Harlequin Heartwarming June 2021 Box Set

by Patricia Johns

  “I always knew in my gut that Phil and I weren’t meant for each other. I tried to like what he liked, do what he did, because I had no idea what I wanted for myself. He’s a set designer and photographer in Toronto, and he used his connections to land me a sweet contract as a makeup artist. I felt I owed him, so I helped him with his work, even though I had zilch interest in locating napkin dispensers for a restaurant scene or artistically strewing garbage in a back alley.

  “We started struggling. I should’ve broken it off then. Instead I let him think I still cared. When we broke up, he was hurt. And I can understand why because I’d never been honest with him. And I don’t want you to make the same mistake I did.”

  He regarded her, his hair a mess from his hat and head scrubbing. “You think I’m a liar and a coward?”

  “I think,” she said, “you’d rather sit on a bucking horse for ten seconds than cause someone else the slightest discomfort for even one second.”

  “But that’s not how life works, is it?” Will rubbed his cheek and gave his hair another scrub. She couldn’t resist smoothing an especially spiky tuft, and he leaned into her touch. They froze. Their eyes connected. He straightened, and she quickly brought her hand down. Will slapped his hat back on. “You think she’ll come after me?”

  Krista blinked, getting her head and heart back in place. “Not the way Phillip did. I’m more worried about how it will affect the friendship between her and Laura. I’ve already driven a wedge between them.”

  “You’re not to blame for that, either. They both speak their minds.”

  “Yeah, but Laura admitted that when I’m around things get heated between them.”

  Will swept his hand over his face. Was that a smile he was hiding? “You have a way of riling people up.”

  Krista sighed. “And here I thought my talent was getting people to relax.”

  His voice softened. “Oh, I’d say you’re talented there, too.”

  For the second time tonight, Krista felt her heart rate jolt. “Yes, well, thank you. So, uh, you’ll consider what I said?”

  Will looked off to the fading sunset and opened his mouth. Clamped it shut. “I’ll talk to Alyssa. First opportunity I get.”

  Which would be Laura’s wedding. If Alyssa came. Will seemed to think along the same lines. “But maybe not the wedding. Last thing anybody needs is a scene on Laura’s day.”

  He could be stalling, but he did have a point. And really, she’d done her part. The rest was up to him. “Agreed. Besides, there’ll be enough of one when I take to the dance floor.”

  Will grinned, turning to retrieve the mini stereo. “Nah, I’ll make you look good.”

  Will, Krista resisted saying, you’d make any girl look good.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  LAURA’S WEDDING WAS at the unheard-of hour of 11:00 a.m., which meant Krista’s feet hit the floor at six to prepare the salon for the bridal party. They sailed in from their breakfast at Penny’s shortly before eight. Then she worked flat out on their hair and makeup. Three bridesmaids and the bride.

  “But what about you, Krista?” Laura said as Krista swiffed on a faint layer of blush to her cheek.

  Krista swung her ponytail. “This is it. Sleek yet fun.”

  Up popped a worry line. “Are you sure? It seems...plain.”

  “I am your maid,” Krista said. “I’m not supposed to outshine you.”

  “It’ll be practical around the horses,” Caris added. She was Dana’s sister, and her wedding was set for three weekends from now.

  Horses? Nobody had told her there’d be horses. Laura’s eyes, six inches from Krista’s, widened in alarm. “Oh no.”

  The bridesmaids—Caris, Raine and Jenna—turned as one to Laura. “You didn’t tell her?”

  “I forgot,” Laura moaned. “I’m so sorry, how stupid of me! I was thinking more about the dress and flowers and catering...and about all the other arrangements.”

  Krista took a deep breath. Then another. True, she was nervous around horses. Okay, she was petrified but her fear was groundless. Nothing bad had ever happened with them, and she’d recovered from bad things that really had happened, so why should this be any different? In this very salon, she had vowed to herself that she’d stick by Laura. Now was her opportunity to prove it.

  “Tell me the plan and we’ll work something out.”

  “We decided to ride our horses to the ceremony. The guys, too. Then the horses will be part of the photo shoot afterward. All of us know horses...before...” Laura’s voice trailed off.

  The bridesmaids, in various stages of undress, looked as uncomfortable as Laura. No. If anyone should feel awkward, it should be Krista.

  “Is there a horse I could possibly ride?”

  “Mom might be able to give you hers,” Laura said. “She’s quiet.”

  “The horse isn’t the problem,” Caris said quietly. “It’s the rider, Krista. Do you know how to even turn a horse?”

  Krista’s grimace was answer enough.

  “That would work,” Raine said, “if we were going straight on a trail, but we have to line them up. Get them in formation.”

  “And,” Jenna said, “we have to bring them around behind the guests, so you’ll have to keep the horse on the rein.”

  “So I won’t be part of it,” Krista said. “I’m fine with that.”

  “But Ryan and his guys will be there with their horses,” Laura said, her voice squeaky with panic. “If you’re not there, it won’t match up, or Will might have to sit out to make it match. And he’s part of the party. Plus the horses are already getting saddled up and decorated. We talked about rehearsing that part of the wedding, but that would’ve meant loading and unloading the horses from everybody’s stables. But at least then we would’ve remembered about Krista, or at least I would’ve—”

  Krista laid her hand on Laura’s shoulder. “We got this. How about someone else takes my reins?”

  The other four girls exchanged looks. “I mean, it would look a little funny, because well, most people can ride,” Laura said.

  “But I could go first,” Caris offered, “and lead her horse.”

  “What do I care if I look like a two-year-old?” Krista said, “Better that than I try to do it myself and spook the horse.”

  Except it was Krista who felt spooked when she took in Janet’s gray mare, Silver. Why did they have to be so big?

  Laura got on her ride first. The bridesmaids arranged the skirt, the back mantling over the horse’s haunches. Krista held the bouquet while the other women fluttered about. By unspoken consent, they’d let Krista stay away from the hooves and shaking heads.

  But Silver was...nice. She stayed quiet, yielding to all the fussing, her dark eyes bright with interest. And her eyelashes...oh man, to die for. So when Laura was declared done but her skirt was bunched in one place, Krista felt brave enough to step forward and flick it straight. Laura’s horse stamped; Krista yelped and jumped back. Square into a stinking pile of horse crap. Her splurge—a pair of shoes she intended to have until she was eighty-two—were ruined.

  All four of the bridal party looked at the smelly mess of her shoe in horrified dismay.

  They’d wisely worn running shoes, and Caris even had an old denim shirt on to keep her upper half clean until the last minute.

  Their collective sympathy made her heart swell with gratefulness that people outside of her family cared when even little disasters came her way.

  “Listen,” she said, “tonight after a couple of drinks, we’re going to be laughing about this.” She slipped off her shoes, treating the soiled one like the toxic waste dump it was, and tossed them against a corral post.

  Will might soon wish he was opposite Alyssa again.

  “If you can ride a horse bareback, I guess you can ride it barefoot.”

  * * *

&nbs
p; WILL WATCHED THE arrival of the bridal party from his place beside the groom and the other guys. They stood along one side of the assembled guests with their backs to the hitching rails where their horses already waited. The guests, a good hundred or so, turned in their outdoor chairs to watch the main event—the arrival of the bride—camera phones rolling.

  Raine and Jenna came first in harmonizing colors of pale pink and yellow, pausing their horses for photos.

  Keith nudged Will’s elbow. “Dana wants you.”

  Will scanned the guests.

  “Fifth row. This side. The end.”

  Dana sat with Austin on her knee, tapping her hand. What? Will looked down at his hand.

  “Doofus.” From Keith. “She wants to know if you remembered the ring.”

  How did Keith figure that? Will checked, smiled back a yes. Dana’s attention flicked to Keith, who must’ve signaled something, because she sucked in her lips to stop a laugh. Fine. If the one thing they were doing together was laughing at him, so be it. Raine and Jenna moved on.

  Then came Caris in matching pink and yellow leading Janet’s horse ridden by Krista. Well, barely ridden.

  “Who’s the one in blue?” Jasper, one of the groomsmen, said.

  “Alyssa’s replacement. Krista,” Keith whispered.

  “She ever been on a horse?” Jasper cracked through the side of his mouth.

  “Doesn’t look like it,” Keith beside him answered.

  Krista swayed in the saddle with a two-fisted grip on the horn, despite Silver’s easy walk. His mother watched, her smile fixed. Caris taking the lead rein was not a bad plan for most horses, but Silver liked to know who was in control, otherwise she’d put herself in charge. And from the backward bent to Silver’s ears, she didn’t think Caris’s horse made the grade.

  Caris stopped for the requisite pictures and Silver obediently stopped, too. Krista sat astride the horse, unlike the others who had managed sidesaddle easily. They’d probably advised Krista to sit that way for greater stability, but it meant her skirt was hitched up to midthigh and she had to keep one hand pressed between her thighs so the material wouldn’t rise any higher. Some pictures those were going to make. Also—

  “She’s barefoot,” Ryan commented.

  A dangerous option when you and the horse weren’t partners. Or even acquainted. Krista adjusted herself in the saddle, her heels tapping Silver’s sides.

  Silver, trained to respond to the slightest touch, stepped forward, the lead rein slipping from Caris’s hand. Silver walked straight past Caris’s horse and kept going, away from the entire event. Caris moved her horse up to Silver to recapture the rein but, tired of following, Silver showed her haunches, not letting Caris close.

  Caris hurried to secure her horse to the hitching rail likely planning to return to Krista. Meanwhile Krista was attempting to get Silver to move toward the rail, but her pulls on the reins confused the mare. She snorted and didn’t budge.

  A titter arose from the horse-savvy crowd. A bunch of people laughing at Krista when she’d had no say in this predicament. Will felt a rush of annoyance with his sister. Why hadn’t she warned Krista? He would’ve been happy to give Krista pointers.

  He started toward Krista but his dad was already on the move. He strode across in that easy way of his and picked up Silver’s lead rein. He spoke to Krista. Her reply made his father break into a full smile.

  He said something back and the two of them chatted like old buddies as his father led Silver to a large lilac bush beside the hitching rail. All three disappeared behind the bush, and when they came around the other side, Krista was on the ground. His dad, ever the gentleman, hadn’t let the crowd witness her probably graceless dismount.

  He should’ve been there instead. Krista was his sort-of date, after all. Beside him, Ryan straightened. His bride had arrived.

  Will barely recognized his sister on the back of her palomino. She was all white and ruffles as if she’d dropped into a cloud like the ones floating in the blue sky above. Will leaned close to his best buddy’s ear. “Just so you know, I’ve already got a brother but I only have one sister.”

  “Thinking the same,” Keith said from his other side.

  Ryan nodded once. “Understood.”

  Laura dismounted and Krista risked stones and splinters to rush over and do the last-minute fussing with the dress and bouquet. The other girls assembled to begin the procession but Laura was losing her nerve. Even from where he stood, Will noticed the bouquet shake. Krista had seen it, too. She came right up into Laura’s face. Will remembered doing the same for Laura before toboggan rides, the big math final, the barrel race. Reminded her to break it all down, to keep her eye on the goal.

  Krista wrapped her hands around Laura’s bare shoulders. Those talented hands that infused serenity into whomever she touched. Do your thing, Krista. Sure enough, Laura’s eyes lifted to look past Krista to Ryan. Her goal. Krista gave Laura’s shoulder a quick rub, and Will felt it in the soles of his feet. Laura nodded and Krista hopped to her place in the bridal procession.

  All eyes were on Laura as she walked with her dad down the aisle, but Will was distracted by Krista and her bare toes, right to where they stopped across from him.

  Painted blue, her toes waggled. He glanced up to find her grinning at him.

  Barefoot, her hair in a ponytail, and wearing a pretty blue dress, she looked like a whole lot of fun. Keith cleared his throat pointedly. Will ignored him. He wasn’t marrying Krista, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to enjoy walking back up the aisle with her on his arm.

  * * *

  KRISTA’S ARM TUCKED into his as they approached the reception line, Will leaned to her ear. “You short a pair of shoes?”

  Krista looked down, mock-gasped. “Oh man, I was wondering what everyone was staring at. You wouldn’t happen to have another pair on you?”

  He patted his suit pockets. “Straight out.”

  “Never mind. I’ll raid Laura’s closet before the pictures.”

  “I can run you back to your place. It’ll take under a half hour.”

  Will was prevented from getting Krista’s reply by the formation of the reception line which placed the wedding couple between him and Krista. After a long procession of clasping sweaty palms and hugging perfumed aunts, he finally regained Krista. “How about it?”

  “Shoe shopping in under a half hour? That’ll be a new world record.”

  “I believe in you.”

  His faith turned out to be well-founded. Will had assumed they’d go to the fancy shoe store downtown, but Krista dug in her heels because she couldn’t afford another pair there. When he started to protest she’d firmly said no, he wasn’t paying and no, she wouldn’t consider paying him back. Then she’d asked him to please take her to Walmart. She had an idea which turned out to be a pair of white sneakers with two artificial blue daisies attached to the laces.

  “Blue’s good,” Will said. “Matches your eyes.”

  She wrinkled her brow. “Uh, Will. They match the dress. That’s the point.”

  Her point, maybe. He was making an entirely different one. “Not sure about white. They don’t seem practical.”

  “There are no blue shoes, and it’s practical to buy shoes a color I can wear with other outfits.”

  “Point taken.”

  He began to doubt her rational side though when she opened her phone on the way back and began muttering to herself.

  “What’s that you say?” he said extra loud as if she was talking to him.

  “My speech. I’m doing the bride’s toast. And you’re doing the toast to the groom.”

  “I am?” He did know but it was worth it to see her half die from an anxiety seizure before she realized he was joking.

  “I’m not sure why I’m worrying,” she said as they got out from his truck. “If you s
crew up, it’s not my problem. I just don’t want—”

  “To ruin it for Laura. I understand.”

  She didn’t, either. At first the phone in her hand shook so hard it was all Will could do not to jump up to the podium and hold it for her. But then she set it down and turned to Laura and poured out her heart. The two of them and half the room were bawling by the end.

  Dry-eyed, Keith whispered to Will. “First she melts hearts, then breaks ’em.”

  Keith didn’t know Krista.

  Will and Krista nailed the dance, or at least they didn’t goof up so bad they stole from the main attraction, Ryan and Laura. At the final song beat, Krista beamed up at him. “All right, I think we can finally have fun.”

  “You haven’t been?” He meant to sound lighthearted, but he detected his own regret.

  Krista’s gaze lingered on him, probably wondering if she’d hurt his feelings. “Today was way better than I ever believed possible,” Krista said. “Better than how it started with Silver. All I could think about was ‘What if I break your mom’s horse? She will kill me. Wait, no she won’t have to because I’ll do it for her.’”

  Will laughed, and she broke into her terrific smile. This was why it had been so hard to refuse Krista all those years ago. He felt so good around her.

  “Thank God I’ll never have to get on a horse again.”

  And there it was, his reason for why he’d refused her. Age difference aside, he couldn’t be with someone who didn’t love horses. They had no future then or now. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t move deeper in another direction.

  “About this fake girlfriend thing,” he began, stopped. This was harder than he supposed. What if she blew him off?

  Her smile wavered. “You saw me in action and changed your mind?”

  “No.” Far from it. “Might have to work around your equine skills, but I was thinking that given how well today went, there’s no need for us to fake at being friends.”

  Krista reached her arm around his neck—and then he felt her flip down the back of his shirt collar. “Yeah, I think we blew that by standing here on the dance floor while everyone else is dancing.”