To: Celeste Beaumont
From: Seraphina Guidry
Re: Proper Attire
Message received. I will report for my personal Beaumont prison garb at the proper time. I have a leopard-print belt bag that goes with everything so I will not need a handbag. I find it so much easier to simply carry everything I need around my waist. Also, I’ve got some sparkly flip-flops I picked up at the Shop Smart that would be great for the whole bridal party. How many should I get? It’s totally on me. I’ve got a coupon.
To: Seraphina Guidry
From: Celeste Beaumont
Re: Proper Attire
I hope you can feel my judgmental stare.
Sera
We need to break up.
Harry
No can do. I’m on the hook for some of these too. I’ve been told if you’re not my date, one will be found. I’m scared of who my aunt will think is proper. And Sera . . . have I mentioned how crazy I am about you?
Sera
Fine. I’ll go, but there better be a foot massage at the end of this because she’s talking about shoes. I don’t suppose she means comfy shoes.
Harry
Absolutely not. If I know her, you will be taller than me by the end of this. And you know I’m the best kisser in the world, but did I mention I won a prize once for my foot massages???
To: Seraphina Guidry
From: Celeste Beaumont
Re: Tips and practical advice
The brunch is coming up soon and I need to give you a few tips on how to handle my daughter’s fiancé’s family. Austin is a lovely young man and it’s easy to think his family must also be as lovely. They are successful and well respected in society. They, like many respected members of our society, have done little to deserve this. Austin’s father has cheated on his mother twelve times. I give you this number because Austin’s mother likes to drink and complain about her cheating husband. Do not look shocked. Simply nod and agree with everything she says and try to switch out her gin with water. At some point she no longer notices the difference. The only safe topics to discuss are the weather and the Saints. Professional sports only. Wear something modest because the elderly aunt believes we’re living in the eighteen hundreds and she will have a fit of the vapors if you present her with too much cleavage. Angela is insisting on wearing pink. Please choose a different color or our side of the party will look like the inside of a Pepto-Bismol bottle. Also, do not wear all black because you’re an adult female and neither attending a funeral, nor are you a nineteen-year-old trying to rebel against your parents by playing at being a vampire. And please convince Harry to wear a collared shirt.
To: Celeste Beaumont
From: Seraphina Guidry
Re: Tips and practical advice
Harry is his own man. You know he needs to feel comfortable and I want to support him in being who he is. Of course, arrangements could be made . . .
To: Seraphina Guidry
From: Celeste Beaumont
Re: Tips and practical advice
If you can get Harry into a collared shirt, I’ll accept kitten heels. Don’t test me further. There will be no rhinestone-encrusted flip-flops.
Sera
Babe, you’re wearing a dress shirt to the brunch and a tux to the wedding. The good news? I think we can get Shep one at the same place. Two for one deal!
Harry
We should talk about this . . .chapter ten“What do you mean you’re invited to brunch with the family?” Hallie asked, her voice hushed in deference to the class going on around them. “With whose family? The Beaumont family?”
Sera moved into downward dog. There was a reason she’d sprung the news on her besties before the class had begun. Every Wednesday morning a group of women gathered in Harte Park for a yoga class. If it was raining, they would move inside the rec center, but she loved the days when they could enjoy the outside. It was peaceful. It was one of the few things she did that was strictly for herself. She found it centered her and allowed her to breathe when it felt like the rest of the world was on fire.
Except not today because she had to meet Celeste in New Orleans. Without Harry. She’d gotten a text from him thirty minutes before that he had some sort of woodworking emergency, and now she had to go and meet his aunt all by herself. She needed the yoga to help center her today.
She was certain yoga would be one of those off-limits things at the Beaumont house. She’d already received several e-mails from Celeste about the brunch next Saturday that included helpful dos and don’ts of attendance.
“To the brunch at Beaumont House?” Sylvie slid in on Sera’s other side. She’d been running late. “Why would you do that? I know you’re dating Harry, but that doesn’t mean you’re a member of the family. Chrishelle Mills dated Cal for two years and never got invited to Beaumont House even once.”