“I never argue with a bride. I’ll just do the best I can. The rest I’ll stick in one of the extra rooms.” She looks over the space with a critical eye.
“Do you need any help with this?” I offer. “It looks like it will be a lot of work.” It looks impossible but what do I know about setting up for a wedding.
“Thanks for the offer but no. I have a couple of people who help me with the setup and my husband will be by later to lend a little muscle if I need it.”
“If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to call. Wesley has to work tonight, and I’ll be filling in for any last-minute honey dos.”
“I will, thank you. When you see Dani, tell her the cake looks spectacular as usual,” she orders as she touches the petals of the closest flower before pulling it out and placing it in a different spot.
“Did she already bring it by?” Damn did I miss seeing her? I haven’t seen her all day as she told me she wouldn’t have time today with all the work on the wedding cake.
“No, not yet but knowing her she’s being too critical of her work.”
“I’ll head over there now and make sure she’s not.”
“Hey, Zach,” she calls when I reach the threshold of the door. “Make sure you take good care of her. She’s the happiest I’ve seen her in a long time.”
“Yes, ma’am, I’m doing my best.”
The trip back to town is quick, several people waving as I pass by. I pull into a spot in front of the bakery. Callie is working at the counter when I pull open the door.
“Hey, Callie. How are you today?”
“It’s been busy today.” She blushes and ducks her head. You would think that after coming into the shop everyday for the past couple of months she’d be over this shyness by now.
“That’s good. Dani in the back?”
“Yeah, they’re still working on the wedding cake for tomorrow. Go on back, just watch yourself. I nearly killed myself when I stepped on some dropped buttercream,” she laughs.
I pass through the doorway and hear muttering.
“I think it needs more of the pearls over here.”
“Dani, it looks fine.”
“I don’t know.” I turn the corner to see Dani eyeing her cake critically, biting her bottom lip.
“It’s gorgeous,” I tell her coming up behind and wrapping my arms around her waist.
“You’re biased,” she laughs.
“No, he’s right,” Claudia agrees, putting down her piping bag. “I think we’re done.”
“Let’s get it in the refrigerator then.” Dani sighs before putting down whatever doodad she has in her hands.
“Don’t y’all need to put the layers together?”
“No, we’ll do that tomorrow when we get there. It’ll be too heavy for us to carry if we stack them now.”
“I can help you tomorrow.” I jokingly flex my muscles. “Put me to work, woman.”
“We need to be here at nine thirty to load up and get them out there.”
“How long do you think it’ll take to get it together?” Claudia asks.
“Probably an hour but that early will give us a little buffer if something happens and we need to fix it.”
“Good idea.”
“Let's get this cleaned up and quit for the night.”
“Dinner tonight?” I ask, kissing the side of her neck. She smells like sugar, all sweet and delicious. Mindful of the company, I refrain from taking a taste.
“Yeah, that sounds good. You want to go to Mom’s and pick up Lila for me?” She moves away from me toward the stainless steel sinks that are overflowing with pans.
“Sure.” She digs in her pockets and throws me her keys.
“Take mine that way you don’t have to move the car seat.”
Half an hour later, Lila is singing out aloud to the Disney channel on the radio with such enthusiasm I catch myself grinning.
“What do you want for dinner, Lila? Besides pizza,” I interrupt before she states the obvious.
“Hamburgers!” she yells out.
“That sounds good.”
“Zach, can we play mimi goff again? Pweese?”
“You liked that last time, huh?” I ask thinking about one of the first dates we had been on at the mini-golf course.
“It was fun. I’m gonna hit a ball in the hole this time.” She nods her head at me smiling.
“I bet you will, Princess. Just don’t hit the ball as hard as you can.”
“But that’s the fun part,” she pouts.
“I know. Let’s get inside and cleaned up for when your mom gets here.” I open my door getting out. Lila is trying her hardest to undo the straps on her car seat when I push the button in the middle.
“Why they make it so hard?”
“It to protect you from getting hurt if there is an accident. And some kids would undo the belt when they don’t need to.”
“Momma says it keeps me safe and it can only be off when I’m getting out,” she nods sagely.
“Your momma is a smart woman,” I reply as she wiggles out of the seat to the ground. “All right, let’s get upstairs.”
At the top of the stairs, the apartment door isn’t shut all the way which makes me wary. The only person I know that has a key to Dani’s apartment is Jessa. Maybe she came over and forgot to pull the door closed. I can hear the television on the closer we get, and I stop Lila as she rushes to the door. I pick her up and cross the hallway to Jessa’s door. A quick knock has her answering and confirming she hasn’t been there today. I hand her Lila, before walking back to the door.
This is stupid. I should call Wesley before I enter but common sense is on the back burner when I hear someone walking around.
Pushing the door open quickly, I’m confronted with a man who is nearly identical to Dani’s husband.
“Who the hell are you?!” I bark out.
“Nathan. And you are?”
“Zach, Dani’s boyfriend.”
“Well, I’m her brother-in-law.” He extends his hand toward me, face stoic. I grip his palm in mine, just enough strength to show I’m not intimidated.
“Sorry, I’m a little on edge. I have Lila with me, and the door was open. I was afraid someone broke in.”
“No worries. Where is the munchkin?”
“Jessa has her.”
“Good, then I can say what I need to without little ears.”
“And what would that be?”
“If you hurt Dani, there won’t be a place I won’t be able to find you and you will regret it with your last breath.”
“You’re threatening me? Seriously?”
“That is my sister and I’ll do anything to protect her. I have the resources to make sure you’ll never see the light of day again.”
“Well, while I appreciate you looking out for her, you need to stay the hell out of it. We’re gonna fight. There will be times when I piss her off, but I will never intentionally hurt her.”
“Make sure you don’t. She’s been hurt enough.”
“I agree and I hate I had any part of it, but I will do anything in my power to make that woman happy. Lila too. I can’t replace James, and I would never try to take his place in their lives.”
“Good, maybe we can be friends then. I love those two and they’ll always be the most important people in my life.”
“I’m gonna get Lila now. I’m taking them out for dinner and Princess wants to play mini golf too.”
“You’re kidding me? You’re taking a three-year-old to play mini-golf?”
“Playing may be exaggerating. We watched her try to hit the ball as hard as she could then pick the ball up and put it in the hole.” He laughs, and as if on cue, Lila barrels through the door.
“Unca Nate!” She launches herself into his arms. “I misses you!”
“I missed you too, Munchkin.” He kisses her cheek before setting her on the floor. “I hear you’re going to play mini golf tonight.”
“Yup, I gonna hit tha ball in tha hole too.”<
br />
“I bet you will,” he laughs.
“Since I heard Nathan’s voice, I figured the coast was clear and she could come back over,” Jessa states from the doorway.
“That’s fine. Thanks for watching her for a minute,” I reply.
“Hey, Jess,” Nathan says. “How are you?”
“Um, I’m good,” she murmurs, looking at the ground. “Gotta go. Y'all have a good night.” She steps out of the threshold and a second later her door shuts on the other side of the hall. I look back at Nathan to see him staring where she was standing. Interesting.
“Well, I planned take them out tonight but since you have that covered, I’ll head over and see my mother. I’m sure I can talk her into cooking for me.” He walks toward the door; shutting it soundly behind him.
The door opens again to reveal a frazzled-looking Dani, flour streaked on her cheek and her blonde curls in disarray.
“Did Nathan give you a hard time?” she asks warily.
“No, we both just needed to make our positions clear.”
“Positions?” she cocks her head to the side if trying to figure me out.
“Yes, you and Lila are important to both of us and neither of us are going anywhere. Better to know where we stand in the beginning than figuring it out later.”
“Ah, okay,” she looks at me confused.
“Maybe it’s just a guy thing.”
“Where’s Lila?” she asks toeing off her shoes.
“Hopefully getting ready. She mentioned wanting to play mini golf again. You up for it tonight or are you too tired?”
“That’ll be fine. I expected to work on that cake for a few more hours, anyway. Since we finished early, it’ll be a nice break. I’ll get ready right quick and we can head out.”
An hour later, we’re in line to pay for our game and Lila is bouncing on her toes.
“I wanna pink ball. No purple!” She’s changed her mind a hundred times since we got here. We had dinner at the food truck parked across the street before deciding to play. As we come up to the counter, the lady hands Lila a purple ball and me a pink.
At my confused look, she says, “Just in case” and smiles. “I have two granddaughters myself. Never can make up their minds. She’ll lose that one and you’ll have a backup.”
“Thank you.”
We pick out a club and I grab a red ball while Dani picks up a blue.
“Come on!” Lila hollers from in front of us. The place is busier than it was the first time we came which is frustrating for Lila as she can’t hit the ball when she wants to.
“Zach, make them hurry up!” She pouts up at me when the group in front of us are taking their time.
“Lila Grace, you quit being rude this instant or we will go home, and you won’t play at all. We have to wait our turn just like everyone else,” Dani admonishes.
“Sorry, Momma.”
“I’m not the one you need to apologize to.” Dani points to the group now looking at us. Lila gets the biggest eyes and they fill up with tears as if on cue.
“I sorry for being rude.”
“It’s okay,” one guy remarks. “We’ll let you skip ahead of us at the next hole. We know that we take a lot of time. Some of us don’t like to lose.” He elbows one of the other guys jokingly. “Hey, you aren’t Zach Marshall, are you?”
“No way, it just looks like him,” another scoffs.
“I’m telling you it’s him. You’re him, right?”
“Yeah, I’m Zach.”
“Damn it's good to meet you. I’m a big fan. My girlfriend and I saw you in Dallas last year. Great show.”
“Thanks. It’s all for the fans.”
“Do you think we could get a picture? Janie will never believe this. She didn’t want to play mini golf.”
“Sure,” I laugh.
“How about I take it?” Dani offers. We line up with me in the middle while Dani clicks away on her phone. “I think that’ll do it.” She hands him back the phone. He immediately types out a message.
“Sent her the pic. She’s gonna be so jealous,” he laughs.
“It was nice meeting you guys. I guess we better get started playing this hole.” I steer Lila back to the front of the green, dismissing the guys. I feel a little guilty just cutting them off but this is my time with Dani and Lila.
A little while later we’re six holes in and Lila’s getting tired.
“I don’t think she will make it,” I murmur in Dani’s ear.
“Mom probably wore her out today and she didn’t get a good nap. Let's finish this one and head out.” I pull her into my arms and kiss her softly on the lips. “I’m ready to get home too,” I smile down at her.
“Oh, are you?” She smirks.
“Well, maybe after she goes to sleep, you can show me how much you want to be home,” she whispers playfully. She turns away from me and I swat her on the ass.
“Oh, I’ll show you all right. Just you wait.” Her laughter floats back on the breeze.
Chapter Twenty-One
Zach
We wake up bright and early the next morning; I keep Lila entertained while Dani heads down to the bakery to prep last-minute things for the cake. Loading up the cake into the delivery van is a test in patience as Dani orders me where to put it. After everything is in the van, Claudia and Dani head up to The Lodge while Lila and I trail behind in my truck.
We pull up to a different entrance than where I delivered the flowers and walk into a spacious kitchen.
“Let’s get the cake unloaded and then we’ll stack the layers,” Dani orders and then looks at me. “Would you mind keeping an eye out for Lila for a little while longer?”
“Of course not. You don’t even need to ask.” I’m a little hurt she even feels the need to ask me.
“Thank you,” her smile lights up the room. “There’s a playground over on the other side of the building.”
“Okay, I’ll help you with the cakes then take her over there.”
As Lila and I walk to the playground, Wesley pulls up in his truck.
“Hey, you two. Where you headed?”
“Zach’s gonna push me on the swings.”
“He is, huh? That’ll be fun.”
“Lila why don’t you hit the slide first. Let me talk to Wes for a minute.” She takes off with a squeal of delight.
“How are you, man? Nervous?” I ask watching to make sure she gets there without incident.
“Maybe a little,” he chuckles. “I’m meeting Reagan here early. I rented out the honeymoon cabin for tonight as a surprise before we fly out to Cancun tomorrow. I had a couple of things to take out there.”
“No, don’t, I can’t hear anymore. I don’t want to hear about your kinky sex games,” I joke.
“Hardy har har.” He slugs me in the arm. “It’s just some bubble bath, champagne, stuff to make it a little more romantic,” he gestures to the bag he’s carrying.
“Never took you for the romantic type, Wes.”
“I’m working on it. Oh, there’s Reagan pulling up now.” Her sporty little red crossover pulls up beside us.
“Good morning,” she sings out. “It’s a fabulous day for a wedding.”
“Yes, it is. Is there anything I need to do to help?”
“No, everything is done except for a few of last-minute touches inside. Speaking of, Dani inside?”
“Yes, she and Claudia are finishing up with the cake.”
“I’m sure it looks stupendous.” She grins.
“From what I’ve seen it does. My woman does good work.”
“You’ll hear no argument from me. Let’s just run this stuff inside really quick and then we’ll head out, Wes.”
“Take your time. We’re in no rush.”
“Be back in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.” She hurries off, brown hair swishing side to side.
“She always have that much energy?”
“Yeah. She’s as sweet as she can be. Not a bad bone in her body. Why she’s marrie
d to the douchebag that is her husband I’ll never know.” Wes shakes his head.
“Different strokes for different folks. They say opposites attract.”
“Two more opposite people I’ve never met.”
I keep my mouth shut since I think the same thing about him and Melanie.
“All right,” Reagan comes up beside us. “Wes, you ready?” They both get into her car and pull out of the parking lot while I keep my promise of pushing a cute little girl on the swings.
Fifteen minutes later, Wes and Reagan pull back into the lot, but when they get out of the car, I know that something is wrong. For one, Wes was driving her car and his face looks like a storm cloud while Reagan looks devastated and as if she could hurl or pass out at any moment. She mumbles something to Wes before rushing inside, a hand covering her face.
“Wes,” I call out. He looks over at me before shaking his head and walking into the building.
“What’s wrong with Unca Wes?” Lila asks from beside me.
“Not sure, baby girl. Come on. Let’s see what I can find out.” I take her hand in mine and head around the back toward the kitchen entrance. When Dani see us, her brows arch in question.
“How close are you to being done?”
“We’re done now. We just need to wheel it into the cooler. What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure. Wes and Reagan went up to some cabin to drop things off and came back. Something happened but I’m not sure what.”
“Oh shit. Give me a minute.” She pulls off her apron before pushing the cart into the large cooler. “Claudia will you watch…”
“Go, I got her. We’ll go back to the playground. Go check on your friend.”
“Thanks. Let’s go,” Dani throws over her shoulder as she leads me out of the room. “You find Wes and I’ll look for Rea.” She points toward one doorway while she disappears through another one.
I find my brother standing on a deck overlooking the lake. He looks like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“Dude, what’s going on?”
“I planned to surprise Mel with the cabin for tonight,” he laughs sadly. “I’m the one who got the surprise.”
“You’re not making sense.”
“We walked into the cabin to find my fiancée bent over the couch getting plowed by Reagan’s husband.”
Pieces of a Broken Heart: Whiskey Bend Series Book One Page 16
