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

didn’t think letting Mom know that Dylan had begged off the party planning would be a good idea. But Granny outed her.

“So,” her grandmother said after they’d shared some of Granny’s pound cake, “Ella told me that Dylan doesn’t want to help with the engagement party.”

Mom turned in her direction, the frown-of-death riding her brow. This was not a good sign. “What’s this?”

“We talked this afternoon.”

“And he flat-out refused?”

Great. As much as she wanted to tattle on Dylan, she decided it would be a bad idea. Mom was already pretty stressed, so she decided to keep his final words this afternoon to herself. Who wanted to find out that their fiancée’s son was determined to break up the romance? No one.

On the other hand, this was a perfect time to get to the bottom of the living arrangements. “Well, I guess Dylan is kind of busy. But, um, I do have a question. Is Jim going to move into the beach house?”

Mom’s forehead now resembled deep-plowed furrows. “Did Dylan tell you that?”

Ella nodded. “He called me over to his office today. I thought it was to talk about the engagement party, but he had a bunch of things on his mind. He said Jim wanted to move into the beach house.”

“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry he did that,” Mom said.

“Is he…moving in?”

The frown-of-death disappeared, and Mom reached out to take Ella’s hand. “The truth is, Jim and I have talked about where we want to live after the wedding. I love living at Paradise Beach.”

“I know.”

“Would you mind terribly if he did move in?”

Boy, nothing like getting asked an impossible question. She did mind. And she didn’t fully understand why, except that she felt as if Mom was pushing her away. Which wasn’t exactly the truth. Besides, Mom shouldn’t have to give up the home she loved just because she was getting married. That would be grossly unfair.

“I’m okay,” Ella said. “I just wanted to know because Dylan made it sound like you and Jim wanted me to move out.”

“Oh my goodness. No!” Mom seemed pretty upset.

“Well, maybe I misunderstood. Maybe—”

“No. I’m sure you didn’t. Jim’s son can be a pain in the neck. Honey, you are always welcome at Cloud Nine. I know the house is tiny, but no one had any intention of asking you to leave. Jim isn’t going to be moving in right away. I mean, the wedding isn’t until May, and then we’re planning to go to Italy for a month. Who knows, by then maybe you’ll find a job and an apartment.”

“You’re going to Italy? How wonderful,” Granny said, clearly trying to defuse the conversation the way she always did. “You’ve always wanted to go there.”

Mom’s cheeks flushed. “We had this disagreement about it, actually.”

“Oh?” Granny seemed a little worried. Wait, Mom and Jim disagreed about something? That was new. They never even fussed at each other.

“Well, it’s expensive,” Mom said, “and I figured if Jim was going to spend his money on a big trip like that, we should go to Ireland. Jim told me once that Ireland tops his bucket list. But he insisted on taking me to Italy because Italy tops mine.”

“That’s because he loves you and wants to make you happy,” Granny said, a grin on her face.

Mom turned toward Granny. “I made a big mistake, y’all. I didn’t tell Ella about Jim’s plans because I wanted to talk to you about the possibility of Ella moving in with you.” Mom glanced toward Ella. “Not because we don’t want you at Cloud Nine but because there’s more space here, you know. And a guest bath. We were thinking you might feel more comfortable here. And living in town would be more convenient for you since you don’t have a car. But…”

“Oh, poop,” Granny said. “I would have loved to have Ella come stay with me.” Now Granny sounded upset.

Dammit, maybe Ella should have kept her mouth shut about what Dylan had said. She didn’t want Granny or Mom to feel guilty. Both of them deserved happiness.

Granny let go of a big breath. “Ella, sugar, I know it’s not much, but you are welcome to stay here until the house is sold. Who knows. It might take a while.”

Never mind that Granny had just been talking about how the real estate broker was sure the house would sell in a few weeks’ time at most.

“Only if she wants to move,” Mom said, turning toward Ella.

“If I want to? I love this house. I would love to live here. I’d love to live here forever after, if you want to know the truth. But it’s okay, Granny. I understand why you want to downsize.”

“Thanks, sugar. I’m glad you understand.” But Granny looked troubled, despite her words to the contrary.

*  *  *

On Saturday night, Brenda slid into the booth at Annie’s Kitchen and faced the love of her life. She and Jim had been together for the last three months, and they were still going out for dates on Saturday night. She hoped that never ended.

She had certainly hit the jackpot with him. He was fifty, fit, and handsome as the devil with a slightly-too-long mop of salt-and-pepper hair, a pair of twinkly blue eyes, and a heroic chin.

He made her feel special without doing anything at all. She loved him more than she’d ever loved anyone, but tonight she needed to broach an unpleasant topic.

This was the sort of thing that had always touched off a fight with Keith, her ex-husband, so she was nervous, her heart rocking oddly in her chest. She didn’t want to argue with Jim.

But she couldn’t let the Dylan situation fester, or the problem would only get bigger. And Lord only knew, she didn’t want to give Ella reasons to go back to Cody Callaghan. Brenda was pretty sure the man had gone out of his way to discourage Ella from coming home. All those years that Ella had toured with Cody, her daughter had barely stayed in contact,