Back to the Lake Breeze Hotel

by Amie Denman

  “And now?”

  “I’ve seen a lot of brides since I got involved in weddings at Starlight Point. And I think the ones who are the most beautiful are the ones who are just themselves—no puffy sleeves or cathedral trains.”

  Her mother stooped and pulled out the long train until it extended the length of a person behind Alice. She glanced up, smiling. “Too much?”

  “Definitely.”

  “So what are you going to do with this?” her mother asked as she put an arm around Alice. “You can’t keep schlepping it from closet to closet for the rest of your life.”

  Alice laughed. “That is a terrible picture you just painted.” She held up her arms. “Unzip me and get me out of this, and then we’re stuffing it back in the bag. It finally occurred to me that you own a clothing resale shop, and there may be a bride out there who would be perfect for this dress.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  ON THE WEDNESDAY before Thanksgiving, the corporate office at Starlight Point was in holiday mode. Nate tried to work on the back-end coding for the online ticket sales system he was putting together for the next season, but the Christmas music drew him right back to the present. Holiday tunes and laughter coming from the lobby area were much more appealing than his solitary office and computer.

  Nate headed to the lobby, where wide glass doors offered a view of the midway and comfortable red upholstered chairs and wood tables were scattered in groups. Usually. In honor of the holidays, the chairs and tables were pushed into a semicircle and a tall artificial tree towered over the lobby.

  Alice was under the tree smoothing out a wide red and green tree skirt. She was on her hands and knees and half-concealed, but he couldn’t mistake her auburn hair among the low branches.

  “We have cookies and punch,” Jack announced as soon as Nate appeared at the end of the hall. “We never get anything done on the day before Thanksgiving. Usually it’s the way-off season, but even this year we can’t be too serious.”

  “There’s a small price for cookies,” Evie said. She held up a box of Christmas lights. “Somebody—” she sent a scathing look at her brother “—didn’t wind them back on the holder last year when that somebody put them away.”

  “I could go buy new lights,” Jack offered. “So the new guy doesn’t have to suffer.”

  “If I untangle those,” Nate asked, “will I be an honorary member of the Hamilton family?”

  “You already are,” June put in, “by virtue of being crazy enough to work here. And willing to risk your life on the ice to promote our business.”

  “I’ll help you,” Alice offered. She stood and smoothed her hair, which had snagged on the branches.

  “Thanks,” Nate said, smiling. Untangling lights with Alice would be much safer than circling the ice. He’d replayed the video Henry took of that moment when Alice had pulled him to standing and they almost kissed. Her face was turned away from the camera. How he wished he could replay her expression! His face in the video showed every vulnerability in his body, and it scared him to death.

  “Employees of the year,” Jack announced.

  Alice laughed. “Wait until you see how successful we are.”

  Virginia held open the glass doors for Henry as he bumped through with a ladder. He set up the ladder next to the tall tree and headed for the table filled with food and drinks. Nate approached the food table, too. Trays overflowing with Christmas cookies sat on the red tablecloth.

  “Augusta sent those,” Jack said. “There is never a shortage of sweets with her around.”

  “You’re a lucky man,” Nate commented. He picked up a cookie shaped like a carousel horse and artistically decorated in red and green icing.

  “No doubt,” Jack said. “I loved the ice skating video you posted on our social media. I have no idea what to expect from these December weekends in terms of attendance—Evie’s the one sleeping with all the spreadsheets and financials under her pillow—but it sure is fun to see this place in a different way. An ice skating rink and Christmas tree lot in the parking lot? I never thought I’d see it.”

  “Trees arrive next week,” Alice said. She poured a small glass of red punch and raised the glass to Jack and Nate. “The tree lot will be rimmed with big old-fashioned white lights on strings, just like in the movies.”

  Jack walked over to greet the year-round employees who were arriving for the decorating party.

  “We better get those lights on before people start trying to decorate the tree,” Nate said. “We don’t need any more obstacles.”

  Alice laughed. “Ready when you are.”

  June turned up the music, and the speakers she’d clearly borrowed from live shows filled the building with Christmas tunes. As more people arrived, the noise level grew and drowned out side conversations. Nate and Alice worked close together so they could hear each other, but no one else was likely to overhear their conversation.

  “How are things?” Nate asked. It was less than he wanted to say, but he needed some kind of opening.

  Alice found the plug end of a strand of lights and handed it to him. “Hold this while I unravel this line.” She untangled and moved slowly backward. “Things are good. Weddings are planned for all the December weekends, and my mother is making mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.”

  Nate leaned forward to hear her as she got farther away. “Are mashed potatoes still your favorite?”

  “I could live on them,” she shouted over a classic version of “Jingle Bell Rock.”

  “Gravy?”

  She nodded. “Still haven’t given it up.” Alice started back toward him, looping the untangled lights around her arm as she walked.

  “You haven’t changed, Alice.”

  She worked tangles out of the lights in her hands, patiently feeding loops through other loops until they were free. She avoided looking at him. “I have changed. You just don’t know me well enough to be able to tell.”

  Nate put his hand on hers. “After we untangle these lights and get them on the tree, will you meet me somewhere? If we’re going to keep working together, we should talk.” It was the riskiest thing Nate had done in years, inviting conversation—personal conversation—with the woman who’d broken his heart and driven him deeper into his shell.

  Would she agree? Alice focused on untangling an especially convoluted knot before she finally looked at him. “You want to talk.”

  He nodded and then retreated up the ladder. He reached a hand down for the string of lights and Alice gave it to him. Knowing her penchant for the truth, even if they were in public and it could cause a scene, Nate now regretted bringing up the subject of their relationship in a crowded room filled with his employers and coworkers.

  He should have stuck with his usual policy of keeping his mouth safely shut. He draped lights on the upper branches while Alice fed him the string up the ladder. He waited for one strand, moved the ladder and then placed another. The waiting was torture and he’d nearly finished the lights before she stepped up on a rung of the ladder below him so only he could hear what she had to say.

  “I wanted to talk years ago,” she said. “I tried to talk to you about our wedding and what should have been our marriage. But you wouldn’t. Five years is a long time to wait for the other half of the conversation.”

  Standing high on the ladder, his head level with the top of the tree, Nate felt as if he were alone in the wilderness. He’d worked up the nerve to ask Alice what had changed her mind somewhere between the engagement ring and wedding ring, but she wasn’t going to make it easy for him. He looked down at her and wondered if he would ever understand.

  She climbed down and walked over to an open box of shiny ornaments.

  “While you’re up there,” Jack yelled, “you can put on the topper. It’s your reward.” Jack stood below the ladder and handed up a large silver star. Na
te connected it to the strand of lights, and people applauded when the star lit up, but his heart felt cold and dark.

  * * *

  “THANKS FOR MEETING with us on the day before Thanksgiving,” Greg said. “It was one of the few times we could get together on a weekday when we weren’t both working.” The prospective groom finally looked up from his phone and when his fiancée frowned at him, he shoved it in his pocket.

  “I could always meet you on a weekend, too,” Alice said, shaking hands with both Lisa and Greg. “Starlight Point is not exactly a nine-to-five operation.

  “Thanks for that. After all, it’s only three weeks until our wedding,” Lisa said.

  Alice gestured toward the two chairs across from her desk, inviting the couple to sit. She closed her office door to block out the sounds of the Christmas tree trimming ceremony in the lobby. She had skipped lunch, instead subsisting on cookies and punch. The sugar in her bloodstream made her feel shaky.

  Maybe it was her odd conversation with Nate. Why, especially during the daunting task of untangling strings of lights, did he suddenly decide he wanted to talk about their relationship? Alice suspected he was afraid people would find out and he was trying to do damage control ahead of time. That’s what a good public relations man would do.

  “Three weeks to live,” the groom joked.

  “Not funny,” Lisa said. Her face colored and she turned away from Greg.

  “I was just kidding. You’ve lost your sense of humor over this whole wedding thing,” he protested.

  “That’s because it’s serious. My parents have spent a fortune, hundreds of people are coming and you haven’t done anything to help with the planning.”

  “I’m here now, aren’t I?”

  Alice leaned against her closed office door and fought the nerves fluttering in her chest. Lisa’s voice rose a little higher as she continued to tick off a list of things she had to get done before their wedding, and Greg’s posture became straighter and more defensive with each item. By the time she got to gifts for the groomsmen, they were both flushed and frowning.

  Why did it have to be this way? This should be the happiest time of their lives.

  “Let’s not think about the wedding first,” Alice suggested. “Tell me about your honeymoon plans.” She sat in her desk chair and waited. This trick had worked before. Stressed out couples who suddenly projected themselves beyond the ceremony and on the beach instead visibly relaxed. They usually started chatting about their travel plans and spending time alone.

  Not this couple. Silence.

  “He’s supposed to be planning that part,” Lisa said quietly. “He says it’s a surprise, and I got my passport renewed months ago, just in case. Lately, though, I’ve started to think he hasn’t done anything. “

  “I’m sure he has,” Alice said.

  Greg swallowed and put both hands on his knees as if steeling himself for battle.

  “Traveling at Christmas is expensive,” he said. “And flights and hotels are already booked.”

  “We’ve been planning this wedding since last Christmas,” Lisa said. “Those flights and hotels weren’t booked last spring. You couldn’t have thought ahead?”

  “I’m sorry, okay? I’m trying.”

  “No, you’re not. If you were really trying, you’d have managed something. I’m starting to think you don’t even want to marry me,” the bride said.

  “You know,” Alice said, “we had a pre-Christmas party this morning, and I think there’s plenty of cookies and punch left. I’m going to run down the hall and bring back some treats, and then we can talk about your wedding, which is going to be just fine.”

  She breezed down the hallway, took two red plates and loaded them with cookies and poured two cups of punch.

  “Need help with that?” Nate asked.

  “I’m going back to my office. These snacks are for the bride and groom at my meeting.”

  “I’ll bring the punch and follow you.”

  Great. She appreciated his help, but having Nate right on her heels delivering punch was not conducive to facing a pre-wedding drama while remaining serene.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said. “The meeting is...not going well. But you can come if you want.”

  The bride and groom were still arguing when Alice and Nate entered her office. Apparently sensing the tension, Nate delivered the punch wordlessly and slid out the door. Alice noticed he left the door open, but she didn’t bother to close it. Maybe the cheerful music still wafting down the hallway would help.

  The groom picked up a cookie and ate it in a single bite.

  “So what are you saying?” he mumbled, still chewing. “You don’t want to get married now?”

  “Really?” Lisa demanded. “You think it’s that simple. Yes or no, I do or don’t want to get married?”

  “Well, do you or don’t you?”

  Uh-oh. Greg did not seem to realize he was digging his hole deeper by making the issue black or white. Alice needed to ask the couple about final details, such as the exact number of guests for the caterers and if they’d finally chosen a photographer. But those questions would only be fuel on the fire, and they were possibly even moot.

  A shadow passed by the door. Was Nate still out there? The pressure in Alice’s chest increased. “Maybe we could talk about this another day when you’re less stressed,” she suggested. “Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and holidays tend to magnify everything.”

  The bride and groom stared at each other. Two people who were in love—enough to plan a life together—were now reduced to squabbling in a stranger’s office. Alice wanted to cry for them, but she had to maintain her composure.

  “Or you could take a little walk around Starlight Point and come back refreshed,” she suggested. The cool air would help...wouldn’t it?

  “It won’t help,” the bride said. A sob escaped her and tears gushed down her face. “He’s been like this all along. It’s like he doesn’t even want to go through with it.”

  “I asked you to marry me, didn’t I?” he shouted.

  “A year ago,” Lisa choked out. “A long year.”

  “Couples often spend a year planning their weddings,” Alice interjected. “It takes time to get the details right.” She remembered spending almost a year planning the one she’d walked out on. If only she’d stopped obsessing about the flowers, the dress and what shoes her bridesmaids should wear, she might have asked herself the hard questions she should have. Was she ready to marry Nate, even though her heart told her something was out of balance?

  For months, she had believed the scale tilted far more in one direction than the other until she finally realized she couldn’t marry the man she loved with all her heart because she wasn’t sure the love was equally reciprocated. She loved him too much to marry him when she wasn’t sure of his love.

  “Which of you,” Alice blurted out in a moment of reckless honesty, “loves the other one more?”

  “I do,” Lisa said quickly.

  Greg said nothing. Lips parted, he was speechless.

  Alice closed her eyes and let out the breath she’d been holding. She’d been sure he would say I do at the same time.

  Tears flowed faster down the bride’s face as she headed for the door. “Wait,” Greg said, finding his voice. “Are you calling off our wedding?”

  Lisa kept moving and Greg hurried after her. Alice jumped to her feet and followed the pair into the hallway.

  “You can’t call off the wedding three weeks before it’s supposed to happen,” Greg shouted. “What are we going to tell people?”

  Lisa had made it to the lobby and the room full of people still enjoying the decorating party fell silent.

  “That’s what you’re worried about? What we’re going to tell people?”

  “Come on. You know I love you,” Greg sai
d.

  Alice waited. Maybe that was the right thing to say to get this train back on the tracks.

  “How would I know that?” Lisa asked.

  “Because I said so,” he said. His words were choked and Alice believed he really meant them, but the situation was beyond simple words now. Greg turned to Alice. “Talk some sense into her,” he said. “Tell her it’s just bridal nerves or something. This is your job, right?”

  Alice swallowed the lump in her throat. Everyone in the room was listening, including Nate, who had followed them and was now standing under the spreading branches of the Christmas tree.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “You have to work this out for yourselves.” Her nerves were at their breaking point, and she was afraid to say much.

  “But you think we should get married, don’t you?” the groom insisted.

  Alice looked at the bride’s tear-streaked face. Her agony showed in every drop that had stained the front of her blouse. The room was silent, waiting for her answer.

  I’m the wedding planner. In charge of happy endings. Everyone—especially the Hamiltons, who’d taken a business risk on specialty weddings—expected her to say yes. Yes, the bride and groom should absolutely get married right before Christmas with a sleigh ride through the park and red roses and silver stars in the ballroom. Just as they had planned.

  The bride kept her eyes fixed on Alice’s. She had to tell her the truth. How would she live with herself if she didn’t?

  Alice took a deep breath and flicked a glance toward Nate. “No,” she said quietly but clearly. “I don’t think you should get married. Not until you’ve worked this through.”

  The bride turned and sped through the glass doors.

  “Thanks a lot,” the groom said bitterly. He shoved through the doors behind his fiancée.

  No one in the room said anything for a moment. The entire Hamilton family with their spouses were there as well as Gloria, Henry and a handful of year-round employees.

  “I can’t imagine calling off your wedding only three weeks beforehand,” Evie said. “Don’t you think you should have encouraged them to stick with it?”