Read Online The Perfect Ingredient (Dare Valley) by Ava Miles - Free Book Online

of honor might not be here yet, but my sisters are, and we’ll protect you from doing something stupid.”
    Soon they were standing with Moira and Caroline Hale, drinking wine and moaning over the food.
    “I’m going to have to eat salads for the rest of the week,” Caroline said.
    “Oh, for heaven’s sake, you’re a size six. What in the world are you worried about?” Jill said, slinging her arm around her cousin as she joined the group. “I’m up to a size eight after the twins, and you don’t see me complaining.”
    “It’s because your boobs are like milk jugs now,” Natalie told her.
    Elizabeth almost spewed out her white wine. This was the second time Natalie’s directness had thrown her for a loop.
    Moira peered at Jill’s awesome breasts. “You don’t need a padded bra right now, that’s for sure.”
    “Like I ever did.” Jill socked her. “Stop staring at my chest, Mo.”
    “I’m just jealous. How can we even be related?” She pointed to her own flat chest.
    Terrance had to have special male hearing, the kind able to signal that women were talking about breasts, because he made a beeline for their group.
    Natalie grabbed her hand. “Let’s go talk to my Uncle Arthur for a while.”
    “Okay,” Elizabeth said, letting Natalie drag her over to Arthur Hale, who sat at the head of a table with Natalie’s mom and the women Matt had dubbed his Easter Brigade, three sweet elderly ladies who dressed only in pastels and were the first volunteers on his campaign.
    Arthur leaned back in his chair. “Well, if it’s not the other Harvard Smarty Pants.”
    She leaned down and kissed his weathered cheek. It was his nickname for Jane, chosen to send a message to everyone in town that he approved of his future great niece-in-law. Elizabeth was grateful he’d extended the honor to her. Even though he was in his late seventies, the Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist still ran his legendary newspaper, The Western Independent , with help from his granddaughter, Meredith, and her husband, Tanner.
    “Hello, Arthur,” she said and nodded to everyone else with a soft smile.
    “Young Matthew had better show up soon, or I’ll be dozing off through his acceptance speech. We old people have earlier bed times, right, Joanie?” Arthur asked the woman sitting beside him, who was dressed in a lovely pale pink.
    “Speak for yourself, old man,” she told him.
    “Amen,” the other women chimed in.
    “Matt had a special surprise for Jane,” April told them. “He knows her dad’s old election parties were hard on her. He didn’t want her to get caught up in bad memories, so he took her and the dogs for a walk at their park at sunset, and since the day was nice and warm, he brought a picnic for them to enjoy.”
    “Is my brother the best man in the world or what?” Natalie asked, and Elizabeth had to agree.
    At that moment, the guests started to clap and whistle, and Elizabeth saw Jane and Matt jog in together through the crowd, holding hands and grinning like the world lay at their feet.
    She joined in the revelry as the couple climbed the raised dais at the back of the restaurant. Matt kissed Jane sweetly and looked into her eyes a moment before he picked up the mike.
    “I just heard the news from my campaign manager,” Matt told the audience. “It’s official. We won the primary! Get ready for November, folks!”
    Everyone broke into applause, and this time, people shouted their happiness from the crowd, including Natalie, who now had her arms wrapped around her mom.
    “This primary wasn’t what anyone in Dare Valley was expecting. Heck, even I didn’t know how it would go when I decided to run for mayor. Then I met my beautiful, talented, and awe-inspiring fiancé, Jane Wilcox. We weathered a pretty serious storm together, and I’m so proud she stood beside me. I’m even prouder that we never once lowered ourselves to the opposition’s negative campaign tactics.”
    The cheers were so loud,