“Flown in?” Alix said. “That’s not the kind of wedding Izzy wants.”
“Nearly everything on the island is flown in or put in a truck then driven onto a ferry. You need to be sure of what your friend wants, and be aware that brides often change their minds. I’ve seen girls come in wanting something simple, then later deciding that they have to have thirty grand’s worth of purple orchids.”
“Thirty …?” Alix picked up a lime; she’d finished the oranges. “I think that kind of thing is for the people who live in the twenty-million-dollar houses.”
“Or more. Right now there’s a house in Polpis asking fifty-nine million.”
Alix could only blink at her.
“What about you?” Toby asked.
“About me, what?”
“What kind of wedding do you want?”
“One with a groom.”
Toby laughed. “But really, you haven’t thought about it?”
“Not the wedding itself, no, but Izzy’s happiness with her fiancé has made me think about things. What about you? You have a man in your life?”
“No one permanent.”
Alix hesitated before she spoke. “I thought maybe you and Jared were … you know.”
“That Jared and I were having an affair?”
Alix kept her eyes on the lime in her hand. “Maybe in the past?”
“Oh, heavens no! Jared’s like a big brother to me. Has he been using me to try to make you jealous?”
“Of course not! We’re not like that at all.” But when she thought about it, she had felt jealous of the way he’d rhapsodized about the angelic Toby. “Maybe he was.” Alix couldn’t help smiling. “Does he have many ex-girlfriends on the island?”
“Not at all. Lexie said there was a girl in high school, but she married his cousin.”
“That could be anyone on the island.”
“Just about. But from what I gather, this particular cousin and Jared don’t have much to do with each other even today. They live in Surfside.”
“I take it that’s on Nantucket?”
“It sounds like you’ve learned that only Nantucket exists.”
Alix laughed. “To Jared, that’s certainly true.”
That afternoon, after Alix left, Lexie returned and the two women discussed what they’d seen and heard.
“She said that?” Lexie asked. “Alix said that she was hoping for some ‘touchy-feely’ time with my testosterone-laden cousin Wes?”
“When it comes to testosterone, I think Jared can probably hold his own,” Toby said.
“If he weren’t tied down by Alix’s father, he could,” Lexie said. “This is not going well.”
“I’m afraid I have to agree,” Toby said. “Who are you calling?”
“Wes. Break out the beer. I’m inviting him over for tea and talk.”
“What are you planning to do?” Toby asked. “I don’t think Jared will like—”