by Gina Wilkins
“I’ll be fine. I’ve got a paperback spy novel in my carry-on. I’m only about a third of the way in, but it’s pretty good so far.”
She supposed she didn’t have to worry about Logan keeping himself entertained. He was one of the most self-sufficient people she knew.
She took a long look around the room, purportedly to make sure she had everything, but really to silently say goodbye. Drawing a deep breath, she turned back to Logan then. “Okay, I’m ready.”
Sea-Tac Airport wasn’t very crowded this early on a Sunday, so they made it through security easily enough. Knowing there would be time to kill, they’d waited to have breakfast at the airport. They didn’t talk about anything of particular import as they munched on Dungeness crab breakfast sandwiches washed down with coffee, but she suspected the return to Virginia weighed as heavily on his mind as it did on hers. She didn’t deny that her own feelings were mixed. She looked forward to getting back to her home, her cat and her work, but she’d had fun here with Logan. Seattle was an interesting city and she’d like to explore more of it sometime. She wouldn’t mind doing so with him.
Having eaten, they wandered into a gift shop that advertised goods made in Washington and she couldn’t resist buying another pretty scarf in a mix of bright spring colors. She tucked it into her carry-on bag, pretending to ignore Logan’s broad grin. And then she bought a bottle of water to carry onto the plane with her in case she got thirsty on the long flight. Her tablet computer was tucked into her bag with several books loaded on it. She would keep her mind busy during the journey, the better to not spend the time worrying about whether this weekend had changed things too greatly between her and Logan.
“I’m really not a shopaholic,” she informed him loftily, heading for her gate. “I don’t buy much at home. I just really like gift shops.”
“Wow, I never would have figured that out.”
She laughed and punched his arm. Rubbing it, he reminded her that the airport was filled with security cameras and she wouldn’t want to be charged with assault and battery. He wrapped the same arm casually around her shoulders as they looked for an empty bench at her gate, and she leaned companionably into him. She couldn’t help thinking that this was probably the last time in the foreseeable future that they’d be so comfortably familiar in a public place, which gave her a funny feeling in her stomach. Maybe the crab sandwich had been a little too rich on an empty stomach.
“So, busy week ahead at home?” he asked her.
“Very. A lot of catch-up stuff, a couple of events, some big weddings coming up. One at the inn in a couple weeks.”
She knew he didn’t choose to know about upcoming events until it was time for him to be involved. “Simple and sweet?”
She smiled faintly. “Well, not too complicated. Another spring theme, plenty of pastels. It will take place just after sunset, and they want lots of fairy lights and candles, but that’s about the extent of the decorations they’ve requested. The dance and dinner afterward will be held elsewhere.”
He nodded. “We’ll take care of them.”
She reached out to cover his hand with hers. “I know you will.”
He squeezed her fingers, then kept his hand wrapped around hers. They sat rather quietly until the gate attendant announced boarding for Alexis’s flight. Logan stood with her, making sure she had her tote bag and carry-on, her boarding pass in hand. “Have a safe flight,” he said. “I’ll see you back home in a few days.”
She nodded, smiling despite the lump in her throat. “You travel safely, too. I hope you don’t have any delays.”
He cupped a hand behind her head and leaned down to kiss her lingeringly. One last public display? Or maybe a prelude to an end? Either way, it left her feeling a little sad. “See you when I see you,” she murmured.
He nodded and turned away, presumably to head to his own gate. With a hard swallow, she boarded her plane.
Chapter Nine
“Logan, that’s not right. We don’t want any blue lights, only pink and yellow and green.”
With a scowl, he looked down from the tall ladder propped against the gazebo. “Are you kidding me?”
Hands on her hips, Alexis gazed back up at him. “Pink, yellow and green,” she repeated. “No blue.”
“She’s right, Logan,” Kinley seconded from beside her. “It’s in the orders.”
He sighed heavily and started down the ladder.
Around them, frantic preparations were taking place for the wedding that would start in only a couple of hours. Back at work part-time after his appendectomy, but still not cleared to do any heavy lifting, young Zach helped the florist’s employees set up a half dozen freestanding white wrought-iron candelabra, each holding six tall tapers in the chosen pastels. Curtis and his brother-in-law were setting out spring flowers in big pots also wound with strings of fairy lights. The folding white chairs had already been set out in rows facing the gazebo. The aisle chair in each row would be decorated with a nosegay of ribbon and flowers and battery-powered fairy lights to be turned on just before the first guests were due to arrive. Once the sun set, the grounds would be aglow with tiny pastel lights and candle flames in addition to the soft path lighting and upward-pointing fountain lights that were always on in the gardens. It would be just the romantic scene the bride had requested.
Logan looked into the big box he’d brought down with him from the ladder shelf. “Why are there strings of blue lights in the box that was delivered to me?”
“Obviously an error,” his sister retorted. “Please tell me the other colors are in there.”
He dug through the box. “Yeah. Pink, yellow, green and blue.”
“Don’t use the blue,” his sister ordered.
“Yeah, I got that,” he grumbled, frowning up at the garland that he’d already wound with strings of pink and blue lights before Alexis and Kinley had checked on the progress of the decorations. “I’ll have to take out the blue strand and put in the others. What’s wrong with blue, anyway?”
“It just doesn’t match her theme,” Alexis replied.
He gave her a look, but shrugged. “Fine. I’ll fix it. Anything else?”
She shook her head. “Everything’s looking very nice. Thank you, Lo—”
Her words were cut off when she was bumped abruptly from behind. She looked around and then down to find Ninja sitting at her feet, his tail wagging on the grass. He grinned up at her around a white rose held carefully between his teeth, and then he reached out and laid the flower at her feet.
“Ninja!” Kinley groaned loudly and snatched up the flower. “Where did you get this? I swear, if you’ve ruined one of the baskets...”
“Zach!” Even as he yelled the name, Logan took hold of his dog’s collar. “Did you leave the padlock off the gate to my yard when you got that push broom from the storage shed?”
Zach grimaced. “Yeah, maybe,” he confessed. “But I made sure the gate was latched.”
Logan blew out a hard breath of exasperation. “You know he can open the latch.”
“I found the basket where he got the rose,” one of the florist employees called from the other side of the gravel aisle path. “It’s fine, he took it right off the outside.”
Kinley carried the undamaged bloom in that direction.
Zach stepped forward to reach for the dog’s collar. “I’ll take him back. And I’ll put the padlock on this time.”
“Don’t fuss at him, he didn’t cause any harm,” Alexis said, bending to pet the dog, who was wagging a bit more tentatively now. “Thank you for the gift,” she whispered in his ear, “but you’d better be good for the rest of the day.”
He nuzzled her face, knocking her glasses askew, his low, affectionate rumble vibrating in his broad chest. Giving him one last pat, she straightened and moved aside so Zach could
lead Ninja away.
“You’re still spoiling him,” Logan accused in a tone low enough that only Alexis could hear.
She flashed a smile at him. “Sorry, I can’t help it. He’s such a sweetie.”
Their gazes held for a moment until Kinley returned to them. “Okay, no damage done,” she reported. She looked quizzically at Alexis. “That mutt sure does like you.”
Alexis smiled brightly. “He knows I like him, too. I was just telling Logan that his pet is a sweetie.”
“His pet is a scoundrel.”
Laughing, Alexis nodded. “Maybe that’s what I like about him.”
Logan turned on one boot heel toward his ladder. “I’ve got to take the blue lights out of this garland and put in the yellow and green. Let me know if there’s anything else, but give me time to take care of it if there is.”
Alexis could have stood there a while longer, just watching him on the ladder. It was a pleasantly moderate Saturday afternoon in mid-April, so he wasn’t wearing a jacket, just jeans and boots and a navy T-shirt that bared his strong arms and molded to his broad back and chest and shoulders. She could pretend to be simply monitoring his work, but that would just annoy him, and she had too many other things to do before the guests began to arrive. She made herself turn away.
“I’m glad we caught that mistake,” Kinley said with a shake of her head. “It’s not that the pale blue would look so bad with the other colors, but that isn’t what the bride wants.”
Alexis shrugged. “Considering how late we’re running with everything else today, if that’s the worst problem we encounter, we’re lucky.” There had been a series of minor glitches that day, beginning with an unexpected April shower that morning that had delayed setup of some of the decorations, but fortunately had passed quickly.
Alexis always fretted when brides were determined to hold outdoor weddings in these unpredictable spring months, but all she could do when they insisted was to make as many contingency plans as possible and try to satisfy her clients’ wishes. Though she’d been busy with several indoor affairs, this was the first outdoor event she’d supervised since she’d returned from Seattle two weeks ago tomorrow. Thank goodness. April had brought several spring storms with it, twice bordering on severe weather that would have made outdoor events impossible. At least this afternoon had turned out nice once the early shower passed.
Kinley let out a little sigh. “It’s been a crazy few weeks around here. Seems like we’ve been putting out one fire after another, but maybe it’ll ease up a little when the weather stabilizes. Let’s hope that’s soon. Those storms last week had Logan pacing the floor for fear we’d lose shingles or trees.”
Alexis didn’t say, of course, that she knew that already. She and Logan had been too busy to get together since they’d returned, but they’d spoken several times by phone. She knew he was ready for spring storms to pass into the more typically stable summer weather.
To be perfectly honest, she was the one who’d kept them from getting together. Yes, he’d been busy, too, especially with the storms and the resulting cleanup, and she had been heavily scheduled for both daytime and evening appointments during the past two weeks, but probably there’d have been time to spend a couple hours together if she’d tried hard enough. Instead, she’d found herself making excuses, putting him off with assurances that they would get together soon. Not because she hadn’t wanted to see him, but because she’d wanted it a little too much. Paradoxically, the more she’d missed him, the more concerned she’d been about seeing him again.
She had practically ached for him during those first days after she’d returned from Seattle. She’d found herself reaching out in the night to touch him, or waking with the expectation of seeing his face on the pillow next to hers. She shouldn’t have gotten that accustomed to sleeping with him after only three nights, should she? She had decided that perhaps a little distance between them would help them get back into their previous routine, which had worked so well before. After all, it was always an adjustment to get back to real life after a particularly nice vacation.
Logan hadn’t questioned her excuses that she’d been too busy to get together, especially since he, too, had been kept on the run, but she’d sensed his growing impatience. Maybe it was time to spend a couple hours together again, just to make sure nothing had changed. Or maybe to acknowledge that too much had changed to continue as they had before.
“Anyway,” Kinley went on, oblivious to Alexis’s inner turmoil, “with everything that’s been going on, we still haven’t a chance to get together for lunch. Maybe sometime next week?”
“I’d like that,” Alexis replied, though she couldn’t help but be aware of the pitfalls of spending time with Logan’s sister.
“Curtis!” Logan called from behind them. “These lights aren’t getting any juice. Check the plugs.”
Alexis grimaced. She didn’t even want to know if there were new problems.
Kinley patted her arm. “Logan will take care of it.”
“Yes, I’m sure he will.”
“I know we’re a little behind because of the rain this morning, but don’t worry, we’ll be ready.”
Alexis glanced over her shoulder, watching in relief as the tiny pastel lights wound into the garland over the gazebo opening suddenly came on. Whatever Curtis had done, it had worked. The florist employees were busily attaching the nosegays to the aisle chairs now, and a few members of the wedding party who’d stayed at the inn last night were chattering up on the deck, their anticipation building. She was accustomed to the chaos that preceded even the most serene ceremony, so she wasn’t overly concerned, though she didn’t like cutting it this close. “It’s looking great.”
Seeing her looking his way, Logan gave her a quick thumbs-up, then went back to work.
“He’s been in a little better mood since Bonnie made him take a vacation,” Kinley commented, following the brief exchange. “He’s being very mysterious about where he went—we think he just enjoys making us crazy that way—but Bonnie thinks maybe he went to Las Vegas.”
“Oh? What makes her think that?”
“He went there once with some friends a few years ago for a bachelor party, and he had a great time. He’s always said he wanted to go back sometime.”
He’d never mentioned Las Vegas to her, Alexis mused. She wouldn’t have thought the deliberately, outrageously tacky tourist town would appeal to him. Despite how intimate they’d been, he could still manage to surprise her.
“Curtis!” Logan bellowed from behind them.
Kinley placed a hand on Alexis’s arm and kept walking. “Of course, he is still Logan. The mellow mood he was in when he came back from vacation has been sort of wearing off.”
Alexis cleared her throat and tried to think what to say. Fortunately, she didn’t have to come up with anything because her phone rang and she had to attend to her business. Only later did it occur to her that Kinley hadn’t revealed her own guess as to where Logan had spent his vacation.
* * *
Darkness was falling and the wedding party had arrived when Logan checked the grounds one last time. From where he stood by the fountain, he could see the whole wedding setting. The gazebo looked good, rising proudly from the gardens and illuminated by meticulously placed lights. The musicians and their instruments were in place on the gazebo floor, just starting the first romantic number. The garland draped over the arched opening where the officiant, bride and groom would stand glowed softly with pastel pink, yellow and green—no blue—fairy lights. More lights twinkled among flowers and ribbons on the chairs at the ends of rows, in baskets and pots of flowers lining the path. Candles were being lit as he watched, and the ushers were taking positions to escort early-arriving guests to their seats. He glanced at his watch, noting that the wedding was supposed to start in exactly twenty minutes. There was no more
he could do until it was over and he would start taking down what he’d spent all afternoon putting in place.
Concealed in the shadows outside the glow of lights and candles, he looked for Alexis, spotting her bustling around the outside of the dressing rooms, no doubt hurrying the bride and her attendants along. She was focused intently on her responsibilities as director of this production, and he knew without doubt that nothing was more important to her at the moment than making her clients happy. In intriguing contrast to the woman who’d loved playing tourist and buying cheap souvenirs in Seattle, she was all business now, even her smiles more polished and purposeful.
Damn, but he wished he could whisk her away right now to someplace they could be completely alone, just the two of them and a bed. Had it really been only two weeks since they’d been in a bed together? It felt like more.
“Hello.”
He looked around to nod at the tuxedo-clad man who’d greeted him from the other side of the fountain. When the man stepped into the light, Logan recognized him from an earlier meeting. “Aren’t you supposed to be getting married?”
The groom, Tate Webber, shrugged. “I’ve got a few minutes before I have to be in place. Thought I’d take a little walk first.”
Logan eyed him suspiciously. “Not getting cold feet, are you?”
He wouldn’t even be the first client who tried to back out of the wedding literally at the last minute; they’d had a bride who’d locked herself in a bathroom a year ago after a fight with her mother and had tearfully declared that her wedding was off. Kinley had handled the crisis, calming down the hysterical bride and convincing her she did want to go through with it. Kinley had sworn later that she hadn’t strong-armed the bride; had she truly wanted to call off the ceremony, Kinley would have taken care of that, too. He wondered if he was going to have to summon Kinley now.
