by Gina Wilkins
Alexis laughed and returned the hug. “The wedding hasn’t even started yet. I just hope nothing goes wrong.”
Her friend and client waved a hand dismissively. “As long as everyone has a good time and Ted and I leave here legally married, I’ll be happy. And I’m so glad you agreed to sing for us at the reception. I used to love to hear you sing in all those high school performances.”
Thinking of all the years of training, practice and performances since those high school programs, Alexis smiled somewhat wryly. Performing at weddings was not something she wanted to make a habit of, but because Josie was an old friend and had been such an enthusiastic client, she’d agreed to do a number at the reception party.
“Oh, and there’s one other thing.”
Something about Josie’s engaging smile and innocently widened eyes put Alexis instantly on alert. “What?”
“Ted has a really cute friend. Single. Makes good money. A great guy, and not bad-looking, either.”
“Josie—”
“Anyway,” the bride hurried on, “he’s coming to the wedding, and I told him all about you. He’s really looking forward to meeting you.”
“Josie, really. I’m going to be very busy during the wedding and the reception. You’ve entrusted me to make sure everything behind the scenes goes smoothly, which involves a lot of supervision and coordination. I’ll be too busy to spend much time with any one guest—even if I were interested in a fix-up. Which I’m not, by the way,” she added firmly, wondering why everyone suddenly seemed so determined to match her up with someone.
Josie winked impishly. “Well, I’m going to introduce you, anyway. Who knows, it could be love at first sight.”
Alexis didn’t even believe in love at first sight, though as a wedding planner it was probably best that she not mention her romantic cynicism. “I’ll be much too busy for that today,” she said instead, with an airy laugh. “And speaking of which, you should be getting ready while I take care of a few last-minute details.”
“Okay, I’m going.” Josie waved to her mother and bridesmaids, who were also urging her to start getting ready. Never the type to hurry when ambling was so much more fun, she headed toward the dressing room, though Alexis noted she stopped several times along the way to exchange hugs and greetings with arriving friends.
With a little sigh, Alexis pulled out her tablet computer to go over her checklist one last time before the start of the wedding. She hoped Josie would be too distracted by the festivities to go through with her matchmaking threat.
She found herself glancing in the direction of Logan’s cottage, realized what she was doing, then sternly turned her attention back to her responsibilities.
* * *
Logan generally stayed out of sight during a wedding or other event, emerging again afterward to start cleaning up. Usually he and Ninja sat in his living room with a seasonal sporting event on the TV while he worked on his computer. Kinley had asked him to make a few upgrades to the inn’s website, and he had another project looming for his part-time consulting work. Today, however, he found himself unable to concentrate fully on software. Even Ninja paced the floor, looking out the windows and sighing occasionally.
Finally conceding to their mutual restlessness, he snapped a sturdy leash on Ninja’s collar. “Let’s go for a walk,” he said, reaching for his jacket. “But behave yourself.”
The dog grinned up at him with a deceptively innocent expression.
Surrounded by woods, with a creek rushing just beyond the roomy fenced yard, Logan’s two-bedroom cottage was downhill on the east side of the inn. His one-car garage was accessed by a narrow private drive leading off the main road. A rough path through the woods connected with the six-mile hiking trail that started at the back of the inn’s grounds. Weather permitting, Logan and Ninja walked that trail nearly every day, usually early mornings before he started working around the grounds.
Though he tended to be an early riser and woke ready to get going, he tried to make himself and his crew wait until nine to tackle any noisy projects out of consideration for later-sleeping inn guests. He hadn’t had time for a long walk this morning, so he figured they might as well stretch their legs now while the wedding and reception were under way.
Pleased to be outside with him, Ninja trotted beside him, sniffing the air and ground, policing this land he considered his own. The black-and-brown dog had shown up on Logan’s doorstep one winter morning more than a year ago, cold, wet and hungry. He’d been little more than an overgrown pup then, maybe a year old, a few pounds shy of the large size he’d attained since. There hadn’t been a collar or an ID chip, but Logan had dutifully searched for an owner, anyway. By the time he’d concluded that no one seemed to be looking for the stray, Logan had bonded with the mutt.
He hadn’t even known he wanted a dog at the time, probably would have declined if anyone had tried to give him one, but now he couldn’t imagine making these walks alone again. “Quirky sense of humor” and all, Ninja belonged with him. The dog made it clear he felt the same way, seemingly content to stay in the fenced yard—most of the time—while Logan worked, and happily by his side before and afterward.
From a clearing at a high point on the path from his house to the main hiking trail, Logan could see the grounds of the inn spread below him, especially this time of year before the trees completely filled with leaves. He liked to pause here on his walks to survey his property—well, a third his, anyway.
He’d always known he and his sisters would inherit this place someday. Their mother’s uncle Leo had told them so from the time they were just kids, since they were the only heirs to the Finley family legacy. Logan and his sisters had spent nearly every holiday and most summers here at the inn growing up, especially after his mom’s parents in Tennessee died, and Uncle Leo had always put them to work around the place—not that they had minded, since he’d always made it fun.
Still, Logan had never thought he’d end up as caretaker here. He’d trained in computer sciences, started his own business—with a partner he’d trusted implicitly at the time—and figured that when the inn eventually became his, he’d either sell his third to his sisters or remain a silent partner. There had never been any question that Bonnie would run the inn someday. It had been her goal since childhood, and something she’d worked and trained for since. Kinley was a natural-born saleswoman, a trait that had served her well in the real estate business and now came in handy as she hustled business for the inn.
As for himself, he had a talent for computers, was good with his hands and had always been mechanically minded. Bonnie teased him about being a “Renaissance man.” With his previous business ending painfully not long before Uncle Leo died, he’d thrown all his skills and talents into renovations and maintenance, surprisingly finding refuge in his cottage and solace in the hard work and challenges of the inn. He had his family, his dog, his health, his truck. All in all, he was a lucky man. Wouldn’t change a thing.
Standing there high among the shadows, he hadn’t realized he was searching for Alexis among the milling crowd below until he spotted her. Dressed in her favorite bold red, with her dark hair gleaming in the afternoon sun, she stood out from the pastel-clad wedding guests—at least to his eyes.
The wedding ceremony had ended, and everyone had moved to the side lawn for the reception. The guests mingled around the food tables, sat in the folding chairs that had been carried up from the wedding rows, gathered around the happy bride and groom. A few hovered close to the area heaters, though Logan found the cool temperature comfortable enough in his jacket. The cheery bluegrass music being played by the quartet on the farm-wagon stage drifted up to where he stood, making his boot tap in time. This was the kind of wedding he could endorse. Low-key, comfortable, not overly decorated, but making good use of the beautiful setting provided by nature and Bride Mountain Inn.
He spotted Kinley working the crowd and Bonnie bustling near the food tables, but his attention turned almost immediately back to Alexis. She looked really good. Maybe before the weekend was over, he could tell her so. And he hoped his hands were on her when he did.
Ninja whined a little and moved toward the party, causing Logan to tighten his grip on the leash. “We’ll see her later,” he promised, as much to himself as the dog.
He was just about to turn away and continue his walk when something made him stop. He watched with a scowl as the bride—Alexis’s old school friend Josie—all but dragged a tall, somewhat lanky man over to Alexis and waved her expressive hands as if to indicate introductions. Even from this distance, it seemed obvious to Logan that an attempted fix-up was under way. Josie was doing everything but linking their hands together. He was grimly pleased when Alexis moved away only a few short minutes later. She walked toward the makeshift stage and he lingered to see if she was going to make some sort of announcement. He could just hear her voice from where he stood.
“Josie and Ted have asked me to perform one of their favorite songs as we celebrate their marriage today,” she announced. “It’s from Josie’s favorite animated movie and Broadway show, The Lion King.”
Alexis had mentioned a couple of times that she’d studied music. That she’d performed occasionally since college, though she’d always been deliberately vague about when or where. He knew she’d lived in New York. She’d told him she supported herself primarily by working for florists, where she’d added to her experience in wedding planning begun in her mother’s flower shop. Now, listening to her sing, he suspected she had deliberately downplayed the role music had played in her life before he’d met her.
She was good. Damn it, she was better than good, he thought with a hard swallow. She was amazing. Her clear, beautifully modulated voice wafted on the air to where he stood, and he could feel the power of it rippling through him. He stood transfixed, Ninja very still at his side, until the last note faded. The guests on the lawn applauded loudly, almost mobbing Alexis when she turned the program back over to the bluegrass band and stepped down from the wagon-stage, hiding her almost entirely from his view. He saw the tall, lanky man slip into the throng and make his way toward the center and the crowd parted just enough for Logan to see him reach Alexis’s side, place a hand on her shoulder and smile down at her.
He turned away. He thought he saw a flash of white in the underbrush to his right, but when he looked that way, nothing was there. Either he’d imagined it, or it had been a bird or squirrel or deer. Quite a few types of wildlife made Bride Mountain their home, and Logan had never minded sharing, despite Bonnie’s fussing about the critters getting into her garden.
He had to give a slight tug on Ninja’s leash to get him moving in a direction opposite where Alexis was. For some reason, neither of them was quite as enthusiastic about the walk as they had been when they’d started.
* * *
An hour after the official end of the wedding reception, much of the cleanup had been completed. All the guests had departed except for the few who would be spending the night in the inn, all of whom had gone inside now that the event had ended. Alexis made sure all her vendors had done their part in the clearing away. Logan and two of his crew had already taken down most of the decorations. The bride’s family had lingered after the newlyweds made their dramatic departure in a gaily bedecked convertible to load up all the gifts and the decor items Josie wanted to keep. The last carload had just been driven off.
Alexis was almost ready to leave herself. She looked around to make sure there was nothing left for her to do.
Kinley approached her with a big smile. “Everything went very well, didn’t it? I’ve heard nothing but compliments from the guests I’ve spoken with.”
“It was a great wedding,” Alexis agreed. “There were a few minor glitches, but that’s to be expected, and the guests weren’t even aware of most of them. Josie thought it was hysterically funny when the flower girl tried to take off her dress during the ceremony because it ‘itched her neck.’”
“Are you kidding?” Kinley laughed. “Everyone thought that was adorable, except for maybe the flower girl’s mother.”
“Okay, the wagon’s hooked to the truck and on its way back to the farm where it belongs,” Logan reported, approaching them with what Alexis thought of as his stern “work face.” “Everything else should be cleared away in another hour or so.”
She bit her lip against a smile. She’d watched Logan fret about the placement of the wagon prior to the wedding and then supervise its removal afterward. He and his guys had carefully pushed the wagon by hand, as he’d refused to allow a truck or tractor on his grounds. Despite his complaints, he’d set it up beautifully, meticulously arranging the flowers and garlands to decorate it, and there had been many rave reviews from admiring guests.
“The grounds looked absolutely beautiful today,” she said, including both Logan and Kinley in the warm praise. “This continues to be one of my favorite wedding venues.”
Kinley, of course, preened a little. Logan nodded in acknowledgment of the compliment.
“Oh, and by the way,” Kinley said, reaching out to touch Alexis’s arm, “I was blown away by the song you performed at the reception. I had no idea you could sing like that! Logan, you should have heard her. Her voice is beautiful.”
“Actually, I did hear her.”
Alexis was startled, and Kinley looked surprised, as well. “Where were you? I didn’t see you at the reception.”
He shook his head. “Ninja and I were taking a walk,” he explained, motioning toward the wooded rise beyond the gardens. “We could hear from the trail. You sounded good, Alexis.”
She had no problem singing before an audience. She’d been doing so since she was just a kid. She hadn’t been at all nervous climbing onto the wagon to sing for Josie’s guests. Yet knowing that Logan had been listening from afar suddenly made her feel self-conscious. “Thank you. I don’t really want to be known as a wedding singer, but I couldn’t turn Josie down.”
“You were better than good,” Kinley said with a shake of her head toward her brother. “You mentioned once that you studied music in school?”
Alexis nodded. “I earned a master’s in music from the Johns Hopkins Peabody Institute.”
“Wow,” Kinley said simply.
A quick crease of his eyebrows was Logan’s only outward reaction, but still she could tell she had surprised him. “But you decided to plan weddings, instead.”
It wasn’t a question, since the answer was obvious. Still, she could tell he didn’t really understand the path that had brought her here. She answered lightly, making sure she addressed her reply to both siblings. “You should both know by now that I like being in charge. I didn’t get that when I was scrambling from one audition to another in New York, trying to get in enough hours at the florist shop to pay the rent. I’m much happier being my own boss—while still making my clients happy, of course. I’ve combined my training in stagecraft and performance with my experience in the floral shops to organize memorable weddings and other events, and I think it’s all worked out very well.”
“You’re a very talented wedding planner,” Kinley said immediately, then asked curiously, “When you say auditions...did you perform in New York? Like, on Broadway?”
Increasingly uncomfortable with discussing her past in front of Logan and trying at the same time to hide her connection to him from his sister, Alexis laughed softly. “More usually in choruses off-Broadway. Or off-off-Broadway. Needless to say, there are thousands of talented singers in New York waiting tables and working retail and arranging flowers. I guess I just didn’t have the fierce drive necessary to climb over them all to the top.”
Logan studied her face while Kinley voiced the question they were both probably thinking. “You don’t miss t
he spotlight?”
It rather surprised her how long she hesitated before answering, “No, not really.”
Shaking her head, she glanced at her watch, realizing how dim the light had become. “I should be going. Again, thank you both for another great collaboration.”
Kinley patted her arm. “You, too, Alexis. Maybe we can do lunch someday soon. Sometime before the next event, perhaps.”
“Lunch sounds nice. I’ll be out of town at a seminar most of this week,” she said without looking at Logan, “but I’ll call you sometime after I get back to set up a time.”
“I’d like that.”
Alexis then glanced at Logan. “Thank you again for all your hard work, Logan. And please extend my appreciation to your crew.”
He nodded. “I’ll do that. Bye, Alexis.”
She couldn’t seem to return the goodbye. She merely smiled and turned away, instead.
* * *
Alexis opened her front door early Sunday evening and immediately found her arms filled with wiggling, whining dog, her face being bathed by an eager tongue. Staggering backward, she laughed, turned her face to one side to avoid having doggy kisses land on her mouth and fended him off. “Hello to you, too, Ninja.”
Sighing in exasperation, Logan hauled his dog off her. “Ninja, down! Down.”
The dog responded immediately to his owner’s stern tone, but he didn’t look notably abashed when he dropped to all fours. Tail wagging, he ambled over to the couch, where his feline friend waited to greet him with purrs and head butts.
“Sorry,” Logan said as he entered. “I try to teach him manners, but he has very selective memory.”
“He just knows when it comes to me, all he has to do is give me one of those goofy grins and I’ll forgive him anything.”
“You spoil him.”
“Probably. But he’s just so cute.”
“And he knows it.” With a lazy chuckle, he toyed with a lock of her hair. “I’d kiss you hello, but you have dog spit all over your face.”
