Then Comes Love (Blue Harbor Book 6)

by Olivia Miles

  “Well, if you ever need a date…”

  His gaze locked with hers and Gabby’s mouth went dry when she considered what he meant and what might be happening between them. But just then there was a honking of a horn, a merry sound, and one that could signal none other than Candy’s grand arrival.

  “I think the bride’s here,” she sighed, backing away. Her stomach knotted a little when she thought of how to explain Doug’s presence without sparking a huge reaction from Candy, but then she wondered how she might explain it to herself. Doug was handsome, and funny, and she enjoyed his company. But he didn’t want a relationship. Didn’t want any of the same things she did, even if once, he’d wanted just that.

  They walked outside and crunched across the gravel, around the building toward the start of the orchard, where Candy was obvious from fifty feet away, in hot pink, with a long piece of fabric roped over her arm, laughing so loudly that Gabby couldn’t help but chuckle too, even though she didn’t know what Candy and Uncle Dennis could be talking about from this distance.

  “Look at them,” she said to Doug. “They’re really happy.”

  “They are,” he said quietly.

  There was something in his tone, something almost wistful, that made her turn and look at him sharply, but his attention was still on the happy couple, and now Brooke was marching at full speed toward Gabby, fire in her eyes as she spoke.

  “She needed a twenty-five-foot fake train. For practice. I had to use muslin. Nearly my entire stock!”

  Gabby covered her mouth to smother her laughter, but it was no use. “Oh, Brooke. I wondered what was taking you so long.”

  Brooke wasn’t finding any of this funny. “And she has some last-minute thoughts on the bridesmaid dresses she wants to discuss before the night is through!” Brooke stared at Gabby without blinking, until she seemed to snap out of it and finally notice Doug. Now her expression turned softer and infinitely more curious. “Oh. Hello, Doug. I didn’t realize you’d be here tonight.”

  He gave a lopsided grin and a shrug. “Kyle around?”

  “Getting drinks. I need a few, as I’m sure you can imagine.” Brooke motioned toward the table that was set up with wine and cider, and Doug wasted no time in dashing away in that direction.

  Gabby groaned to herself as Brooke’s eyes widened on hers, all talk of the demanding bride clearly forgotten.

  “Beautiful night,” Gabby commented, looking up at the clear sky. No threat of rain was in the forecast; she knew that Candy had a backup plan regardless.

  “I’m not interested in the weather,” Brooke said, linking her arm. “So, Doug, huh?”

  “Oh, you know our arrangement, to be each other’s wingman.”

  “So you said.” Brooke nodded. “But you’re hardly alone here.”

  “I am, in the sense that all of you are paired up. Well, except for Jenna,” Gabby said, though they both knew that Jenna wasn’t bothered too much by this. But then, Jenna was still in her twenties, and she’d dated in high school, gone to the prom, too.

  Whereas Gabby had only planned it.

  “Besides,” Gabby added. “Candy invited my blind date tonight.” She didn’t add that she’d only just learned this.

  Brooke looked more than a little amused. “Oh, this should be interesting.”

  “Maybe for you.” Gabby huffed out a sigh. “I’ve already told her that I don’t want something forced on me. I want it to happen naturally. When I meet the right man, I’ll just now.”

  Brooke peered at her. “Will you, though?”

  Gabby pressed her lips together as they neared the barn because the truth of the matter was that she didn’t know how to answer that question.

  “Oh! Gabby!”

  Gabby closed her eyes, briefly, at the sound of Candy’s trill. Brooke was quick to release her arm and scurry away to her husband, leaving Gabby alone as Candy hurried to her as best she could in her pink stilettos, her blue eyes round and excited, and her lips the exact shade of the dress.

  For a moment, Gabby wondered if Candy was going to ask for changes to her bouquet, which she clutched in both hands, right at her heaving bosom, but instead, she saddled up to Gabby’s side and whispered directly into her ear. “Have you seen your date for the evening yet?”

  Gabby again wondered if Candy had already seen Doug, assumed something that wasn’t exactly true. Not really. But now Candy was staring at the table, where people had started to sit, motioning with her eyes in a less than subtle fashion that Gabby might want to take a look.

  Oh, for crying out loud.

  Still, Gabby supposed that she had brought this on herself. She’d lamented her woes of being single to every female family member and friend and now they were stepping in, trying to help, and Candy…well, Candy certainly loved to help.

  “I’ll go over in a minute,” Gabby said weakly.

  Candy was nodding now, biting her lip and staring at Gabby expectantly. “You do that, hon.”

  Gabby felt her shoulders slump as she walked over to the table, figuring she may as well get this part of the evening over with—if only so Candy could focus on herself for the event, which she should do, considering that it was her special night.

  She inched to her place setting, neatly positioned between Doug and the stranger whose back was still to her, and pulled out the chair. It caught on the grass, nearly toppling over, but a quick hand righted it.

  “Thanks,” Gabby said, shifting her eyes over to the owner of said hand, her heart quickening at the sight.

  A handsome face. A smile that went all the way up to his hazel eyes.

  “This your seat?” the man asked.

  Gabby swallowed, unsure of what to say. It was her seat. And this man was handsome. And a doctor, she now recalled. But something felt off, different, and unfamiliar.

  “I’m Bill, but most people still call me Billy. You must be Gabby,” the man’s voice was smooth, and he gave her a knowing look. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  Now Gabby had to laugh. Candy was prone to chronic exaggeration. “Well, don’t believe everything you hear.”

  The man—Bill, or Billy—laughed, a hearty, gravelly laugh that pulled a smile from Gabby’s mouth.

  “Well, then, maybe you can set the record straight.” He winked and pulled the chair out for her.

  She hesitated, something pulling her attention to the left. She glanced over, expecting to see Candy, cheering with her bouquet, but instead she locked eyes with Doug.

  And he didn’t look happy.

  “Will you excuse me for a moment?” Gabby didn’t wait for an answer before she stood and hurried along the grass to wind her way around the table toward Doug, but it was too late. He was already setting his drink down on an overturned barrel that was used as a tabletop, already moving in the direction of the parking lot.

  She hurried in her heels, aware that her sister was staring at her, her cousins were watching, and Candy was no doubt just dying to run after her to see what was going on.

  She waited until they had reached the parking lot to call out to him, even though she was sure that he was aware she was behind him. “Doug! Wait! Will you wait!”

  Finally, he stopped. Pushed his hands into his pockets. Stayed with his back to her.

  Her heart sank as she slowed her step, not even sure what she would say when he finally turned around. If he would even turn around.

  He did. And the look in his eyes wasn’t hurt or anger. It was nothing. His entire expression was flat, unreadable. And in that flicker of a second, she wanted nothing more than to see the mirth in his eyes when he looked at her. The way his entire attention once seemed to be focused on her.

  Now, he struggled to make eye contact at all.

  “Are you leaving?” she asked, even though that was fairly obvious.

  He shrugged, glanced at her briefly. “Doesn’t seem like I’m needed here anymore.”

  “But…” She wasn’t even sure what excuse to give, or what she could
say in this moment to keep him here. She wanted to say that she wanted him here, but she didn’t know if that was what he wanted to hear. “But our arrangement—”

  “Tonight wasn’t part of the arrangement, though. Was it?” He looked at her long enough for her to drop her gaze to the ground. She kicked at a piece of gravel. She didn’t know what tonight was supposed to be. She just knew that it had been nice…at first.

  “Candy set that guy up with me. I told you that,” she said.

  He nodded, then tipped his head. “And from what I saw, you enjoyed his company.”

  “He caught my chair from falling,” she explained. “And—”

  “And he made you laugh. And you made him laugh. And he’s single, handsome, and seemed more than a little interested in you.”

  Gabby hesitated, only because she didn’t know what to say to that, or what he wanted her to say. This was the man who had made it clear that he didn’t want the same things she did. Who thought weddings were expensive, frivolous parties, and that marriages could end over an argument about toothpaste.

  “It’s fine, Gabby.”

  Only it wasn’t. Somewhere over these past few weeks, she’d developed feelings for him, ones that shouldn’t be there, ones that would only let her down. She wanted him to stay, she wanted to talk with him through dinner. She wanted to finish giving him a tour of the land, and she wanted shared secret smiles and nudges at the expense of her matchmaking soon-to-be aunt.

  But she and Doug were just friends. He’d made that part very clear.

  He gave her a little smile. “I can see it’s time for me to go.”

  “No, Doug!”

  He held up a hand, stopping her. “Gabby, you know what you want. And maybe tonight you found it.”

  She stared at him, trying to think of what she could say, and knowing that there was nothing.

  The man sitting at the table wasn’t right for her—once she might have thought so, sat a little straighter, laughed a little louder, been stiff and nervous and anything but herself. And tonight, for reasons she didn’t know why, but she could sense it—he wasn’t the man for her.

  But the man standing in front of her wasn’t either.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Gabby finished tying the pink satin ribbon around Candy’s bouquet and startled when the shop door jingled. She’d been jumpy all morning, even though she knew that it was just her mother coming in to help transfer the arrangements into the van.

  “Everything okay?” Her mother was a little breathless, but her eyes were alert.

  Gabby held up Candy’s bouquet. It was a struggle with one hand, that much was for sure. “What do you think?”

  Miriam tipped her head into a smile. “Oh. It’s lovely, Gabby. But I wasn’t talking about the flowers. Everything you put together is wonderful. It’s you that I’m not so certain about.”

  Gabby sighed and carefully set the bouquet into the box with the others. “I’m fine.”

  Her mother didn’t look convinced as she came around the counter and got to work. “You were quiet last night at the rehearsal dinner after Doug left.”

  Quiet, a little embarrassed, more than a little hurt. A whole lot confused. A part of her had wanted to go after Doug rather than stay at the party, but the other part of her knew that there was no sense in that. She’d gotten swept away…something that she was often accused of doing over the years.

  “It’s been a busy few weeks. There’s nothing to talk about. I’m fine, really.” Only she wasn’t so sure about that anymore. Once, she’d thought that she would know the right man for her when he came along. Now, she was back to thinking that he might never show up. Or that she wouldn’t recognize him if he did.

  “I know you usually talk to your sisters and cousins about these things,” her mother continued. “But I also know a thing or two about matters of the heart. And I know love when I see it.”

  Gabby held up her hands in exasperation. “Why is it that everyone else can spot love when they see it?”

  “Are you telling me you didn’t see the way that Doug looked at you? You were the center of his focus last night for the brief time he was there. Why, the young man practically lit up every time you spoke.”

  “I didn’t realize you were paying that much attention to us last night,” Gabby muttered. She wished she hadn’t finished the bouquets so that she could keep her hands busy, make an excuse to end this conversation and stop thinking about Doug once and for all.

  “Oh, I wasn’t only talking about last night,” Miriam said. “I was talking about all those years ago, in your debate club. The boy loved nothing more than getting your attention.”

  “Please.” Gabby rolled her eyes, even though she was starting to wonder if it was true. She shook that thought away and began cross-checking her list to make sure that everything was accounted for and ready. “That was years and years ago.”

  “And last night, he never took his eyes from you. I watched him, watching you, when you spoke to that other guy.”

  Gabby closed her eyes and groaned. “Don’t remind me.”

  “It was the first time I saw the light come out of his eyes when you were ever around,” Miriam commented. She gave Gabby a slightly hopeful look. “I assume when he didn’t come back that you weren’t able to patch things up?”

  Gabby shook her head and tucked the itemized list into her handbag. “No, and maybe there was nothing to patch up. Doug has made it very clear that he isn’t looking for love.”

  Miriam just gave a little smile. “Well, looking for it and finding it are two very different things, aren’t they?”

  Gabby frowned, thinking of just how true that was.

  She picked up one of the centerpieces. “Speaking of two people who found love when they least expected it, if we don’t get these arrangements over to the reception and ceremony sites soon, Uncle Dennis and Candy won’t have the wedding of their dreams.”

  Her mother didn’t argue, and they each began carefully transporting the centerpieces to the back of the van. Gabby’s mother had agreed to deliver the boutonnieres and bouquets to the bridal party, and Gabby would go to the chapel after she’d finished setting up the tent for the reception. It would be tight, but Gabby knew if she kept on schedule, she could handle it.

  She brushed her hands on her apron front after she’d closed the door to the van. Her hair and makeup were already applied, and all she had to do now was quickly slip into her dress and make her way over to the lakefront.

  “Well, I should get changed.”

  Back inside, Miriam set her hands around the large box of items for the wedding party, seeming to hesitate. “Don’t you worry, Gabby. If something is meant to be, it finds a way of happening. If Doug’s the one, you’ll know in time.”

  Would she? Gabby managed a smile as she held open the door and watched her mother disappear onto the sidewalk, where tourists were milling about, mostly couples and young families; many were hand in hand.

  It seemed so easy for everyone else, but then, it had also been very easy to spend time with Doug these past few weeks.

  She could only hope that her mother was right. That if she and Doug were meant to be, they’d find a way. But for today, she couldn’t think about her own romantic woes.

  As usual, she had another person’s happy ending to worry about instead.

  Doug unloaded his groceries onto the counter of his small kitchen and heaved a sigh. He’d been back in Blue Harbor for over two months now and the boxes were still stacked in the corner of his apartment, waiting to be unpacked. It wasn’t like him to be so unsettled, much less unorganized. He liked things in order. Liked to have a plan, something he could rely on, and every time he came back to this empty space it just felt temporary.

  He pushed aside the nagging thought that maybe it was…maybe he hadn’t bothered to set up this apartment within the first few days, let alone the first few weeks, because he knew deep down that this wasn’t where he wanted to be.

 
Oh, he’d stay in Blue Harbor—he couldn’t bear to leave it again and he had no reason to, either.

  But an empty apartment was another thing. And one he’d have to get used to or at least make the best of eventually.

  Right. He put his groceries away first, feeling more than a little dispassionate by the numerous frozen dinners that he had to look forward to all week unless he relied on his stack of take-out menus or learned to cook—something he could do if he wanted to learn, he was sure, but not something that interested him greatly. There was something lonely about cooking just for himself. Something affirming about his place in life.

  His chosen place, he reminded himself.

  He started with the books that he could quickly transfer to the shelves in the living room, and then onto the few larger boxes that held various memorabilia he’d brought with him after high school and then after college—some to be displayed, like his debate trophy, others to be set in drawers, like his Notre Dame tee shirt collection.

  He moved at a steady pace, breaking down the boxes as he went, happy for the task that kept his mind off last night, and soon enough, he was on to the last of the boxes, the ones that had been doubling as a makeshift coffee table in the living room. He made a mental note to buy a proper one, and soon. Tomorrow, in fact. Once this place was furnished and complete, maybe he would feel less depressed coming back to it. Maybe he’d feel less conflicted.

  The boxes were unlabeled but heavy, and he knew as soon as he popped the lid what they contained. Photos—some loose, others in frames, carefully wrapped. He’d tucked them away, out of sight, but now, he picked up the album on top—it was one that Lisa had put together after one of their trips. Like him, she was organized. Everything had its place. This was a smaller album, full of photos from one of their trips to Colorado, a ski vacation that had been a nice enough time, with good weather and a nice hotel. He flipped through the book slowly, recalling more details of the resort, the town, some of the restaurants that they’d eaten in, some more than once. In each picture they were smiling, posed, seeming happy enough unless he looked a little closer. He knew Lisa—knew her laugh and the smile that came with it, and here in the photos, her smile was frozen, like the icy winter scape behind them. And his eyes were flat, his grin halfhearted, as if he were just going along with it for the camera rather than living life.