Back to the Lake Breeze Hotel

by Amie Denman

  Nate held open the front passenger side door of the police car and closed it after Alice got in. She took Nate’s coat and laid it across her lap to cover the lengthy exposure of leg under her ripped dress. It was bad enough Nate had seen it; she didn’t want to feel exposed and vulnerable in front of anyone else, especially the cop, who was several years younger than she was.

  After he got in the back seat, Nate leaned forward. “If any cell phone video of that fracas emerges on social media, I’m going to claim it was staged to make an authentic Wild West–themed wedding train even more exciting.”

  Alice laughed, amused and horrified at the same time.

  The young police officer got in the driver’s seat. “Do you two need medical attention? I could run you past first aid on the way to the police station.”

  “I’m fine,” Nate said from the back seat, “but Alice may need someone to take a look at her.”

  She shook her head. “I’m fine. I’d like to get back to the wedding.”

  The officer raised an eyebrow. Of course she’d get cleaned up and changed first. She knew she probably didn’t look anywhere close to being presentable. “Might be a while,” he said. “I heard on the radio they’re bringing in a man and a woman they picked off the train at the Wonderful West station. Might be a lovers’ spat we have to sort out and decide who’s pressing charges where.”

  “A crime of passion,” Nate said softly from the back seat. “Those make good stories, just not what we need at Starlight Point.”

  * * *

  WHEN THEY GOT to the Starlight Point police station, June and Evie Hamilton were waiting for them. Nate ushered Alice in and let his eyes adjust to the dim interior of the station. The bright sun of the September afternoon had been blinding, and his head was starting to throb. He’d never jumped off a moving train before, and he was sure he’d whacked his head somewhere along the way. Maybe that explained why he felt so disoriented.

  “What happened to you?” June exclaimed when she saw Alice.

  “I jumped from the train when one of the fighters fell off,” she explained. Alice gestured toward Nate, who was standing behind her. “He jumped off, too.”

  “I hope you’re both okay.”

  “Minor damage,” Nate said. “I may need a new suit, and Alice definitely needs a new—” he gestured to her dress and shoes “—everything.”

  Evie shook her head. “Since when does PR and event planning include live stunts?”

  The young police officer escorted the fighter in handcuffs through the station door, and Nate moved aside to let them pass. The man’s head was down and his shoulders sagged. The door opened again and a young woman shoved her way into the police station—past Alice, Nate, June and Evie—and got in the handcuffed man’s face.

  “Carter, you moron, what were you doing back there? Did you think you were some kind of cowboy?”

  “I didn’t mean to fall off the train. I just wanted to take a solid swing at your brother. He said I was worthless and no good for you.”

  “So you wanted to prove him wrong by decking him?”

  “Come on, Scarlet. You know I love you,” Carter said.

  Scarlet shook her head, stalked across the room, and sat in one of the plastic chairs lined up inside the police station’s door.

  “Why don’t you tell your brother we’re getting married,” Carter continued.

  “Tell him yourself,” Scarlet said. She nodded toward the door where the other man entered wearing handcuffs.

  “What do you have to tell me,” he asked, sneering at Carter, “or would you rather use your fists, you stupid jerk? I hope you’re happy. We’re both in trouble, and you aren’t five minutes closer to marrying my sister.”

  Carter bristled, and Nate thought he was going to witness part two of the unfinished fight. He wanted to tell Alice, June and Evie to move out of the range of flying fists, but Alice stepped between the two men.

  “You have to believe there’s a better way to resolve this,” she said.

  “From a jail cell?” Carter asked.

  Alice turned to the police officers. “What charges are these two facing?”

  The older officer shrugged. “There’s some wiggle room. It’s private property and we have jurisdiction to decide who goes downtown.” The officer turned to both handcuffed men. “Are either of you interested in pressing assault charges?”

  Carter stared at Scarlet’s brother and then shook his head.

  “I just want him to stay away from my sister,” the other man said. “If he’ll take his fists to me, I don’t want to think about what could happen if she marries him.”

  “Who says we’re still getting married?” Scarlet asked. “Maybe I changed my mind after that embarrassing brawl.” She sniffed. “I’m starting to think I can do better.”

  Was breaking it off in a police station better than decimating a rehearsal dinner? Nate almost felt sorry for Carter, dumbass though he was.

  “Is there a place where they can talk this out?” Alice asked the police officer. “Without the handcuffs?”

  “Your call,” the officer said. “There’s a room right there, but I’ll stand outside the door just in case.”

  He uncuffed both men and walked them to the break room. “You sure about this?” he asked Alice.

  She nodded and followed the two men and Scarlet inside. Against his better judgment, which said don’t get involved, Nate walked into the room and pressed himself flat against the wall. This was outside his job description. Way outside. But maybe he could find a way to control the narrative if he listened in.

  “If anyone should be pressing charges,” Alice said, pacing back and forth in front of the table where Scarlet sat with her brother and her potential fiancé, “it’s me. You made a hot mess out of a wedding I spent weeks planning. My dress is ruined, I lost the heel off my shoe, and as far as I know, the bride is sobbing in her champagne because a fight broke out on her special day.”

  The two men looked down, chagrined.

  “And no matter how lousy my day is, yours is worse,” Alice said.

  Nate kept his position on the wall, wondering where Alice was going with this and why she was sticking her nose in someone else’s business.

  “Sure is,” Carter said. “My stupid temper.”

  Alice stopped pacing and stood in front of him. “Is her brother right? Would you ever hurt Scarlet if you were angry?”

  “No,” he said. He got to his feet. “I just don’t like people telling me I’m no good. Like he’d know.”

  “What does he know about you?”

  “Not much.”

  “Do you think that may be the problem?” Alice asked.

  Scarlet raised her head and looked interested in the conversation for the first time. “Do you think these two could hug each other and become drinking buddies? You must have hit your head when you fell off that train.”

  “I actually jumped off the train because I didn’t want to leave you by yourself,” Alice said to Carter. “And I can still go out there and ask the police officers to press charges, or you two can face up to your problems.”

  “You mean shake hands and let it go?” the brother asked.

  “No. I mean actually face it. Talk to each other. Carter, you need some anger counseling. And Scarlet, you and Carter both need couples counseling if you’re really thinking about getting married.”

  Her brother snorted.

  “You’re not an innocent party here,” Alice told him.

  He looked back at the floor.

  Nate was impressed. Not only was Alice trying to defuse the situation and offer three troubled people suggestions for help, she was doing it with half a dress and one working shoe. What would have happened if she’d forced an honest conversation with him five years ago instead of just walking away at the rehearsal dinner and
shutting him out?

  An hour later, the three people involved in the fight left the police station without facing charges and with preliminary appointments with a therapist in Bayside who could help them. At June’s suggestion, Alice went over to wardrobe to get a dress and shoes from the large stock of clothes on hand there. Nate waited for her outside, and they shared a ride in the police car to the reception tent by the Wonderful West train station.

  “They didn’t have pink?” Nate asked as they rode in the back seat. He gestured at Alice’s navy blue dress and flesh-colored heels.

  Alice gave him a quizzical look, her eyebrows raised. “Only in a style that doesn’t work for me,” she said.

  She turned and gazed out the window, leaving Nate to wonder what she was thinking.

  CHAPTER SIX

  AFTER WORKING SEVERAL years for a giant entertainment corporation, Nate was getting used to the more intimate way things were done at Starlight Point. Being family owned, there were no shareholders to pacify. He saw one or more of the owners every day. It was friendlier, but the stakes also seemed higher because he knew the people who depended on the company’s success.

  There’d been events and even wedding coordinators at his previous job, but tucked away in the public relations office, he never saw them. Unless he was very careful, he would see Alice Birmingham a dozen times a day. So far, he’d tried to be careful. He hadn’t seen her in the three days since the train incident, except in passing or from a distance.

  It was better that way. But he couldn’t avoid seeing her at tonight’s management meeting. Anyone who had an office in the two-story corporate building was invited to a monthly dinner at the restaurant in the marina. Also attending were the head of maintenance, Mel Preston, who was married to June Hamilton; the head of vendor relations, Augusta Hamilton, who was Jack’s wife; and Evie’s husband, Scott Bennett, the fire chief at Starlight Point.

  Several mid-level managers of rides, resorts, food and other services were also in attendance. Nate found his seat at one of the four tables arranged in a giant square in the marina restaurant’s private banquet room. With the table arrangement, every attendee could see everyone else.

  “How do you like it here?” Jack Hamilton asked as he took the chair on Nate’s right. “This is your first dinner meeting, so I could give you some pointers if you want.”

  “Sure.”

  Jack cleared his throat, leaned close and said, “Have the steak.”

  “Is that all?” Nate asked. He’d expected a great revelation about how the meeting would go, whether he should keep his head down and his mouth shut and if there would be dessert.

  Nearly all the seats around the table were full, and Nate was starting to think Alice wasn’t coming. That would be for the best because ever since he’d held her close after their harrowing jump from the train, he’d felt a strange sense of the past creeping in. Maybe it was the autumn season, nostalgia abounding in the cool nights and turning leaves.

  A breeze washed over his neck as the door behind him was pulled open, and he shivered. Nate realized he’d have to invest in new fall and winter clothing if he planned to stick around. After four years in Florida, he was looking forward to the change of season, but he was as unprepared for it as he’d been to face his father’s failing health.

  “Sorry, I was almost late,” Alice said. He turned, wondering why she was apologizing to him, and then he realized she was talking to June, who was seated nearby. “I was at the florist downtown with a bride, and she had the hardest time choosing between lilies and roses.”

  “Were you able to help her out?” June asked.

  “I think looking at the prices helped her. Lilies are way out of season for an October wedding. I had already told her that, but I think dollars and common sense spoke louder than I did.”

  “They usually do,” June agreed. “We had red and white roses at my Christmas wedding.”

  “We did?” Mel asked.

  June gave him a look that was part exasperation and part loving patience. “You don’t remember?”

  Mel shrugged. “I was busy marrying the love of my life. All I could see was you.” He kissed June on the cheek.

  “I wish I’d recorded that to use on our website,” Nate said.

  “I could provide a valuable public service to potential grooms everywhere,” Mel said, grinning. “Your number one excuse for not getting too involved in the wedding planning is that you’ve already made the best and most important decision by choosing your bride.”

  A memory of Alice running over a list of plans for their wedding flashed into Nate’s mind. They’d been in downtown Bayside on a bench watching the sunset right after college graduation. Alice had asked him about the colors of something...what was it? Napkins at the reception or decorations in the church? It hadn’t mattered in the end because they never made it to the reception or the church.

  June flicked her napkin at her husband. “And you think that gets you guys off the hook?”

  “Yes,” Mel and Jack said at the same time.

  “Speaking of the company website,” June said, smiling at both men and giving up the battle as she focused on Nate, “I love the total refresh. It’s much more colorful and interactive than it used to be, and the pictures are beautiful.”

  Nate cleared his throat. “Thank you.” He was glad to have the conversation turned back to work topics, which seemed much safer than the marriage and happiness track it had gotten on. He had nothing to add and felt inadequate sitting there in silence waiting for dinner. Especially with Alice close enough to touch.

  He glanced sideways and Alice caught him. The low light in the restaurant turned her hair to a deep rich red and Nate let his attention linger two seconds longer than he should have.

  “The website has done a great job featuring some of our recent weddings and the preparations for the fall festival weekends,” Alice said.

  “Keep it up, and you’ll be here for life,” Jack said. “And I can remind my sisters every day that it was my idea to hire you.”

  Did he want to be here for life? When Nate had given up his job to return to Bayside, his plans had been open-ended. He’d be here for his father’s cancer treatments, reconnect with his sister and her son and then what? He hated even thinking about the end of the road for his father—would it mean restored health and no longer needing Nate, or would Nate lose his dad?

  “I’m starving,” Evie Hamilton declared as she stood up. She was seated across the room but spoke loudly over the two dozen people, who were all chatting. “I say we order our food first and then talk business.”

  “Finally,” Jack said.

  Restaurant staff circulated and wrote down which dinner—chicken or steak—each guest wanted. Nate went with Jack’s suggestion, deferring to his wisdom and experience. He noticed Alice ordered the chicken. She’d always been a light eater except for her love of mashed potatoes and gravy. He’d been avoiding those foods as part of his plan to bury the past.

  “We have some time before the food arrives,” Evie said. “Our main topic for discussion tonight is the incredible success of the fall weekends. Round of applause for Alice Birmingham, our special events goddess.” Everyone clapped politely and Nate joined them, feeling the eyes of the room turned toward the woman on his left but afraid to look himself. “The real test begins next weekend with the haunted houses,” Evie continued. “We invested a pile of money in those, and we’re hoping all the people who’ve come to the fall weekends so far will want to come back again for a good scare.”

  “I’m sure they will,” Jack said. “Roller coaster fans have nerves of steel, and we’re tapping into the same demographic.”

  A number of people nodded.

  “Our PR department is also doing an excellent job,” Evie continued. “Nate Graham’s a one-man show taking pictures and writing articles. Our social media and pr
int presence is really helping sell the fall weekends.” She nodded and smiled at Nate and people clapped for him.

  “Nice work,” Alice said quietly, and he regretted not congratulating her a moment ago. Maybe it was easier for her to be brave with him because she was the one who’d called off their engagement. Were they ever going to talk about it? God, he hoped not.

  “Each department head can submit estimates on staffing and expenditures to my accounting department,” Evie continued. “So far, the revenue far exceeds the cost, and I like seeing those numbers. Our next order of business is the Christmas weekends. I know we’re still in the planning stages, but we have a solid idea of what they’ll look like. Our big question is whether or not we’ll have the attendance figures for those weekends that we’re seeing now.”

  “I think we will,” someone said.

  “I hope so,” Evie agreed, “but there could be a foot of snow on the ground in December, and we’re a summer park. It might be a challenge. We’re experts at getting gum and cigarettes off the midway, not snow.”

  “I hope there’s a foot of snow on the ground,” Alice said. “That will make my ice skating rink, Christmas tree lot and sleigh rides a whole lot more fun.”

  “I wonder how many people will come here to skate when there’s an indoor rink only an hour away,” Evie said. “I love your idea, but I’m always thinking about the dollars and columns.”

  “The rink an hour away is nice,” Alice said. “Believe me, I spent three days a week there when I was a kid. But do you know what they don’t have? Roller coasters in the background. The smell of evergreens from our tree lot. Sleigh bells and fresh air.”

  “Good selling point,” Evie replied. “Why did you spend so much time at the indoor rink?”

  “Junior figure skating competitions. My sisters were soccer players, but I loved figure skating.”

  “It was the costumes, I’d bet,” June said. “Alice is my twin when it comes to appreciating sparkle, even though she pretends to be more pragmatic.”