Back to the Lake Breeze Hotel

by Amie Denman

  Alice rubbed his back with one hand and put her palm on his cheek. He wanted to pull her close and kiss her. Would it still be as sweet as it was years ago? Being with her had made him almost forget the pain of his early teenage years. He’d taken a risk with his heart, and he believed he’d given her everything he had.

  But now he knew she hadn’t thought so, and then she’d left him, too.

  He controlled his expression and squared his shoulders. “It was a long time ago. I just thought I would show you this picture because we were cleaning out some old stuff from my dad’s attic.” He sounded as if he was explaining to the lady at the thrift store why he was donating some old shoes he didn’t need anymore. His father was right. Nate was so afraid of exposing his feelings that he couldn’t convince the woman standing in front of him that he loved her.

  Her face went from sympathetic to disappointed at his matter-of-fact tone. “I see,” she said, tears shining in her eyes. “Thank you for sharing that picture with me.” She swallowed and waited.

  What should he say?

  “But I should get back to work on these decorations,” Alice said.

  He nodded, too afraid to go one more step and say what was in his heart. Alice turned and walked away among the twinkling lights and music.

  * * *

  THE RIDE IN the open golf cart was short but brutally cold. Gloria drove, Virginia sat in the front seat, and Alice rode in the back seat with the wedding gown draped over her lap and wrapped in layers of plastic.

  With the bridal gown in her arms, she thought of her own gown and wedding. Her mother had sold her dress the previous day and presented Alice with a nice check from the shop. Alice had no intention of cashing the check. She would hand it right back to her parents in a few more weeks when she’d finally put aside the total amount they had spent on her wedding. Paying them back would be a perfect way to celebrate the new year.

  The gown was gone, but the groom was still in her life. Her conversation with Nate only hours earlier had left her with an empty sinking feeling. He’d been so sincere... Had he really loved her and she had misjudged him? And that picture. No wonder he never wanted to be caught off guard by his emotions. At the most vulnerable time in his life, someone had snapped a picture and used it for over a year. Despite the good intentions of his uncle and the local newspaper, Nate’s ability to show his feelings had been powerfully supplanted by his desire to appear fine, no matter what. No doubt he considered it safer.

  If we’d only talked about it years ago...

  “Slow down, Gloria,” Virginia said. “I want to live to see this wedding.”

  “Won’t be a wedding,” Gloria said as she slid around a corner and whooshed to a stop in front of the wardrobe department at Starlight Point. “Not unless I get a new zipper in that dress in the next twenty minutes.”

  Alice handed over the dress to Virginia as she climbed out and the three of them froze outside the door while Gloria fumbled with her keys. “Supposed to have the winter off, but you keep finding more stuff for me to do,” she muttered. “Halloween costumes, Santa costumes and now emergency wedding repairs.”

  Gloria shoved open the door and flipped on the lights while Virginia and Alice carried the long, awkwardly wrapped package to a broad sewing table. They unwrapped the gown and laid it out for the head seamstress to work her magic. Gloria pulled open drawers and sorted through them until she held up a long ivory zipper. “Hallelujah. It’s the right kind. Can’t believe I had one.”

  “We’ve been friends for thirty years,” Virginia told Gloria as she pulled up a chair next to her at the industrial sewing machine. “So I can definitely believe you had one. You’ve been keeping this place put together for years. What would we do without you?”

  “I’ll probably just keep coming back until you find my skeleton sitting at this machine with a measuring tape draped around my neck and a pincushion attached to my wrist.”

  Alice wandered around the shop while Gloria carefully ripped out the tiny stitches that held the gown’s zipper. She was too nervous to sit down and too restless to stop pacing.

  “It’ll be fine,” Gloria told Alice on her third pass by the sewing machine. “Don’t think this is my first emergency, and it sure won’t be the last.”

  Alice smiled. “I know. I’m not nervous about the dress. We’re lucky to have a professional on staff, and if the wedding is ten minutes late, I don’t think it will lead to cold feet or second thoughts.”

  Gloria laughed. “People are bound to get those anyway. I remember thinking I was making the biggest mistake of my life when I looked down the aisle and saw that skinny boy I’d agreed to marry.”

  “And what happened?”

  Gloria shrugged. “He grew on me.” She pulled the broken zipper out of the gown and clipped all the threads. Stuffing her mouth with pins, she began to line up the new zipper and fix it in place.

  Virginia spun in her chair. “Tell me about the couple getting married today,” she told Alice.

  “High school sweethearts. I actually knew them because they were just one class behind me and Nate in school.”

  “You and Nate?”

  Alice nodded. She couldn’t believe she had included him in the conversation, but when she thought about that time in her life, Nate was always right there in her memories.

  “We knew each other in high school.”

  Virginia raised an eyebrow. “To say the least.”

  “Yes,” Alice admitted. “Anyway, today’s bride and groom dated in high school, split up in college and got back together last year.”

  “Happy ending,” Gloria muttered through the pins.

  “I hope so.”

  “And what are you going to do about Nate?” Virginia asked.

  Alice sucked in a breath and noticed Gloria’s head swing in her direction. She knew people were talking about the fact they were once together. There were very few secrets in a place as small and family-oriented as Starlight Point. And Alice saw no reason to conceal it any longer. She had, for his sake. But now...

  “It’s been five years since I ruined our rehearsal dinner by announcing I wasn’t going through with the wedding.”

  “You were young,” Virginia said sympathetically. “Although I’ve discovered recently that old age doesn’t protect you from letting your heart lead you on a wild ride.”

  “I want to hear more about that in a minute,” Gloria said as she took the last pin from between her teeth.

  “It wasn’t just being twenty-two,” Alice protested. “I was a very wise twenty-two.”

  Gloria and Virginia both laughed.

  “Okay, fine,” Alice said, laughing, too. “I thought I was very grown up. And I don’t regret my decision. I was right to say no at the time.”

  Gloria sighed and turned her attention to the zipper in the gown that would be worn by a bride who hadn’t changed her mind.

  Henry breezed through the door and stamped snow off his boots. A cold wind swirled through the wardrobe shop.

  “I came over to see if I could help.”

  “Can you sew?” Gloria asked.

  “I’m more muscle and moral support.”

  “Come back in May. I can use you then,” Gloria said. “I have more than enough help right now.”

  “In that case, can I borrow one of your helpers?” he asked, looking straight at Virginia. “I need some help with an important question.”

  Even though Alice didn’t know exactly what the question was, she felt the thrill in Henry’s voice and noticed the tremor in Virginia’s lip. Raw emotion and joy showed on both their faces. Equally. Neither of them was holding back.

  That was what Alice wanted from Nate, and what he’d been unable to give her when she needed it most.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  “A TOAST,” JACK SAID, popping the cork on a bo
ttle of champagne. “To not wearing matching sweaters for this picture.”

  “I’ll drink to that,” Evie said.

  Nate waited for instructions, camera dangling from his neck. He was already dressed for the employee Christmas party, which would begin in only half an hour. Not in a holiday mood, he still struggled with Alice’s words from the day before.

  He’d been angry and defensive at first, but then he replayed his memories of those years they dated and were engaged. The caution she had accused him of using...maybe she was right. Ever since his mother was there one moment and gone the next, he confused loving someone with fearing they would leave.

  When Alice had left him, it only confirmed and deepened that feeling.

  “If I hear any complaining about taking a family Christmas photo, I will personally knit you all a matching sweater for next year,” Virginia announced, hand on hip.

  June shoulder-hugged her. “You don’t know how to knit, Mom.”

  “I’m never too old to try something new.”

  Nate wondered if Henry would be Virginia’s date for the party. He was lingering just down the hall, nervously picking at the knot in his green-and-red-striped tie. Nate had seen him when he went to his office to pick up the high-quality camera he used for updating the company blog and website.

  A few minutes later, the entire Hamilton family assembled in front of the large tree in the corporate office lobby. They were all dressed for the holiday party. Nate had already seen some early guests arriving. Ladies wore cocktail dresses with a little sparkle. Men wore suits with fun Christmas ties that lit up or played music. Children wore holiday dresses and suits.

  “This is the first whole group photo we’ve had done in years,” Virginia said. “And our family has grown so much. We have to make sure to take one every year.”

  “Thanks for helping us out,” Jack told Nate as he handed him a glass of champagne.

  “No trouble for me—I don’t have to be in it,” Nate said. Which was a good thing because he didn’t think he could even fake a smile.

  “Gather in front of the tree,” Evie directed. “Tall people in the back.”

  Everyone laughed. Jack and his best friend, Mel, were both over six foot three, and June and Evie neared the six-foot mark. Looking at the next generation, Nate imagined they would be tall, too. What a nice family. So happy, despite losing someone tragically just five years ago. He knew what it was like to lose someone. Did he know what it was like to heal and be whole again?

  While Nate watched the family assemble in front of the tree, he noticed Henry standing in the doorway that led to the hallway of offices. He seemed to be waiting.

  Virginia lined up her children and grandchildren, standing in front of them as if conducting an orchestra. When she had them assembled, she gestured to Henry to come over.

  She took Henry’s hand in front of her family. Everyone waited and Nate felt the tension in the room. He wanted to fade into the woodwork, but he’d been invited, asked to be there.

  “I may not learn to knit,” Virginia said, “but I have learned something new lately. When Ford passed away, I didn’t think there could ever be room in my heart for someone else. And for a long time, there wasn’t. Maybe it’s all the weddings I’ve helped with this year. Every time I see the joy on the faces of the bride and groom and their families, it reminds me that life goes on.”

  Evie and June started crying. Mel dug tissues from the pocket of his coat and handed one to his wife and sister-in-law.

  “When my longtime friend got married last month, I thought at first it was a big mistake. But when I asked myself why—more specifically when Alice Birmingham asked me why I objected—I couldn’t think of a single good reason.”

  Nate wished Alice couldn’t think of any reasons she shouldn’t be with him.

  “I realized I was afraid of my own feelings,” Virginia continued. “I loved your father with all my heart, and I was afraid if I opened my heart to someone else, Ford would fade away. But he can never fade away. He’s everywhere at Starlight Point. In the swinging cable cars and the carousel music. And in all of us. But I don’t think he’d mind if I shared that carousel music with someone new who came into my life like a roller coaster.”

  Henry put an arm around Virginia and kissed her cheek.

  Virginia smiled. “I love Henry, and I hope you can all accept that it’s time for me to love again.” She paused and looked at Henry. “Do you want to tell them or should I?”

  Henry straightened his tie and faced the entire family. He is one brave man. “Yesterday afternoon, I asked Virginia to marry me.”

  “And I said yes!” she cried.

  Nate started snapping pictures as Jack shook hands with Henry and then pulled him into a hug. Mel and Scott stepped forward and welcomed Henry with handshakes after June, Evie and Augusta had hugged him and cried on his suit.

  Nate zoomed in and took pictures of the children. He doubted they understood what a milestone moment it was for the Hamilton family, but they certainly picked up on the joy. He saw it in their shining faces.

  He imagined an album filled with candid photos of this night plus one large group photo. He glanced at his watch. The Christmas party was in only fifteen minutes, and he still hadn’t found a way to convince Alice he was ready to love someone with all his heart.

  When Evie and Virginia got the group reassembled in front of the tree, Nate felt a wash of relief. He could get the picture and make his way to the dance. Maybe he could get a moment alone with Alice before the party got going.

  “One, two, three,” he counted, framing the shot to include the entire Hamilton family with the Christmas tree behind them. Their faces said everything. Joy, excitement, happiness, a new beginning for them. He took three pictures, just to make certain he got a good one, and on the third picture, something clicked into place for him.

  He remembered the video Henry had taken of him skating with Alice. The look of pure wonder and joy on his own face when he’d struggled to his feet and looked down at Alice. That was the moment he knew he loved her, still and again, but he’d never been brave enough to show it to anyone. It was raw, vulnerable and showed what was in his heart.

  There was one person who had to see it.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  “WHAT DID YOU do to my mother?” June asked as she joined Alice behind the reception table. “The entire family holds you responsible for her happiness.”

  Alice turned, afraid she’d meddled in the wrong romance. She opened her mouth to apologize, but June was smiling.

  “She just announced her engagement to Henry as we were trying to take a giant family photo in front of the office tree. I’m sure we’ll all look tearstained in the picture.”

  “But happy,” Alice said. Her heart swelled with joy for Virginia and Henry.

  “Very. Evie and I have been trying to tell her to join a singles group for the past year, but I guess it took meeting the right guy and seeing her friend take a chance on a second marriage.”

  “I’m glad for her.”

  June nodded. “I told you before that I’m a sucker for a second-chance romance. Mel and I wouldn’t be married now if I hadn’t had the wisdom to pursue him.”

  “Is that how it happened?”

  “Not exactly. I tried running, but not too fast. I gave him a fighting chance to catch me.”

  Alice smiled.

  “And now, I’m on a mission,” June said. “I’ve been asked to make sure you see something.” She took Alice by the shoulders and turned her so she could see the screen behind them.

  Puzzled, Alice looked at the giant video screen. She saw herself ice skating in a green velvet jacket and a long green skirt. Of course! It was the promotional video. Her spirits lifted for the first time since she’d shut down Nate’s attempt to talk to her the day before. She always felt free and happy
moving swiftly across the ice, and she vividly remembered that morning a month ago when she’d tried out the temporary rink in the parking lot. Other people stopped to watch the video of her skating, but then the shot cut to Nate wobbling precariously on his borrowed skates.

  Bystanders chuckled and a small crowd gathered to watch the screen.

  On the big screen, she watched herself take his hand and lead him around the ice, holding him tight before he fell. Tears collected in her eyes as she remembered the moment and how warm his fingers had felt through her gloves.

  As she watched the screen with tears blurring her vision, she saw Nate fall. She knew what happened next, knew she would see herself help him to his feet. Henry had stood across the rink with the camera, and her back was to him. She saw her red hair contrast with the green jacket, and then Nate’s face appeared in the frame over her shoulder.

  Her heart nearly stopped when she saw the expression on his face. It was the look. The look she often saw grooms give their brides before they walked down the aisle. Absolute helplessness in the face of true love. For Nate, total and complete vulnerability and honesty.

  “Wonder-eyes,” June whispered.

  She’d seen parts of this video before. There were clips of it on the company website. But she’d never seen this part, and she knew exactly why. Not many people were brave enough to open their hearts for others to see. The movie stopped, frozen with the final image of her back, Nate’s dumbfounded expression, and the tall roller coasters of Starlight Point behind them.

  Nate stepped out from behind the screen. He wore a black suit with a Christmas green tie. “I couldn’t find the words to tell you, so I had to show you.”

  Alice waited, hoping the video meant what she believed it did. She wanted to run to him and throw herself into his arms, but she knew he had to be the one to come to her.

  “When I first watched the footage Henry shot, I cringed at my lack of talent compared to your grace. And then when I saw that,” he said, pointing to the screen, “I thought I would never let anyone watch it. I was afraid to let down my guard and let people see straight into my heart.”