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

“Do you think she’s flirting with him because Brenda refused to direct the Grace Church choir?” Patsy hadn’t even bothered to use Brooklyn’s name.

And her whole explanation was so Patsy. The woman had a devious mind. She was forever making up stories about the people who stayed at the inn. Ashley had suggested that Patsy get herself a computer and try her hand at writing mysteries.

“Patsy,” she said quietly, “I don’t think Brooklyn is seeking revenge. I honestly think that Micah and Brooklyn like each other.”

The older woman stared at Ashley, mouth slightly ajar. No doubt she was astonished that Ashley had the temerity to contradict her. Or to suggest that their minister would even dream of finding a Methodist attractive.

“But she’s—”

“Don’t say it, Patsy. Brooklyn is pretty and smart and nice. Micah could do a lot worse.”

Patsy blinked. “You don’t care?”

Ashley heaved a big sigh. She did care, but for stupid reasons having to do with her oatmeal.  And also because she missed him. Jackie missed him too. But he deserved happiness like everyone else, right?

She squared on Patsy. “If Micah has a thing for Brooklyn, it’s his business.”

“But—”

She put up her hand in a rude gesture. “Stop it. I’m not going to talk to him, okay? I’m not going to be the one you send off to convince him not to date her. Or whatever you have in mind. I’m tired of it. And I do not want to gossip about him. I wish him well. I hope he and Brooklyn find love together.”

“What?”

“I do. And I’m sure that, if that happens, Brooklyn will figure out that, as a minister’s wife, she’ll need to support her husband.”

“Oh my god. You’ve got them married already.”

Yeah, she did. But then, wasn’t that what Patsy wanted? “You’ve been fussing for a few years about how he needs a wife. And you’re right. A minister should have a wife, and maybe he’s finally getting around to it, you know? Brooklyn would be a great addition to our altar guild.”

“Really, Ashley, I don’t think—”

“And you know what? I’ve been thinking about a lot of things lately, and it might be nice if we could move the Piece Makers meetings from the inn to your house. I mean, we’ve just finished a quilt, and this would be a good time to make the change.”

There, she’d said it. And it hadn’t even been all that hard. And once the words had left her mouth, she felt completely unburdened.

“You want to move our meetings?” The astonished look on Patsy’s face defied description.

“Yes, I do. I can’t commit to being there every week anymore. My business has taken off. And to be honest, I’d like to let my guests use the solarium. Things change, Patsy. We can’t keep them the same as they were when Grandmother was alive. Heck, I’m sure Grandmother isn’t pleased that I’ve turned her house into an inn. But I had to do what I had to do. So this is just the next step.”

“The next step in what? Are you leaving our group?”

Was she? No. But she wasn’t going to be baking a cake every week. “Of course not. But I think we need to rethink the weekly refreshments.”

*  *  *

Dylan was standing at the bar, sipping another scotch on the rocks, when Dad grabbed him by the upper arm and walked him down the companionway off the main salon.

“You knew Preston was bringing Tammy, didn’t you? You probably arranged for that to happen,” Dad said in a hoarse whisper.

Whoa. His father was furious. And rightly so, but Dylan was innocent.

“I would never do something like that.”

“No? Not even if you were trying to damage my relationship with Brenda?”

Wow. Dad was worried. Otherwise this wrinkle in the plan wouldn’t have upset him so badly. He met his father’s suddenly somber stare.

“Look, when we were negotiating the guest list, I thought you might like connecting with Preston again. You guys used to go fishing all the time. I had no idea he’d bring Tammy. I thought he had better taste in women.”

“Wait. You used to adore Tammy.” Dad frowned. He was evidently taking lessons from Brenda.

“Yeah, I did,” Dylan said on a long breath. “You did too.”

Dad shook his head. “Not really. I mean, I did let her swoop down on us. And you liked her so much, I thought…Well, you missed your mom, and Tammy knew Julianne so well. It was fun to have her around reminiscing, I guess.”

“Like I said, you liked her. And I thought I would try to like her too.”

“You didn’t?”

Dylan shook his head.

Dylan’s father nodded. “I’m sorry. I did like her for a short while until I realized she was trying to land me like a big, fat catfish, and she was using you as bait. So I told her to get lost.”

“What? But I thought she dumped you. I thought—”

“She gaslighted you, Dylan. She told you a lot of lies about your mom, and I got sick and tired of watching that woman pollute Julianne’s memory. I told her never to darken our door again.”

“Oh. Wow. Dad, I knew she was BSing me. I went along with her to make you happy. I thought you loved her, and I was so ticked off when she left because I thought you were sad about it.”

“I guess I liked having someone around, you know. But I wasn’t really sad to see her go.”

“Well, for what it’s worth, I would never have invited her. What on earth possessed Preston to invite her?” Dylan asked.

“She probably gave him some BS reason, and Preston is so good, he never sees anyone’s ulterior motives. He isn’t going to last long in politics.”

“What are we going to do? I don’t trust her.”

Dad managed a small smile. “I would have thought that you welcomed this difficulty.”

Well, that might have been true a few weeks ago. Now Dylan was worried about his father. “Dad, I gave up trying to wreck your relationship with Brenda. And you can