Beautiful Day by Elin Hilderbrand Read Free Book Online Page B

Griffin Wheatley, who was still
     irritating a part of Margot’s mind. (He had looked
great
with the scruff on his face—like Tom Ford or James Denton. Margot had always seen
     him within an hour of his last shave.)
    Margot decided she was simply grateful for the distraction. She had nothing against
     Pauline, Pauline was harmless, Pauline was devoted to their father. So then
why
wasn’t she coming to the wedding?
    And what about Rhonda? Margot wondered. Would Rhonda still come to the wedding? Rhonda
     Tonelli, Pauline’s daughter,was serving as Jenna’s fourth bridesmaid. Jenna hadn’t wanted Rhonda, but their father
     had asked (okay, begged), and since he was paying well into the six figures to make
     this wedding happen, Jenna had acquiesced.
    It would be much better if neither Pauline nor Rhonda came this weekend. Margot felt
     a space open up in her chest where, apparently, anxiety about Pauline and Rhonda had
     been residing like an undiagnosed tumor.
    There would be an uneven number of bridesmaids and groomsmen. Roger might fret about
     that, but who cared?
    Maybe they could find someone to fill in for Rhonda. Jenna had a group of fellow teachers
     from Little Minds coming.
    Margot’s thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the side door. Margot spun around,
     phone in hand. It was Roger.
    “Roger!” Margot said. “I was just thinking about you.”
    Roger blinked. Something was wrong. Had he already heard they might be down a bridesmaid?
    “The tent guys have an issue with the tree,” he said.
    “What tree?” Margot said. “You mean Alfie?”
    Roger swallowed. He was uncomfortable, she knew, calling the tree by a person’s name.
    “I thought we went over all of this,” Margot said. “I thought they could fit the tent
     under Alfie.”
    “They thought so too, Margot,” Roger said. “But that one branch has dropped since
     we measured it in April. It’s dropped a lot.”
    “Shoot,” Margot said. She didn’t have time to deal with another unforeseen snafu.
     It was already six o’clock, she needed to unpack her suitcase and hang up her bridesmaid
     dress, she needed to run to the store for groceries, feed her children, take a shower,
     change, and she had hoped to open a bottle ofchampagne here with Jenna and the girls before their dinner reservation at eight.
     “I’m sure you guys will figure out what to do.”
    “I’ll tell you what we need to do,” Roger said. “If you want the big tent to go up,
     you are going to have to let them cut that branch.”
    “Which branch?” Margot asked. She was relieved that the problem had a solution. Maybe.
     She and Roger walked to the back door together and peered out at Alfie. Margot’s chest,
     which had for a few short, sweet minutes been a wide-open breezeway, now felt like
     it was clogging with cement. “Which branch are you talking about?
Not
the…”
    “The branch with the swing,” Roger said.
    Ellie was still on that swing, twisting then spinning out—just as Margot used to do.
    “No,” Margot said.
    “It’s the only way.”
    “It can’t be the only way.”
    “Look how low that branch is,” Roger said. “Compare it to the rest of the branches.
     The tent guys have a chain saw; they can take it down in ten minutes. It’s really
     not that big, compared to the rest of the tree. The tree will survive.”
    “No,” Margot said. “That branch is… the swing is… they’re important. They’re not going
     anywhere.”
    Roger brought his hand to his mouth. He had been a smoker for thirty years, he’d told
     Margot back in October, when she and Jenna first met him, but he’d quit cold turkey
     after his brother-in-law died of lung cancer.
    “Okay, then,” Roger said. “No tent.”
    “No
tent?
” Margot said.
    “Not the big one you and Jenna picked out,” he said. “It won’t fit. Now, I can ask
     Ande if he can put up a smaller tent closer tothe edge of the bluff. That will cover the bar and dance floor, maybe the