Chapter 669 - Lunch (Sarah and JoAnna)

~ Los Angeles ~

Sarah and JoAnna are in a restaurant, catching up during a meal before they go to Mediterranean villa which Jeffrey and JoAnna call home.

"You are not eating much…", JoAnna observed.

"I had a late breakfast." Sarah smiled.

JoAnna raised one eyebrow and observed Sarah. "It seems things are going well on your side." She didn't miss that her sister is almost glowing.

"Yeah. We are doing great." Sarah glanced at her plate in order to avoid JoAnna's questioning gaze. "Are you sure you don't want anything organized for your birthday?"

"Yes. Absolutely." JoAnna nodded. "With everything else coming so close together, I feel that if I have birthday celebration as well it will be too much and my mind will self-destruct. For birthday it will be Jeff and me. Just the two of us. A bit of peace and quiet in the middle of the storm."

"What storm? Bachelorette party should be organized by your maid of honor…" Sarah didn't miss that JoAnna's eyes started shifting. "Don't tell me you STILL didn't decide who will be your maid of honor?"

"Well… I was thinking Bridgette, since right now we are closest and she is super-sweet, but then I thought that she is already doing so much for me and for this wedding. Having her organize bachelorette's party will be an additional burden. On the other side, there is Jill with whom I spent most of my residency in Seattle and she is more than great. And then there is Ellie, you know she is our best neighbor from back home, and she is awesome, and I get along with her very well. And then there is Millie from here…"

Sarah shook her head in disbelief. "Anna, I understand you have lots of friends, but you need to pick one, and all other ones can be your bridesmaids, right? Except for Millie, I know the other three, and I'm sure that any of them would be delighted to be your maid of honor. Pick one. By delaying, you are giving them trouble. Who can organize a good party for bunch of ruckus-creating-women in less than two weeks?"

"OK. OK. I get it. By end of day today, I will pick one." JoAnna pouted.

"Good. And tell your future maid of honor that I can help if needed. Considering the timelines, she will probably need help."

"On the bright side, wedding preparations are almost done." JoAnna grinned.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Because you have two wedding planners. If it was left to you, no one would get invitations yet… I still didn't see your wedding dress."

"With that attitude, you will get to see it with everyone else on a wedding day!"

Sarah lifted her hands in surrender. "Sorry, sorry… the bachelorette's party is something between us girls, so even if it's not perfect, our awesomeness will make it so. But wedding is more formal… what is still left?"

JoAnna thought for a second while recollecting all the things for the wedding. "You mentioned invitations, they are sent last week. Dresses are ordered, my wedding dress is almost done, and the rest will be ready in a week for final fitting, food and venue are handled by my resort, Julia and Heather are on top of it. We still need to finalize cake, but we booked the bakery, so whatever we pick will be made in time. It will be nice if you join me for cake tasting, they have too many good flavors and I can't decide… what else? ... Resort will be all ours, and every guest who is traveling will have accommodation there. I made sure that you and big sis also have rooms to change and rest if needed… stylists for hair and makeup are booked…"

JoAnna finished giving wedding updates and sipped water.

Sarah was slightly in a daze. "That is a lot of things to think about. For Sophia's wedding mom took over, and I didn't realize that there is so much to do."

"Yeah." JoAnna nodded. "Do you see now? With all this going on, and me putting extra hours into residency, my mind is packed… no wonder I didn't decide on my maid of honor."

Sarah smiled. "Excuses, excuses. Picking one can be done in a second… You talked about resort and wedding, but you didn't mention one person who is in the way. What's the status with Regina?"

JoAnna's mood dropped. She does not want to talk about Regina. "I haven't been to resort in a while, and with all security, she can't get close to me even if she wants to. And honestly, I didn't have time to think about her. She tried getting close to Jeff few times and that resulted in him banning her from White corp. HQ."

Just as JoAnna thought, Sarah was on her case: "Anna, how can you not think about her? She is thinking about you… and if you don't do something in next two weeks, guess who will make a mess at your wedding?"

"She is not invited."

"Do you really think she needs an invitation? She works at the resort." Sarah was not sure if JoAnna is reckless or just lazy to deal with that woman.

"True. I wish she just goes away. I don't have time or energy for her."

Now Sarah confirmed that JoAnna is lazy. "She will not just go away! Anna, I know you have a lot going on. If you keep on postponing this, it will blow up in your face. I'm available to help if needed. And big sis also." Sarah noticed that JoAnna does not want to talk about Regina anymore, and decided to keep this topic for later. She remembered her talk with Sophia from previous evening. "Hey… do you remember Mark?"

JoAnna frowned. "The legal guy?" Sarah nodded and JoAnna's frown deepened. "How can I forget?"

"Guess what Sophia asked me to do for her…" Sarah told JoAnna about the call and how Sophia asked her to confirm if the lady on the video is Katherine.

"Wow! And what did you find?"

"Nothing, yet."

"She called you last night… and you still have nothing?" JoAnna's curious gaze switched to teasing one when she saw that Sarah is blushing.

"I was… busy." Sarah admitted.

"How busy can you get? You were staying home, right?"

Sarah can tell that JoAnna enjoys teasing her. Yes, she spent one super-hot-and-steamy night with Aiden, but she can't make herself to say that to her sister. She smiled while avoiding eye contact with JoAnna. "Busy enough so that I didn't even start looking into that."

JoAnna laughed. "I see you two are doing great."

JoAnna can tell that Sarah does not want to talk about it, and that she is uncomfortable. Well, it's not like JoAnna does not have an idea what that 'busy' means.

JoAnna shook her head helplessly and stayed on the serious topic: "Let me know what you find… if it turns out it's the same woman, that means someone orchestrated quite a play. And we need to find out why. Mark is from a good family, so you might think that she set him up to get married and live well. But considering that she disappeared from his life, living well with him was not her motive. This truly is mysterious."

Sisters chatted a bit more while finishing lunch and then they headed to the Mediterranean villa followed by two cars with bodyguards.