Northern Escape

by Jennifer Labrecque

  Tessa grinned from the front passenger seat. “Honestly, it was like one of those chef challenges on reality TV. where they have to pull something together in a certain amount of time.”

  Gus laughed. “It was, wasn’t it? And we couldn’t have scripted it any better if we’d tried.”

  Leo and Nancy Perkins, the dry goods store owners, had shown up with an entire wedding reception package of high-end paper plates, plastic champagne flutes, streamers, confetti and the honeycombed white paper wedding bells you unfolded and then taped together.

  Years ago Elmer Watkins, the same one who’d croaked in Gus’s restaurant, had mail-ordered a bride and a wedding package. The bride had developed cold feet and was a no-show. The reception paper goods, however, had been delivered on time. They’d been sitting at Leo and Nancy’s, dust collecting on the plastic shrink wrap, for years. The only thing Gus had elected not to use were the napkins with Elmer and Daisy, June 2, 1990 embossed in gold foil. They’d make do with plain white cocktail napkins.

  And then there’d been the surprise call from Curl. “Who would’ve ever guessed that Curl was sitting on a case of champagne over there?” Gus asked.

  “It was the damndest thing I’ve ever seen,” Nick said with a chuckle. Curl had called with the offer but he was still down with the flu. Clint had swung by, picked up Nick, and the two of them had headed over to get the bubbly. “There’s this room that’s refrigerated and there are tables obviously there to accommodate bodies, either animal or human, and in the corner is a case of champagne.”

  “Not just any champagne either,” Gus said. “It’s Cristal.”

  Tessa, Nick and Gus all exchanged knowing looks. Clint simply looked lost. “Never heard of it.”

  Reaching over, Tessa patted Clint on the arm. “Unless he stole it—” they all knew she was making a joke “—he dropped a couple of thousand dollars on that case. It’s nearly three hundred dollars a bottle.”

  Clint whistled. “Whoa. I’ll sip slowly when we toast today, then. We won’t be serving that at our reception, will we, honey?”

  “No worries. We’ll be pouring the cheap stuff.” Tessa laughed, then looked over her shoulder. “But I definitely want you to cater it, Gus.”

  “Absolutely. Just give me the date.”

  “Tessa’s been working with Nelson and Grandmother to figure out the best time for us to marry to ensure a happy union.” There was no mistaking the pride in Clint’s voice.

  Tessa was about as blond and green-eyed as they came, but there was no doubt in Gus’s mind the woman possessed a native soul.

  “Just let me know when.”

  Nick spoke up. His hand, still clasping hers, tightened. “If you let me know the date, I’d like to come back for that. And Dalton and Skye’s wedding, too.”

  “Oh, my God,” Tessa said. “A man volunteering to attend a wedding.” They all laughed and she grinned at Nick. “I’d love to have you at our wedding.”

  “Me, too,” Clint said.

  Gus felt all funny inside. So, he was planning to stay in touch obviously. She’d thought come day after tomorrow he’d simply ride off into the sunset. She wasn’t so sure that wouldn’t be the easier course of action.

  They pulled up in front of the restaurant. She’d have plenty of time to contemplate her life without Nick soon enough. For now, she had a wedding reception to host.

  14

  “YOU THROW A HELLUVA reception, honey,” Nick said, slipping his arms around the most amazing woman on the planet.

  “We threw a helluva reception. I’d like to remind you that you pretty much single-handedly prepped all of the hors d’oeuvres while I worked on the cake. I can’t thank you enough for your help. I seem to have said that a lot this past week.”

  “We make a pretty good team, you and I.”

  “We do, don’t we?” Her smile never failed to move him.

  “So much for your day off.”

  “You know, as the boss, I’m making an executive decision. Gus’s is closed tomorrow. I’ll call Lucky, Mavis and Teddy and put a sign on the door.”

  “You’d do that?”

  “Watch me. You’re leaving day after tomorrow. I’d like one day with you without Chrismoose or the restaurant or even something as wonderful as an impromptu wedding reception.”

  “I’d like that too.”

  “I’ll make the calls. You make the signs.”

  While she was on the phone he dug out paper and a marker from behind the bar where he’d seen them earlier in the week. By the time she got off the phone, his handiwork was finished.

  “Okay. They were all happy as clams to take tomorrow off, especially since they all pitched in today. You’ve got the signs ready?”

  “Here you go,” Nick said. “One for the front door. One for the airstrip door.”

  She read the sign and squealed. “Nick Hudson. You are bad.”

  “I told you I had a way with words. And for a guy, I’ve got fairly decent handwriting.”

  He’d neatly printed: Gus and Nick are upstairs making love all day. Please come back tomorrow. Sorry for any inconvenience.

  “Give me some thumb tacks. They’re in the junk drawer below the register.”

  “You’re not really going to put them up? It was just a joke.”

  She grinned. “It’s not as if that’s not what everyone will think anyway. I’ve had a reputation as a saint for way too long.”

  Something very primal in him surfaced. Jealousy, plain and simple. He neatly tore the papers into halves and then tore again. “Oh, hell no. I don’t want to think about every man within a five-hundred-mile radius beating feet to your door once I’ve gone. There’d be a line circling the block.”

  He quickly wrote: Closed today. Will reopen tomorrow. Sorry for any inconvenience. “Here you go. I’ll make another one while you put that on the front door.”

  She laughed at his reconsideration but took the new sign nonetheless. “In all the activity I forgot. Did you talk to your family today?”

  “Yeah, I went upstairs for a few minutes and called.”

  “Did you miss being there?”

  “Are you kidding? Today was incredible. There’s nowhere I would’ve rather been. Nothing else I would have rather been doing. And, most importantly, no one I’d rather have been with.”

  He’d never been surer of anything in his life. It was just like his parents and siblings had said it would be. She’d started down that aisle today and it had all just clicked into place for him. He loved her. She was the one meant for him.

  THE NEXT DAY, GUS STRETCHED, feeling thoroughly decadent and thoroughly satisfied. “I can’t tell you the last time I was still in bed at noon.”

  Nick grinned and kissed the end of her nose. “It’s not a common occurrence for me either, but this could be habit-forming.”

  He rolled to his side and climbed out of bed, naked. She liked him naked. She liked him most any way, but naked really, really worked. Unfortunately, he decided to change that state and pulled on a pair of underwear.

  “Don’t get dressed on my account.”

  He grinned over his shoulder as he reached for a pair of jeans. “This is on the account of not shocking the citizens of Good Riddance. I’ve got to run out for a minute.”

  “Where?” she asked before she thought. Really, it was none of her business except she’d just assumed they’d stay sequestered in her apartment all day. And where the heck was there for him to run out to here?

  He sent her another one of his heart-thumping grins. “I’m going to pick up some bagels and cream cheese.”

  She laughed. “Right. Did Santa bring that to the corner deli on his sleigh yesterday?” So he didn’t want to tell her where he was going. That was fine.

  He tugged on his shirt and pulled on socks. His boots were by the door in the living area. “He just might have. I won’t be gone long. And please, definitely do not feel obligated to put on any clothes in my absence. I like you naked.”

&n
bsp; “Funny. I was just thinking the same thing about you.”

  He leaned down and gave her a thorough goodbye kiss. “Hold that thought.”

  Then he was out the door whistling under his breath.

  “Shall I make some coffee to go with those bagels and cream cheese?” she yelled out behind him, going along with his ridiculousness.

  “Nah. Let’s do champagne instead.”

  “Okay. You’re picking that up along with the bagels?”

  “Yes, ma’am, I am.”

  She heard the outer door close behind him and she laughed, rolling over onto her belly, burying her face in his pillow. She inhaled his scent. That was just one of the things she loved about Nick, his playful sense of the absurd. Well, not loved…make that liked in the extreme.

  There were just too many factors playing into it for her to think she was really in love. She’d had a fangirl crush on him years ago, he was the first man she’d been with in over four years, he’d bailed her out of a tight spot professionally when Teddy got sick, and he was the one who’d delivered the news Troy was dead. Not to mention he was drop-dead gorgeous, smart, funny and fantastic in bed. Those all just muddied the emotional waters. So, yes, she was infatuated beyond belief but…

  Her phone rang and she thought about ignoring it but couldn’t. “Hello.”

  “Honey,” Merrilee said, “I hate to bother you but there’s something you’ve just got to see. Go look out your front window. I’ll stay on the line while you do.”

  “Okay.” Gus rolled out of bed and snagged one of Nick’s shirts thrown over a chair, pulling it on. Looking out the window naked didn’t strike her as a prudent move.

  “You there yet?”

  “Almost. How was the honeymoon?”

  Merrilee giggled on the other end. “Wonderful. I highly recommend it.”

  “Okay. Now what am I looking for?”

  “Dalton. In the sky.”

  About the time Merrilee said it, Gus saw it. Dalton was doing a flyby, a banner trailing behind the plane that read, Congrats 2 Bull & Merrilee Swenson. Gus laughed with sheer delight. That’s what Nelson, Dalton and Skye had been up to yesterday. “That is so cool.”

  “Isn’t it? He requested clearance to fly this morning and then told me I needed to step outside. That boy is something else.”

  “Skye and Nelson were in on it, too, I’m pretty sure.”

  “Definitely.”

  Gus looked down at the town and a set of familiar broad shoulders caught her eye in the midday light. What was Nick doing going into Curl’s? She shook her head, thoroughly perplexed.

  “I’ll let you go. I hope you’re enjoying your day off. I was glad to see your closed sign.”

  “I am enjoying it.” Even though she had no clue what Nick was doing. Truth be told, Gus was a little hurt he’d interrupted their day, when they had some of the hard-to-find privacy that was so rare in Good Riddance, to be out running around town. “Gus…”

  “Yes?” Still at the front window, she saw Nick walk back out of Curl’s, a definite spring in his step. What the heck? She stepped away from the window. “I’m sorry, Merrilee, I was distracted for a minute there. What were you saying?”

  “I’m just going to share something with you that my very wise husband told me not too long ago. There’s a season for everything, Gus. Just remember that, a season for everything.”

  Still somewhat distracted by why Nick would’ve popped by Curl’s, Gus answered absently, “That’s lovely, Merrilee.”

  “Lovely isn’t the point, honey. Take what it means to heart.”

  “I will.”

  They got off the phone and Gus wandered into the bathroom. She’d just finished brushing her teeth and running a comb through her bed head when she heard the door open.

  “Honey, I’m home,” Nick called out.

  “Got those bagels and champagne?”

  “Sure do. Plus cream cheese and lox.”

  Shaking her head—he had consistency in a joke down pat—she walked out of the bathroom…and stopped in her tracks. There was no mistaking the fragrant pungency of onion bagels. Dumbfounded she said, “You picked up bagels.”

  “I’ve been telling you that.” He pulled a bottle of Cristal from under his arm. “And champagne.” He winked at her across the room. “I snitched a bottle yesterday and put it away.”

  She started laughing and then couldn’t seem to stop. He was without a doubt the most impossibly charming, romantic man she’d ever encountered…and was ever likely to.

  “I’m glad you’re amused. Now go back to bed so I can bring you breakfast in bed.”

  She just stood there, still sort of dumbstruck. Where in the world had he gotten bagels, lox and cream cheese?

  “Begone with you, woman. Go. Bed. Now. I’ll be there, in a minute.”

  She went. She took a minute to smooth the sheets and fluff the pillows before she climbed back in. God help her, if she hadn’t been totally besotted before, she certainly was now.

  Within a few minutes he came through the door, everything arranged on a wicker breakfast tray. “Merrilee,” he said by way of explanation for the tray. “You didn’t even notice it when I came in, did you?”

  “No. I was so blown away by the bagels.”

  He placed the tray at the foot of the bed and made quick work of stripping down to his underwear. “Can’t get into bed wearing clothes.”

  “Certainly not. That’s a vast improvement.”

  He climbed in next to her and his weight on the mattress nearly upended the tray. He caught it just in the nick of time. “Damn. This stuff never happens in the movies.”

  Gus giggled, she simply couldn’t help herself. “That’s because it’s the movies and sometimes life’s just messy. I take it you don’t have a lot of experience serving breakfast in bed.”

  “This is a first.”

  That would explain why he’d left the brown bag on the tray, but she thought it was sort of cute. “Well, you’re doing just fine.”

  “How about some champagne?”

  “You should be ashamed of yourself. This was supposed to be for the reception yesterday.”

  “Then I say our first toast is to Merrilee and Bull.”

  “Open it, you incorrigible man.”

  The cork flew across the room and he quickly poured the fizzing pale liquid into two glasses, handing her one. “To Bull and Merrilee’s long-awaited nuptials,” he intoned.

  “To them.” They clinked stemware and then took a sip. It was seriously good champagne.

  “Now, a second toast. To us.” His eyes, his words, seemed to pierce to her very soul.

  “To us.” For whatever reason, this sip tasted even sweeter, more effervescent than the first.

  “How about a bagel?”

  “Okay, put me out of my misery. Where did you get onion bagels?”

  His grin turned her heart upside down. “There’s a little deli on the corner about a block from my apartment, Zimmerman’s. I made a phone call. Two-day air is a beautiful thing.”

  She held the bagel to her nose and inhaled, closing her eyes. “Ah, a true New York onion bagel. Have I died and gone to heaven?”

  “I’m guessing you’re a lox fan.”

  She was. An onion bagel with cream cheese and lox was to die for, but it meant some seriously heinous breath. “Are you going to have some, too?”

  “You betcha.”

  They sat together, contentedly munching and drinking their way through a bagel and another glass of champagne. Gus wasn’t sure whether it was the food, the drink, the company, or a combination thereof but she felt positively giddy.

  “Hey, Gus, would you mind checking the bag? I think there’s another cream cheese in there.”

  “Sure.” She put her glass on the nightstand and picked up the small brown bag. “There’s…something…” She reached in and her fingers closed around a band. She pulled it out. A ring. A diamond ring. Was this…did this mean…? She turned to him and stupidly
said, “There’s no more cream cheese.”

  “I know the ring is used. I bought it off of Jenna. We’ll get you another one, one we pick out together, but I didn’t want to get on that plane to leave tomorrow without a ring on your finger.”

  She was in shock. She felt as if she was moving in slow motion in a dream. “That’s why you went to Curl’s.”

  He shook his head. “Truly. There are no secrets in this town, are there?”

  “I was looking at Dalton’s banner and saw you.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I love you, Gus. You’re the one I want to go swimming with. You’re the one I want to wade into that gene pool with.”

  She just sat there stupidly, trying to take it all in. She hadn’t expected…never anticipated… Whoa.

  “I’ve traveled lots of places, met lots of people. I can’t say I’ve dated lots of women. I told you, I’m not a casual kind of man. I just always knew when I met the right woman, that I’d know. That’s what it’s like in my family. It was that way with my parents, both my sisters and my brother. When I saw you walking down that aisle yesterday, I knew.”

  “Nick, I don’t know what to say. This is so sudden.”

  “I love you, too, would probably be a good place to start.”

  She couldn’t. She wished she could, she really did, but she couldn’t. “I have very deep, very strong feelings for you.”

  Despite the disappointment registering in his blue eyes, he smiled. “Well, that’s at least a good beginning. I don’t think you’re a casual woman any more than I’m a casual man.”

  “No, I’m not.” She was reeling. “I just never thought you’d consider moving to Good Riddance. Do you really think you’d be happy here? I think you’d be bored within a month.”

  Now it was his turn to look shocked. Well, not exactly shocked, but she didn’t imagine the look of surprise on his face, in his eyes.

  “No, I don’t think I belong in Good Riddance. And I don’t think you do, either. I think New York is in both of our blood. I think that’s where we belong.”

  He was serious, which left her all the more incredulous. “I have a business, my own restaurant. This is my home we’re sitting in. Those people out there, the ones you’ve spent the last nine days with, those people are my family. You heard Tessa yesterday. I’m going to cater her wedding. But you expect me to just give all of that up? To just walk away so that I can start all over again while you give up nothing?”