The Single Dad Finds a Wife by Felicia Mason Page B

toward the kitchen.
    Spring laughed and shook her head. One of these days it would dawn on Summer that she always asked the same question about Winter’s hearing, and, knowing her sister, Winter could always anticipate Summer’s next question to whomever was nearby. She didn’t have to actually hear it to know Summer would ask.
    After taking a sip of the espresso, Spring placed the little cup on the coaster on the end table. “What’s going on with Mom and Cameron’s mother?”
    Summer sighed. “Lovie got it into her head that it would be just lovely to have the wedding at the country club and mentioned that to Carol, who just adored the idea of her son getting hitched at a country club.”
    â€œIt’s your wedding. The bride gets to decide.”
    Summer gave her a look, and Spring knew her sister was right. Once Lovie Darling got her mind wrapped around an idea, it was hard to let it go.
    Winter returned with a cup of tea in one hand and a Diet Coke in the other. “If I were evil like you, I’d just toss the can your way,” she told Summer, handing her the soft drink.
    â€œWhat was all that racket if you were making tea?”
    â€œI was trying to use your fancy machine,” Winter said.
    â€œGuess it’ll have to go to the repair shop now,” Summer intoned. The comment earned another grin from Spring.
    â€œLove you, too,” Winter said, settling back on the sofa.
    â€œWe’re thinking about eloping.”
    That earned Summer raised eyebrows from both sisters.
    â€œOh my,” Winter eventually said.
    â€œI know, I know,” Summer said. “Lovie will have a cow. But I’ve had a big wedding before. And Cameron just wants to get married without all the hoopla.”
    â€œThen do it,” Spring advised.
    Summer tucked a foot under her on the chair and bit her bottom lip, then pulled a tube of lip gloss from her shorts pocket and applied it to her mouth. “It feels wrong,” she said. “Like cheating.”
    With the elopement avenue closed, Spring asked, “Have you given either of the mothers a date?”
    She nodded. “Next spring. In May. I like that month. The early flowers are in bloom.”
    â€œMom isn’t paying for anything, is she?” The question, which Spring had just been about to ask, came from Winter.
    â€œGoodness, no,” Summer said. “She and Daddy gave me a wedding already. I wouldn’t hear of it. The engagement party is the concession-slash-compromise,” she said with air quotes, “that we made on that score.”
    Spring bit back a sigh. The engagement party. This was the last thing she’d wanted to talk about.
    â€œYou know,” Summer said, “I wouldn’t be in this bind with her if one of you would bother to find a decent guy to marry.”
    â€œOperative word being
decent
,” Winter said. “My last date was a disaster.”
    â€œWhen’d you go on a date?”
    Winter stuck her tongue out at Summer in answer to the question.
    â€œHe was a decent enough guy,” Spring said. “He just turned rotten when he forgot to tell you about the criminal convictions.”
    â€œWhat?” Summer squeaked. “Why don’t I know this? What happened? Who is he?”
    Spring reached for her espresso. Winter sipped her tea and then calmly said, “How many are on the guest list for the engagement party?”
    Not so easily put off by the tactic, Summer narrowed her eyes at her sisters. “I want to know what’s going on.”
    â€œNothing,” Winter said. “That’s the point. Now, back to your little soiree.”
    Summer sighed. “At the rate you-know-who is going, we’ll need to rent the country club for the engagement party.”
    â€œI thought it was supposed to be at The Compound,” Winter said.
    â€œIt is. In the garden. You know, a nice little backyard garden party. How are you