Page 83 of Crazy in Love

“Thank you,” Faith said. “That means a lot to me. You were actually right at the time. I had no idea what I was doing. But with some help from my friends and a few good ideas, things are running smoothly now.”

“That’s great.” Joy smiled. “Really. Congratulations.”

“On the store and the wedding,” Grace said. “We’ll see you after.”

They each hugged her and returned to their families.

It shouldn’t have mattered what her sisters said. She’d written off their criticisms for years, but a tiny part of her felt vindicated and basked in the glow of their praise.

Faith found her own friends gathered in a back room. Maddie and Holly had flown in for the occasion. They all wore matching dresses and had already started on the mimosas.

“Had to go with pink, huh?” Holly said in greeting.

“Why does everyone keep saying that?” Faith chuckled. “You guys look so beautiful.” Her eyes welled.

“No waterworks today,” Tess said, handing her a champagne flute. “Today, you become my sister!”

“We’re already sisters,” Faith said. “All of us.”

Thirty minutes later, Faith had just slipped into her dress—a strapless, formfitting, hip-hugging elegant thing of beauty—when Hope burst in. “So, nobody panic, but we’ve got a teensy-weensy situation…”

Faith’s gaze snapped to Holly. The last time someone uttered those words, it had been Faith, informing Holly that her groom had taken off.

“Please don’t tell me we’re dealing with another runaway groom fiasco,” Alex said.

“Nope. Nothing like that,” Hope said. “Just need everyone to scooch on outside for a bit.”

“What? Why?” Juliet asked. Sirens wailed in the distance.

“Small kitchen fire. Nothing to worry about. We are evacuating though, so, come on. Let’s go.” Hope clapped her hands twice and started shooing everyone out.

“I smell smoke,” Maddie said. “Should we take our stuff?”

Hope looked over her shoulder as if the fire might be closing in behind her and nodded empathetically. “Yeah, that’s probably not a bad idea.”

They quickly gathered their things and vacated the building. Once outside, they stared wordlessly as black smoke billowed from the left side of the barn.

“This can’t be good,” Holly quipped.

“Did not see that coming,” Faith said.Stupid horoscope.

“Ah, man,” Alex said. “The cake’ll be ruined. I ran an extra mile this morning just so I could have a piece.”

The firefighters arrived and herded everyone into a fallow field nearby. Many of the guests thought to drag out their chairs and had arranged them to watch the show. Faith spotted Nick and went to him. “Well, hello, handsome,” she said, coming up behind him. “Got any marshmallows on you?”

“Can you believe this?” He turned to face her and froze. “Faith. You look gorgeous,” he said reverently, taking her in from head to toe. “But isn’t it bad luck for us to see each other?”

She jutted her chin toward the barn, where flames sprouted from the rooftop. “I think that ship sailed.”

“True. Got a plan B?”

She shrugged. “After the fire’s out, we do it here on the lawn. Then hit The Rusty Nail for burgers?”

He slipped an arm around her. “Thank you for not going all Bridezilla on me.”

The firemen did their thing, packed up, and left, leaving a pile of smoldering, wet wood in their wake. The old barn had lit up and burned down like a box of dry matches.

“Well, that’s a real kick in the nuts,” Max said. “What now?”

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