Page 1 of Accidental Wedding Crasher
CHAPTER 1
MIA
Mia Newton glanced at the time and tightened her hands on the wheel, her full attention focused on the winding road in front of her. She was late, very late, and not for the first time.
Not for the last time, either.
Get it together, Mia,she chastised herself. This was so typical of her. She’d left her home in San Jose, a rented apartment near the high school where she taught, with plenty of time — or so she’d thought. But traffic around San Francisco, followed by a wrong turn off the highway and an unscheduled bathroom break, meant that she was now going to be racing the bride down the aisle. If she got there at all.
At work, where Mia taught high school math, she was focused, professional, and on time. But in her personal life, she tended to be late and occasionally more than a little disorganized, especially when she was doing something she didn’t want to do. Like today. Glancing in the mirror again, she tightened her hands on the wheel, already feeling her heart beating a little too quickly with nerves about the upcoming event.
“Why am I even going to this wedding?” Mia muttered to herself as she guided the car around a winding curve. On another day, she might have enjoyed the beautiful Napa Valley scenery, all sprawling vineyards and old mission houses, but today, she was only focused on getting where she was going. She barely noticed the rolling hills, old stone buildings, and clear blue skies overhead.
In truth, Mia was a little confused about why she’d even been invited to this particular wedding. Her college roommate, Annabel O’Neil, was marrying her fiancé, a man Mia had never met. Mia thought he was named something like Tod or Brad, though she wasn’t even sure of that. She’d have to double-check before she actually met him. She hadn’t even seen Annabel more than a handful of times since graduating college a decade ago, and she hadn’t seen her at all in the last five years. While Mia had devoted her life to her students and her job, Annabel had risen through the ranks of her law firm, become a partner, and become engaged. Meanwhile, Mia was single and still earned a teacher’s salary. They just didn’t have much to talk about anymore. They sometimes liked each other’s Instagram posts, but that was about the depth of the friendship.
Still, it would be nice to see Annabel again after all these years. Mia hoped she would recognize her old roommate. And she half-hoped that her roommatewouldn’trecognize her. Mia had picked out her best dress for this event, a lacy blue number with a flared skirt and scooped neck, very rockabilly and cute. It complemented her blond hair and brown eyes, but she knew it would look cheap compared to the other guests’ clothes. And now, after almost four hours of driving, she would look the worse for wear, for sure. She could already see flyaway hairs escaping from her half-braids, half-curls hairstyle.
After all, not only were both Annabel and her husband lawyers, but Annabel’s parents were rich, often flying their daughter to Aspen or the Bahamas for spring break on their private jet and sending her back to school with Gucci purses and Prada dresses. What Annabel had worn to a Tuesday morning class was fancier and more expensive than the nicest dress Mia was wearing today. When Annabel’s parents had come to visit, Mia had joined them for an occasional lunch or dinner and had always felt like a fish out of water.
Groaning to herself, she took a sip of the water from the bottle in the middle console, trying to calm down. Not only would she stick out, with her inexpensive dress, fifteen-dollar SuperCuts haircut in layers that framed her face, and makeup she’d done for herself instead of having it done professionally, but she was also going to walk in late.
People often assumed that Mia liked to be the center of attention, since she stood in front of a group to teach every day. They were wrong. She liked her classes, but only because she prepared extensively and knew her students well. She didn’t like to stand out, and she didn’t like people staring at her. All of which were definitely going to happen at this event. And everyone was going to ask her questions about her job (which they wouldn’t approve of), her love life (which they would shake their heads at), and how she knew the bride (which even Mia could barely answer; it had been so long).
Not for the first time in her frantic drive, Mia considered turning around and heading back to San Jose. It was a beautiful June day, the sky was blue, and she could even stop at the beach on the way back. A walk across the sand would be much more fun than attending a wedding for someone she barely knew anymore. At home, she could curl up with a good book or a niceTV show, or finish grading the tests her ninth graders had taken the previous week. She had already taken the day off school and called in a substitute, so it would be easy to take the day for herself. It wasn’t often that she drove through vineyards or along the coast on a Friday afternoon, after all. She rarely got days off during the school year unless she was very sick. Who got married on a Friday, anyway?
But Mia dismissed the idea, as she had every time before. She’d already RSVP’d yes to the wedding, mostly out of curiosity, and it would be rude not to show up. Plus, it would be nice to see Annabel again — even if the wedding was a little awkward, too. Nodding to herself, Mia focused on the road. She just needed to get there.
Another twenty minutes went by as the clock ticked closer and closer to the wedding time. Mia’s stomach grumbled, but she wouldn’t have any time to eat before the ceremony started. She passed sign after sign for vineyards, historical sites, and U-Pick farms.
Finally, she spotted a turn for Rosewood Vineyards, the wedding location. She signaled and turned onto the driveway, the wheels of her car crunching against the gravel. Ahead, she spotted a parking lot already full of Mercedes and Lamborghinis — another way in which Mia stuck out. She drove a ten-year-old Volvo.
She guided the car into one of the remaining spots and put on the parking brake. Instead of getting out and hurrying into the venue as she should have, though, she stayed in the car for a little longer, resting her head against the steering wheel. There was another reason she didn’t want to attend this wedding, beyond the fact that she barely knew the bride and wouldn’t fit in with the other guests.
Mia loved teaching. She loved her students. But sometimes, she felt like she’d fallen short in her life. Her parents had hoped for her to aim high and become a doctor or a lawyer. They worked at the local grocery store in Mia’s hometown of Sacramento and wanted “better” for her. Instead, Mia had found her dream job in a high school, where she was paid in the appreciation of her students and the knowledge that she was shaping young minds — instead of in all-expenses-paid vacations or enough money to buy a beautiful house. On top of that, Mia hadn’t even gotten married, which her parents had always wanted for her, and she could tell that they were starting to worry about her now that she was thirty-two and still single.
Annabel was the same age, but she’d already achieved recognition in her career and found a great guy to marry. It would be difficult for Mia to watch that, given that she wasn’t in the same place. And the rest of the wedding guests would be just as accomplished as Annabel, based on Mia’s experience at previous weddings. At the very least, almost everyone came to weddings with a date, which Mia didn’t have because she wasn’t even dating anyone. The wedding would be another time that Mia was forced to reevaluate where she was in life, and whenever that happened, she came up short.
Someone rapped on the window of the car, and Mia sat bolt upright, blushing. A glance out the window showed the parking attendant leaning toward the car, frowning.
“Everything all right, ma’am?” he asked, his voice muffled by the glass. Still blushing, Mia scrambled for her seatbelt and practically spilled out of the car.
“Yes, I’m fine, thanks.”
“I saw you just sitting in there.” He gave her an evaluating look, and Mia’s blush deepened.
“I was just taking a moment to gather myself before heading inside.”
“Are you here for the wedding?” he continued.
“Yes, I am.” Mia brushed her hair behind her ears and held onto her purse strap like a lifeline. Even this guy seemed to be evaluating her clothes and hairstyle and finding that she fell short, though she was probably imagining that.
“Of course.” The attendant looked unsure, but Mia gave him her brightest smile and hurried past him. As she approached the estate, her heels a little unsteady on the gravel, she saw that the venue was every bit as enormous and no-expenses-spared as she’d expected. A towering stone building draped with fairy lights and surrounded by bouquets stood in front of her. Lines of palm trees and beautiful spring flowers surrounded the building, as well as several fields of grapes. It looked like a postcard from a vacation destination Mia would never visit. A few signs, written in elegant cursive, pointed her toward the back with the wordsWedding Here!
As she circled the building, Mia saw hundreds of white-backed wooden chairs on a lawn strewn with flowers. At the end of the aisle, a flower-lined, fairy-light-covered arch stood waiting with a backdrop of farmland, rolling hills, and mountains in the distance. It was gorgeous, exactly what Mia would want in her own wedding venue — though she wouldn’t ever be able to afford a place like this. And, more importantly, she didn’t have a groom.
Most of the guests were already seated, and, as Mia approached, she saw the last few stragglers take their seats. Everyone was beautifully dressed, with the guys in tuxedos and the women in gorgeous gowns that probably cost more than three months of Mia’s salary. Even the few kids were refined and sophisticated, mostly texting on expensive phones while they waited for the ceremony to start. One woman had a small dog on her lap, who was also wearing a miniature bow tie. Beside the aisle, a string quartet played soft background music, and Mia spotted a second band on the veranda of the vineyard house, where a dance floor had been set up. There was also a large, vaulted tent on the lawn, where tables covered in white cloths were waiting. Venue staff, including waiters, all dressed in white and black, stood near the house or walked purposefully back and forth.
Just then, the string quartet began to play processional music. Mia really was late. She hurried across the cobblestones toward the back row of chairs, her heart pounding, hoping that no one would turn around and see her. It was bad enough that she was late without everyone staring. Annabel would regret having invited her in the first place if that happened. As quietly and as quickly as she could, she zeroed in on an empty chair in the back row and raced toward it, her fingers crossed that everyone was too busy focusing on the wedding to notice her.
