going to miss us.”
“I’m going to go look at the radar,” Eve said. She hurried out of the kitchen.
When she came back a few minutes later, she seemed somewhat relieved. “I think it’s going to go east of us,” she said. “But I’m going to be keeping an eye on the sky all day anyway.”
“You don’t want to spend your wedding day doing that,” Sam told her. “Tell you what—you let me watch the weather for you. I see as much as one snowflake, I’ll come tell you right away.”
“You promise?”
Carolyn said, “Oh, good grief, what does it matter? It’s not like you can
do
anything about it.”
Eve glared at her for a second, then said, “Thank you, Sam. I appreciate that, and I’m glad someone around here cares about my special day.”
Carolyn opened her mouth to say something else, but Phyllis made a warning gesture and mouthed,
Let it go.
“Breakfast is almost ready,” Phyllis said. “Let’s sit down and enjoy it.”
They did, and the brief moment of friction was soon forgotten. Phyllis didn’t blame Eve for being nervous. Even under the absolute best of circumstances, a wedding was a stressful affair.
Sam kept his promise, checking the weather forecast frequently during the morning and also going outside to study the sky. After Mike arrived and they had moved the big television out of the living room, he checked the one in his bedroom. By noon all the furniture had been moved, the floor was clean, and chairs were set up. Although the overcast continued, no precipitation had fallen in Weatherford as far as Phyllis knew. It had been sleeting in Dallas for a couple of hours, and that big city would soon be paralyzed by icy roads.
“The airport’s still okay,” Sam reported to Phyllis after a check online. “No cancellations, no delays. Looks like the slick stuff just missed it, and by tomorrow this storm system will be gone. Things are gonna work out for Eve and Roy.”
“That’s good news. Every time I looked out the window I was afraid I’d see snow falling.”
Sam grinned. “Well, earlier I saw a snowflake here and there, but it only lasted for a few minutes.”
“And you didn’t tell her?” Phyllis asked, her eyes widening.
“Didn’t see any point in it. They were so few and far between that they didn’t amount to anything. And they melted as soon as they hit the ground.” Sam shook his head. “We’re not gonna have a white New Year’s, which is fine with me.”
“Me, too.”
“How’s the cake?”
“In the freezer. That’ll make it easier to frost, but it’s perfect so far.”
“That’s just what I figured,” Sam said.
Mike had left as soon as they had gotten all of the heavy furniture out, so Phyllis, Carolyn, and Sam cleaned and decorated the living room. After cutting a piece off, Carolyn gave Sam a roll of white tulle and some lights and told him to go decorate the staircase banister. He looked a bit worried but took the roll and lights and headed toward the staircase.
Phyllis used the smaller piece to decorate the mantel by draping the nylon tulle and weaving white lights through the tulle along the length of the fireplace. She pinned it in place with pushpins and double-stick tape. Carolyn placed votive candles in holders across the mantel as Phyllis put an arrangement of flowers at one end of the mantel and tapers in holders at the other end.
They created an altar by covering a rectangular table with a white tablecloth. In the center they placed a flower arrangement like the one on the mantel, and tapers in holders sat at each end.
As they were putting bows on the backs of the chairs, Carolyn commented that maybe she should have given this chore to Sam. After they finished, they went to check on his progress.
He had draped the tulle tied with ribbon up the banister with the lights inside the material and was just checking the lights as they came up. He smiled when Carolyn looked at his work and gave him a nod of approval. They added a