Back to the Lake Breeze Hotel

by Amie Denman

  People would not understand.

  “We should check on Mr. and Mrs. Halloween Wedding,” Alice said.

  “Sure,” Haley agreed. “Now that you’ve ruined any romantic ideas I ever had about weddings.”

  “Not ruined. Just tempered by reality. Our current reality involves getting the ceremony done on time and this part of the park reopened as soon as possible.”

  The Western Trail could only be closed temporarily on a busy Saturday night, so the reception would be held in the ballroom, which was closed to guests most of the time anyway. Alice had pictured a wonderful procession of the wedding party and all the wedding guests, dressed in elaborate costumes, parading up the midway to the ballroom. It would be a free Halloween parade for Starlight Point guests.

  If it went well.

  At each end of the Western Trail, guests showed their invitations and made it past security. Since this was the first wedding happening while the park was open, Starlight Point had negotiated group discount rates for anyone attending the wedding.

  The bride and groom had the use of two back rooms in side-by-side, old-fashioned gift shops in order to dress and prepare. At Alice’s signal, they would join the rest of the wedding party under a giant arch draped with black bunting, skeletons and sinister decorations.

  “How’s it going in there?” Alice called through the door of the dressing area the bride was using.

  She heard a hiccup in return.

  “Need any help with your dress?”

  This time the answer was a long belch.

  “I’m coming in,” Alice called cheerfully. She pushed through the door and found the bride and her sister sitting on the floor in their underclothes. “The wedding starts in ten minutes,” she said. “Let me help you into your dresses.” Alice leaned back out the door. “Haley,” she called. “Can you come in here?”

  Alice took a bottle of bourbon from the bride and set it up high on a shelf.

  “Are they all out there?” the bride asked.

  Alice nodded. “Your guests are lined up and waiting along the Western Trail. Almost all of them wore costumes, just as you asked.”

  “Humph,” said Kayleen, the bride. She hoisted herself to her feet. “I don’t think I look good in my dress. I gained some weight after I ordered it last spring.”

  Alice had noticed. She’d tried to find a tactful way to get the bride to come to the bridal shop downtown for a fitting check. She’d said it was her policy to always go with brides for the final check, just in case of a faulty zipper or uneven hemline. It was a minor fib, but it was in the interest of tact and making sure the bride felt comfortable on her special day.

  But Kayleen had refused to go to the dressmaker and assured Alice the dress was fine.

  “Let’s see,” Alice said.

  Haley was helping the bride’s sister into a dark purple dress that shimmered and sagged precariously while she zipped it up the back. Haley gave Alice a look that said good luck.

  She removed the wedding dress from its plastic bag and barely restrained her gasp when she saw it. It was black. Shimmering with sequins and cheap glitter. Spaghetti straps. And, judging with her experienced eye, Alice was certain it was a good two sizes too small. At least the fabric is interwoven with elastic. Sadly, the black stretchy material would have been more appropriate for a bathing suit.

  “Pretty, ain’t it?”

  Alice smiled and nodded, hating herself for lying. “Stunning. Your guests will never forget this day, and neither will you.”

  “Ya think?” The bride fingered the fabric. “I wanted just these little straps so my tattoos would show.”

  “Of course,” Alice said, “that’s part of who you are.” Despite her encouraging all-for-one and one-for-all tone, Alice wondered what the tattoos looked like. Something from a horror flick?

  “I’ve got a black crow to put on my shoulder, too.”

  Haley glanced up and Alice was afraid to make eye contact with her. Is this for real?

  “Is it alive?” Genuine alarm threatened to creep into Alice’s voice. She really wished she had been more of a dictator on the details of this wedding. She always got involved in flowers, food, decorations, logistics, invitations, et cetera. But the actual wedding gown and the hair and makeup choices were something she left to the bride and her mother, sisters or friends. Unless asked, Alice didn’t comment on the style of gowns or the cut of men’s tuxedos.

  From now on, she was going to ask more questions.

  “It’s a fake bird. It pins to my shoulder strap and talks if you pull the cord.”

  “What a fun novelty,” Alice said.

  A loud pounding on the door startled them.

  “Can you come out here and tie this lousy necktie?” Alice recognized the groom’s voice.

  “We’re not decent,” the bride said.

  “So? I’ve already seen everything you’ve got,” Keith replied.

  “You’re a jerk,” Kayleen yelled through the door. “Go away so you don’t see me before the wedding.”

  “Told you I’ve already seen it all,” the man muttered. “Who’s gonna tie this thing?”

  Alice went to the door and opened it a crack. “Can’t your groomsmen help you?”

  He laughed bitterly. “They can’t tie a tie sober. And they ain’t sober.”

  “I’ll call someone. Go back to your dressing room and wait there.”

  “Who are you calling?” Haley asked.

  “Nate. I know he’s out there with his camera, and I know for certain he can handle a necktie.”

  Alice dialed Nate and was relieved when he picked up. They had not spoken a word since the community Halloween party, but she needed him now. She made her request, and he didn’t hesitate, assuring her he was right outside already taking pictures of the wedding location. His voice was smooth in the everything’s fine PR manner he wore like a shield.

  “I don’t care if he gets that thing tied,” Kayleen said. “I don’t even think Keith wants to marry me.”

  “Of course he does. Arms up,” Alice said as she held up the glittering black dress and tried to coax it down Kayleen’s body. Kayleen smelled of sweat and alcohol, and Alice held her breath and wondered if she’d made the right career choice. She also wondered if there was any chance of the zipper closing and surviving the day’s events.

  “You look great,” Haley told the bride’s sister. She wore a purple dress with spiderwebs made of rows of glitter and sequins. Like the bride, the maid of honor had long artificially black hair that stood out almost grotesquely against her fair skin.

  “Beautiful,” Alice concurred. “Haley, can you help me with this zipper?”

  With Haley holding both sides of the dress within an inch of each other and Alice operating the zipper, they squeezed the bride into the black gown. Alice wondered how Nate was doing with the groom and pictured him patiently tying the man’s tie and straightening his collar. It was nice to be able to call him and ask the favor. The only other person she could think of was Henry, and she had him supervising the crowd waiting for the ceremony to start.

  There was a knock at the door. “Alice,” someone whispered urgently. Was that Nate’s voice?

  “I’ll get the bird wired up if you need to go,” Haley said.

  “I need my veil,” Kayleen complained. “It wasn’t in the bag with my dress.”

  Alice took a deep breath and answered the door.

  “Can you come out here?” Nate asked.

  “I must have left my veil at home,” Kayleen said as Alice left the room. Great, that was a problem she could only solve with time. And they didn’t have any time. The wedding was supposed to start in five minutes. Maybe four.

  Alice closed the door behind her and followed Nate a few steps away from the back of the gift shop. A disc jockey played spooky Halloween tunes
to entertain the wedding crowd just a dozen yards away. Some of them were dancing instead of waiting patiently for the ceremony to begin. With their costumes, the assembled guests had the appearance of being at a Halloween party instead of a wedding.

  “Couldn’t you get the groom into his tie?” Alice asked. She and Nate stood so close together she could smell the comforting damp forest smell he exuded. She’d rather be hiking through a forest with him right now. They used to go for long walks in the woods where they could be alone, talk and kiss.

  “The tie is the least of his problems.”

  “What do you mean? What happened?”

  “Cold feet. Very, very cold. Ice cold. Arctic cold. Frozen section at the supermarket cold—”

  “I get it,” Alice said. “When you say cold feet, do you mean he’s very, very nervous, or do you think he’s actually planning to not go through with the ceremony?”

  “The second one, I think.”

  Alice crossed her arms. “How many weddings have you helped with?”

  Nate wrinkled his brow and Alice sincerely hoped he was not going to mention the one she’d almost had with him.

  “Not that many. My sister’s.” He hesitated a moment. “And the train one here. You remember how that one went. I’ve been to lots of them, but I wasn’t backstage crew.”

  “So...it’s possible that the groom’s just blowing off steam. Nervous, but not seriously thinking of backing out with a crowd of two hundred people dancing around in costumes right behind my back.”

  Alice had purposely turned her back to the partiers so she could only see Nate and concentrate on the problem at hand.

  “Hard to say. He said some pretty damning things about the bride’s family.”

  “That happens.”

  “And the bride’s...associations with some of the other members of the wedding party,” Nate added.

  “Okay,” Alice said. She bit her lip. “That also happens. Sometimes.”

  “And her habit of drinking right out of bourbon bottles in mixed company.”

  Alice took a deep breath. Her last five minutes with Kayleen had certainly not made Alice want to spend the rest of her life with the woman, but certainly there had to be redeeming qualities that had brought Kayleen and Keith together in the first place.

  “Maybe I should talk to him, remind him of all the things he loves about her and reassure him that his feelings of nervousness right now are completely natural,” Alice said.

  Nate raised one eyebrow.

  Please don’t take this moment to remind me I walked out on you right before our wedding. My nerves can’t take it.

  He said nothing.

  Thank you.

  She had to fix this. If the wedding fell apart, the assembled guests would go home. The Hamiltons would regret agreeing to Alice’s risky request to close the Western Trail. The cake and food in the ballroom would go to waste. Every wedding guest would remember this wedding not for its uniqueness but instead for its failure.

  Alice’s cheeks were burning with the friction of her decision. Her conscience and belief that the wedding shouldn’t happen—at least not today—were battling with her love for her work at Starlight Point.

  “Here he comes,” Nate said. He nodded at someone behind Alice. “I hope you can work some magic or we’re all going to look like fools,” he whispered.

  Alice spun around. “Keith,” she said. “This is the most important day of your life, so you’re allowed to break the rules just a little bit. Why don’t you come with me to see the bride for a few minutes before the wedding?”

  Keith scratched his neck where his black shirt collar met his untied necktie. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

  “Trust me,” Alice said. “I’m a professional wedding planner.”

  Keith crossed his arms over his chest. He wore a black suit and black shirt. Instead of a lapel pin, he had a skull shaped from rhinestones pinned to his jacket. “Well then, maybe you can magically change my bride into someone I want to be chained to till divorce do us part.”

  “Come with me,” she said. She took his arm and led him toward the door separating him from Kayleen. Alice just hoped Haley had done something about the bride’s makeup, kept the bourbon on the top shelf and attached the talking bird in an attractive way.

  This could still work out.

  As she approached the door and knocked, Alice was glad Nate was right behind her.

  The bride herself whipped open the door and swayed a little with the movement. She had a black spiderweb down one side of her face. Alice was amazed at the quick makeup work while she’d been outside, but then she realized it was a temporary tattoo. With dark red lipstick and a black bird on her shoulder, Kayleen looked like a horror movie bride. Alice had to admit that although it wasn’t traditional, the bride was true to herself, making her wedding her own.

  Kayleen burped and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

  Alice heard Nate sigh behind her. She took a deep breath, grabbed the groom’s arm and pulled him into the dressing room.

  * * *

  “YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS,” Nate said as he stood with Alice behind the temporary dressing room. “You talked them out of it?”

  His frustration vibrated from him and his voice was far too loud, but he couldn’t help it.

  “I didn’t talk them out of it,” Alice said. She crossed her arms over her chest. The red flush creeping up her neck almost matched her auburn hair. “I just didn’t talk them into doing something they might regret the rest of their lives.”

  “Going through with the wedding is something they would regret the rest of their lives?” Nate said. “That’s your opinion, as I found out the hard way.”

  “Whoa,” June said as she and Evie slipped around the side of the building. “I thought Keith and Kayleen were the feuding couple, not you two.”

  Nate clenched his teeth together and felt his jaw muscle popping. This was not his professional persona.

  Alice blew out a breath and her shoulders lowered. “We’re not a feuding couple.”

  “Then what did you mean when you said—?”

  Evie elbowed June and a heavy silence hung over them despite the distant sounds of roller coasters and music. Nate wanted to ask June exactly what she’d heard, but he concentrated instead on maintaining a neutral expression. The wedding failure was not, technically, his fault or his responsibility. If Alice wanted to sink herself by sticking to some moral code of brutal honesty, it wasn’t his problem.

  But it was a good reminder that he should watch his words and moves around her.

  “Haley called,” Evie said. “She told us the wedding might not happen and asked us to come out and do damage control. How much damage do we have?”

  “And is the wedding happening?” June added.

  Alice shook her head. She didn’t look disappointed or upset. Did she seem vindicated, even pleased? How could she?

  “You couldn’t talk them into going through with it?” June asked.

  “I didn’t,” Alice said. “At first I tried, but then I backed off. People shouldn’t get married unless they’re absolutely sure.”

  “This was one of the things I worried about when we decided to add the wedding packages,” Evie said. “Nothing says drama like a wedding, and Starlight Point doesn’t usually need any extra drama.”

  “So now what?” Nate interjected. “Are you going to tell the guests to just go about their business, maybe hit a haunted house on the way out, forget the whole thing?”

  “This is bad,” Evie groaned. “I hate seeing guests disappointed. What if this is their first and only visit to Starlight Point?”

  Alice focused on the ground but Nate could still see her expression. Any satisfaction he might have seen a moment ago had disappeared. Did she fear getting fired, or at least losing the
Hamiltons’ good opinion?

  Whether Alice deserved a way out or not, Starlight Point did. He was the public relations man, and this was his opportunity to prove his worth and do what he did best—assure everyone that everything was just fine.

  “Maybe it’s not a disaster,” Nate said. All three women focused on him, listening. “What if we turn the wedding reception into a Halloween party for the guests who are here anyway? If I can get Kayleen and Keith to act as host and hostess at a party without getting married or calling it a reception, their guests will still parade to the ballroom and eat that beautiful wedding cake with the black frosting. Other guests at Starlight Point won’t be the wiser, and the party preparations won’t go to waste. We save face.”

  Alice flashed him a smile. “That’s an amazing idea. I’ll go talk to Kayleen and Keith and see if I can get them to agree to this.”

  “No,” Nate said.

  Alice’s smile faded and her cheeks paled.

  “I think you’ve done enough talking,” Nate said neutrally. A bystander might have thought he was trying to spare her any extra labor or effort, but he and Alice both knew the truth. “I’ll smooth this one over.”

  “Whew,” Evie said. “You’re a lifesaver, Nate.”

  Evie and June walked away smiling, but Alice shot him a look that suggested she wouldn’t accept a life ring from him even if she was treading water in choppy waves.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  NATE LEANED AGAINST the closed door of his father’s hospital room and stared at the yellowed floor. They were in the older section of the Bayside Hospital, and his father was sleeping under the watchful eyes of the nurses and the slow drip of the IV antibiotics. When Nate had arrived home on Halloween night after a busy and tumultuous failed wedding, he’d found his father huddled in front of the fireplace. He’d bundled him into the car and driven straight to the hospital despite his dad’s feeble protests.

  “I’m glad you called me,” Nate’s uncle Warren said as he put an arm around Nate’s shoulders. “I can’t believe how fast Murray went downhill.”