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She stared at him. “Why would you want to?”
“You need help. I’m available. I like kids.”
“Micah, that’s sweet, but you don’t want to take this on. The snack alone is complicated. It has to be kid-friendly, but no nuts and not all sugar-based. And it’s two hours. That’s a long time with fifteen eight-year-olds staring at you.”
He shrugged. “It’s just for December, right? And school gets out for the holidays, so it’s what? Three times? I can handle it.”
“But—”
“People are going to be busy,” he added, determined to convince her. Being the classroom dad would give him something to look forward to and would be a distraction. Right now, given his complete lack of talent, he needed to be distracted. “You won’t be able to find someone on short notice, so here I am, volunteering. You should say yes.”
“You’re trying to write a song.”
“Yeah, well, that’s not going well. Besides, I liked career day.”
“I guess you could play music. They’d like that.”
He wanted to ask if she would as well, but told himself going there could make things weird between them, and he liked how they were right now.
“Good. Give me the particulars and I’ll get started on my lesson plan.”
Her lips twitched as if she were trying not to smile. “It’s two hours and a snack, Micah. You’re not going to need a lesson plan.”
“I like to be prepared.”
Chapter Thirteen
Reggie stood with her mom in the lobby of the resort. Although she hadn’t been inside for over a year, she felt as if she knew every inch of the space. When she and Jake had been dating, she’d often met him here after he was done working. They would grab a drink or dinner, then head upstairs to the suite where he lived.
She took a breath and tried to figure out if she was feeling any lingering discomfort being back, but there didn’t seem to be much beyond the sense that she wasn’t really a big hotel wedding kind of person. If she were to get married—and her plan was that one day she would—she was thinking maybe a summer wedding in her parents’ backyard. Or a beach destination wedding.
She heard a familiar voice calling her name and smiled when she saw Paisley approaching.
“Right on time,” Paisley said, hugging them both, then smiling at Leigh.
“How’s our lovely bride?”
“I’m excited. This is such a beautiful hotel, and I love all the holiday decorations.”
“We do our best.”
Paisley led them down the wide hallway toward the ballrooms. There were ten-foot Christmas trees lined up on both sides. When they reached the main ballroom, even larger trees flanked the double doors.
“This is it,” Paisley said, opening one of the doors and motioning for them to go inside. “Now, don’t be concerned about how big and open the ballroom is. We’re going to be dividing it for you. One third will be seating for the ceremony, and the rest will be set up with tables and the dance floor.”
The space was large, with high ceilings. There was a huge fireplace at each end, and beautiful chandeliers hung overhead. Reggie knew there was a great sound system for the DJ to tap into.
Paisley glanced at her notes. “You wanted round tables of eight. Is that correct?”
“Yes. Eight is more intimate than ten. I want people to be able to talk to each other.”
Paisley showed them where the room would be split and then laid out a few floorplans for the tables. Leigh quickly picked the one she liked.
“I have linen samples to show you,” Paisley said, then shook her head. “Which I left in my office. I’ll be right back.”
She excused herself and hurried out of the ballroom. Reggie’s mother looked around.
“It will be so beautiful. They’re going to have poinsettias on shelving in the shape of Christmas trees all along the walls, and the centerpieces are green and silver.”
