“Absolutely,” Tess said. “Each time we thought we were keeping up with the letters, another batch would arrive and we’d be back to square one.”
Molly looked down at her watch. “Talking about fittings, Tess and I need to head across to Logan’s home to meet two bridesmaids. If you need a hand with anything, let me know.”
Rachel smiled. “I’ll be fine. Sally said she’d help me sort the box of letters into categories. After that, it’s just a matter of addressing the letters and making sure I cover any of their questions.”
Tess gave Rachel a hug. “Thank you for helping us.”
“You’re welcome.”
Sally said goodbye to Tess and Molly, then picked up a big cardboard box sitting on the living room floor. “I guess there’s no time like the present to sort these out.”
Rachel cleared a space on the coffee table and smiled. “While we’re working you can tell me about Max. Does he like his new home?”
“He likes it a lot. I think Todd enjoys Max’s company, too.” Sally picked up an envelope and opened it. “All I need to do is convince Todd that he needs a playmate for Max.”
Rachel reached inside the box. “Are you sure it’s Max that needs the playmate?”
Sally’s face flamed hotter than her red nail polish. “There’s no point getting your hopes up. I think I’m doomed to be single for the rest of my life.”
Rachel laughed as she opened the envelope in her hands. “I don’t think so. You just haven’t found the right person.”
Sally concentrated on the letter she was holding. She knew from personal experience that it wasn’t finding the right person that was hard. The hard part was figuring out what to do with them once you knew they were special.
***
Sally leaned her elbows on the table at Angel Wings Café. For three days, they’d been trying to find another venue for Carolyn’s wedding. Everything was fully booked or so expensive that Carolyn and Wayne couldn’t afford it.
“I don’t know what to do,” Carolyn said. “We’d get married in mom and dad’s backyard if it was bigger, but there’s no way we’d be able to fit everyone in there.”
The front door opened and Molly came rushing into the café. “I’m sorry I’m late. My last client took longer than I thought.” She dropped her bag on the floor and put her laptop case on the table. “Ida Cranshaw wanted some photos taken of her holding her great-granddaughter. They’re going to be beautiful. Have you ordered something to drink?”
Sally nodded. “Tess said she’d make you a cup of tea when you arrive.”
A wide smile lit Molly’s face. “I’m spoiled. I’ll just go and let Tess…”
“You don’t have to let me know you’re here,” Tess said. She left a wooden tray beside Molly’s laptop. A pretty silver teapot and white porcelain cup sat in the middle of the tray. “I’ve got a cheese scone heating in the microwave for you.”
Molly sat at the table. “Aren’t you joining us?”
Tess shook her head. “Kate couldn’t come in this afternoon, so I’m doing everything at the moment.”
“Is Caitlin working today?” Sally asked. Caitlin was eighteen years old and worked part-time at the café. She kept everyone amused with stories about college life, although knowing Caitlin’s imagination, she wasn’t sure how many of them were true.
“She’ll be here in fifteen minutes. If you’re still trying to find somewhere to have Carolyn’s wedding, I’ll come and join you after she arrives.”
Molly poured a cup of tea and looked at Carolyn’s unhappy face. “I take it you haven’t found the perfect substitute venue?”
Carolyn shook her head. “I wish we had. At the moment, we’ve got our names down at three places. They’re waiting for final deposits to be paid. If one of those people don’t pay, we’ll get the room. But the chance of that happening is pretty remote.”
“Let’s think outside the box,” Sally said.
Molly opened her laptop. “Are there any places in Bozeman that mean a lot to you, Carolyn? You might have spent time there as a child, or maybe Wayne took you somewhere special on your first date?”
Carolyn frowned at Molly. “I grew up on my grandparents’ ranch and Wayne took me to the movies on our first date. They’re not the kind of places where romantic memories are made.”
“They could be,” Molly said with a twinkle in her eyes.
Sally laughed. “Only someone who believes in leprechauns and fairies would say that.”
“There’s nothing wrong with a little romance. Not that it did me much good.” Molly turned her laptop around and showed Carolyn some photos. “What about these places? They’re all locations around Bozeman. If you like the look of any of them I could ask the owner if we could have your wedding on their property.”
Carolyn looked up from the computer screen. “Do you think they’d let us?”
“There’s no harm in asking.” Molly flicked through the first couple of images. “When you want to see the next photo, push the space bar.”
Sally didn’t know if the photos would make much difference. Most of the shots Molly had taken were either of people or the land. Unless Carolyn wanted to get married in a tent in the middle of nowhere, her choices might be limited.
“This is beautiful…”
Sally pulled her chair across a few inches and looked at the screen. Carolyn was staring at a photo of Gracie, a friend who’d moved to Montana from New Zealand. In the photo, Gracie was as round as a ball with her first pregnancy. At five-foot-one there wasn’t a lot of extra room in her tummy for a baby, but she still managed to look amazing.
Carolyn moved to the next image and Sally enjoyed hearing her sharp intake of breath. The photo on the screen was Sally’s all time favorite. The sun was streaming through Gracie’s deep red hair and her hands were reaching up into the sky. The smile on Gracie’s face was pure joy. You could feel the wonder and excitement of the moment, the anticipation of what the next few months would bring.
Carolyn looked across at Molly. “You tell such amazing stories in your photographs.”
Molly’s cheeks turned pink. “Thank you. My granny used to say that I was born to be a photographer.”
“She wasn’t wrong,” Carolyn murmured. She looked more closely at the laptop. “Where were these photos taken?”
“At Gracie’s brother’s ranch, half an hour west of Bozeman.”
Carolyn leaned forward. “For a minute I thought the barn looked familiar. My sisters and I used to run wild in my grandma’s barn. We pretended we were living in our own magic kingdom. Stacey was convinced the barn mice would turn into beautiful white horses, just like in Cinderella.”
“And you’d meet your handsome princes,” Molly said with a sigh.
Carolyn laughed. “No, we never got that far. Stacey and Kimberly got caught up in the drama of losing their shoes. If anyone ever cleans out the barn, I swear they’ll find at least ten pairs of shoes hidden in the loft.”
Sally watched Carolyn’s face. The barn on her grandma’s ranch meant a lot to her. Maybe, if they cleaned the barn out, it would make the perfect wedding venue. “I’ve got an idea.”
Molly looked at her suspiciously. “I don’t know if we should trust the gleam in your eyes. It usually means you’re about to ask someone to look after some shelter animals.”
Sally closed her eyes, then opened them again. “Better?”
“Marginally,” Molly said. “What devious plan are you hatching?”
“A wedding plan,” Sally said proudly. “I think we might have taken a giant leap toward finding the perfect wedding venue.”
“We have?” Carolyn looked between Molly and Sally.
Molly raised her eyebrows in Sally’s direction. “We have?”
Sally pointed at the photo on the laptop. “Carolyn’s grandma’s barn.”
Molly and Carolyn didn’t say anything.
“What do you think?” Sally could hardly contain herself. She could see it now…f
airy lights strung around the wooden beams, a string quartet playing in the corner, or maybe a little acoustic guitar to keep the mood romantic. They’d find Carolyn and her sisters’ small shoes and hang them from the wall of the barn. It would remind them of the games they’d played when they were little. She got goose bumps just thinking about how good it could be.
“But that’s not grandma’s barn,” Carolyn said.
“I know, but do you think it could work?” Sally watched Carolyn closely. The bride-to-be hadn’t totally discounted the idea, but she didn’t look too enthusiastic, either.
“I know lots of people get married in barns, but grandma’s barn was old when I was a little. It could have fallen down by now.”
Molly looked at the photo. “The barns around here are built to last. Depending on what it’s like now, it could be a lovely venue. When did you last see it?”
“Grandma sold her ranch about four years ago and moved into a retirement village. I haven’t been there since then. I don’t even know who owns her ranch.”
“How could we find out?” Molly asked.
Carolyn shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. Do you think a realtor would have that information?”
“They might. Or we could knock on the new owner’s front door?” Sally suggested. “If we visit the ranch, we could look at the barn at the same time.”
Carolyn’s smile was infectious. “I like your idea. We’ve got nothing to lose and if it doesn’t work out, we’ll keep calling other venues.”
“I’ve got another idea.” Molly turned her laptop around to face her. “Google Maps is one of the finest inventions of the twenty-first century. We’ll let our fingers do the walking, like this…” She tapped on her keyboard, pressed enter, and waited. “And voila! One very impressive satellite map of Bozeman. What was the address of your grandma’s ranch, Carolyn?”
“Look up Copper Creek Road .”
Sally glanced quickly at Carolyn.
“My grandma lived there for seventy years. Grandpa’s family owned the ranch for three generations.”
“It must have been a difficult decision for your grandma to put the property on the market,” Molly said.
Carolyn nodded. “Ranching was grandpa’s life. After he died, it wasn’t easy. When grandma sold the ranch, it wasn’t the land that she missed, it was grandpa. She said moving into town made her feel as though she was saying goodbye all over again.”
Molly enlarged the map and Carolyn pointed to a big rectangle of land. “That’s it. That’s Copper Creek Ranch.”
Sally gazed at the map and frowned. “I know who owns the ranch.”
“You do?” Carolyn asked.
“Todd Randall.”
“The man that…” Molly grinned when Sally nodded. “He’s got to say yes. He took pity on a homeless dog, so he must have a kind heart.”
Sally wasn’t sure about the state of Todd’s heart. He didn’t strike her as the type of person who’d appreciate one hundred people arriving on his ranch. He’d moved to Copper Creek looking for peace and quiet. He’d get none of that if he let Carolyn and The Bridesmaids Club loose on his barn.
“I wouldn’t get your hopes up,” Sally muttered.
Molly closed the lid of her laptop. “Nonsense. You’re going to go out to his ranch and dazzle him. He’ll get so bamboozled that he won’t be able to say no.”
“Dazzle won’t work with Todd.”
Molly looked over her shoulder at two cowboys sitting at the next table. “Dazzle works on every man,” she whispered. “The trick is knowing what will befuddle them the most.”
Sally shook her head. “No way. I’m not listening to any of your Irish advice. Last time I listened to you I nearly ended up dating someone weird.”
“I told you to be careful on the Internet. Real life is different.”
Carolyn’s lips twitched. “You tried Internet dating?”
Sally hung her head in shame. “I never actually met anyone. Molly changed my profile and made me sound like a Hollywood starlet on the lookout for a strong, handsome, cowboy. It was pitiful.”
“But it worked.” Molly grinned. “The cowboy you emailed didn’t sound too heartbroken when you changed your mind. If we apply the same strategy to Todd’s situation, I’m sure we can bend the odds in our favor.”
“Todd sees life in black and white. If he says no, he won’t change his mind.”
Molly reached for the cheese scone Tess had left in front of her. “What else do you know about him? Does he have a favorite food? Does he like seeing a pretty brunette wearing tight jeans or dresses?”
Sally dropped her head into her hands. “I don’t know what he likes, and if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. I refuse to use sex appeal to get what we want.”
Molly waved away Sally’s concerns. “There’s nothing wrong with using what the good Lord gave you. Now start talking or Carolyn and I will use our imagination to fill in the blanks.”
Sally picked up her glass of water and sucked on an ice cube. She wasn’t going to be part of their dubious wedding plot. If Todd didn’t want Carolyn’s wedding on his ranch, then they’d have to find somewhere else. Fast.
“What if I asked grandma to write Todd a letter?” Carolyn suggested.
Molly looked at Sally. “Do you think it would help?”
Sally crunched her ice cube into little pieces and frowned at Molly’s computer. “It’s better than me wearing a tight skirt and high heels on his ranch.”
Undeterred, Molly opened her laptop and started making a list of wedding venue options. “Let’s call the letter a complementary strategy.”
Tess arrived at their table and sat down. “Caitlin’s here. What have I missed?”
“You don’t want to know,” Sally muttered.
***
Todd was sitting on his porch, watching a bright yellow truck roar down his driveway. Sally had called him an hour ago, wanting to see him urgently. She wouldn’t tell him what it was about or listen to him when he said they could sort it out over the phone.
She was one stubborn female, and he didn’t want to get used to having her around. After she figured out Max was happy on the ranch, she’d leave him be. And then he could forget about the green eyes that left him feeling off-center, and the smile that managed to turn his stomach into knots.
She parked her truck in front of his home and opened her door. “Thanks for seeing me.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “It’s no problem. What do you want?”
Sally wiped her hands down the side of her jeans - tight black jeans that matched the t-shirt she had on. She hesitated at the bottom of the porch steps. “Do you mind if I join you?”
A sinking feeling hit him in the chest. If she wanted to take Max home with her, she was out of luck. He’d gotten used to the Irish wolfhound.
“If you’ve come for Max, the answer’s no. He’s happy here and he isn’t going anywhere.”
The frown on Sally’s face softened. “I didn’t come here to talk about Max. I want to talk about your barn.”
He nodded toward the cane chair beside him. “You’re not on the Bozeman Heritage Committee are you?”
Sally sat in the chair and frowned. “No.”
At least that was something. For the last few months, the Heritage Committee had been bombarding him with letters and emails about the old barn on his property. He’d considered tearing the sorry looking structure down, but the good folks of Bozeman didn’t agree.
Todd stretched his legs in front of him and stared at his battered cowboy boots. “I thought you might have heard about my plans of demolishing it.”
Sally glanced at the building directly across from them and frowned. “Why do you want to pull it down? I’ve only been in there once, but it looked like a perfectly good barn to me.”
“Not that one.”
Sally looked confused. “You’ve got more than one?”
Todd nodded. “Behind my home. You can’t see it from here. According to the
Heritage Committee, it’s one of the oldest barns still standing in Montana.”
“You want to tear it down because it’s old?”
Todd shook his head. “It looks as though it’s going to fall down in the next blizzard. I asked a structural engineer to inspect it and it’s safer than it looks.”
“You sound disappointed?”
“Not really. I prefer putting things together more than pulling them apart. So if you’re not working undercover for the Heritage Committee, why are you interested in my barn?”
“You met Carolyn, one of our brides, at the pet adoption day. We still haven’t been able to find somewhere for her to get married.”
Todd sat taller in his chair. He had a feeling he knew where Sally’s conversation might be heading.
Sally must have realized what he was thinking. “I’d like you to keep an open mind. I know you don’t like a lot of noise, but it would only be for one day, and we’d try not to annoy you. You could even stay at my place with Max if you want to keep away from everyone.”
“You make me sound like a hermit,” Todd muttered.
Sally’s cheeks reddened. “I didn’t mean to. I’m just trying to…” She took a deep breath. He wished she hadn’t. It was too damn distracting. “Carolyn lived on this ranch with her family for most of her childhood. She has lots of happy memories here.”
“She wants to get married in the old barn?”
“And hold her reception there.”
Todd started to tell her it wasn’t going to happen.
Sally held up her hand. Her big green eyes were pleading with him to hear what she had to say. “Read this…” She pulled a piece of paper out of her bag and held it toward him.
He took it out of her fingers and opened it. Someone had handwritten him a letter. The writing was old school, a shaky spider’s web of linked writing that belonged to another era. He finished the letter, then re-read it. “You think a ninety-year-old grandmother will change my mind?”
Sally nodded.
Todd looked down at the letter and folded it in half. “Do you know what you’re getting into?”
“Does that mean we can use your barn?”
“It means I’ll think about it.” Todd ignored the smile on Sally’s face. “Have you seen the barn?”
Head Over Heels (The Bridesmaids Club Book 3) Page 5
