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“Katie,” he said, facing forward. “I think I liked you better with curly hair.”
He revved the bike knowing that was a lie. He liked Katie Summers just the way she was and always had.
Chapter 6
KATIE WIGGLED HER freshly painted toes. The pink paint sparkled in the sunlight. She had a mountain of paperwork waiting for her, but Georgia had called and suggested that they meet at the nail salon to talk while Nate was at preschool. Liam’s little sister might have shifted roles from former soldier working as a live-in nanny to fiancée, but she had no intention of finding a new caregiver for the three-year-old. Katie had to admire her friend’s steadfast dedication to a child who’d lost his parents.
The back door to Ariel’s Salon slammed. Katie spotted Georgia slowly making her way to the backyard nail drying area, a glass of lemon water in one hand and a notebook in the other. She claimed a seat on the bench beside Katie, facing the stunning view of the distant mountains.
“You know, this place is pretty,” Katie said. “I bet Ariel would let us have your bachelorette party here. We could bring in the champagne, have some girl time.”
Georgia shook her head, her brown hair falling into her face. “After touring through the vineyards, I’ve decided I want something more daring.”
“We’re not doing anything that involves jumping out of a plane.” Katie knew her friend had returned home from Afghanistan with a burning desire to live her life to the fullest, but Georgia had calmed down since she had fallen in love with Eric—or at least she’d stopped her wild, risky stunts.
“Eric said the same thing. But there is a difference between skydiving and wine tasting. I went online and made a list.” Georgia opened her notebook and withdrew a sheet of paper.
Katie scanned the five potential party venues. “A country bar with a mechanical bull? Is there one in town?”
“Not in Independence Falls. But there must be one nearby. I also added nightclub to the list. Number two. Eric’s afraid it will be too crowded for me. I’m still having a hard time with large groups of people. But I’d love to go dancing again.”
Hearing the wistful note in Georgia’s voice, Katie made a mental note to incl
ude dancing in their plans. “We don’t have to go to a nightclub for that.”
“True,” Georgia said. “And we might have to knock clubbing off the list unless we can find one that allows dogs.”
Katie looked up from the paper. “Why are we bringing a dog with us?”
“It wouldn’t be much of a party with just you and me. And I don’t have a lot of girlfriends left in Independence Falls. So I invited Lena. She’s in my veterans’ therapy group, the one that gets together each week in Portland. She is the only other woman who is about our age. I don’t know her well, but I get the sense she’s been struggling to reconnect with her friends. Recently Lena received a service dog trained to help with her PTSD. Wherever Lena goes, the dog goes.”
Katie nodded. This was Georgia’s party. If she wanted to bring dogs, they would find a way to make it possible.
“I’m eliminating the sleepover at Eric’s beachfront condo,” Katie said. “It will be too cold in a few months to go to the coast and swim in the ocean, even in wetsuits.”
“Which brings us back to dancing all night or numbers four and five,” Georgia said.
Katie tried to picture their merry group—one former soldier recently returned from the Middle East, a second woman with PTSD, a service dog, and herself—at a nightclub. That plan had disaster written all over it.
“First, we need to expand the guest list. I’ll come up with a few names. Add some friends from high school who are still in town.”
Georgia nodded. “OK.”
“And I’ll look into four and five,” Katie promised, scanning the list. “Wait, what is a boudoir photo shoot?”
Georgia’s eyes lit up. “I read about this online. They recommended using a hotel suite, but I thought maybe we could add our own twist. Rent a cabin in the woods by the lake and do the photo shoot there.”
Katie heard the word “cabin” and thought of Liam, whispering in her ear the things he wanted to do to her. How could he infuriate her and turn her on at the same time? It didn’t seem fair. But when it came to Liam Trulane, fair wasn’t part of the picture.
“The photographer comes to our selected location,” Georgia continued. “He said we can wear as much or as little as we want, and afterward we each have a collection of intimate pictures to share with whomever we want.”
“I think your fiancé might have some objections,” Katie said. “Starting with the fact the person taking the pictures is a he.”
“Eric might love the final product.” Georgia studied her toes. “We could do the girls’ getaway at the cabin without the photographer, I guess. But this sounded fun and different. A twist to the traditional hiking and camping routine.”
“I’ll look into it.” But talking about cabins—and thinking of Liam—she knew she had to tell Georgia about last night.
“I had dinner with your brother.”
