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

didn’t want to be unpleasant though. “Have you asked my mother directly?” she asked, hoping that this question didn’t open a big, nasty can of worms.

“Well, no. But Jim and I talked about it on Sunday.”

“When Jim reserved the room?”

“As a matter of fact, yes.”

She nodded. “Well, I’ll certainly mention it to her,” Ella said in her most polite voice. Wow. Jim and the pastor were getting ready to blindside Mom, in a low-down and dirty maneuver, in Ella’s opinion. Who needed Dylan messing things up when Jim was doing a fine job of it all by himself?

The minister said goodbye, and Ella stalked out of the church, ready to stand in the yard and let go of a primal scream. But that was impossible. Not only would the minister hear it, but Dylan was right there and she wasn’t going to give him any ammunition. Even if she kind of liked him and had shared a memorable kiss with him.

“I want you to know that I had nothing to do with what just happened,” Dylan said before Ella could even formulate a coherent sentence.

She blew out a long breath, but it failed to cool her anger. “I’m going now before I say something nasty.” She headed down the path to the sidewalk.

He followed, keeping pace with her. “No. Don’t go. Stay. Talk to me.”

She stopped and turned. “I don’t want my mother to abandon the choir at Heavenly Rest just to make your dad happy.”

“Fair enough. And Dad shouldn’t have booked the room without consulting us. I’m annoyed at that.”

“You are?”

“Yeah. He’s been doing stuff like that recently. He’ll put me in charge of something, and then he goes off and does it for himself anyway. It’s really ticking me off.” He paused a moment, glancing at the big shade trees on the church’s grounds as if he was carefully choosing his words. “I had a fight with him this morning about this exact thing. I accused him of trying to please your mother.”

She blinked. “And I’m angry because Mom might do something dumb, like leave the Episcopalians, just to please your father.”

He nodded. “I guess maybe they’re trying to make each other happy.”

“Yeah. And even though I’m annoyed at the little game Jim is playing, I’m not about to launch a program to break them up. Just sayin’.”

He nodded and jammed his hands into his pockets. “I know. But I’m worried about him.”

“And I’m worried about her. But you know, I think it’s all going to work out,” she said.

“Is it?”

“Actually, I have no idea, but I’m hoping.” She paused, glancing at the church with its brick facade and pristine spire. Grace Church was like something on an old-time postcard. A perfect picture of small-town American faith.

“Do you want to have the party at Grace Church?” she asked.

He shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s not as nice as the yacht club, but it might be the only room available. Maybe Dad was onto something when he made the reservation.”

“Maybe,” she said on a long sigh.

“Why don’t we run Grace Church past them this coming Sunday? Since the room is booked. It could be our fallback position.”

She nodded. “Okay,” Ella said. Suddenly she had no words, except the ones she’d rehearsed. It was now or never. No more putting it off. “About Saturday, I—”

“Don’t apologize,” he interrupted.

“But I—”

“No apologies. You’d had a rough day, and I should have cut you off.”

“It wasn’t your responsibility to cut me off.”

His lips broadened into that smile—the one that lit up his face and everything around him. “Wasn’t it?”

“No. You’re not responsible for me. I’m actually responsible for myself.”

“Maybe, but since I’m a few months older than you, I have a responsibility to look after you. Cutting off little sisters before they get toasted is part of big-brother territory.”

He wanted to be her brother? After he’d kissed her back? No way. He didn’t want her as his sister. And she didn’t want him as her brother. Which was a ginormous problem, but not one she could ever admit to anyone.

Chapter Fourteen

On Sunday afternoon, Dylan had to circle Redbud Street looking for a parking spot. Evidently, all the active adults living at Bayview Vistas were hosting Easter dinners for their loved ones. There wasn’t a vacant visitor’s spot to be found.

Having Easter dinner at his soon-to-be step-grandmother’s wasn’t high on Dylan’s agenda because it would require him to be on his best behavior. And he wasn’t interested in being a good boy.

For one thing, he was ticked off at Dad. He’d intervened again, this time with Coreen Martel, one of his geriatric patients. Coreen was in her late eighties and suffering congestive heart failure. She needed to be in a nursing home, getting hospice care. But she was sharp of mind and resistant to the idea of leaving the home she’d lived in most of her life. She was getting home care a few days a week, but Dylan didn’t think it was enough.

But Dad disagreed. He thought she was fine being at home because that’s where she wanted to be. They’d had a big blowup about it yesterday.

And then there was the engagement party. Dylan had no idea how Brenda would react when she found out that Dad had booked Grace Church without consulting with anyone. He expected a nuclear explosion, and the fallout was going to be bad.

Epic even.

Which would certainly advance his plan to break up Dad and Brenda. But would it break the promise he’d made to Ella not to use the party planning as a means for breaking them up?

For some reason, he wanted to keep that promise. And he also wanted to protect Ella. He didn’t want Brenda blaming her for what was going to happen. And he didn’t want Brenda to blame Dad either, which made no sense.

So he’d been nominated to play the heavy in this family drama.

With a resigned sigh, he left the car in the spot he finally found two blocks away