorite spot.  She set down her bag and pulled out her towel.  As she spread it out across the sand, someone called her name.  She turned in time to see Mark jogging over to her.

“Hi, Mark.” She scanned him, noting the way his white t-shirt and blue shorts made his tan stand out.  “You look like you’ve been getting some sun.”

“You said you enjoy coming here, so I thought I’d check it out.  It turns out you’re right.  It’s very peaceful.”

“The restaurants might be further down from here, but you can get a better place to relax in the sun.” She glanced at the sky.  “It’s a shame I didn’t get here sooner.  I probably only have a half hour before it starts to get dark.”

“Did you have a bad day?”

“No, not bad.  Just trying.” After a moment’s hesitation, she asked, “Does it show?”

“A little.  You look like you’re under some stress, but I think that’s normal since you’re going to get married.”

“Yeah.  I guess.” Maybe every bride felt as if she were so busy she was ready to pull her hair out.  She almost said she’d be glad when the wedding was over but stopped herself because she wasn’t sure if that was true.  Up to now, she hadn’t thought much about what being married to Nick would be like, and at the moment, she didn’t want to spend her energy on it.  With a shrug, she continued, “I like coming here because even at my busiest moments, I can relax.”

“I like the beach, too, though I haven’t been to this one until today.” He turned his attention to the beach and smiled.  “You have excellent taste.”

“I don’t know if it’s taste as much as the fact that I live close to this one.”

“Hey, if it works, why not go with it?”

“True.”

“You want to take a walk?” Before she could answer, he added, “Or if you don’t mind the company, can I sit with you?”

She grinned.  “I wouldn’t mind going for a walk.” She slipped off her sandals and put them in her bag then took out her wallet and keys.  “Would you mind putting these in your pocket?  I’m afraid I don’t have any pockets on my skirt.”

“I don’t mind.” He took them from her and put them in his pocket.  “Which way would you like to go?”

Since she wanted to be away from people, she motioned to the section of the beach that looked clear.  “How about over there?”

He nodded, and they headed for the shoreline.  “So, you’re keeping busy?”

“I haven’t had much time to do anything.  I feel like all I do is run back and forth to get ready for the wedding, and the next three days are going to be torture.”

“Really?  How so?”

“Well, Nick got invited to go to some art exhibit where his supervisor’s wife’s painting will be on display.  For the next three days, my mother is going to give me lessons in proper etiquette.”

“I didn’t realize there was a proper way to look at paintings.”

She chuckled.  “Me neither, but apparently, there is.  Nick said he was going to give me a book to read, but I think my mother knows more about etiquette than even he does.  She plans to look at the book and see if there’s anything she doesn’t know, but I doubt it.” They reached the shoreline, and the water lapped at her feet as they continued their walk.  “I’ll be spending all of my non-working hours with her.”

“Sounds like you’re dreading it.”

“I’m a horrible daughter, aren’t I?  My mother has always been good about taking care of me and all I want to do is get away from her.”

“I don’t think you’re a horrible daughter.  It seems to me like you want your own space.”

He was right.  Deep down, she knew he was, and deep down, she knew it was perfectly alright for her to get that space.  But she didn’t know how to.  Caitlyn had no trouble telling their mother to back off, but then, Caitlyn and her mother weren’t close.  She sighed.  “I love my mother.  She wants what’s best for me.  I guess I just thought my life would be…different.”

“And what did you think it’d be like?”

She smiled and glanced at him before turning her gaze back to the shoreline in front of them.  “You don’t ask easy questions.”

“Maybe not.  But my life isn’t what I expected when I was growing up either.”

“It’s not?”

“No.  When I was younger, I was satisfied with everything.  I had a ton of cool gadgets to play with and I thought I would have a job creating more gadgets to make life easier and more fun.”

“Are you talking about video games and computers?” she asked, trying to figure out what he meant by ‘gadgets.’

“Something like that but not quite.  Think of it as a virtual reality game that could give a man the ability to live out any fantasy he wanted.”

“Oh, so it’s like being inside a movie or a book, except you make up the story?”

“Kind of.  Most fantasies involved women.”

She laughed.  “Really?  I’d think the fantasies would be something sci-fi, fantasy, or adventure.  You know, typical guy stuff.”

“There could be those elements, but the men preferred to add romance to the mix.”