The Best Laid Wedding Plans
by Lynnette Austin
Genre: Contemporary Romance
SOME DREAMS ARE WORTH WHATEVER IT TAKES
Jenni Beth Beaumont left her broken heart behind when she took her dream job in Savannah. But after her brother's death, Jenni Beth returns home to help mend her parents' hearts as well as restore their beautiful but crumbling antebellum mansion. New dreams take shape as Jenni Beth sets to work replacing floors and fixing pipes to convert the family homestead into the perfect wedding destination. However, some folks in their small Southern town are determined to see her fail.
old turmoil is brought to the surface and Cole and Jenni Beth will have to work through some painful memories and tough realities before they can set their pasts aside and have a second chance at their own happily ever after.
Character Interview
Cole, I’m so glad you could stop
by for a visit today. I know between your architectural salvaging company and
your renovation work out at Magnolia House, you’re incredibly busy!
Cole:
Are you kidding me? I’m happy to be here. It gives me a chance to put my boots
up and catch my breath.
Do you mind if I ask you a few
questions?
Cole:
You do know I grew up in Misty Bottoms, Georgia, right? Coming from a small
town, a person doesn’t have any secrets—at least not for long. The second I sat
down at Jenni Beth’s table in Dee-Ann’s Diner, the tongues started waggin’. My
guess is that half the town knows exactly how many sips I stole from her sweet
tea and how many times she told me to go away. (He winks.) She didn’t mean it,
though. She always did have a thing for me—until I screwed it up, anyway.
Does that bother you?
Cole:
Which? That I messed up with Jenni Beth? Oh, yeah. Or that everybody in town
knows my business? Truthfully, sometimes. I mean, it would be easier fallin’
flat on your face without an audience. But those same people would be the first
to lend a hand to help me up, so…Guess it all goes with the territory. There’re
no greater people in the world than right here in the Low Country.
I’m sure readers are wondering
how in the world you ended up in a book.
Cole
(laughing): Honestly? I have no idea. There’s nothing special about me. Now,
Jenni Beth? Besides being the most gorgeous thing on two feet, that woman is a
dynamo. She’s got two degrees and is dead-set on saving this entire town.
How’s that?
Cole:
Misty Bottoms, like a lot of small Southern towns, has fallen on hard times. By
starting a wedding destination business at Magnolia House, she’s hopin’ to jumpstart
the town again. Personally, my money’s on her. Did I mention the woman’s out-of-this-world
beautiful?
I think you might have, yes. What
was the hardest day of your life?
Cole(his
smile disappearing): The day I got word my best pal Wes, Jenni Beth’s brother,
had died in the line of duty. And because I’d made such a mess of things, she
wouldn’t—or maybe couldn’t—let me comfort her. I’d give anything to change
that.
Let’s talk about something
lighter. You’re getting ready for a night out. Where are you going? What will
you wear?
Cole: I’d
take my best girl dancin’. Jenni Beth and I’d no doubt stop by Duffy’s Pub,
then I’d try to sweet talk her into heading to my converted barn for some
under-the-stars dancing. What’ll I wear? (He shakes his head.) You women and
your clothes. It depends. Here in Misty Bottoms, I’d dig out my Sunday jeans
and a long-sleeved white shirt. (He blushes.) My mom does my laundry when I’m in
town. In Savannah, I’d probably swap the jeans for a pair of dark dress pants.
You spend a lot of your time in
Savannah, don’t you?
Cole:
Yep, it’s where my business, Traditions, is. I’ve got an apartment there. Two
different worlds, but I feel equally at home in both. By the way, for anyone
who hasn’t been to Savannah, you owe it to yourself to come on down. It just
might be the most beautiful city in the world—and I do mean that.
I have to ask. What exactly does
an architectural salvager do?
Cole:
Short answer? I preserve the past. A lot of magnificent homes have been let go
to the point they can’t be saved…or somebody likes a location but not the house.
Other times, it’s an old bank or a business. The handcrafting in those places
is unsurpassed. Before they meet the wrecking ball, I save parts of them. I
remove the crown molding, the doors, the old columns…sinks, doorknobs, you name
it. They can be used again in a restored home or in a new one, blending the
past with the present.
Jenni
Beth: He found the most fantastic chandelier for my office! It’s a pink cherub
with lots and lots of crystals.
Cole:
(Wide-eyed, he jumps up from his chair, a grin spreading at the sight of Jenni
Beth in skinny jeans and a lacy halter top.) When did you get here?
Jenni
Beth: A couple questions ago. It’s been interesting eavesdropping on the two of
you.
Anything you want to add, Jenni
Beth?
Jenni
Beth: Cole makes me so much more multi-dimensional. I tend to go all business.
But then he shows up on his Harley, and we take off on the back roads, have
some good Southern barbecue, and get away from it all. I’d never have guessed
I’d enjoy it so much.
Cole
(winks): It’s ’cause you’re with me.
Jenni
Beth: Did I mention how modest and unassuming Cole is? (She laughs)
Do you like the way The Best Laid Wedding Plans ended, Cole?
Cole:
Hell, yeah. It’s a romance. I’m assuming I get the girl…and a happy-ever-after.
J
He
looks at Jenni Beth, who sends him a cat-and-mouse smile.
Cole: I
do get the girl, don’t I?
Jenni
Beth: Time for us to go.
With
that, holding hands, she and Cole say their good-byes. Watching them leave, I
sip my sweet tea and marvel at how this guy fills out his jeans. I hope you can
join Cole, Jenni Beth, and me in Misty Bottoms, Georgia, for The
Best Laid Wedding Plans, book one in my new Magnolia Brides series.
The luxury of staying home when the
weather turns nasty, of working in PJs and bare feet, and the fact that
daydreaming is not only permissible but encouraged, are a few of the reasons
middle school teacher Lynnette Austin gave up the classroom to write full-time.
Lynnette grew up in Pennsylvania’s Alleghany Mountains, moved to Upstate New
York, then to the Rockies in Wyoming. Presently she and her husband divide
their time between Southwest Florida’s beaches and Georgia’s Blue Ridge
Mountains. A finalist in RWA's Golden Heart Contest, PASIC's Book of Your Heart
Contest, and Georgia Romance Writers' Maggie Contest, she’s published five
books as Lynnette Hallberg. Having grown up in a small town, that’s where her
heart takes her—to those quirky small towns where everybody knows
everybody...and all their business, for better or worse.
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