“Hibiscus…” Yes, Sunny recalled some of that. She had in fact received a reservation request for the whole of Waterlily House for most of July. I haven’t had the chance to look it over. Mostly because she was so busy with the rest of her life and business. A reservation for all of July? When she would be gone for part of it? She might as well be asked to play the role of King Solomon between an unknown entity and her quiet regulars.
Still, that was a lot of money…
“Yes,” Sunny eventually said. “I do believe I received your reservation request the other day, but didn’t have the time to go over it yet. How can I help you, Ms. Granger?”
“Well, as stipulated in the request, my crew and I will be in Paradise Valley next month for some filming. There are four of us, and we should like to rent three to four rooms from you for most of July. I’m not sure exactly how long we’ll be there for, but we’re arriving into town on the second.”
Lovely. Two days after the wedding. Because Sunny would totally be around for that. “Yes, that’s part of the snafu, I suppose.”
“Oh, are you already booked? Mayor Rath assured me that you usually have a couple rooms available at any time.”
Thank you, Ms. Mayor. If Karen kept it up, she would soon have people believing that all of Paradise Valley was losing business by the month. “Actually, I’m getting married at the end of this month and shall be on my honeymoon for the first chunk of July.”
“Oh! I had no idea. Congratulations.” Before Sunny could accept any congratulations, however, the prospective guest continued. “Are you saying that you won’t be open for part of that time? Could you refer me to any of the other fine establishments in your area that may be able to accommodate us? I must admit, it’s been a bit of a trial to figure this part of our project out, because there seem to be few lodges in the area.”
“Especially in July,” Sunny further explained. “It’s a big tourist season around here, yes.” Those who didn’t come only for the Fourth of July festivities often lingered or returned for Paradise Pride at the end of the month. That was the real party, and both Brandy and Sunny agreed to be back in time for it. There was usually a small to-do for newlyweds, and they didn’t want to miss out on their free goodies. “Well, I hadn’t planned on being open, but if it’s only the four of you, I may be able to open those rooms for you. You must keep in mind, however, that it might only be part-timed staffed during the day, so you would be on your own for most of it.” Poor Anita was about to be roped into some adventure over the course of her summer vacation. At least Leigh Ann will have something to do. Last Sunny heard, the student hadn’t lined up a job for the break. She needed something to keep her preoccupied.
“We mostly keep to ourselves, and any time spent at the house would be working on our film. We’ve looked into renting a proper house elsewhere, but there don’t seem to be many up for short-term rentals. Air BnB was really quite sad.”
Especially in Summer, yes. Sunny would be repeating that until the point was driven into Dahlia’s head. “I can give you a group rate. It will help mitigate my inability to be there the first part of the month to offer the usual breakfast, but as long as you sign a cleaning waiver and pay a small deposit, you can have free range of the kitchen to make your meals.” She remembered the Halcyon days when she didn’t need a deposit to use the damn kitchen. “I’ll have to take a close look at my calendar. If you can send me some more concrete dates, I can figure something out.”
“Thank you so much.” Dahlia sighed in relief. “We can list you as one of our sponsors at the end of our film about Paradise Valley.”
Film about Paradise Valley? Sunny scrunched her nose. She hadn’t heard anything about that. Wouldn’t a movie being made in town make the news? Hell, those camera crews showing up last April to stalk Jalen had created such a stir that they made front page of the newspaper. Was Sunny out of the loop because of the wedding planning? She needed to go into town more often. The summer was really bad for avoiding town, due to the great weather keeping her in the outdoors and a booming business preoccupying her time with guests. The wedding only made her more detached from the gossip around town.
“What exactly is this film about?” Sunny braved asking.
“Oh, we’re filming a small documentary for local interests.” The way Dahlia said it made Sunny still think that there was something more to it, but that was the official statement they were handing out to the townsfolk. “I assure you this isn’t Hollywood or anything. We’re not planning to make the rounds at Cannes, if that’s what you’re wondering!”
Sunny didn’t really believe it, but what could she say? She was better off agreeing to take a look at the reservation while wondering what she would say to Anita and Leigh Ann. At least she could give Anita a small stipend for taking over for a few days. Leigh Ann might riot, however, and Sunny would need at least one person on hand.
Why oh why did things have to be so complicated lately? Sunny merely wanted to plan her wedding and think of a nice life together with the woman she loved. A woman she hadn’t seen very often since the future in-laws came into town. Sunny had made the required drop-by to say hello and be fawned over, but the Meyers were often wrapped up in their own world of petty arguments and cheek kisses that made up for all the heavy words said only five minutes ago.
It explained a lot about Brandelyn, really. Enough that Sunny could appreciate the different perspective, and hope it meant the slightest bit of difference to how they related to one another in their marriage.
After thinking that, Sunny conceded it was a pipe dream. Some would say she was addicted to those pipes, anyway.
***
“You have no idea how nice this is,” Brandy said, flopping down onto Sunny’s loveseat in her small living room. “My house became a war zone the moment everyone flew in from New York. Be grateful you don’t have to deal with your family for another week.”
Sunny finished folding her laundry by the TV. The new report from Portland meant nothing to them, but Sunny was grateful she didn’t have to drive around the city with how many bridge closures. “My family is also a lot more well-behaved than yours.”
“You can say that again,” Brandelyn muttered. “My mother attempted to barge right into one of my appointments today! Can you believe it?”
“Yes, actually.”
Brandy continued, “I had to wait for my receptionist to intervene. I was busy explaining to a patient that… well, I shouldn’t tell you. Just know that my mother didn’t understand why she doesn’t have a right to barge into my exam rooms for any reason. Doesn’t matter if I’m with a patient or not! Who does that?”
“Your mother. What did she want, anyway?”
“Something about my sister’s maid-of-honor dress. Apparently, the hem is not to her liking, and my mom was going to proudly announce that she was taking it in herself.”
Sunny rolled her eyes. How could she express how grateful she was that her mother-in-law wasn’t her responsibility?
“Sorry to dump all this on you while you’re trying to get your chores done.” Brandy dragged her hands down her face. That looks like it feels nice. Sunny would have to do it to herself when her fiancée wasn’t looking. “I’m going nuts. I knew I was going to go nuts, but it’s quite a difference between thinking about it theoretically… and, oh, boom, there they are! My stepfather has been complaining about my lack of cable or satellite ever since he sat down. He’s a channel flipper. He hates streaming, because it forces him to choose something to watch.
“Don’t ever tell him about playlists.”
“That still takes the ‘magic’ out of it, I guess.”
Sunny shook her head while folding the final towel. “Your family. I’m so glad they live on the other side of the country.”
“They’re gonna be your family soon!”
“You’re sure right, Brandy.” Sunny stood up, pile of towels in her arms. “Are you staying the night tonight? Or would that be too scandalous for yo
ur devoutly Jewish mother?”
“She’s about as devout as a Catholic priest in Miami for spring break,” Brandelyn muttered. “She wouldn’t have any room to talk about us sleeping together for one night before the wedding.” Only one? Sunny wouldn’t have it. “When Lizzie was dating her boyfriend, they totally slept together – while my mother knew about it, mind you – when home from college for Christmas break. You ask me? That’s when their oldest was conceived.”
“You know better than most how weird parents can get.”
“Even better when you make it gay, right?”
“Yup. Don’t get me started on all the snide remarks I’ve been hearing about town.”
“Hey, Bran…” Sunny stopped in front of her fiancée, still dramatically passed out on the loveseat. “You’ve told your parents you’re marrying me, right? Or are you talking about your sister, the one who said you couldn’t pay her enough to kiss another girl?”
“You want to talk about weird parents? How about them knowing and accepting that their daughter’s a lesbian, but being weirded out by a whole small town of lesbians? Then again, I think they only want to find an excuse to make fun of a small town. My mom’s dying without her precious bagels.”
“What’s wrong with the bagels around here? Safeway always has them on sale.”
“You don’t understand a New Yorker’s relationship to bagels. You just don’t.”
“Forgive me if I don’t try to understand it.” Sunny chuckled. “Have you exposed her to the wonders that is Paradise Pizza yet?”
“It’s not New York style, so you can imagine how that went.”
“So, you have the type of New Yorker parents that can’t stand it when things aren’t New York?”
“Sun, you’ve been to New York City with me. You know how people get there!”
Oh, Sunny remembered. She remembered so well that Brandelyn would have to pay for everything to get her to go back again. A small town Oregonian could as easily throw the shade right back at the city. “Yet you managed to move to the west coast and be perfectly content in a tiny town like this. Who would imagine?”
“Not my family, that’s for sure.” Brandelyn pushed herself up and turned off the TV. “You know my story. I went to OHSU for med school, stayed in the area for my residency, took up a practice in a small lesbian town, and Bob’s your uncle.”
“Would you have taken up a small town clinic if it weren’t full of lesbians, though?”
Brandelyn leaned forward, her pursed lips coming right for Sunny’s. Yet she didn’t seal the deal. That wasn’t Brandy’s style. She liked to instigate, but her romantic follow through left a lot to be desired. Good thing I like those kinds of games. Sunny loved it when she felt like the badass who did the brunt of the seducing, even if she was well aware it was Brandy’s idea.
“I came here because I knew it would change my life.” Brandelyn finally let a kiss linger on Sunny’s lips. “And it did. I met the love of my life in this tiny little town.”
“You could’ve met someone else in another place.”
“Maybe. Why would I want to? This is the kind of life I’m happy to live.”
Those were the kind of words that lit up Sunny’s heart and made her remember why she loved Brandelyn so much. Sometimes, I feel like the only person who sees that soft exterior she secretly possesses. Maybe not so secretly. Wasn’t like Brandelyn purposely put people off or acted like a stuck-up city girl displaced to the countryside (that she claimed to actually love.) Sunny accepted that Brandy was a certain way. People were… certain ways, weren’t they? There was always room for improvement, but that didn’t mean who they were deep in their hearts was a fault. Some people got along. Others didn’t. Some environments were ripe for propagating negativity in certain people. Lots of townsfolk thought that about Brandelyn, who was a perfectly good small town doctor, but lacked in the social skills department. But was Sunny that much better? She was more demure in her confidence, had the credibility of being a homegrown resident, and knew what it meant to live in peaceful isolation for most of one’s life, but that didn’t mean she was inherently better. She read the local social codes better, perhaps, but did that preclude someone like Brandy from ever fitting in?
Honestly, Sunny appreciated someone so different from her. Brandy brought out the voice that was often suppressed deep inside Sunny’s body. When a girl grew up in the country, went to a tiny high school, and had a small selection of friends who were away more often than close… it meant she was used to the quiet, including in herself.
Brandelyn’s brand of noise was a breath of fresh air.
“Soooo you’re staying the night, right?” Sunny asked again. “Don’t make me ask a third time. I might decide I’m sleeping solo.”
“Like I said, my family…”
“They’re gossiping about you right now, anyway. Why not prove them right?” Sunny took her fiancée by the hands and drew her toward the bedroom. Clothes were left unceremoniously behind on the coffee table. The laundry basket was kicked out of the way. Sunny was a woman on a mission to make love to the woman she would soon marry.
Brandy seemed into it, too. Her giggles and the sheepish way she turned her head when she realized what Sunny wanted completely went against the stoic demeanor of a doctor. How many women in this town can say they’ve slept with the doctor? Ooh, not many! Maybe there were one or two dates Sunny didn’t know about, but she didn’t care. Brandelyn was all hers, for now, and always.
Their kisses were as light as the dust swirling by the window. Their touches were as fervent as the birds singing their songs in the trees. Their little sounds beautifully melded into a place of private serenity.
Sunny held onto this moment. She didn’t know when she would get to experience it again, even during their upcoming honeymoon. Because nothing beat the simple bliss of a lazy day at home.
Chapter 9
BRANDELYN
Lest her mother disappoint her, Cathy chastised her daughter for “leaving us all alone in this strange house while you’re off having premarital relations. What? You think it’s different because it’s a woman? I don’t care how many babies can get made. It just isn’t done. Why are you bringing up Lizzie? This has nothing to do with her boy!” Brandelyn offered no apologies, although she did assure her parents that she would give them more notice if they were left to their own devices for so long again. At least they didn’t let Brutus go unwalked or unfed. The boy was getting fat with so many people around.
So was Brandy, who blamed PMS, stress, and binge eating when she wasn’t paying attention. Her mother’s cooking was so full of carbs and fat that Brandelyn was better off eating half and calling it a day. Especially with her dress fitting a week and a half before the wedding.
The final one. The final one!
“Please sit still,” asked Apple Abernathy, the qualified seamstress who had come highly recommended based on Yelp! reviews. She tugged on Brandelyn’s hem and tightened the waist that pooled around the feet. Every time Brandy’s bust was bothered, her breasts heaved toward her chin in the most unnatural ways. Monica thought it absolutely hilarious that both Brandy and Lizzie must suffer for the bridal good. (Lizzie was having none of the spaghetti straps of her baby pink gown messing with her tan. When someone pointed out that her tan was sprayed on, she stormed off to the ladies’ room and refused to come out until her mother apologized.)
“How much do you weigh?” Cathy was definitely not apologizing for that. Not even with a Snickers bar in her mouth and her phone constantly pointed to her face. “Really, Brandy, haven’t you learned since prom? You always gain ten pounds at this time of year. You should’ve taken that into account when you bought this dress. Get a size up!”
“First of all, Mom.” Brandelyn almost lost the rest of her thought after the wind was momentarily knocked out of her. Apple apologized and loosened her grip on the waistline. “There wasn’t another size up. I counted my blessings that I could lose enough weight to fit i
nto this size.” She didn’t know when she became a size ten, but she’d be damned if she picked up a twelve for her wedding dress! “Second of all, I’m bloating from PMS. You should’ve learned that from my eighth grade graduation.” She didn’t bring up any further details. Like how eighth grade graduation was mired with a giant stain on her black and white skirt by the end of the ceremony. She was the only girl for the class group photo that had a sweatshirt tied around her midsection and tears coming out of her eyes.
“You’re really cutting it close having your wedding so close to your period!” Cathy had to shout that for the whole boutique to hear, huh? Lizzie snickered while Monica rolled her eyes. Apple Abernathy kept her head down and acted like she hadn’t heard anything. “You’re a doctor! Get yourself one of those pills that makes you skip!”
“You mean birth control?”
“Is that what it does?”
Brandelyn didn’t have the time or patience to explain how birth control had that effect under certain circumstances. Cathy was a woman who rarely listened to her daughter’s doctoral advice, anyway. She was too busy asking websites for subpar information. That’s my whole family. How did I make it out alive? They always think it’s cancer! Like every single patient who walked through the door, but it was more infuriating coming from her own family.
“My period will be over before the wedding,” Brandy insisted. “Unless you guys keep stressing me out to the point it’s freakin’ late!”
Apple offered her squirmy client a weak smile. “There’s nothing we can’t do about a little bloat, dear. This dress has plenty of give for half an inch or so.”
Oh, a whole half an inch!
“Now, please sit still. This is delicate work I’m doing back here. I don’t want to accidentally screw up the fine beadwork the crafters did.”
June Bride Page 6
