"Wait," he called. "That's what you think? Dakota, stop!"
She ran down the hall. Footsteps sounded as he chased her.
"Leave me alone!"
"You need to hear me out."
Dakota stopped and spun around, tears spilling.
He nearly crashed into her.
"This ought to be good."
Clay took her hand.
She tried to pull away, but he wouldn't let her go.
"I wasn't buying a ring."
Her eyes narrowed. "I saw you holding an engagement ring."
His expression softened and he wiped away one of her tears. "I was selling the stupid thing."
Dakota froze. "What?"
Clay led her over to a set of chairs and sat next to her, still holding her hand. "I bought it when a jewelry store was going out of business. I basically got it at cost, figuring I'd give it to her one day. Something always held me back, though."
She let his words sink in. "Oh?"
He held her gaze and nodded. "I think I've known, deep down, for a long time that we were no good for each other. But it… it took meeting someone wonderful for me to finally see the light."
Dakota's mouth dropped.
"Those flowers you saw this morning, they were for you."
Heat crept into her cheeks. She'd behaved horribly. So badly that she made some of the bridezillas look like docile puppies. She looked away. "I'm sorry." What else could she say?
"And I'm sorry you saw me in the jeweler. I never intended for that misunderstanding."
"I was actually on my way to check on you since I hadn't heard from you."
"You were?"
She looked back over at him and nodded. "I was worried, but then I saw you with the ring and I thought… It never occurred to me that you'd be selling it."
His expression softened. "Oh, Dakota." He wrapped his arms around her.
It felt so good to be in his arms, and even better knowing he wasn't going to propose to Lauryn.
"I actually spent the weekend—before I got sick—clearing out everything she gave me. It was incredibly freeing. Hold on." He let go of her, went over to the paper bag, and brought the flowers to her. "These are for you. I'm glad that little tube of water held out all day."
She held the flowers, staring at them in disbelief. "Thank you," she whispered.
"I'm just glad to be able to give them to you. And these." He reached into the bag.
Her breath caught. There was more? She deserved the award for the world's biggest jerk.
He pulled out a green, rectangular box. "These are the best chocolates I've ever tasted. I thought you'd enjoy them." He handed the box to her.
Dakota's mouth dropped. "Really, you didn't have to get those for me."
"I wanted to, and also I'd like to take you somewhere nicer than a greasy burger joint."
Happy tears blurred her vision, but she laughed. "Not that there was anything wrong with those."
He beamed and kissed her cheek. "That's what makes you so wonderful. You clearly appreciate nice things, but things like that aren't beneath you." Clay bit his lip, appearing nervous. "So, do you have plans for dinner? I know we have a really busy day tomorrow, so I promise not to keep you out late."
She laughed. "That's no problem. I'd love to."
They went out to the parking lot and she put the flowers and candy in her car before climbing onto the back of his bike. After all the stress and tears, the ride felt especially freeing as she leaned against Clay and the breeze brushed against her skin. They rode by the bay, which reflected the moon especially beautifully that night—or maybe that was her imagination.
He stopped in front of Roosevelt's, one of the nicest restaurants in town. "Are you in the mood for this?"
"This is great. So are greasy burgers." She didn't care as long as Clay was there.
"Perfect." He found a parking spot and they got off the bike.
Dakota ran her fingers through her hair after removing the helmet. He locked everything up and then held out his hand. She took it, and they walked to the entrance together. The waiting area was packed and loud with conversation.
The greeter smiled widely. "Welcome to Roosevelt's," she said. "Two?"
"Yes," Clay said. "How long is the wait?"
"Thirty to forty minutes. What name should I put you down for?"
He turned to Dakota. "Do you want to wait that long?"
She glanced around, seeing nowhere to sit. "Maybe we could grab something a little quicker."
Clay gave a nod and turned back to the greeter. "We'll come back when it's less busy."
Her smile didn't wane. "No problem. Have a nice night."
They hurried back to the bike.
"Next time I'll make reservations," he said.
"I don't mind. We can grab some takeout and eat by the water."
He shivered. "In this weather? Are you sure?"
"We don't have to—not if you're not feeling brave enough," she teased.
"Oh? You think I'm afraid of eating on the beach when there's still snow in places? Clearly you don't know Clay Harper. Climb on—and hold on." He handed her the helmet.
Dakota grinned and secured it into place before climbing on. Clay pulled out of the spot and onto the road, squealing the tires. He tore down the road, flying by all the other cars. She laughed, but at the same time, was glad her brother-in-law was a police lieutenant. A couple of her brothers had gotten out of tickets by pulling out his name.
This time, Clay pulled into the parking lot of a fast food place. "Does this work?"
"I love their burritos," Dakota said and climbed off the bike for the second time.
"Good, 'cause I'm not stopping again." His eyes shone, as he was obviously teasing her.
By the time they sat at a bench on the beach, overlooking the bay, Dakota was starving. She'd barely eaten anything all day, and it had finally caught up to her. Each time Clay looked away, she scarfed down as much food as she could. When he turned back to her, she smiled sweetly and ate slower.
He unwrapped a taco. "I love watching the water."
"Must be nice living so close."
"It is. My deck overlooks the bay."
"You're so lucky. Sullivan keeps trying to talk me into buying something closer to the beach, but I like my house. I can drive to the beach if I want to see it."
"But it is nice to be able to walk over and look at it anytime." Clay sipped his pop, holding her gaze.
Dakota studied his eyes—the intense blue that seemed to be purple.
As nice as the water was, she much preferred this view.
His dimple reappeared, as though he were echoing the same thought.
Twenty-Two
The alarm blared, pulling Clay from a deep sleep. He groaned and hit snooze. It was too early to think about getting up, but he had no choice. They had four weddings to pull off in one day, thanks to last weekend's blizzard. Dakota needed him more than ever.
He forced himself out of bed, but his eyes still refused to open. He felt around the nightstand and turned off the alarm before it could pierce the air again.
At least he was exhausted for a good reason. His date with Dakota on the beach had been wonderful. She hadn't uttered a complaint about the food or the cold. It had been the best date of his life—riding his bike and eating under the stars. Then once it had gotten too cold to sit there any longer, he took her back to her car.
He'd been tempted to give her a goodnight kiss—he'd never wanted anything more—but he held off, not wanting to ruin the evening. He had jumped the gun before, kissing her without restraint after the snowstorm, and that had blown up in his face. Both she and Sullivan had ended up angry with him.
Clay was going to take things slowly this time. Dakota made him feel things he'd never felt before, and he didn't want to do anything to mess that up. He'd waited his whole life to meet her, so surely he could wait a little longer to kiss her again.
He showered quickly and headed to
The Chateau. The parking lot was already fuller than usual. Inside, everyone bustled around.
Marcel ran up to him. "You don't happen to know another photographer, do you?"
Clay shook his head.
"The other one called in sick. I'm good, but I can't do four weddings in one day!"
"Does Dakota know?" Clay asked.
"No. I just got the call."
Aria came up to them and looked at Clay. "Did Charlotte get ahold of you?"
"Charlotte?" Clay exclaimed.
"Don't ask me. She couldn't reach you or Dakota, so she called me. Now you know. I have to get across town. The bride is practically in tears over a wilted rose." Aria ran off.
"You don't know any photographer?" Marcel asked. "Not even a novice? Someone who can step in as an understudy?"
"Sorry," Clay said. "I have to find Dakota."
"Last I saw her, she was in the main reception hall."
"Thanks." Clay hurried in that direction.
Marina stopped him. "I thought you fixed the wiring last night."
"I did. Everything was working perfectly."
"It's not now!"
Of course it wasn't. "I'll look at it in a minute."
She glanced down at her tablet. "You'll need to because I have to get to City Hall. They don't know where the cake is."
What a day for everything to go wrong. He rushed by other distracted people and went into the main reception hall. Dakota was nowhere to be seen.
A slender girl with long brown hair came up to him, her eyes wide. "Are you here to fix the wiring?"
"I'm going to have to. Do you know where Dakota is?"
"In the kitchen. One of the ovens won't turn on."
Clay stared at her. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah, everything's going wrong today. I'm glad I came into help out. I'm Freya." She held out her hand.
"Oh, Dakota's sister. Nice to meet you. I'm Clay."
Her expression softened. "Oh, you're Clay. Very nice to meet you."
"I'd better get to the wiring. Then I need to help Marcel and call—"
"What does Marcel need help with?" Freya asked.
"The other photographer didn't show."
"Oh, no! Sometimes I help him. You just worry about the wiring. Tell Dakota I'm going to help Marcel."
Clay threw his jacket on a chair and headed for the nearest speaker. Everything was in place. He went to the next one and found a loose wire hanging down.
"At least that's an easy fix," he muttered and put it back in place. He checked the rest of the speakers, not finding any issues. Next, he tested the microphones, finding that they and all the speakers worked perfectly.
His phone rang. It was Charlotte. He glanced around the room. Everyone seemed to have everything under control. He hurried back to Dakota's office and took the video call.
"Hi, Charlotte. How's it going?"
She wore a black cape and had foil all over her head. "We need to talk." Those were four words that he hated. Anytime he'd ever heard them from a woman, it always meant trouble. Charlotte's tone didn't give him any reason to believe she meant anything else.
"Oh?" he asked, trying to keep his expression and voice light.
"The date is getting closer, and we need to go over all the details."
"We have four weddings going on right now. Can we discuss this in a few hours?"
She frowned and poked at piece of foil. "But I have time now."
Clay took a deep breath and considered his words carefully. "Dakota and I have been hard at work on your wedding. We're really excited about it and we're anxious to talk to you about it. It's just that now is a bad time with four weddings happening simultaneously."
"I'm not going to have time later." She looked away from the screen. "How long will this take?"
"With as complicated as this is, four hours."
Charlotte turned back to Clay. "I've got four hours, then I'm talking with a producer about my own show. I won't be available once that starts."
He ran his free hand through his hair. "What about after that?"
"I'm shooting a commercial."
Noise drifted from down the hallway. He heard his name. "Maybe I can talk to Sarah when I'm free, but I can assure you we're working hard for you, Charlotte. If we have any concerns, we'll let you know right away."
Dakota appeared in the doorway. Her ponytail was falling loose and stray hairs stuck out around her face. "There you are! What's going on?"
"Charlotte." He held up his phone.
Her eyes widened. "I have to run home to cook some things in my oven. You're needed in the main wedding hall—right now."
"I'm on it." He turned back to Charlotte. "If I get a break, I'll give you a call. If you're already busy, I'll talk to Sarah."
"There's no one else I can talk to?" she asked, sounding bored.
Was she just bothering him because she had nothing else to do? Irritation rose, but he pushed it down and forced a smile. "Not right now. We have twice the workload due to last week's storm. Everything should calm down after this."
She scowled, obviously not used to being told no. "Fine. If you insist."
"I'm sorry I can't talk now, but everything is great on our end. If you'd like to schedule a time to come down here, that would be ideal."
Her eyes widened. "I thought my dress was all taken care of."
"It is, but—"
"I'll call you when I can."
The call ended.
He put his phone away and turned to Dakota. She'd already taken off. His heart sank. He'd hoped for even just a moment with her.
Freya appeared in the doorway. "Dakota wanted me to make sure you know to—"
"Go to the main wedding room. I'm on it. I was just dealing with bride number five."
Her eyes widened. "A fifth one?"
"She's not getting married today."
Freya let out a relieved sigh. "Good. They're having some kind of mini-crisis in there. I don't know what it is, but I have to help Marcel across town."
"I've got it. Thanks."
The rest of the morning went by in a blur. Clay fixed one catastrophe after another until both wedding rooms and reception halls were in top shape, ready to marry the eager couples.
By the time Dakota arrived with heated food, both bridal parties had arrived. She took the bigger party and directed Clay to handle the smaller one. Luckily, all the morning's chaos seemed to have died down. He managed to get the wedding party ready for the ceremony without a hitch.
Everything came together nicely, and the bride was thrilled with the way everything had turned out. Once all the guests had cleared out and the two rooms were cleaned, he went to the larger wedding to see if Dakota needed any help.
She was busy getting the bride and groom ready for their limo out front, so he handed out little bubble containers to the guests to blow them as the happy couple made their exit.
A group of kids started blowing them inside. Just after he'd convinced them to wait until they went outside, a toddler pulled off the top and moved his arm sideways, about to dump out the bubble soap. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as he ran for the girl. He stopped her just in time.
"Let's find your parents."
She pointed them out, and then Clay directed the guests out front, so the bride and groom could run to their limo through a wall of bubbles.
After the limo pulled away and the guests slowly dispersed, Clay realized how exhausted he was. A rough workout was never this tiring. He forced his legs into action and helped the staff clean up the main reception hall.
Dakota came over. "Thanks so much for helping out. It got pretty hairy at the end."
Clay shrugged. "That's just how kids are. I was probably ten times worse."
She smiled and wiped her brows. "Thanks again for everything. Is everything okay with Charlotte?"
He threw his head back. "I still have to call Sarah. Yeah, I think our famous bride just wanted to go over her checklist."
"Good. I'm glad she's thinking about it. Hey, I'm starving. Want to grab something to eat? My treat this time."
"How can I say no to that?" The corners of his mouth curved up.
They went through the building and then locked up once they were sure everyone was out. They climbed into Dakota's car, and Clay sunk into the seat, every muscle aching. "I hope it's not always like that."
She pulled out of the parking spot and laughed. It was such a nice sound. "No, you were initiated into the worst of the worst. I've never seen so many things go wrong in one day."
"That's good news. You think Charlotte's will go off with as many issues?"
"Now that wouldn't surprise me, but at least we'll have all four of us on duty for the one wedding. The entire building is reserved for Charlotte and Hugh's guests. That reminds me, I need to double-check and see if my brothers still want to help work security detail that day."
"You sure that'll be enough?" Clay asked.
"She has her own people who will also be here. I was mostly finding a way to sneak them in since they wanted to be here."
Clay chuckled.
Dakota pulled into a nearly-empty parking lot at a steakhouse. "Looks like we beat the dinner rush."
"Finally, some good luck."
She met his gaze and smiled. "I'd say so."
Twenty-Three
Dakota finished off her steak and watched Clay across the restaurant, talking on the phone. He'd finished his meal before her and then Charlotte had called. Dakota had told him to take it, so he went over to the empty waiting area.
He leaned against the wall and held the phone in front of him, speaking to the bride. She admired the way he didn't let anything get to him. Charlotte was a bit much for Dakota, and it was a bit of a relief that she preferred dealing with Clay.
She was also in awe of how well he'd handled himself earlier with all the stress of the weddings and everything that had gone wrong. Not once had he appeared the least bit flustered.
It was too bad that he was only a temporary assistant. On the other hand, hopefully he would still have a place in her life once he was ready to move on and take on his own business, whatever that turned out to be.
He smiled, looking into the phone from across the restaurant. Her heart fluttered. Did he have any idea what that did to her?
Bayside Evenings Page 14