They were both a little teary when Diana came out of the building and stood blinking owlishly in the sunshine. She wore a black pantsuit, a white T-shirt underneath, and the same Keds as Ruby’s on her feet. Her dark hair was pulled back in a low bun, and the corners of her eyes crinkled as she looked at Sarah.
“My goodness,” she said. “You’re a grown-up!”
“It happens to the best of us,” Sarah said, studying what she could see of Diana’s face and trying to connect it back to the girl who’d been a teenager during her summer in Truro. She knew that eventually, her mom had sold Diana the cottage on the dunes, which had undergone two additions and was now barely a cottage at all. Sarah’s sense was that something had happened to Diana that summer on the Cape, and that Ronnie felt responsible somehow. Sarah thought that Diana looked like an accomplished professional, the owner of one of the most acclaimed fine-dining spots on all the Cape, and Sarah could see a diamond wedding band on her left hand. If she’d had troubles, Diane seemed to have put them behind her.
“You’re my bride?” Diana asked, and when Ruby nodded, she’d bumped Ruby’s elbow, then Sarah’s. “Come on in! Everything’s ready.” She looked around. “Are we waiting for a third?”
“I think your dad got stuck at the office,” Sarah told Ruby as Diana led them through the high-ceilinged room, where two tables were waiting. She’d reminded Eli of this appointment before she’d left the house, and she’d texted him another reminder an hour ago.
“Now, this is the gold damask with the sheer overlay, and then we have the maize linen with the crimson runner. I wanted you to see them both in the sunshine,” Diana said.
Ruby touched the edge of the first tablecloth, then looked at Sarah. “Should we wait for Dad before we decide?”
“I’m not sure he’s going to have strong opinions, but I’ll call him,” Sarah said, and thought, I’ll kill him. If he’s forgotten about this, if he lets Ruby down, I will kill him. While Ruby and Diana talked through the merits of the different shades and fabrics, Sarah called Eli, and when her call went straight to voicemail, she did her best to sound calm. “Ruby and I are here with Diana. I hope you’re on your way.”
Thirty minutes later, Ruby had decided on the tablecloths, and on the china and crystal and flatware. The three of them sat at the first table, and Diana pulled up photographs of the Cape house on her iPad to take them through what she called the run of show.
“Such a beautiful house,” Diana murmured as the first picture popped onto the screen—a shot taken from the living room, looking out at the deck and the water. “So, I’m thinking cocktails in the living room, an hour before sunset. Then we go out to the deck for the ceremony, and then…” Diana swiped, and Sarah heard Ruby sigh happily at the image of a long table, running the length of the deck, draped in a shimmering pale-gold tablecloth. Votive candles twinkled in the twilight, and low bouquets of orange and gold roses stood at regular intervals. “When it gets dark, we’ll have fairy lights on a trellis.” She swiped again, showing Ruby another picture, and Ruby sounded awed when she said, softly, “It’s so beautiful.”
“I do love a decisive bride,” Diana said with the corners of her eyes crinkling.
“That’s our Ruby,” said Sarah, as she texted Eli, again, while Diana sent the pictures to Gabe and to Veronica.
“Now for the fun part!” Diana hurried away and came back with a tray bearing dozens of slivers of different flavors of cake. She’d just poured them glasses of water when Eli finally arrived. His hair was disheveled, and his expression was confused. “Did you start without me?”
“You’re almost an hour late,” Sarah said.
Eli frowned, shaking his head. “It was entered in my calendar for one o’clock. I don’t know what happened.”
“Never mind,” Sarah said, trying not to glare. “You’re just in time for dessert.”
Eli sat, and Diana passed around the first sample. “This is our classic yellow cake with buttercream frosting.”
Eli chewed, swallowed, patted his lips with his napkin, and said, “Tastes like a winner to me.”
“It’s good,” said Ruby, looking thoughtful. “Just maybe a little…”
Sarah said “boring” at the same instant that Ruby said “basic.” They laughed together. Diana nodded. Eli looked puzzled.