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our doctor again.”
    “Especially the women,” Kim said, and they laughed. Dr. Tristan Aldredge was a truly beautiful man, with a sweet temperament, and he genuinely cared about people.
    “Who’s that man who keeps staring at you?” Sara asked, looking behind Kim.
    She turned but saw no one she didn’t recognize.
    “He stepped outside just as you turned around,” Sara said.
    “What’s he look like?”
    “Your typical tall, dark, and handsome,” Sara said, smiling. “It looks like his nose has been broken a few times—or maybe I see that in all men since I met Mike.” Her husband was a master of several forms of martial arts.
    “My secret admirer, I guess,” Kim said as she stood up.
    “Is Dave here tonight?”
    “No. He had to cater a wedding in Williamsburg.”
    “That must be difficult for you,” Sara said. “He’s gone every weekend.”
    “But home during the week,” Kim said. “His home, not mine.”
    “Speaking of which, how’s your new house?” Sara asked as she also stood. It hadn’t been easy, but she’d managed to lose the baby weight and now had her slim figure back.
    “Wonderful,” Kim said, and her eyes lit up. “I turned the big garage into a workroom, and Jecca helped me decorate the inside. Lots of color.”
    “Does Dave like it?”
    “He likes my kitchen,” Kim said. “When I get more settled, we’ll have you and your three kids over. But tell Mike he can’t bring his new toy, the backhoe, with him.”
    “I’ll do that.” Smiling, Sara said good-bye and left. The band was returning, and she wanted to get away where she could talk.
    Kim stood there for a moment, looking at the friends and relatives around her. There were also some newcomers in attendance, meaning people who weren’t descended from the seven founding families, and they’d come to see Dr. Tris get married. He was beloved by everyone, and she wondered how many people were there uninvited because they wanted to see Tristan again. He had saved many lives in their small town.
    It had been Kim’s hope that Jecca would marry her brother, Reede, but she’d fallen for Tris almost the day she met him. Because of job changes, Kim’s dream of having her best friend live in the small town of Edilean had been postponed for another few years.
    Kim couldn’t help thinking that by that time she would be almost thirty. I’ll be a statistic, she’d often thought but had said to no one. She was successful in business, but her personal life didn’t seem to be going anywhere.
    The bridal couple had left some time ago—Kim hadn’t caught the bouquet—but some of the guests were hanging around to dance as long as the band played.
    As she walked toward the side of the tent, she again thought how much she wished she could have had a date tonight. She’d met Dave six months before, when she’d gone into Williamsburg to talk to a nervous bride about the rings she and her fiancé wanted. The girl had been maddeningly indecisive and her groom was even worse. Kim had wanted to start giving them orders, but she could do nothing but make strong suggestions.
    After an hour, and still no decisions, the girl’s father had come in, instantly sized up the situation, and told his daughter which rings to get. Kim had looked at him in gratitude.
    When she went out to her car, her way was blocked by a big white truck with BORMAN CATERING written on the side. A good-looking young man came running toward her.
    “Sorry,” he said as he pulled out his keys, but then he saw that the bride’s father had blocked him in. Since the father was locked inside his study on a conference call, Kim and the man had introduced themselves. The first few minutes they’d exchanged complaints about the bride’s inability to make a decision.
    “And her mother is just like her,” Dave said. He was David Borman and he owned the elegant little catering company.
    By the time the father got off the phone and moved his car, she and Dave had a date.