Chapter Text
Claire grabs a beer from the ice bucket and walks back into the main room. The sun has just set and other guests are also wandering downstairs to kick off the festivities.
Looking around, she smiles at the warm greetings a few of the guests are giving each other, clearly old friends or family members who haven’t seen each other in a while. Her friend Gwendolyn flits around taking pictures of the newcomers.
Everyone has taken seriously the instructions to dress up for a party. There are a lot of bright colors and sleek dresses along with designer jeans and expensively casual menswear. Gwen, camera in hand, wears a wispy, floral party dress that floats around her when she twirls. Claire has opted for fitted jeans and a shiny, black strapless top. She’s pulled her hair back into a neat bun to keep herself cool in the balmy night and opted to keep her makeup to a minimum so she won’t have to touch it up. Plus, although there are only a few people about at the early hour, she knows it’ll get more crowded and heated as the night goes on.
She admires the decorations around her, minimal but still festive. She doesn’t know anyone here but Gwen and her sister, so it’s nice to have the quiet of a mostly empty room to start the night. She’ll probably spend the majority of it making small talk.
Technically, she’s Gwen’s unintended “plus one” to her older sister’s wedding out here in a private and very posh estate in Santa Barbara. Claire’s main role was helping Gwen make the drive from the Bay Area to Santa Barbara. She’d hurt her foot a few months ago, and her doctor recommended against doing the entire drive herself. She’d had a ton of stuff to bring to help decorate and serve as the official photographer. The family wanted to splurge on a venue that would be a relaxing mini-vacation for the guests. Most of the details they could handle themselves to keep it low-key.
The original plan had Claire dropping Gwen off and then borrowing her car to stay in town at an Airbnb. But there’d been a last-minute cancellation, and since everything was already paid for, Gwen and her sister, Emma, insisted she attend and stay at the estate with the rest of them. She wouldn’t know anyone, but Emma and Gwen assured her that everyone was nice, even her future husband’s goofball friends. Claire thought it would nice, too, and she offered to lend a hand with the decorating and setting up.
That’s how she’d spent most of the afternoon – and it had been a lot of fun. The handful of early arrivals – Gwen and Emma’s parents, Emma’s fiancé and his mom, and a few friends – had all been sweet and welcoming. They’d set up the evening party room in no time, which left plenty of time for Claire to explore the beautiful grounds and then return to shower and change for the festivities.
Many of the guests – mostly the younger crowd – would be arriving tonight and joining them throughout the evening for a buffet-style meal, drinking, music, and general partying. More of the family would be arriving early the next day, and they’d have the chance to relax and enjoy the grounds and peacefulness of the estate before the formal dinner. The actual wedding ceremony would be early Sunday morning, the couple wanting to get married at sunrise.
Claire welcomes the time spent away from San Jose and with people she mostly doesn’t know. There are a lot of things that weigh on her back home these days, mostly having to do with her future. She’ll be finishing up her last year of residency soon, and she has some big decisions to make.
Last week, she’d been offered a permanent position at St. Bonaventure, not surprising given her status as Chief Resident. But this week, she’d received additional offers at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco. She’d applied months ago mostly to get Morgan off her case – her former co-resident claimed to be living vicariously through Claire.
Yet here she is now with major options. And her options seem desirable for very unexpected reasons than when she’d started her residency. Maybe it’s time to move on.
From St. Bonaventure.
From San Jose.
From Dr. Neil Melendez.
She hates to be such a cliché, running from a doomed relationship – or non-relationship in her case. But she can’t lie to herself about how much things have changed since that night he walked away from her at the end of her third year.
Claire takes a sip of her beer and decides she doesn’t need to go down that dark path in her thoughts. This weekend is supposed to be one of relaxation and escape, and she’s determined to enjoy herself. That’s the best way to get into the mindset of making a good decision when she returns to San Jose.
“Hey, I hear the groomsmen arrived a little while ago,” Gwen says, looping her arm with Claire’s as she leads them to the bar area.
“Is that a good or a bad thing?” Claire asks.
“Eh, that’s a good question. If you’re talking about my cousin Joey, then definitely bad. He’ll be fun but annoying. His girlfriend is nice, though. Don’t know how he managed that catch.”
“Oh right! You mentioned that your sister met Tony at one of his parties. Makes sense that he’s a groomsman.”
“Unfortunately. Tony’s brother is the best man and Brandon is fine. Boring but good-looking. Maybe that’s your type,” she jokes, nudging Claire as she makes herself a shot of tequila. “The other groomsmen are two more college friends. They had to even it out with me and my other sisters in the wedding party.”
Claire chuckles, watching as one of said sisters, Genie, descends the stairs and waves before heading the opposite direction. She hasn’t seen Margo or Lily yet. All three she’d only met a few hours ago. “There are a lot of you,” she says.
“Indeed. I’ve never met the other guys. They’re Joey’s age so older than us and off the market, I think. One of them is married and bringing his wife, and the other is apparently really grumpy.” Gwen downs her shot and rejoices at the flavor of it. “I swear, it never gets old that Emma’s marrying into money. This is some top shelf liquor.”
“I know!” Claire gushes. “Everything is so nice. I went walking, earlier and the grounds are beautiful.”
“The thing is you’d never know it talking to Tony. He hadn’t planned on developing an app that’s made him a bajillion dollars, but there you go.”
“Why all the DIY then?”
Gwen rolls her eyes, and gestures for Claire to follow her as she heads toward the voices in the front of the beautiful house. A few people are finally drifting into the room to check out the bar and wait for dinner to start. Both women wave as they pass by.
“That’s Emma’s doing. Tony wanted it all catered, but she and my mom and sisters like the DIY stuff. It makes her feel as if she’s contributing. And I don’t know, I kind of like that it’s a little bit homespun and humble.”
Claire nods. “I agree. It’s been fun.”
They approach a crowd of people in the sitting room, some of them familiar to Claire such as the groom, Tony, and some of his family. Most are new to her, though. They must have had time to settle in and change since everyone is in their party clothes. Most of the guys are wearing jeans or khakis with dress shirts or light pullovers to accommodate the warm weather. Maybe Gwen is right and there’ll be someone here worth a casual flirtation. She’s not remotely interested in casual sex or god-forbid a relationship. But flirting sounds like fun.
Gwen squeezes herself into the crowd, camera at the ready and immediately she’s greeted by a boisterous man who gives her a big hug. The annoyance tinged with humor tells Claire that this is her cousin Joey. Claire stands at the entrance with her beer content to watch from the periphery.
Joey cracks a few jokes at Gwen’s expense and then introduces her around. Gwen, in turn, introduces Claire who meets Joey and his girlfriend Katie, another groomsman Miguel and his wife Tasha, and a few more family members on the groom’s side. The best man, Brandon, joins the group, and Claire laughs to herself at his good looks and shy demeanor. As she’s exchanging pleasantries with the groom’s mother, another person enters the room.
“Finally,” Joey says. “God-forbid you make an entrance that’s anything less than impeccable. Man, you are so predictable.”
“Don’t hate the player, hate the game,” a new but familiar voice calls out. He moves to embrace the groom and they gave each other a big man-hug.
Tony laughs. “You even smell good! Stop showing the rest of us up.”
Claire turns towards the entrance with dread to confirm the incredible travesty unfolding for her weekend.
Standing in the middle of the room, looking devastatingly gorgeous in jeans and a fitted long-sleeved crewneck shirt, is the last person she wants to see.
Neil Melendez.
TBC...