Chapter 20

Caitlin breathed a happy sigh as she inspected the room where the shower was to be held. She and Alissa—along with Josie and Paige Garner—had decorated the space the night before, transforming it from a pretty room into a wonder. This afternoon, she'd arrived early, wanting to oversee the arrival of all the kitchen items that would allow the space to be transformed into one that allowed dining.

She walked over to the pitchers of coffee, water, and lemonade, and made sure that each one was full. She knew there were backups in the classroom that had been transformed into a temporary kitchen with her catering equipment. She hadn't had to buy any kind of kitchen supplies, since she already owned everything she needed from her cruise business.

She eyed the crystal glasses that were lined up next to the pitchers, smiling when she saw that each one was sparklingly clean.

Today is going to be wonderful, she thought, feeling her heart lift up. Alissa deserves a beautiful shower, and I'm so happy that my business idea can help give her one.

She heard footsteps in the doorway and turned to see Alissa enter the room.

"You look beautiful!" she exclaimed, hurrying over to her sister and giving her a hug. Alissa was wearing a light blue dress that had an outer fabric of intricate lace and was subtly reminiscent of a wedding gown. "I love this dress."

"I know, you helped me pick it out," her sister teased, grinning. She turned to gaze around the room. "Wow. It looks even better in the sunlight."

"Doesn't it?" Caitlin agreed eagerly. "Come back to the kitchen, I want you to taste these hors d'oeuvres and tell me what you think!"

"The kitchen, huh?" She laughed as Caitlin tugged her along toward the classroom, which was just outside of the room where the shower was being held.

"Well, you know what I mean. Our makeshift kitchen. But everything's been running very smoothly. I'm excited about how well this is going! It means that putting my idea into action should work very well."

Her sister smiled at her. "That's amazing, Caitlin. I'm so proud of you." The sisters paused in the hallway for a moment and gave each other a quick hug.

"Thank you!" Caitlin grinned back at her sister. "But enough about me! Today is your day—come and taste these appetizers and tell me what you think."

Alissa tried the miniature quiches, filled with onion and sausage and spinach, and the popcorn shrimp, and the miniature slices of garlic bread. "Oh, these are incredible," she said, closing her eyes and savoring the rich taste of the garlic bread. "They're all just melting in my mouth."

"Perfect." Caitlin grinned, feeling pleased. Everything was going great, and she heaved a satisfied sigh of relief.

Alissa spent a while longer in the makeshift kitchen, congratulating Caitlin on how well organized and efficient it was.

"Hey!"

Caitlin turned, and saw Josie and Paige entering the room, carrying plastic containers

filled with the treats that Paige had baked for the shower.

"Amazing!" Caitlin said. "Your timing is perfect. Let's all get these onto the trays."

Caitlin had chosen three glass trays with floral designs to display the cookies and bars. The four women excitedly arranged the treats—all of which looked delicious and professionally done—onto the trays, chatting about the games that were going to be held during the course of the shower.

Once all of the cookies had been arranged tastefully on the trays, they carried them back into the main room and waited for the guests to arrive.

In another few minutes, women began to show up, bringing beautifully decorated presents and smiles of joy. They each hugged Alissa warmly, congratulating her and asking her how she was feeling about her upcoming big day. Then they loaded their plates with the delicious food and found a comfortable place to sit and chat. They all admired the way the room was decorated.

"This place looks wonderful! I never would have thought it was possible to have a shower here."

"It's all Caitlin's doing," Alissa said, winking at her sister as she bragged about her. "She's starting a new pop-up dining experience business, turning unconventional spaces into event locations. She's a rock star, clearly."

"That's such a wonderful idea!"

Caitlin beamed at her sister, feeling honored. She wasn't sitting down with the rest of the women—instead, she was moving back and forth from the party to the "kitchen," making sure that everything was running smoothly.

This really is going well,she thought as she stepped back into the main room with a fresh tray of popcorn shrimp. I'm so excited! My new business should work out very well. And all this enthusiasm from the guests about the location is proving that people will be interested in having me transform spaces like this for their own private events. And that they'll be interested in coming to a pop-up dining experience at a neat venue like this one.

She set the tray down and heard Alissa laugh. She glanced at her sister and saw that she was sitting in a circle of her friends, giggling almost uncontrollably over something that someone had said.

I'm so happy for her,Caitlin thought, grinning. She looks like she's having the time of her life.

She picked up the empty tray from the previous batch of popcorn shrimp and took it back into the kitchen. She'd just set it down on a table when she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw that she'd received a text from Michael.

It was a photograph—a selfie of Michael and Pearl, who he was watching for the day. They were both grinning happily into the camera, sitting on the couch together at Caitlin's place. Underneath the picture was a text.

MICHAEL: We miss you, but we're having a great day! We're so proud of you! Have a wonderful time, and we can't wait to see you later and hear all about it.

Warmth rushed into her heart, and she gazed down at the picture, smiling a radiant smile.

I love him like I've never loved anyone, she realized, tears springing into her eyes. She hadn't expected to fall in love again like this, so quickly and so completely. He's completely swept me off my feet. His kindness is so wonderful, and he's sincere about everything he does. He really cares about me, and Pearl. She shut her eyes for a moment, feeling a glow of happiness like she'd never felt before.

She texted him back a whole paragraph of hearts.

* * *

Paige looked around the circle of women, smiling quietly to herself. She was having a great time and had gotten more compliments on her baking than she knew what to do with.

I shouldn't have been nervous, she thought, picking a miniature quiche up off her plate and bringing it to her lips. The soft, savory pie melted in her mouth. She swallowed it, glancing at the food table and noticing happily that most of her cookies were already gone.

The room looked great. She and the other women had had a great time decorating it the night before, and it had been fun to feel part of something important. They'd kept praising her idea of painting the coasters, and all of them had agreed that the colorful party favors looked wonderful.

I feel a little out of place,Paige thought, but everyone is being so welcoming.

"We're going to play a game in another few minutes!" Josie was serving as the honorary announcer for the event. Caitlin was the main host, but since she was often going back and forth from the party to the kitchen, Josie had volunteered to help keep things running smoothly.

Paige felt another flutter of nervousness. She hadn't played a game with a large group like this ever before, and she'd never been to a wedding shower. She wondered what kind of game it was going to be, and if she would be any good at it.

"Hi, Paige."

She glanced up, seeing a woman who she didn't know smiling at her. The woman was holding one of Paige's mint-colored macarons.

"I have to tell you," the woman said, sitting down next to her, "I live in the city, and I've never had a macaron this good. You've got a career doing this ahead of you, if you want it."

Paige felt herself flushing, thrilled by the compliment. She'd received so much encouragement that day, it was starting to be easy to believe in herself.

"Thank you," she said, feeling her heart swirl with happiness. "I really appreciate that."

In another few minutes, the games started. Caitlin came to join them, and Paige guessed that the rest of the appetizers had been made at that point. I admire her so much, she thought, watching as Caitlin picked up a basket with a precise, eager energy. She's so confident and efficient. I'd like to be like that.

"For our first game," Caitlin said, smiling as she handed a piece of paper on a clipboard and a colored pen to each of the women, "we're all going to guess various facts about Alissa and Dane. Where did they meet, what's Dane's favorite food, what's the first movie they watched together—that kind of stuff."

"Oh my!" laughed Josie. "I hope I know most of these answers—I probably overhear them talking together at the office more than anyone."

Caitlin grinned. "And whoever wins, will receive a prize!" She gestured to a small table where various pink, mint green, and yellow gift bags were resting.

"Can I play?" Alissa joked, and everyone laughed.

They started to write their ideas down, chatting amiably as they tried to guess the answers to the questions. Paige felt a little nervous as she glanced down at her sheet—she hardly knew Alissa. Then again, not all the questions were so hard—"Which of them prefers their coffee black?" had to be Dane, since she'd seen Alissa happily drinking a peppermint mocha.

"I'm going to lose," groaned the woman to Paige's left.

"No, I definitely am," Paige said, and the woman laughed. This is fun, Paige realized. It's fun even when I'm bad at it. I feel really welcomed by these women. She swallowed as she realized something, feeling a warmth rise in her chest. I feel at home here.

"That's it, time's up," Caitlin said. Paige noticed that she hadn't written anything down herself—she'd probably drawn up the game and knew all the answers already. "I'm going to read the correct answers one at a time. When you all know how many points you have, we'll choose our winners."

Caitlin read through the answers, and the women laughed and groaned over whether they were right or wrong. Many of them teased Alissa over the revelation that Dane was still sometimes called "Squirt" by his parents.

They really love her, Paige thought, smiling. She was finding it easy to catch some of the contagious joy that was filling the room. She'd never heard so many people laughing so often before. They weren't laughing because something was actually funny a lot of the time—it was like they were laughing just because something wonderful was spilling out of them. This is really cool, Paige thought. I want to be more like this.

In the end, she had seven points, which was about average, and she felt proud of how well she'd guessed. The next game they played involved checking their purses for various items and adding up points that way. Since Paige had her messenger bag from school, it was extra well-stocked, which everyone agreed was fair. She ended up with the second-highest number of points for that game and received a yellow gift bag filled with two rainbow colored bath bombs and a rose scented candle.

The last game was "Mad Lib Vows" and each of them filled in their own silly words on some added blank spaces in a paragraph of traditional wedding vows. When they were finished, each woman read her creation out loud, and some of them were so funny that Paige almost started crying with laughter. When it was her turn, she read hers aloud without feeling shy, and was pleased when many women laughed at the silly answers she'd given.

I feel so included,she thought. Not like an outsider at all. It's wonderful to feel like I'm a part of a community. As she gazed around the room, taking note of the familiar faces that she was coming to love, she realized that for the first time in her life, she felt as though she had a true family.

After the games ended, the women slowly started to get up and say their goodbyes. Before leaving, each of them received two of the beautiful painted coasters, and Caitlin told everyone that the coasters had been Paige's idea.

Josie and Paige stayed until everyone else had left, helping to clean up the dishes and a few forgotten slips of paper from the party games.

"Did you have a fun time?" Josie asked her sister as they stood in the makeshift kitchen, packing up the now-empty containers that they'd brought the cookies in. The kitchen felt hushed and quiet now, almost sleepy, now that the guests had left.

"I did." Paige smiled broadly, answering honestly. "I really did. I had a great time." She didn't know how to explain to Josie all the wonderful things she was feeling, but maybe later when they were having a more quiet, private conversation she'd be able to put everything into words.

Her sister grinned. "I'm so glad!"

"Maybe soon we'll be at another wedding shower," Paige said slyly, snapping the lid of one of the containers back on.

"What do you mean?" Josie looked confused.

"Maybe someday it'll be your shower, when you marry Wesley."

Josie's mouth popped open into a scandalized "O" and her cheeks flushed. Paige crowed with laughter, and for a couple of seconds, both of them were giggling breathlessly.

"Nobody said anything about marriage, we haven't even been on a second date yet—at least not formally." Josie was laughing and her cheeks were still flushed a bright pink.

"Well, you'd better hurry up, then. I need something to make more cookies for."

"I'm pretty sure it won't be hard to find that." Josie winked at her sister. "After today, all kinds of people are going to want to order your cookies."

Paige beamed as they picked up the containers and made their way out of the music school, calling affectionate goodbyes to Caitlin and Alissa as they went.

"Well, maybe," Paige said as they loaded the containers into the trunk. "As long as you don't tell anyone about that ruined first batch. That could really damage my reputation."

Her sister put her hand on her heart. "You have my word of honor."

Giggling, they got in the car and made their way back home.