Page 20 of Chance of Romance
Sabrina’s chest ached. What a great dad, doing his best to take the place of an absentee mom.
Hailey gave him a soft smile. “Something needs doing, Mr. Campbell, I’ll let you know.”
Mr. Campbell straightened. “Please call me Joe. You ladies are like sisters to Mad. I’ve never been involved in planning a wedding. What can I do to help?”
Hailey gave his forearm a squeeze. “I appreciate the offer, Joe, but, honestly, almost everything is taken care of at this point.”
Joe pulled a folded check out of his front shirt pocket and handed it to Hailey. “I know it’s not much, but I want to help. I had this saved for her college tuition, but Mad insisted it was covered. Put this to whatever she needs.”
Hailey unfolded the check. Five thousand dollars. Not enough to cover four years of college tuition, but a nice contribution toward the wedding. “Thank you.”
Joe spoke in a conspiratorial tone. “At first I thought Jake helped her out with tuition, but then I found out it was Josh.”
Hailey stiffened. “Josh?” Her nemesis had done something good. Would this make Hailey soften toward him?
Joe nodded. “Put off his own dream of owning a bar to do it.”
“I had no idea,” Hailey whispered, glancing down the row of women to Mad and back to Joe. “Mad never said anything.”
Joe touched his index finger to his temple. “My kids think I don’t see, but I do. I know what’s up with every one of them. That’s what made me a good cop. I’m observant.”
“Hey, Dad!” Mad called. “What do you think of these?” She wore shiny white high-heeled boots that went up to her knees. Kind of a weird choice to go with a wedding gown, but Mad had an unusual take on women’s fashion, which was to say no clue at all.
Hailey frowned, but didn’t immediately reject the choice. She was a very diplomatic wedding planner.
“If you like them, I like them,” Joe said.
“I like them,” Mad said, looking down at them and smiling.
Hailey rushed over to talk to Mad and then gestured to Brandy to join them. Next thing you knew, Mad was seated on the bench with a whole row of bride-appropriate shoes to try on.
The rest of them had a great time trying on shoes, stopping frequently to give Mad a thumbs-up or thumbs-down for whatever she tried on. Her dad wasn’t much help. He just wanted her to be happy, so he agreed with whatever she liked. The rest of them wanted her to be happyandlook good.
Once Sabrina had chosen her bridesmaid shoes, a practical white pump with a small embroidered daisy on the side, she browsed the gorgeously impractical shoes just for fun. She fondled a silver metallic leather stiletto. It was breathtaking. Open-toed with four sets of metallic silver wings running up the front, two ankle straps. Wearing something like this saidI’m ready to soar.If she was going to face down all those cameras and lights, she’d be doing it with wings on her feet.
She held them up to her friends. “What do you think for my talk-show interviews in LA?” She’d texted her friends about her big LA moment as soon as she’d heard.
“Yes!” Hailey exclaimed. “How much are they?”
Sabrina checked the price and winced. “Too much.”
“I’ll chip in,” Hailey said.
“We’ll all chip in,” Lexi said, gesturing for the others to join in.
The ladies insisted.
Sabrina shook her head. “I appreciate it. Really. But I got it.” She was doing well in her practice and hoped to have even more clients after all the publicity. Fingers crossed the rest of her interviews went as smoothly as herSunshine Americainterview. Besides, she lived modestly in a one-bedroom apartment. She stayed there mostly because her close friends lived in the same building. Though now only Lexi was left since her other two close friends, Missy and Ally, had moved in with their fiancés. A pang of pure envy hit. When she’d first joined the Happy Endings Book Club, it had been designed as a singles book club. No men had ever stuck around, though, and they’d become a tight sisterhood of single women united in their love of romance novels.
But now things were very different. Nearly everyone had found their special someone. It was just her, Hailey, and Lexi left in the singles department. Totally unfair, now that she thought about it. She could understand Lexi being single, the woman was so jaded about men, but Sabrina and Hailey had dedicated their lives to relationships. How was it that neither of them had one? Were they just too close to all of the issues that could pop up to take a chance? Too caught up in helping other couples to invest time in their own love lives? She should have a heart-to-heart with Hailey and get to the bottom of this. It had never seemed such a glaring problem before, but with all the attention on Sabrina’s supposed relationship expertise, it was a real issue.
Hailey sighed. “We just feel bad we can’t go out to LA with you. It’s such a shame you and Claire are just missing each other.” Sabrina was heading out to California two days after Claire moved to Connecticut permanently. Claire and her husband, Jake, were arriving tonight at their new house.
Sabrina ran a finger over one of her new shoes’ wings. “I’ll see her tomorrow at Jake and Josh’s birthday party. I’m going over a little early to raid her closet and get some coaching. She knows all the talk-show hosts.”
Lexi stood, looking right at Sabrina, her brown eyes gleaming with mischief. “You did great onSunshine Americawith Logan there.”
Sabrina shot her a dark look.Ha-ha, keep it up. Next guy you talk to will be fair game for harassing the hell out of you.
