A Wedding on Lilac Lane by Hope Ramsay (best book clubs .txt) 📕

all the things they’d planned to do together. She’d lost her life. And she could never go back to the way things had been. She had to be happy with the way things were now. She didn’t need anything else to make her life complete.

She was fine. She’d built a business. She had a place in this town. Of course she’d been carrying on Grandmother’s traditions, baking cakes for the Piece Makers every week. She’d made a good life, even if she missed her old life with Adam. Micah had a hell of a lot of nerve suggesting that her life needed improvement.

What? Did he think she should go out looking for another husband?

Nothing irritated her more than people who thought she needed another husband to complete her life. Maybe those people were well meaning, but to Ashley just thinking about dating again required her to jettison the man she loved more than life itself. Adam would always be important. His loss was still like a burning hole in the middle of her chest. And you know what? She almost liked that pain. It reminded her of how much she’d loved Adam in life. If she hadn’t loved him so fiercely, she wouldn’t grieve his loss so deeply.

No. She didn’t need a new husband, or even a boyfriend. Surely the minister understood that? Didn’t he?

Chapter Nine

Ella left Howland House directly after breakfast service on Saturday morning and walked all the way to Bayview Vistas, the new condos on Redbud Street. March was in full bloom this morning, the azaleas in Lavender Lane Park putting on a show of rich magenta and deep purple.  It struck her how much she’d missed this verdant landscape all those years she’d called El Paso her home base.

Not that Cody had a real home in Texas. He’d inherited a run-down ranch house from his grandparents, but he’d never lifted one finger to keep the place up. Over the years, it had deteriorated, and half the time the boys in the band squatted on the land, living in a couple of run-down RVs out back.

The house in El Paso was like a metaphor for her life. It needed some serious renovation. And yet she felt a little better about herself this morning. She hadn’t made any mistakes in the dining room this morning, and she was anticipating her gig this afternoon. She’d already made her set list, which consisted of a wide variety of genres, from pop and country to traditional and classic.

After Ashley’s pep talk out by the live oak, she was also starting to think about the upcoming wedding season. Maybe she could score a few gigs at wedding ceremonies and receptions. Heck, maybe she could play for Mom and Jim’s wedding, although that might be risky.

Mom always had something to say about her violin performances. Unfortunately, Mom had always been a better violinist than Ella, so her opinion counted more than anyone else’s.

She was a little sweaty by the time she made it to Granny’s new place, but then, she’d probably be grimy before too much longer. Her grandmother was moving into Bayview Vistas today. The movers had been out to the old house yesterday and moved whatever furniture Granny was planning to keep. The rest was going to be sold at a gigantic yard sale next Saturday. Today Granny needed help arranging the furniture and hanging pictures and unpacking boxes.

The new condo building was three stories high, with an antique brick facade broken by large windows and balconies with wrought-iron railings. Large palms and colorful flowers graced the walkways. Granny’s apartment was on the second floor, so Ella took the stairs and turned left to the end of the hallway.

When she arrived, the door was propped open, and a couple of delivery men were angling a large refrigerator through the narrow portal.

“Hey, Granny,” Ella hollered past the appliance dudes, “I’m here. Finally. It’s a longer walk than I thought.”

The men got the fridge through the door, and Ella followed them into Granny’s open-concept kitchen, which had cabinets in a cherry finish and midtone granite countertops. It had state-of-the-art appliances, except for a refrigerator.  Granny had evidently spared no expense on the new one being hauled through the door.

“Hey, sugar,” Granny said, reaching out to give her a warm, lavender-scented hug. Ella’s grandmother seemed more happy than stressed over this move, which seemed strange to Ella because she couldn’t imagine letting go of her beautiful old house to move into a cookie-cutter place like this.

“You’re really okay with moving out of the old house?” Ella asked.

“Oh, honey, I am so glad to be rid of it. I should have moved out years ago. I don’t know why I thought living in that house was the only way to keep memories of your grandfather alive.” She shook her head and grabbed Ella by the arm. “Come on, you can help organize the bedroom until these guys are finished installing the fridge and the washer and dryer.”

Granny pulled her through a generously sized living room with windows which provided a distant view of the bay that fell a bit short of a vista.

“The master bedroom’s over here,” Granny said, gesturing to the right. Ella stepped into the room, which already had one too many people in it.

Jim was up on a ladder hanging Bahama shutters. Mom was unpacking stuff into the bureau and had her back turned toward Ella, and Dylan wasn’t doing anything, except sitting on the bed with a huge-ass bandage on the side of his head.

Oh, crap. She’d really injured him.

Instead of a button-down shirt and a bow tie, he wore a pair of faded jeans and an ancient Clemson University T-shirt that had a hole in the neck. He hadn’t shaved in a couple of days either, suggesting that he hadn’t been to work for a while. Or maybe he was just one of those guys with a heavy beard.

She froze like some nocturnal animal suddenly caught in a flash