“Could be,” I said, remembering he married Melanie practically five minutes after I left town.
Micah shot me a look, one I recognized so well, do you need to be rescued? He always had my back, and could read my nervous tics that no one else even noticed. I shook my head almost imperceptibly.
“Sherri how’s the writing going? Should I be stocking up the library room at Cedarwood with your novels?”
She flashed me a grin. “Well at the moment I’m busy wallpapering my bathroom with rejection letters, but as soon as I get The Call I’ll let you know, and you can stockpile my novels for your guests.”
I laughed. A wall full of rejection letters, a nice healthy passive aggressive way of dealing with the dismissal of something she’d obviously been working so hard for. “Are you still writing fantasy novels?”
She shook her head. “Nope, I’m writing romance. Bennie seems to think I base every hero on him, and wants to know if we should practice,” she made air quotes, “for a scene. The poor fool he is. My heroes would never let their wives do the midnight feed…”
We all laughed, and Bennie said, “What? I’m being a supportive husband!”
“Yeah, sure you are,” she laughed. “I’ve just had a revise and resubmit, so fingers crossed my latest heaving bosoms bonkbuster gets a yes. Isn’t that what you call my novels, Bennie?”
“I can’t win,” he grinned.
Later that night, with sore cheeks from laughter, we said our goodbyes with promises to catch up the following week. I was buzzing from the night and tipsy enough to know I’d sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow – with or without midnight yoga.
Inside Micah’s car with the heat blasting, I tried to make sense of my roiling emotions. Being home and back with my old friends was like slotting back into a cozy pair of jeans. A comfy fit, tried and true. But that feeling of failure still haunted me. It was like part of me thought I gave up without a fight in New York, and that I’d regret it forever. All those years of hard work, to end up back where I started.
“Timothy couldn’t take his eyes off you,” Micah said.
“I know, I felt it like a laser beam.” Sure my heart skipped a beat seeing him and my pulse jangled, but was it because of Timothy or because I was back with people I hadn’t seen in so long, who made me feel good about myself?
“It was so good to see them. I’d never have guessed that Ben and Sherri would have married!” I laughed, happy to be in the warmth of the car with my best friend.
“I wrote you about it. But you mustn’t have got the letter. You were invited to their wedding.” The words hung in the air.
Shame colored me scarlet. I remembered getting letters from Micah and putting them aside to read later, but later never seemed to come, there was always somewhere to be, someplace to get ready for. “I’m sorry, Micah. I should have made more time. I don’t know what happened to me when I left.”
“Happens to the best of us,” he shrugged. “You can’t live in two worlds at the same time. We understood.”
“I wish I was at their wedding.” How could I have switched off friendships that meant a lot to me? They’d made efforts to stay in contact but I’d snubbed them, always excusing my behavior as a side effect of my job.
Stars twinkled overhead as we drove back to the lodge. The closer we got, the more I felt I was returning home, not in the literal sense – obviously the lodge was my actual home – but more in the sense that I was returning to where I was always meant to be. The thought was a comfort.
“It was a small wedding held at her parents’ farm,” Micah recalled. “They’d been strapped for cash because of his knee surgeries, but Ben insisted on getting married then and there despite their lack of funds. I did wonder at the time if Sherri was happy. Doesn’t every bride want all the bells and whistles?”
“Not always. I bet it was perfect. Hey, why didn’t you invite Isla tonight?”
He tutted. “I was going to but then I thought about her sitting to one side not getting the jokes, or the references to our high school days, and thought I’d rather save her from that.”
“Yeah, good point.”
“But she was a little standoffish, so I really don’t know. I’m just going to keep my distance and see…”
Micah was such a gentle soul he’d never push a point with someone, but surely he could approach her and ask? “Why don’t you talk to her about it?” I wanted to shake them both. I thought after the fire they’d jumped down the rabbit hole together and it would all fall into place.
He shrugged. “It’s no big deal.”
“But it is! You adore her.”
With a long sigh he said, “Let’s see what tomorrow brings.”
Chapter Twelve
With just over a week until the party, things were looking grim at Cedarwood. Autumnal rains made work slower, especially in the garden. Everyone had worked double time, pulling together, and they were bone weary. The ballroom ceiling was still bare, replacement chandeliers hadn’t arrived – they were lost in transit – and the overall feeling was of hopelessness. We’d got to the point of sheer exhaustion, despite our very best efforts. Instead, I worked on plan B, which was hosting the party in the lobby. It wouldn’t have the grand exit to the deck, which we’d planned to string up with fairy lights, but it was still a beautiful space, and I could decorate it enough to pass muster.
Gripping my coffee mug tight, I went outside, hoping the view to the mountains would cheer me up, so I could try and rally the troops, and spur them on when they arrived.
My cell phone buzzed. Amory.
“And to what do I owe the pleasure?” I asked. Amory would be walking to work, sipping takeaway coffee from Starbucks, papers bundled under her arm.
“Clio, darling. Now don’t be alarmed.”
“Oh this sounds ominous.”
“There’s an article in today’s paper saying Flirty McFlirtison is considering suing you. I’m sure it’s just an attempt to scare you into hiding further in the middle of nowhere to keep you quiet but I thought you should know.”
“What? They can’t sue me? What for?” My heart raced so fast I thought my chest would explode. Could she sue me? Take Cedarwood?
“For damages. For the cost of the wedding and all the accoutrements.”
“What? You’re kidding!” Amory’s early morning phone call was enough to send me into a tailspin. I had so much to do at the lodge, and now this disaster to deal with.
She made soothing noises. “I know, I know, but she’s filed a motion saying there were other costs. Emotional as well as financial. Their honeymoon for example, and her mental health… there’s doctors involved.”
I cupped my head and wailed. “So she is filing the suit against me, or they both are?”
“It doesn’t say. Maybe you could call the fiancé, and find out? He could probably convince her to drop the charges if he wanted to.”
Light rain sprinkled. “I don’t have his number. Some stalker I allegedly am. God,” I ran a hand over my face. “This couldn’t come at a worse time.”
“I’ve got his number. There’s ways and means, if you know how… well OK, I just opened up the database with their file, but I’ll text it to you.”
“What am I supposed to say?”
“Say you’re sorry, you meant no harm. Mention you’re practically living in the wilderness and they won’t hear a peep out of you. And also say they can sue you but all you own is a rundown old lodge in said wilderness. They don’t need to know the grand scale of Cedarwood. And I doubt they’ll check.”
I let out a half-wail, half-groan. “OK.”
“Report back.”
“Will do, love you.”
“Kisses.”
My phone pinged with a message containing the groom’s number. Johnny was a ridiculously famous actor. Older now, but still working sporadically and popular despite his private life altercations. I’d spoken to him briefly at one of the planning meetings, and then woefully on the
wedding night to tell him she’d gone.
Would he hold a grudge? Why wouldn’t he!
I dialed, hoping that it would go to voicemail and I’d be given a stay of execution. And really, I hadn’t prepared anything to say.
“Yeah?” A husky male voice answered.
“Johnny?”
“Do you know what time it is?” he grunted.
Celebrities and their beauty sleep! “I do, I’m sorry.”
“If this is about the fireworks, it wasn’t me.”
Fireworks? “No, it’s not about that. It’s Clio. Your… wedding planner,” I said, my toes curling.
“Oh. You.”
The disdain in his voice was apparent.
“It’s me. I’m so sorry to have woken you. But you see, this whole… saga, well I wanted to discuss it with you. I know I made a mistake. A huge mistake, but I was working off the information given to me at the time.”
“You told my fiancée to run. To go marry some other guy!”
“Well, yes, and I can see how that might come across…”
“Come across? You can see, can you? I’m a laughing stock!”
I swallowed a lump in my throat. “I thought… she told me that she loved someone else. So the romantic in me, the normal sane person in me, thought fleeing was the only option. You wouldn’t want to have married someone who didn’t love you, surely?”
“None of them love me. They love the idea of me.”
I reared back. “And that’s enough?” Alarm bells clanged in my head – I was doing it again, saying things I shouldn’t. But settling for someone who clearly didn’t love you? It was outrageous.
“Listen here, I don’t know why you think it’s OK to call me after what you’ve done – you’re either courageous or really, really stupid. But I think we’ve covered all we need to, unless there was anything else? One last piece of advice?” he said, his voice heavy with sarcasm.
Why did I not just focus on the matter at hand? Now I’d upset him, and it would do my cause no good. “Flirty… I mean Monica is threatening to sue me for damages, and I hoped you could convince her to drop the charges. I’ve left New York, I don’t have a trust fund, or any real cash…”
He let out a belly laugh. “What’s this got to do with me?”
“Could you call her? Tell her to stop all of this nonsense? I’m not in Manhattan, I won’t be back. I’ve lost my job, my life…” My voice broke. Some professional. But what if it did go to court and I lost the lodge?
He softened. “Look, it’s a ploy, OK. You’re an excuse to keep her face in the papers, and as an aside it’s managed to sky rocket my career again.” He chuckled like it was nothing. “Everyone wants to hire the broken-hearted washed-up movie star. Let it play out, and I promise you things will settle down.”
“You ruined my career, my life, for publicity?” Was he for real?
“I didn’t set out to do that. You told her to run, don’t forget. It’s just a lucky side effect that it’s rekindled a career I thought was virtually over. Anyway, if Monica had stayed our marriage would have lasted until the summer of next year, and that would be that. It’s the way it works in my world.”
These people lived in a parallel universe, surely? How could that ever be acceptable? “What about real love? Finding someone who genuinely cares for you?”
“That stuff doesn’t actually happen in real life when you’re me.”
I rolled my eyes. Movie stars, honestly. “Is actually does, you know. I’ve planned weddings for celebrities just like you who’ve been in love – heart-stopping, can’t eat, can’t sleep, love.”
“And you’re the expert I take it? Have you been in heart-stopping, can’t eat, can’t sleep, love recently?”
“Well…”
“Well what?”
“Well not exactly.”
“Not exactly?” His voice was incredulous. “Yet you dole out advice like you know it all. You’re one of those types who always plays Cupid, yet has never really been in love. Am I right?”
Was I? He hit a nerve, as the truth of his statement hit me. All I did was focus on other people’s love affairs, but that was my job, my passion… I swallowed hard and said haughtily, “I’ve seen it happen to those around me. And it’s not something you can rush, it has to be the right person…”
“Fairytales.”
“What you need,” I said, feeling bolder as the conversation went on, “is to find a person who isn’t wowed by your celebrity status. A person who knows your profession is a one way trip to ego land. A girl who won’t kowtow to you or let you get away with any foolhardy behavior just because you can.” Good advice, whether I was a meddler or not.
He let out a guttural laugh. “Yeah? She sounds peachy. And where would I find a girl like that?”
“Who knows, but isn’t that the fun part? The anticipation?”
“Look, I’ll talk to Monica’s people about the lawsuit, OK? She doesn’t have the money to actually fight you, so I wouldn’t worry. It’s all smoke and mirrors. But keep in touch, yeah?”
Oh, god, he did have a heart! “I’m not that girl, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Had I given him the wrong impression? What was with the about-face?
He let out a bawdy laugh. “Well that’s good to know, Clio. Maybe I’ll visit that lodge of yours one of these days...”
Clutching my phone, I sat on the back porch of the lodge and watched the sun rise. I thought about all the things that had led me here, not just to Cedarwood but to this point in my life. My focus had been on celebrating other people’s love stories, making sure their weddings, the anniversary parties, wedding renewals went off without a hitch… but in the meantime I’d put my own love life to one side. Would I run out of time, if I didn’t put myself first every now and then? But did I want love? Messy and complicated and time-consuming, when the lodge was like an unruly child demanding my attention…?
My mind drifted to Timothy and what he was left with. He had responsibilities now, real commitments, little people who needed him, trusted and relied on him. Even if I wanted to pursue something with him, it wouldn’t be breezy, there’d always be little people to consider.
Kai’s truck rumbled up the driveway, and he grinned at me through the screen before pulling up and jumping down from the cab.
“Morning, sunshine,” he said. “What’s with the long face?”
I gave him a slow smile, wondering how the man could be so happy so early in the morning. All that yoga, I guess. “Just thinking.”
“That’ll do it,” he said, joining me on the porch. “Close your eyes.”
I turned to him.
“Just close them.”
I did as instructed. Tingles raced down my body as I tried to anticipate what he was up to. He didn’t touch me, but I could feel his energy radiating off me somehow. My skin broke out in goose bumps. I was certain his hands hovered above, moving slowly over my head and down my chest. All my anxiety drifted away in a cloud, and I was left with warmth, a feeling of total contentment. I was so relaxed I was almost supine, as Kai stepped away, his footfalls squeaky on the deck.
“What was that?” I asked.
“Reiki.” He smiled and ran a hand through his hair. “It’s the best way to get rid of all those negative emotions that pull you down. It’s one of those things people scoff at but until you’ve tried it, you just don’t know.”
I couldn’t speak, I was lost somewhere in the deep blue of his eyes.
I tried to blink the sudden attraction away, but all I could feel was his presence. Something deep inside me rose up, the tingle of expectation touched every nerve as it traveled the length of my body. In his eyes, I could see myself reflected. Before the moment could get any more awkward I stood, brushing the dust from my trousers.
“Well I better,” we said in unison.
“Yeah,” he laughed.
Chapter Thirteen
“Don’t fidget!” Micah admonished me.
“Well, you’
ve got your hand clamped over my eyes so tight I bet my eyelashes are going to snap clean off!” I laughed and took some ungainly shuffles forward.
“You can walk normally, you know, I’ve got you.”
I tried to walk, but shrouded in darkness, I couldn’t seem to remember how to do it, worried I’d trip on something.
“OK, you ready?”
“Ready,” I said.
“One, two, three,” he said, taking his palm from my eyes. “It’s done! Again. And ready to decorate. So get your skates on and let’s do this!”
I gasped, and put a hand to my mouth. “Micah! How did you get it done?” The ballroom stood empty before me. The ceilings redone, the new reproduction chandeliers hung. New down lights fitted, and the scorched smell evaporated. The ash and rubble removed, and the floors waxed to a shine, ready for the tap of dancing shoes.
“It wasn’t me,” he grinned. “Kai got everyone together, and with all hands on deck…”
“But yesterday... I guess, I just thought there was too much to be done.” I guess I’d been the one who’d given up hope, and hadn’t noticed they’d all pulled together one last time.
“Where is he?”
Micah pointed to the ceiling. “Upstairs. Mentioned something about measuring up the suites.”
“You guys…” a group of the tradespeople had clustered by the doors, “… are the best! We can get this party started now!”
They let out a cheer, and I hugged them one by one, promising them free holidays at the lodge with their families once we were open for guests. Tears stung my eyes as I realized my dreams were about to come true. Despite the fire, the set-backs, the fear, it was all going to be OK. We’d host our very first party at Cedarwood, on time, and on point.
Two days later Kai sat beside me, going through paperwork, while I made a list of things that still had to be done. Micah walked in, arm wrapped around Isla, and I hid a grin. Isla winked at me, and I knew it meant they’d talked about her past, and Micah would love her all the more for it.
“Team meeting?” he said.
“Yup. We have exactly five days until the party and I want to make sure we’re all aware of what needs to be done.”
Celebrations and Confetti At Cedarwood Lodge Page 11
