Snowflake Bay

by Donna Kauffman

  Ben snagged the ball as it dropped through the net, and tossed it, seemingly casually, back to Logan, only with enough force behind it to put a dent in his best friend’s solar plexus. He walked over to the bleachers that lined the walls in their old high school gym and snagged his towel from his gear bag. “I appreciate the invite, but we’ve got opening day the following morning, and I’ve got three stands to monitor in addition to dealing with stuff down in Portsmouth.”

  Logan parked the basketball behind the front bleacher seat and fished out his towel. “Would some of that stuff have to do with Annalise Manderville?”

  Ben would like to think his glance at his old friend was casual, but he suspected it looked about as casual as the ball toss he’d just beaned Logan with. “Why would you think that? I told you we were long done.”

  “Yes. I recall. I also heard she was out your way.”

  Ben finished mopping his face and lowered the towel. “How on earth would you know that?”

  “One of your guys is going out with Owen Hartley’s daughter.”

  Momentarily distracted from wondering if Logan had also heard about the kiss he’d laid on his sister right there in his tree lot, he asked, “Little Lauren Hartley?”

  “Little Lauren is a college grad now, and back here running their hardware store. You heard Owen—”

  “Is mayor now, yeah. So it was her college pal who was responsible for the lot screw-up? I didn’t put that together. I guess I just hadn’t stopped to think how many years it’s been since I’ve seen her. Wow. Little Lauren, all grown up. I stopped by last week to talk with Owen about getting some lumber to build the lean-tos for the tree lots and he filled me in on a few things. He was too busy to give me the full scoop, though. I thought she was taking after your sisters, all big plans for the big city.”

  “Owen thought so, too,” Logan said, “but she wanted to take her business degree and put it to use in the family empire, such as it is.”

  Ben glanced at Logan, but there didn’t seem to be any unspoken intent behind the comment. “I think if that’s what she wants, it’s great. I hope she doesn’t find out it’s not as exciting as she’d thought and cut out on Owen just when he comes to depend on her.”

  Logan shook his head. “I don’t think so. She’s pretty level-headed and sure-minded. Bright, sharp as a tack. I think she’ll do just fine.”

  Ben chuckled. “I bet the old-timers aren’t all that thrilled with a woman running their one and only hardware store, even if she is the owner’s daughter.”

  Logan shrugged. “Lauren can be pretty charming. Like I said, bright and sharp. She’s figured things out.”

  Ben’s grin turned knowing. “Yeah, old Stokey Parker and Arnaud Pliff probably don’t mind a pretty young girl selling them their boards and nails. Who knows, maybe she’ll be the one to single-handedly drag this place into the twenty-first century of equality.”

  Logan laughed. “I said she was sharp, not a miracle worker.”

  Ben palmed the basketball. “Best two out of three?”

  “Can’t. I have a meeting with Calder and Jonah Blue.”

  Ben’s eyes widened. “Uh, that sounds like not fun.”

  “About as not fun as getting a root canal, yeah. But if we’re going to do the ceremony here in the Cove, I need to know ahead of time that things are under control. As the Blue patriarch in the Cove, Jonah is the only one with the power to keep things calm.”

  “Can Calder say the same for his branch?”

  Logan lifted a shoulder. “Not sure. But it was their idea to have it here. If he can’t, then he has to assure me he can deal with whoever on his side can. Otherwise, I don’t think it’s a wise idea, no matter how well intentioned.”

  Ben shoved his towel and the ball into his gym bag and pulled on his hoodie. “I’m glad it worked out for us to catch up a bit. I’m only disappointed I didn’t beat your sorry ass in both games. You know, like old times.”

  “You mean like the time you tried to hit that three-pointer at the buzzer because you thought Hannah would finally be wowed by your macho athletic prowess, only, in your effort to dazzle, you got confused and lobbed the ball at the opposing team’s basket?” He tossed his sweaty towel at Ben’s face, chuckling. “Oh yeah, I recall all right.”

  Ben scraped the towel off, then palmed it and snapped the end at Logan’s crotch, only missing his target because Logan shifted quickly enough. “Hey, I made that three-pointer,” he reminded him. “And we went on to beat them in the state championships, so no real harm done.”

  “But you didn’t get the girl, and really, what else matters?”

  Ben just shook his head, but they were both grinning. “So, you approve of the guy she’s marrying? This Calder Blue? He’ll stand up?”

  Logan nodded. “I do, and yes, I believe he will. She’s happy and they seem pretty good for each other. No red flags.”

  Ben nodded. “Good. I’m happy for her. I really am. You, too.”

  Logan clapped him on the shoulder as they picked up their gear so they could head out. “Thanks. I appreciate that. I know it sounds all kinds of hokey, but I’ll be honest and say I didn’t know it could be like this. And this is pretty damn good.” He looked at Ben. “Any chance you’ll wade in at some point? The water’s not half as scary as it looks. In fact, it’s pretty sweet.”

  “I’m not afraid of the water,” he said. “Just nothing to wade in after at the moment.” He started toward the gymnasium double doors. “When you see him, tell old Hank I appreciate his letting us in,” he said, referring to the old janitor who had passed Logan a key after he’d asked if they could use the empty gym over the holiday break. Being police chief had its perks. “I can’t believe he’s still taking care of this place.”

  “I know. I’m pretty sure he’s convinced that if he dies, this place will go straight to hell, and I’m not sure he’s wrong about that.” He hit the light switches, and they pushed out into the bright sun and brisk afternoon air that swept over and swirled around the side parking lot.

  “If we can scrape the time together, I wouldn’t mind a rematch,” Ben said, as they walked toward their trucks.

  “We’ll make time. It’s good having you back.”

  Ben palmed his keys and looked across the hood of his truck. “Yeah, it is.”

  “You sound surprised,” Logan said. “Did you think it would be all that bad?”

  “Honestly? I didn’t know what to think. I hadn’t ever thought to be back here, not like this anyway. Certainly not this soon.” Logan and he both knew the business would have gone to him at some point, but no one would have guessed that it would be now.

  “Figured anything out yet? About what you’ll do with the place?”

  He shook his head. “Too much going on. I’ll do the juggling act through the holidays, then figure it out when things slow down a bit on both fronts.”

  “What about that spread in AE on the stands? Don’t you have things you need to do to take advantage of that?”

  “Nothing I can’t handle from here.” He grinned. “Everyone keeps asking me that, but it’s not like the paparazzi are suddenly hounding my employees. I mean, it’s a big get in my industry and all, and I hope it will prompt some folks to pick up the phone and give us a call to help them with whatever projects they have in mind, but it’s not like anything specific is actually happening. There’s no red-carpet deal going on anywhere. It’s just a magazine.”

  “And if the phone starts ringing?”

  “Once we get things set up and open here, I’ll be able to split my time a little, at least when I have to. I can’t think there will be too much beyond consultations now, with it being winter.”

  “The downside to getting the year-end issue, I guess.” Logan shook his head. “I don’t envy you the juggling act. I don’t know how you’ll pull it all off, but if anyone can, it’s you.”

  “I was thinking the same thing about the Hatfield-and-McCoy wedding. Let me know how that meeting wi
th Calder and Jonah goes.”

  “Yeah,” Logan said, hunching his shoulders against the wind. “Will do.”

  Ben opened his truck door and tossed his gym bag across the bench seat. Before he could climb in, Logan called over to him.

  “Hey, you never said why Annalise came all the way up to Snowflake Bay.”

  “Seems I’m suddenly someone her parents want on their guest list.”

  Logan’s eyes widened. “And does she want you on their guest list?”

  “Can’t tell,” he lied, not wanting to get into it. Not wanting to think about it at all, actually. Annalise was hunting, but for what, exactly, he didn’t know. Maybe now that she was with someone else, he was the one she wanted to play with on the side. She was going to be sorely disappointed if that were the case. “Doesn’t matter,” he said, quite sincerely. “Not interested.”

  Logan chuckled. “Maybe it’s just as well you can hide out here in the Cove for a bit.”

  “Yeah, I’d have thought that, too, but obviously when the Mandervilles want something, there is no place to hide.”

  “True. Well, good luck with that.”

  “Thanks,” Ben said dryly. He started to climb in again, only to be stopped a second time by Logan saying his name. He just looked across the hood expectantly.

  “When I told you to make amends with Fiona? I didn’t mean for you to lay one on her right there in front of her new place of business.”

  Ben froze, as did his tongue. He figured since Logan had called to set up the basketball game and seemed pretty much his usual self about it, Fiona had kept their little interlude to herself. Maybe telling her big brother was her way of getting back at him for his rather heavy-handed approach to letting her know he was interested. So he had no idea what to say to that.

  But Logan waited him out, and Ben’s toes were already going numb inside his basketball shoes. He looked across the hood again. “You knew about that this whole time and didn’t say anything?”

  “I was waiting to see if you would.”

  Ben sighed. “There’s nothing to say. I mean, other than we talked, and we’re okay. I—I can’t make up for the past.”

  “By making out with her now? Yeah, no, that doesn’t seem like the smartest plan.”

  Ben’s gaze narrowed, but Logan didn’t seem mad, or even truly upset. He was concerned, as any older brother would be, Ben supposed, but was also giving his buddy the benefit of the doubt. Ben wanted to think he was worthy of that benefit, but given how things had gone down in that parking lot, he couldn’t swear to it at the moment. “I didn’t plan on it. I was just going to talk to her, apologize, and hope things wouldn’t be awkward. She stomped out to read me the riot act—you, too, by the way—she wasn’t happy with either one of us thinking we knew better than she did how to fix this thing.”

  Logan didn’t say anything to that, but there might have been some amusement there along with the concern in his eyes.

  “I only meant to apologize, but, well, we ran into each other at Eula’s earlier, and she—” He lifted his shoulders, not sure this was something a guy told another guy about his own sister. Even if the other guy was his lifelong best friend. “I noticed her, okay? It was before that whole mess at the Puffin. I—I don’t know that I’d have done anything about it, but then she was there and reading me the riot act and all I could think about was—” Logan’s eyes narrowed at that and Ben opted out of the rest of the play-by-play. “It doesn’t matter what I wanted. We kissed. It was mutual,” he added quickly. “And she told me that she wasn’t interested in doing it again. Maybe she was the one evening the score, I don’t know. But it’s nothing. Or it isn’t for her at any rate. It won’t be leading to anything.”

  He thought about the look of confusion still in Fiona’s eyes when she’d blurted out, “About earlier.” She had still been thinking about that kiss. And dammit, so was he. But she’d been right. They had no business, for so many reasons, following it up with anything more.

  “You sure about that?” Logan asked.

  Ben lifted a shoulder. “As sure as I can be. It was her call.”

  “And if it was your call?”

  Ben held his friend’s gaze, trying to decide how honestly to answer that. He took a short, steadying breath, and spoke the truth. “I don’t know,” he said. “It was a hell of a kiss.”

  “What about Annalise?” Logan asked.

  Surprised, Ben said, “What about her? I already told you. I’m not interested in whatever she or her folks are cooking up. She has nothing to do with me and Fiona.”

  “So there is a you and Fiona? Or you want there to be a you and Fiona?”

  “What I want is for us to not be having this conversation about your sister.”

  “You hurt her once,” Logan said, then immediately raised his hands to ward off Ben’s defense. “I know, we’ve been over all that. But it’s still a thing that happened. We were kids then. We’re not now. I don’t want it happening again. So unless you’re both sure of what you’re doing, just . . .” He broke off, swore under his breath. “Don’t do anything else you’ll have to apologize to her for, okay? That’s all I have to say about it.”

  “You sure?” Ben asked, uncertain how he would have handled it if the situation were reversed, but he was an only child. Logan’s family was the closest he had to siblings, only, quite obviously, they weren’t his sisters. Far from it.

  “I trust you’ll do what’s right.”

  Ben groaned. “I think that’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to me.”

  Logan flashed him a fierce grin. “As long as it works, I don’t care.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “I know it’s old fashioned and seriously outdated, but . . . what do you think?”

  Fiona looked up from the impossible task of figuring out reception seating arrangements that wouldn’t result in loss of life, only to gasp at the sight of Hannah at the top of the staircase, wearing their mother’s wedding gown. She turned slowly around to show off the whole ensemble.

  “Oh, Han.” Tears prickled on her eyelashes almost immediately. Bridesmaid Rule No. 35: Whoever wears your mother’s wedding dress best should wear the dress. “It’s perfect. You look . . . amazing.” The dress was gorgeous in its simplicity. A formfitting white satin sheath with a high neckline that followed the collarbone, sheer sleeves with satin cuffs at the wrists. Buttoned at the neck in the back with a single pearl button, then open below that in a slender slit to midback, it nipped in at the waist, where a sheer train was attached that spread out in a gathered spray all the way to the floor, with just a bit of length to it, trailing behind. There was a modest, calf-high slit up the back to make walking a bit easier. On Hannah’s slender frame, it was a knockout.

  Fiona had seen the dress pretty much every day of her life growing up, in the photograph of their parents’ wedding day that sat, framed, on the fireplace mantel in the living room. She glanced over at it now, then back at Hannah. “You do it serious justice, Han. It fits you like a glove. Mom would love it, I’m sure, and so will Calder.” Neither she nor Hannah really remembered their mother, having been too young when their parents were killed in a car accident, but their grandfather had regaled them with many, many stories of their parents, and so she felt as if she knew what kind of people they had been, what they’d wanted for their children.

  “You sure you’re okay with me wearing it? I mean, Mom didn’t really leave it to any one of us, but it was still up in the attic. When Alex was doing the renovations, she came across the big trunk.”

  Fiona rose and walked over to the bottom of the stairs, looking up at her sister. “Of course I don’t mind. Even if I did, there’s no amount of altering in the world that would get me in that dress. Spanx can only do so much.”

  Hannah smiled. “I asked Kerry, and she just laughed at me.”

  Fiona grinned. “Yeah, somehow I’m not pegging Kerry for a traditional bride-in-white shindig.”

  “Me, either. Still,
I wanted to make sure.”

  “You look amazing. Glowing. It’s disgusting, really.”

  Hannah laughed then. “Okay, good.”

  “What about the veil?”

  “I have to figure that out. Mom’s wasn’t in good enough condition to use again. The netting is deeply yellowed, and the mice had a bit of a go at the headpiece. I don’t know why it wasn’t in the trunk with the dress, but the veil, shoes, and undergarments were all in a big dress box, so they didn’t fare as well.”

  Fiona clapped her hands together. “Goodie! Then we still have something to shop for.”

  “We have to shop for bridesmaid dresses anyway, so we can just do it then.”

  “I know—it’s just more fun when the bride is trying on things. Then she doesn’t get too focused on making her bridesmaids wear something awful.”

  Hannah laughed. “I told you, that’s the last thing you need to worry about with me.” She paused, her eyes narrowing. “You promised you weren’t planning anything like that for my rehearsal. Please tell me you don’t have any surprises planned, I wouldn’t mind, but you know Calder’s family will be there and I really don’t think—”

  “Don’t worry, Bridezilla. For one, there’s not enough time to pull off anything like that, and for two, you’re right. Your new in-laws aren’t exactly the fun bunch.”

  “Oh, come on, they’re not that bad.” She paused and took in Fiona’s Seriously? expression and added, “Okay, so they’re not all that bad. Only a few sticks in the mud. The rest are pretty decent. His sisters-in-law I like a bunch. In fact, I’m counting on them to keep the peace between the factions during the ceremony.”

  “It’s not the ceremony I’m worried about,” Fiona muttered. It was the part where there would be alcohol served that had her concerned. Bridesmaid Rule No. 36: When firearms might be present at the reception, stick with a cash bar. And make the drinks ten bucks a shot. No pun intended.

  “Speaking of the rehearsal dinner,” Hannah said, adroitly changing the subject. “Why don’t we—?”

  “Why don’t you go slither out of that thing?” Fiona broke in. “Then come on down. I need to go over the reception seating chart with you.” She gave Hannah a wistful smile. “Are you sure we can’t erect bunkers? And I’m thinking a tastefully decorated metal detector at the door to check for ammo?”