The day of Dahlia’s rehearsal dinner came quickly.

“Maggie, this is lovely,” Dahlia’s mother Vanessa said, gesturing to the long dining table in the side room of the cafe. “Those flower arrangements are gorgeous.”

“And the food is amazing.” Garrett came up from behind Vanessa and shook Maggie’s hand. “Again, Maggie, thanks for doing this.”

“You’re welcome.” She smiled. This was why she loved the hospitality industry. Her efforts paid off in happy customers.

“How are arrangements for the wedding tents going?” she asked Garrett.

“Not as well as I’d like. I had to get permits from the town to put up the tents in the Marina Park and there was a snafu in the permit process.” He frowned. “But I think we finally got everything worked out.”

“Good.” She straightened a pitcher of water on a nearby serving cart.

He regarded her critically. “Have you ever thought about opening your own place to host events? You’d be good at it.”

She laughed. “Actually, I toured a place yesterday. I’m not sure about it though. It was expensive and would be a lot of work.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” He winked at her and waved at someone across the room. “I’ve got to go say hi to Dahlia’s cousin. Her little boy is going to be our ring bearer.”

Maggie edged toward the kitchen, more focused on her role as café owner than bridesmaid.

Then a loud crash and gasps came from inside the party room. She rushed back in to see what the commotion was about. Velma stood at the side of the room, holding an empty tray, her face sullen. Glass shards and soda pop intermixed on the floor and a sweet smell filled the air. One of the guests was dabbing at her pants and the rest were trying studiously to ignore the mess. Maggie smiled at them and then turned to her employee.

“What happened?” she asked, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.

“What happened?” Velma gave her an incredulous look. “Someone moved their chair out as I was passing by with a full tray of drinks.” She glared at the poor woman with the stained pantsuit. “I told you this was going to happen.”

“You weren’t even scheduled to help in here. What happened to Lily?” After Velma’s rant about the party room’s size, Maggie had made sure to keep her out of there for Dahlia’s rehearsal dinner.

“Lily went on break. Someone had to cover for her.” Velma glared at her now.

Maggie closed her eyes for a brief second before taking charge.

“Okay. Please go back to your regular tables. I’ll have someone clean this up.” She brushed the mess aside with a napkin as best as she could. Velma huffed at her and left the room.

She approached the woman with the stained pants. “I’m so sorry about this. I’ll get you some club soda for that, alright?”

The woman nodded gratefully. Maggie returned to the kitchen and instructed one of the busboys to clean up the broken glass, then brought some club soda and another type of stain remover back to the woman.

“The bathroom is that way. Let me know if you need anything else.” The woman nodded.

The mess was soon taken care of and the party guests seemed happy to be there. Maggie couldn’t help hovering around the fringes, ready to manage any potential crisis that popped up.

Gretchen tapped her on the shoulder. “Relax. Your staff has this. You should have a little fun—enjoy yourself.”

Maggie looked around. “There’s so much to do though. Did you see what happened with the spilled drinks?”

Gretchen laughed. “Those things happen. Trust your staff. If you want to open an events venue, you’re going to need to let go of things at the café a little.”

Maggie forced herself to relax. “I guess so,” she said reluctantly. Gretchen gave her a little wave and walked back to join her boyfriend Parker at their table.

A waitress carrying a tray of drinks came by and smiled at her. She watched anxiously as the woman handed each customer their drink.

Dahlia came over and hugged her. Her face was flushed and she handed Maggie a glass of white wine.

“This is great. Everyone loved their entrees.”

“Thanks.”

“Gretchen mentioned you were thinking about buying a farm to host events. Is that the one overlooking Bluebonnet Lake?”

She nodded. “It is. It comes with a farmhouse and a barn, which is what I would use for the events space.” She frowned. “But it’s so expensive. I’m not sure I can afford it without jeopardizing the café.”

“Can you get an investor?” Dahlia asked.

“I thought about that, but I want to have control over the space. If I rent out the farmhouse, I may be able to make it work.” She forced herself to smile. “Enough about me. I heard from Garrett that your tents are ready to set up. Your wedding is going to be beautiful.”

“I hope so. I constantly think about how nice it would have been to elope and not have to worry about any of this other stuff.”

Maggie laughed. “Believe me, I get it. For my wedding, I had three binders full of contact information, charts and lists.”

Dahlia made a face. “I haven’t gone quite that far, but I do feel pretty organized.” A proud smile crossed her face. “And I think you should go for the events center if you can. I’ve noticed an increase in tourist traffic, so I think you could make a success of it. What does Jake think?”

“Why would it matter what Jake thinks?” Maggie asked testily.

“I thought you said he was going to see the farm too.”

“Yeah, and he doesn’t think I can make it work.”

“Hmm.” Dahlia sipped her wine and eyed Maggie.

“I think your mom is calling out for you.” Maggie pointed at Vanessa, who was waving at her daughter from across the room.

Dahlia hugged her again and whispered in her ear, “If anyone can do it, you can.”

Maggie nodded, but she now felt more conflicted than ever.

* * *

Two days later, Maggie was in a tizzy trying to finish preparations for Dahlia’s wedding. A crew from the rental company had set up two large tents in the Marina Park. One contained rows of white wooden chairs and a stage for the ceremony. After the nuptials, they’d clear the chairs off to the side to allow room for dancing.

The other had been set up with round tables and chairs. Long tables for the buffet lined one side of the tent. The supplier had made good on their promise to bring the additional quantities for her order and her staff at the café had been up since five a.m. preparing the food. So far, everything had gone off without a hitch.

Jake was watching Alex, so she didn’t have to worry about a babysitter. She’d invited him to be her date to Dahlia’s wedding before they’d toured the barn together. She’d thought she’d felt something brewing romantically between them, but now she didn’t know if she’d imagined it. Tonight would be interesting, that was for sure.

A few hours later, Dahlia, Gretchen, and Maggie gathered together at Dahlia’s house to get ready for the big day. Dani at Candle Beach Cuts had done Dahlia’s hair in an ornate bridal updo.

“Your hair looks gorgeous.” Maggie admired the tiny pearls threaded through Dahlia’s auburn hair.

“Thanks, I was pretty happy with it too.” Dahlia applied mascara and blusher and viewed herself in the mirror before turning around. “What do you girls think?”

“You look beautiful,” Gretchen said. “That dress looks even more perfect today than it did when you had your fittings.”

Maggie leaned over Dahlia’s voluminous wedding dress and hugged her.

“And I love our bridesmaid dresses.” The violet dresses Dahlia had chosen were comfortable and stylish, something Maggie appreciated.

Someone knocked on the door. “Honey, are you decent?” Vanessa called out.

“Yeah, Mom. Come on in.”

Vanessa pushed the door open and came in, then closed it behind her. “Oh, honey.” Tears slipped out of her eyes.

“Mom, you’re going to make me cry.” Dahlia swiped at her own eyes with a Kleenex.

Maggie and Gretchen exchanged glances. “We’ll leave you two alone.” Maggie stood. “I’ve got to go check on some things for the reception.”

Dahlia waved goodbye to them.

The round tables were set up and her staff had already covered them with white tablecloths. One-third of them had been set with violet napkins encircled with silver-hued napkin rings, and her crew was placing pitchers of water on each table.

Lindsay, her lead server for the catering business, approached her. “Maggie, we don’t have enough silverware.”

Maggie stared at her. How could they possibly not have enough silverware?

“What do you mean? I ordered new sets for the catering business. There should have been at least 150 place settings. I checked them off when they arrived in the latest shipment.”

“The box said 150, but there were only fifty sets in there.”

Maggie closed her eyes for a moment. “Fifty? So we’re short one hundred sets?”

Lindsay squirmed. “Sorry, Maggie. I can see if we can spare any from the café.”

“Thanks. Let me know what you find out and I’ll try to think of something.” She stared at the empty tables. Where the heck was she going to get one hundred sets of silverware from in the next two hours? There wasn’t time to drive to Haven Shores to purchase more, even if they had that many sets available at the stores. She could wrangle some from the café, but it was a Saturday night and they’d need most of their silverware.

She called every eating establishment in town, but they all had the same predicament—not enough to share.

Then she called Jake to ask if he’d take Alex to the B&B with him when he went back to get dressed for the wedding.

“Sure, I can do that. But, I thought you were coming back to finish getting dressed.”

“I can’t. I had my dress here and I have a mini crisis on my hands.” Her stress levels were increasing.

“What’s going on?”

She sighed. “There was an error in my order of silverware and we didn’t notice it until now. Totally my fault. I should have checked the box to confirm we’d received them all. The end result is that I’m short one hundred sets of silverware. Do you think Dahlia will notice if we use plastic forks?” She laughed, but it didn’t break her bad feeling.

“Uh...” Jake paused. “I’m pretty sure she’d notice.”

“Yeah, I figured so. I’m hoping I can find some regular silverware before the ceremony, but it’s not looking good.”

At an hour to go, she was about to admit defeat and use white plastic picnicware. She grimaced. It would look so bad to use plastic utensils for her first real event. But it would be better than having the guests eat with their fingers.

She saw Jake and Alex enter the tent area and waved at them. They were still dressed in their regular clothes. “What are you guys doing here?”

“I found something for you.” Jake opened a shoebox and showed her the contents. “Will these work?”

Her eyes widened. The cardboard box contained about twenty sets of silverware. “Yeah, those are great, but I’m going to need a lot more.” Still, it gave her hope they could find more before the reception dinner.

“I’ve got them. I have three more boxes just like this in my car. Probably about eighty total place settings.”

She threw her arms around him and then looked into his eyes. “You’re kidding!”

He grinned at her and shook his head.

“Where did you get these?”

“Well, you know the B&B I’m staying at?” He closed the box lid.

“Uh-huh.” Where was he going with this? Why would a B&B have eighty sets of nice tableware?

“The owner, Maude, used to own an Italian restaurant in Haven Shores. When she sold the business, the new owner didn’t want her supplies, so she has a whole closet full of plates, linen napkins, tablecloths and silverware. She thought she might want to open another restaurant someday, so she didn’t sell them.”

Maggie’s mouth gaped open. “How did you know about all the restaurant supplies?”

He shrugged. “She has arthritis and can’t climb ladders very well. She needed me to get something down from the top of the closet one time.” He looked at her. “So will they work?”

“Yes, yes, thank you. You’re a lifesaver.” She hugged him again, a warmth passing between them. “I can get twenty sets from the café. They’ll just have to wash silverware quickly tonight.”

She called Lindsay over and instructed her to have the crew get the other utensils out of Jake’s car and take them to be washed at the café.

“I’ll see you at the ceremony, okay?” Maggie said to Jake and Alex. They nodded.

“Hey, Mom, you look really pretty.” Alex smiled at her.

She kissed his head. “Thanks, honey.”

The two of them walked off hand in hand. She watched them for a minute, happy to see how well they were getting along, and then sprung into action on last-minute reception details.