by Olivia Miles
And that would only end in disaster. She wasn’t about to start losing her head all over something as superficial as physical attraction.
That was all it was, after all.
“Big plans tonight, then?”
Kate’s heart sank when she thought of how she would be spending her night, searching for a piece of material that probably didn’t even exist. Or she could just not bother. She could instead put on her pajamas, maybe even slather on a face mask, and watch a marathon of Frasier in bed. Jake had never been a fan of televisions in the bedroom. That had been the first treat she’d bought for herself in her new home.
Her home. How would she manage a mortgage payment if she didn’t have a job? She chewed on her lip as she watched the road, Meredith’s words as loud as if she were in the car with her. Had she really meant it when she said not to bother coming back tomorrow without three yards of that ridiculous, extinct lace? Maybe she should call her bluff, take Henry for a nice long walk along the shore tomorrow instead, and then stop for a lobster roll at that new food truck near the pier.
Would Meredith call, once the brides started emailing and the vendors started leaving messages, begging her to come back? Or could Meredith handle everything without her?
Her lips curved into a smile as she considered this approach.
“What’s so funny?” Alec asked.
Kate slid him a look. “Ever think about getting revenge on someone and how you’d like to go about doing it?”
Alec gave a surprised laugh. “Who’s the guy?”
“Actually, it’s a woman. My boss.”
“Ah, the mean lady.”
“She’s hardly even a lady. We went to school together, but we didn’t hang out in the same circles.” And they still didn’t.
“What kind of revenge do you have in mind?”
“I do a fair bit of fantasizing about my resignation speech,” Kate said. “Mostly in the shower every morning.”
Her cheeks flamed. Why’d she have to go into detail?
“You think you ever will?”
“One of these days I just might,” Kate said, but deep down she knew that wasn’t true. Charlotte—Charlotte would quit. Charlotte wouldn’t take Meredith’s crap, either. But Kate had always been the rule monger, the one who went along with the flow, careful not to disrupt the peace, head down, working hard.
For a moment she wished she could be more like her sister.
And not just because Charlotte had Jake.
Charlotte also had chutzpah.
But she was also selfish, Kate thought, narrowing her eyes to the road. She didn’t think things through. Didn’t think ahead. If she had, would she have slept with Jake?
Guess Kate would never know. Who needed to know?
They fell into silence as she merged onto the road leading back to the inn. Beside her, Alec fiddled with the radio, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. He seemed agitated and restless. Something was bothering him. Kate glanced at the clock. Sure enough—she had less than five minutes to spare to get him back to the hotel.
“So, big plans tonight?” Alec asked again.
“Oh.” Kate contemplated the question and how best to answer it. She decided there was no reason to lie and say she had a date or some exciting social event in town. Lying would indicate that she was trying to impress the man. And why on earth would she want to do that? “I’ll probably just get some work done.”
“But won’t…Henry be waiting for you?”
At his name Kate smiled. No matter how bad the day went, he always managed to brighten her mood. “Yeah, but he’ll be fine. He likes to keep me company while I work.”
“Hmph.”
Kate slipped her eyes to the right, startled by Alec’s reaction. She watched him carefully as they sat at a red light and he stared silently out the window.
“So what do you and Henry usually do for fun around here?” Alec finally asked, his tone weary but vaguely curious.
It was an odd question, but Kate humored him. Heck, it was better than driving the rest of the way to the hotel in silence. And it sure as hell beat fretting over that damn lace. She chewed her lip, considering the origin. Was it Irish? Belgian? Maybe she could track down an antiques dealer…Or maybe she wouldn’t bother at all. Maybe she’d drop it off tomorrow with her resignation letter.
And then what? That’s where the fantasy ended.
Charlotte would never ask herself, Then what? Charlotte lived in the moment.
She shook her sister from her thoughts. There was no use comparing the two of them. They were very different people. She would never be like Charlotte. And Charlotte would never be like her.
She wouldn’t want to be like her, Kate mused. To Charlotte, Kate was no fun.
Maybe Jake had felt the same…
“Oh, we like to go for walks,” she said, thinking of her cute little dog and feeling better at once. “Sometimes we go to the beach.” Not often enough, though. Once this wedding was over, she was taking a much-needed weekend off. That was, if she wasn’t unemployed before then.
After a heavy pause, Alec said, “How long have you two been together?”
Kate frowned in confusion and after a split second she burst out laughing, laughing like she hadn’t laughed in weeks, if not longer. Laughing until her ribs ached and her eyes teared. She darted her gaze to Alec, whose mouth had thinned in bewilderment. “You thought…you thought Henry was my boyfriend? Henry is my dog.”
Alec’s eyes widened ever so slightly and then his face spread into a smile. “Oh. I guess that explains why he wasn’t at dinner last night.”
Kate was still laughing as she pulled to a stop at the intersection. “Thank you for that. I needed a good laugh.”
“How about a drink then? I’ve had a day.”
Kate’s heart skipped a beat. A drink? With Alec Montgomery? Technically there was no harm in it, she supposed.
Sensing her hesitation, Alec pressed, “If you need to go home and walk Henry, that’s fine. I like dogs.”
“Oh…I don’t know…” She trailed off, unable to find an appropriate excuse. Her eyes searched the oncoming traffic for an answer.
“Hey,” Alec bantered. “I came to the suit fitting, and I didn’t even bat an eyelash at that pink bow tie—well, maybe just one,” he said, catching her eye. “I at least deserve a reward for that.”
Kate fought off a smile and failed. Pulling up to the stop sign, she knew she had a decision to make. To the left was home. To the right was the center of town.
She thought of the lace tucked into the side pocket of her handbag. She thought of her mortgage and her bills and Meredith’s smug smile.
And she thought of Charlotte. Even though she didn’t want to.
Screw it. The lace could wait. For today, she was living in the moment. And she might just have a little fun doing it.
* * *
Kate lived in a small Cape Cod–style house on a quiet, tree-lined street. Recalling that she had mentioned William and Elizabeth lived next door, Alec couldn’t resist skimming his eyes over the hedge of pink rosebushes to the slightly larger white house on a green stretch of lawn. He tried as best he could to imagine William living there and failed, despite his brother’s transformation. Only a few short months ago, William was living in a sleek loft condo with sweeping views of the Boston skyline, and now he was expected to believe that William lived here? The house had window boxes, for Pete’s sake. Did his brother cut his own grass?
Alec frowned and followed Kate along the path to the front door of her house. An immediate yapping was heard the moment she slid her key into the slot and the door opened upon the smallest ball of ivory fur Alec had ever seen.
“Hi, Henry!” Kate cooed, dropping her handbag to the floor and kneeling to greet the little dog, who was spastically licking and jumping at her as quickly as his little body would permit. Kate laughed and closed her eyes as the small animal burrowed his way into her neck and licked eagerly at her face.
/> “Hey, little guy,” Alec said, reaching down to give him a pat.
Henry darted across the room, his eyes dancing with excitement as he grabbed one toy after another in his frenzy. When nothing was good enough, he rolled onto his back on the rug and frantically waved his front paws in the air until Kate silently obliged and rubbed his stomach.
“He’s a little hyper, but he’s still just a puppy,” she explained.
Alec’s gaze shifted from the grinning dog to the curve of Kate’s thighs, long and smooth and toned. He looked away.
He was only in town for a week. And he wasn’t in town for that.
He glanced around the room. Cozy and eclectic furniture in shades of whites and blues gave it an airy, beachy feel. A pile of magazines was stacked in a basket, and there were several framed photos on a bookshelf in the corner. All of Henry, he noted, with a twinge of satisfaction. “How long have you had him?” Alec asked, coming around to sit on the edge of the white-slip-covered sofa.
“Oh…about seven months or so…” A strange expression shadowed Kate’s face, but she quickly replaced the faraway look with a proud grin as Henry bolted up and ran to his overfilled toy bin once more. Sniffing around a bit, he selected a small yellow fleece duck and carried it back to Kate with a wiggling bottom, his tail happily slapping the floor.
Kate pulled the toy from his mouth and tossed it across the room, and he sprinted at full speed to retrieve it, squeaking it several times before proudly carrying it back to Kate and placing it at her feet.
“Did you teach him that?” Alec asked, genuinely curious.
“Yeah,” Kate admitted with a smile. “Henry and I are pretty good pals,” she said, stating the obvious.
“I can see that.” Alec watched the way the puppy stopped what he was doing, anticipating Kate’s next move with intense expectation as she edged to the other side of the room.
“Did you ever have a dog?”
Alec shook his head, his voice low with regret. “No. But we had a summer house on the Cape when we were young, and the neighbors had a golden retriever. My brother and I loved that dog. We were always sneaking treats from the kitchen for him, tossing him sticks…My mom always said it was the perfect dog. Playful and sweet. But he went home at the end of the day.” He gave a sad smile. He hadn’t thought of that dog in years. Or those long, lazy summer days.
It was this house, he realized. And this town. And that dinner last night.
“William never mentioned you had a house on the Cape,” Kate said with interest.
“Oh, well, he’s younger than me, and we didn’t have it for long. My dad sold it years ago…” Alec swallowed hard, wishing he had never brought it up. Now it was there, the image he’d tried to banish. The one that William had found a way to re-create.
“That’s too bad.” She paused and then gestured toward the back of the house. “How about that drink? Lemonade? Beer?”
“I’ll take a beer,” he said, standing to follow her into the small, bright room. He leaned against the doorjamb as she busied herself with the glasses and beverages: a glass of white wine for herself, a beer for him.
“I should just take Henry out back quickly. It’s fenced in, but I like to keep an eye on him.” The little dog was now dancing at her feet.
Alec watched them out the window above the sink for a moment, finding it a bit overprotective that she was walking a dog in the backyard, on a leash, not that he’d be saying anything to that effect. Kate was uptight. But she wasn’t unlikeable.
Not unlikeable at all, he thought.
He slid his eyes to his brother’s house, noticing the large, shiny grill on the back deck. It was becoming increasingly easy to picture William there, flipping burgers and throwing summer barbecues with a grin on his face. If he closed his eyes tight enough, he could almost imagine himself doing the same.
Chapter Thirteen
Alec had settled himself on Kate’s small flagstone patio when she came around the side of the house a few minutes later after a brief walk, Henry eagerly tugging the leash as he ran ahead of her. He didn’t know much about dogs, but from what he could tell, this one wasn’t exactly well trained. Not that he’d be telling Kate as much.
“Did it look like my brother was home?” Alec asked mildly as Kate locked the gate before setting Henry free. He could have explored the entire yard, but he chose instead to stay close at Kate’s feet. Alec smiled. So maybe that was why she went out into the backyard with him. Maybe he would have huddled near the screen door otherwise.
Kate pulled out the chair beside him and craned her neck over the hedge that separated the two yards. “I don’t think so. It’s a busy week for them. I hope they went out to dinner for themselves before the festivities pick up. It helps to break away from the excitement sometimes and focus on each other. It’s easy to lose sight of the point of the wedding with all the activity and hype.”
“I take it you speak from experience?”
Kate flushed a little. “Not personally. But I’ve been in this business long enough to see my share of bridezillas, if that’s what you’re asking.” She laughed. “Weddings can strangely bring out the worst in people.” Her eyes darkened for a moment.
“What made you decide to become a wedding planner?”
Kate gave a small smile. “Oh…it’s sort of a silly story.”
He arched a brow. “Well, now you have to tell me. Or I’ll be up all night wondering.”
Kate sighed. “I was like most little girls, I suppose, always playing house with my dolls, or acting out my wedding day with dandelion bouquets and my mother’s old lingerie.” They both laughed. “Elizabeth and I would rope her poor brother into playing the groom and my sister—” She stopped for a minute. “She would be our flower girl.”
“That sounds sweet,” he said, trying to recall similar type of imaginary play as a kid. He came up blank. When it came to free time, he and William seemed to float along a little restlessly. There were organized sports and trips to museums, but the only time they really got to run around and be kids was when they were on the Cape, building sandcastles and forts and splashing in the water.
“I built up weddings to be quite magical,” Kate said, rolling her eyes, even though the smile never left her mouth. “And then one day I asked my parents if I could see their wedding album, and my mom told me she didn’t have one. She and my dad had eloped, I guess. It made me sad. The first thing I did when I was old enough was convince my parents to redo their vows. They protested at first, but I could tell my mom secretly wanted to do it. She let me plan all of it with her, the flowers and cake, and we held it right in our backyard, under a tent. I’ll never forget that look on her face that night. It was like she was falling in love all over again. She felt special. And she deserved to feel special. And she deserved to have that feeling captured and shared.” Kate reached for her wineglass and took a long sip. “Anyway, that’s why I decided to join Bride for Design. I probably won’t be there much longer, though.”
“Ah, so you’re planning on putting your shower fantasies to the test?” He stopped. “That didn’t come out right.”
Kate’s cheeks were as pink as the flowers growing in the pot behind her.
She sputtered on her drink. “It’s just a pipe dream. I’m hardly in a position to leave.”
“Why not go out on your own?” Alec asked. After all, people did it. Look at William. But then not everyone could, he thought, thinking of himself. “You clearly know what you’re doing.”
“I just bought this house. It wouldn’t be…responsible.”
“Not a risk taker, then.” He could say the same.
“No. I…never was.” Kate shrugged. “Now more than ever, I just like to know what I’m getting into.”
So they shared something else then. The dread of uncertainty. And there was plenty of it recently.
“Still, I could always see if a hotel is looking for an event planner or something…” She trailed off, looking out across the yard,
suddenly leaning forward in panic. “Wait. Where did Henry go?”
“Shouldn’t have taken him off that leash,” Alec said. The yard was fenced in. Why not let the poor dog roam free?
She craned her neck to peek into the kitchen, where the screen door was ajar. “He usually doesn’t like to let me out of his sight.”
“He’s probably under one of the bushes,” Alec said mildly, but Kate’s eyes were darting.
“He’s used to my undivided attention,” Kate said.
Alec hesitated before asking, “So it’s always just the two of you, then?”
Kate looked back at him. “Just the two of us.”
Alec watched her carefully, wondering what a woman like Kate was doing without a line of eager men standing at her door, waiting for their turn. Unless the door wasn’t open.
“Ever think about letting someone new in?” Alec didn’t know why he had asked that question. But he was curious.
“Not lately,” she said firmly, and hurried along the grass. “Henry! Henry!”
There was panic in her voice now, and Alec stood, stepping across the lawn to stand next to her. He swept the yard; the fence seemed secure, the wood panels tight with little space underneath. “I doubt he—”
“Oh, there he is,” Kate said breathlessly. Her could hear the smile in her voice as she turned to the half-open kitchen door, where little Henry was staring back at them, something purple in his mouth. “What do you have, little guy? Come here and let me see.”
The dog slowly came out onto the patio, and only when Kate’s sharp gasp cut through the faint sound of crickets that were starting to chirp did he resume his earlier energy and take off across the yard, carrying a pair of lace underwear in his mouth as he shot past them.
Kate’s face was almost as bright as her lingerie, but Alec could only laugh. He laughed until his ribs ached as Kate chased the tiny white ball of fur around the yard, barely missing each time until Henry finally decided he’d had enough fun and dropped the garment from his mouth before darting back into the house, where he could be heard happily lapping water from his dish.