Blaze

by Dale Mayer

  Camilla, her stomach sinking as she realized this really was the moment of truth, opened the doors and let her friend in. “Remember. This is just a sample for the rehearsal tonight,” she said.

  The crowd of ten streamed forward as Camilla and Blyth stood at the doorway. Camilla could hear everything, from excited squeals to silence to whispered concerns. Lizzie came back and said, “There’ll be more flowers at the reception, right?”

  “I told you this is just a few of the floral arrangements so you can get the main idea. I promise. There’ll be a lot more at the actual reception.”

  “Good,” she said, “and you got the pink baby’s breath for my bouquet, right?”

  “I believe so,” she said, trusting in Wanda to pull that off. “I’ll make a note to double-check with Wanda on that,” and she pulled out her tablet and entered a note. She hoped that was enough to keep Lizzie glossing over to something else. Quickly she sent an email to Wanda on the pink issue.

  “And we really don’t like the centerpieces,” Lizzie said, the words coming out in a rush. “I don’t mean to insult you or anything.”

  Camilla looked at the long tables and started to chuckle. “Those aren’t your centerpieces. Remember? This is a wedding rehearsal. We’re not set up for the reception yet.”

  Her friend’s face exploded in joy, and she threw her arms around Camilla again. “I knew you wouldn’t let me down,” she said, and she suddenly bolted.

  Camilla called after her, “Hey, are you okay if we head out for the evening?”

  “Absolutely,” Lizzie said. “I’ll call you when we’re done.”

  “You need to,” Camilla said. “We must collect the flowers and get them back into the proper temperature to keep them fresh for Sunday.”

  “I promise,” Lizzie said soundly. Then her face cracked up in a big grin. “The problem with you planning the rest of my wedding weekend is I couldn’t have you as part of the wedding party, but feel free to come to the rehearsal dinner tonight if you want.”

  “Honestly, I’m exhausted trying to make sure you have the best wedding rehearsal and reception possible,” Camilla said warmly. “But thank you for the invite.”

  She didn’t even think Lizzie heard her because she was gone already. Thankfully an email from Wanda came through with an affirmative on dyed pink baby’s breath.

  Blyth stepped up and said, “I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to leave this place.”

  “Absolutely.” Camilla turned to Blyth. “I know I asked you earlier, but I can’t remember what you said. Did you have plans for tonight?”

  “It’s a Friday night. What do you think?” She toddled off to her old van and said, “I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow morning.” Just like that she was gone.

  Weary, lugging still more boxes to her Mustang, Camilla finally loaded everything up, got into her car and was about to head home when a big black truck pulled up. She frowned as she watched Blaze get out.

  He looked at the piles of stuff in the back seat of her car and said, “I gather you’re done for the day?”

  She nodded. “I’m done in every way possible. The rehearsal is about to start.”

  “Do you have to come back again tonight?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Yes. I have to deal with the flowers.”

  “Interesting,” was all he said.

  She appreciated that. “What about the shepherd? Any news on that?”

  “No. I stopped over at old Freddie’s place, but he wouldn’t open the door for me.”

  “Last time he talked to anybody was with a shotgun as punctuation,” she announced. “He’s pretty cranky these days.”

  “I just wonder if the shepherd is running from something. She seems to be very antipeople,” he said.

  “You haven’t been here long enough to make that determination.”

  “True, that’s very true,” Blaze said in surprise. “However, I figured that, if you’re as tired as you are, maybe you would like to go out for dinner.” She stared at him in surprise, and he chuckled. “Or maybe we’ll just call it a late lunch because I’m pretty sure you didn’t eat that either.”

  He wasn’t sure how to take her reaction. She was interested yet wary. “We’ll pick a public place,” he said, “so you don’t have to worry about anything out of the ordinary.”

  “It’s not that,” she said, “but I’m seriously exhausted.”

  “Fine,” he said. “But consider this. What will you eat when you go home?”

  “I’m not sure,” she said. “I don’t think I have anything. I would probably pick up something and take it home.”

  “So, then we might as well go out instead,” he said. “Pick a spot.”

  She shrugged. “I don’t go out much so I’m not even sure what to suggest.”

  “You want fancy, or you want casual?”

  “Casual,” she said. “I feel dusty, dirty, tired and definitely don’t want to go to a high-end place.”

  “Do they have very many high-end places in this town?” he asked.

  “Yep, there are a couple,” she admitted. “The town has grown. Oh, how about Italian? I don’t know if you remember Mama Mia’s.”

  He frowned as he tried to sort through the restaurants he knew. “I don’t think I remember that name.”

  At that, she laughed. “In that case, that’s where we’re going. I can eat spaghetti off a spoon and not worry about people talking about my manners.”

  He shook his head at that, not sure who ate spaghetti with a spoon, but he was game. “Tell me how to get there,” he said, “and I’ll meet you.”

  “No, it’s easier if I just drive and you follow me. I’m really lousy at directions.” And, with that, she hopped into the front seat of her car and started up the Mustang.

  He waited until she was almost ready to pull out of the parking spot before he got into the truck. He could imagine she was terrible with directions, but she seemed to be doing just fine with her business. He’d spent some time researching her, and she certainly had a lot of really nice reviews. Her prices were not on the website, and he worried she didn’t charge enough for this kind of hand-holding. It had to be exhausting doing what she did.

  From the look of her tonight, she was beyond that point. He hadn’t planned to stop in until he saw her here as he drove by, and dinner seemed like the best idea yet. It was seven o’clock on a Friday night, and he didn’t have any plans. He hadn’t told his father where he was, but his dad was a big boy. Blaze contacted him as he drove, his phone on the seat beside him, and, when his dad answered, he said, “Hey, Dad. I’m taking Camilla out to Mama Mia’s for dinner. I’ll be back in a couple hours.”

  His father said, “Are you sure you’re coming back tonight?”

  “Absolutely,” he said in a dry tone. “And, hey, you got any reason why that shepherd would be so skittish? I found a spot where I can feed her on a regular basis to try to get her used to humanity again, but I worry why she is almost ghostly out here.”

  “The only reason for that is if somebody doesn’t want her around and has let her know very clearly she doesn’t belong here.”

  “Not necessarily. She is a loner by nature. She might need time to bond with someone. She’s also been alone for a long time, so maybe she wants companionship too. It’s hard to know until I can get closer to her. Thankfully I didn’t see a blood trail,” Blaze said as he followed Camilla’s car into the next turn. “But I am worried she might be wounded.”

  “It’s a hard life for a dog on its own. They turn half wild. You know that.”

  “I understand, but I wonder if somebody is out hunting her or if she’s just so skittish it’ll take that much more time to catch her. Her file made it clear about her being a loner, so not sure what it’ll take to get her to trust me.”

  “You know what? It’s quite possible that whatever happened to her hurt her emotionally too. Once an animal bonds with somebody, you know it’s hard on them when they lose that bond.
Trust is something you have to earn with an animal and once broken, it can be hard for them to take the chance again. They are all heart and keep giving us the benefit of the doubt time and time again but at some point, it’s too much and they retreat. If she’s been half wild these last few months, food will go a long way to getting her to trust you. But depending on how skittish, it could take longer than you want.”

  “True enough,” Blaze said. “I’ll go back tomorrow morning and see if I can find her. I did leave dog food, and she did eat it, and I put a bit more down for her, but she’s not responding well to me.”

  “Next time you can bring one of mine, maybe Anders here, and see how she responds to another dog. She’s likely to take it either way, as positive or negative.”

  “That’s something to consider. I don’t know if she’s against other animals or not. But something to think about.” He rang off from the call and pulled into the parking lot of a small hole-in-the-wall front for a restaurant. It was an interesting choice she’d made, but she seemed pretty excited about it. He pulled up in one of those dinky-ass parking spots, wondering why, in a town where lots of people drove massive trucks, they never had spots large enough for them. When he hopped out, he grabbed his phone as he left. He locked up and turned to see Camilla standing at the front of the restaurant, waiting for him. “You didn’t waste any time getting here.”

  “I decided I was really hungry,” she said with a smile.

  He opened the door and said, “Ladies first.”

  She raised an eyebrow but swept ahead in front of him. She wore jeans, some kind of a half boot, and a white T-shirt that may have started off white today, but it hadn’t ended up that way. Also she had a shell-colored sweater over it. But it didn’t matter what she wore, she stood with the same grace and attitude as somebody dressed to the nines. He appreciated that. Not that he believed she needed to be dressed up all the time. He had to admire somebody who could walk in with an attitude that said, Take me as I am, and I don’t care. He was very much the same way; he was more comfortable in blue jeans.

  Chapter 5

  Camilla forgot her state of clothing as she walked in, but, as soon as she saw the stares, her nose instinctively went up, and she followed the hostess as if she wore things like this out to dinner all the time. Truth of the matter was, she hadn’t even given it a second thought, and she refused to think about anybody else’s criticisms in the meantime. The only opinion that mattered was hers. And, well, maybe her date’s. And how did that sound? She stole a glance at Blaze, happy to see he didn’t appear to even notice. As they slid into the booth, and the candles were lit in front of them, she whispered, “I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to change.”

  “It doesn’t matter to me,” he said, his voice equally low. “I know you’ve been working, and a hot meal is exactly what you need, not a feeling of having done something wrong.”

  “My mother would be horrified,” Camilla said with a nod of humor. “Appearances are everything.”

  “Appearances mean nothing,” he said with a wave of his hand.

  The waitress returned with menus. Blaze looked over at Camilla and asked, “Would you like a glass of wine?”

  She smiled in delight. “Yes, I really would. It’s been a very long day.”

  “Ditto,” he said. He smiled at the waitress and said, “Could we also have the wine list, please?”

  With a smile, she hurried off. He looked at the menu. “I can see seafood in my near future.”

  “Not sure about seafood and pasta,” she said. “To be honest, I’m a big red meat eater.” She felt his startled surprise, and she giggled. “I know. Everybody thinks I’m a rabbit eater,” she said, “as in, I eat lettuce and salad greens. But I really do like my meat.”

  “Hey, so do I,” he said. “What are you having then?”

  “Spaghetti and meatballs,” she announced. “Comes with big meatballs and lots of pasta, and honestly, I’m really hungry. And, if there’s too much, I’ll take it home for tomorrow.”

  “Will you get much chance to eat tomorrow?”

  “No. The rehearsal is on right now, and they should be done anywhere between nine and ten,” she said, waving her hand back and forth as she studied her cell phone with the time displayed. “So, we definitely have time for a nice relaxing dinner, and then who knows? If I’m lucky, the wedding party might leave early.”

  “It’s hard to say, isn’t it?” he said. “I imagine these things are unpredictable.”

  “Absolutely,” she said, “but, hey, it’s all good. It’s a friend of mine, and I’m doing what I can to help her out.”

  “I’m surprised you’re not part of the wedding party,” he said, “or is she not that good a friend?”

  She wrinkled her nose up at him. “It’s a fine line, isn’t it? The wedding party is generally reserved for best friends,” she clarified. “And, if I was part of the wedding party, I’d have a hell of a time trying to organize these two events this weekend. I think she chose to demote me,” she said with a chuckle, “in order to hire me.”

  “Are you good with that?”

  “I’m so good with it,” she said with a drawn look. “There’s only so many weddings you really want to attend in your lifetime if they aren’t yours. The more other people’s weddings you attend, the questions get more direct, the looks get longer, and the tuts, tuts and the shakes of their heads become all too frequent from the guests and even the brides and grooms.”

  “Seriously?”

  She nodded. “Particularly in my business when they see me arranging other people’s weddings—another reason I can’t stand doing them,” she said, chuckling.

  Just then the waitress returned with the wine list. “I’ll give you two a moment to decide.” And she stepped away.

  “White or red?” he asked Camilla.

  “I think it’s supposed to be red with pasta, but honestly,” she confessed, “I prefer white. Red puts me to sleep.”

  “Maybe that’s what you need,” he said, studying her features.

  “Sure, that is what I need. Just not yet. I need to get the work done first.”

  “Is there much left to do?”

  She nodded. “The flowers must get back into the cooler at the florist’s, and everything at the center has to be cleaned up for something else happening there tomorrow, maybe a christening. I’m not sure.”

  “In a recreational center?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t remember what it was, but there is something.”

  “And then you clean it all out and redecorate it for Sunday?”

  “Yes, originally she was supposed to rent the center for the entire weekend, but then she didn’t want to pay for Saturday, so she let that slide, and that meant somebody else could rent that day, and, well, it just created more work for everyone.”

  “Save a penny, spend a pound,” he said with a sage nod.

  “In this case many pounds,” she said.

  When the waitress returned, he picked out a white wine, one she’d never heard of, and ordered a carafe for them along with their meal choices.

  After the waitress left them once more, Camilla warned, “Remember that I’m driving too.”

  “That’s why the carafe,” he said. “I figured we’ll take the rest of the bottle, and you can have it tomorrow night or Sunday night when you’re done.”

  “That would be lovely,” she said. “Do they do that?”

  “I have done it,” he said. “You order the bottle but ask for only a carafe full at the moment.”

  “I’ll have to remember that,” she said. “I’ll never object to taking leftover wine home either.” She loved the way his grin flashed at her. She said suddenly, “I didn’t realize your mom was the one in all those photos around town.”

  “Yes,” he said. “My father mentioned you too.”

  “How is he doing?” she asked, skating over what his father might have said about her. The last thing she wanted to know was the details. It was p
robably just as twisted as everything her mother put out there.

  “He’s doing much better,” Blaze said. “It’s been tough picking up the reins after my mother’s death, but it happens, so …” He shrugged. “Our choices are pretty minimal. Picking up the pieces is a requirement for continued living.”

  “I like the way you put that,” she said. “It’s hard when you lose somebody, but the fact of the matter is, life does go on, bills have to be paid, food has to be purchased, and somehow you’re expected to do it all.”

  “So true,” he said. “So true.”

  “You said something about coming here for the dog?”

  “And to visit home again,” he said, his gaze going over her shoulder to something she couldn’t see.

  “Are you planning on staying around?”

  She watched him give a mental shake, and a small smile slipped out. “Maybe,” he temporized. “I’m not sure yet. But I’d like to if I can make it work.”

  “Good enough,” she said. “No pressure. Just wondered if you had a job or something here.”

  “No, I’m exactly the kind of man your mother would have warned you against,” he said with a droll smile. “I’m not upwardly mobile, and I don’t have stocks, full bank accounts or a fancy sports car.”

  She froze at the mention of her mother. “Did you mean that literally?” she asked in a careful voice. “Because most of the locals here know my mother expected me to marry up and to marry wealthy.” From the shocked expression on his face and the apologetic look in his eyes, she realized it was just a common phrase. “I’m sorry,” she rushed in. “I didn’t mean to make that personal.”

  “I think that’s my line,” he said gently. “I didn’t mean to make it personal, as in your mother.”

  “I don’t know what to think about my mother at the moment. Apparently she really hated your mother.”

  “Why is that?” he said with a frown.

  “My mother considers herself the most beautiful woman in the world,” she said with a finger wave out to the rest of the world beyond their booth. “Not everyone agreed.”

  He started to chuckle. “I can tell you that my mother was as beautiful inside as she was out,” he said warmly. “And, from all that I saw, she was well loved by many.”