“OK, OK, that’s interesting. We don’t know enough about kids to translate the meaning. It could be anything! Did he say where their mom was?” Her voice rose with excitement and I knew I had to put a stop to her scheming. Before I could answer she was off again. “Was he wearing a wedding ring?”
I debated whether to lie, because if I told her the truth there’d be no going back.
“He wasn’t, was he?” she said triumphantly.
Dang it! “No, he wasn’t. But that doesn’t mean anything! He could have been swimming, or at the gym and taken it off for safekeeping. Besides, I’m not interested in revisiting the past.” I didn’t know which way was up at the moment and definitely couldn’t be trusted with matters of the heart unless they related to someone else’s heart. Someone like Micah and Isla.
“Did you have butterfly belly? Yes or no?”
“Possibly, but I think that was because I had a traumatic bump to the head…”
“Yes or no?”
“It was more nerves…”
“So that’s a yes. Did he give you that same special smile from back in the day?”
Damn it.
“I’ll take your silence as an affirmative. And who invited who out? Actually, don’t bother answering that – it was him.” The clack of laptop keys clattered down the phone line.
“What are you doing?”
“Research.”
“His Facebook page is locked down.”
Her curse rang out and the keys clacked furiously once more.
“He doesn’t use Twitter.”
I was met with silence.
“Or Instagram.”
“Are they so remote they can’t communicate? I mean, how do these people survive?”
I giggled. “I think they meet face to face.”
She gasped. “Bloody hell. OK, so if we can’t stalk him online, I suppose you’re going to have to do this the old-fashioned way.”
“I’ll go to the catch-up because I said I would, but that’s it. I’ve got too much to do here, especially now, and Kai’s making me do midnight yoga by the lake because apparently it’s the only way to get the knots out of my shoulders and help me have a proper deep sleep. So, with all of those late nights and waking with the birds, I’m totally bushed. Maybe I’m getting…”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Kai’s making you do midnight yoga by the lake? The downward dog, you say?”
“Can you get your mind out of the gutter?”
“Never. Love is what makes the world go around and I am your cheer squad.”
“Riiight.”
“So, you just happened to be together at midnight?”
“Well, we were climbing the mountain…”
“What for? To escape the fire?”
“No, for exercise.”
“WHAT! You don’t exercise!”
“I know, but Kai’s really attuned to the earth and nature and he seems to have this kooky idea that I hold stress in my body and it’s toxic and a spot of midnight yoga will ease all of that. And I must admit, I’m sleeping soundly at night. But yeah, it’s pretty exhausting.”
“But why midnight?”
“Something about the shift in ocean current or the moon, or something.”
“Golly, and here I thought you’d be going to some little backwater with people who wore overalls and ate stalks of hay, and you’re surrounded by all these potential husbands.”
“They’re not potential husbands! One of them might be married and the other one works for me! How do you twist something innocent into… matrimony?”
“Oh, please… don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it?”
It had crossed my mind about Kai, but only in that very blurry, ‘I wonder where he’ll end up’ way. “No, I haven’t. Not at all.”
“You can’t fool me, Miss Winters. But fine, keep your secrets.”
“How’re things there?”
“Fine. Fine.”
“Oh no, what now? I know your fine does not mean fine. It means the exact opposite of fine.”
Amory groaned. “You’re the only one who can pick that up in my voice. It’s quite a nuisance. I didn’t want to tell you, because seriously it’s just ridiculous. Have you had any calls, any requests for interviews?”
“You’re the only one with my new number.” When I left the agency, I’d had to hand in my phone like a naughty schoolgirl.
“Ah, of course. Well, yesterday your lovely face popped up on page two of the Gazette.”
I frowned. “And?” They’d already found photos of me, and – I noted – always the ones where my hair was out-of-control curly or I wore some unflattering expression.
“I know it’s probably innocent, but you’re all over the groom!”
I gasped. “Did they Photoshop it? I haven’t even…” Oh, God! “When I broke the news to him, his lip started to wobble – so I reached out to hug him! I was only comforting him! Who would’ve taken a photo of that precise moment? The vultures!”
“I know, and then they sold it. Surprised it’s taken this long to make the papers, to be honest.”
“Oh, Amory, this is a disaster! No one will ever trust me to host their weddings, even in deep, dark Evergreen.”
She let out a long sigh. “I know. Maybe keep a low profile with your marketing for now. Don’t go shouting about yourself, stick to advertising just about Cedarwood… but maybe keep your name out of it.”
“I cannot believe this. I’d give anything to turn back time.” I couldn’t even see a way to spin the story in my favor. As the saying went, any publicity is good publicity… but even for a wedding planner in the arms of someone else’s fiancé? Somehow I didn’t think so.
“Don’t be blue,” Amory said, sensing my discomfort. “Sometimes I wish I could pack up and come and stay with you. I could hike or do Pilates in the stream at quarter to ten or something.”
A giggle escaped me, picturing her doing just that. “You’d never make it up the bluff in those heels.”
She laughed. “True, and I think I’d tumble forward if I wore flats. My body is used to be being artificially propped up six inches.”
“I miss you.”
“Don’t go getting all soppy on me, my mascara isn’t waterproof.”
“Time for those eyelash extensions.”
“I’ll Snapchat you later.”
“I love it when you talk tech.”
“That’s if you even get Wi-Fi out there in them hills.” She adopted a hillbilly accent.
“I’ll start my dial-up as soon as the homing pigeon brings your message.”
She laughed uproariously. “Now, about the party, what theme are you going for?”
I sank back into the