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Her heart rate calmed as the road curved inland, and the coastline became a pinpoint in her rearview mirror. She could do this, she really could. Just two days and she’d be on a plane back to New York. Back in the concrete jungle and far away from the Pacific coast.
It was late afternoon when she pulled off the highway and onto the small road leading toward Angel Sands. To her left were the familiar hills, which led to her hometown. The abandoned brick buildings of Fort Bradley stood proudly at the top, guarding the town like an old soldier. On the other side – in contrast – were the shiny glass towers of Newton Pharmaceuticals. Caitie knew those towers well. Her father had worked there for most of his life, before he retired. Newton Pharmaceuticals was the biggest employer in Angel Sands, and half of her graduating year had gone on to work there.
Her parents – Deenie and Wallace – lived in a sprawling bungalow a half mile inland from the bay. Caitie steered the car onto the blacktop driveway, turning off the engine when she came to a stop. Letting her head fall against the headrest, she inhaled a final lungful of stale air, before closing her eyes, and letting the oxygen seep into her bloodstream. It wasn’t hard to imagine she was seventeen again, climbing into her mom’s old Honda to make the journey to L.A. then onward to New England, her heart full of hope at the fresh start she was about to make.
“Caitie!”
She opened her eyes to see her mom running down the steps of their Spanish bungalow. Her white hair was streaming behind, revealing her still-youthful face and broad smile. Caitie climbed out of the car and ran toward her, letting her mother wrap her in her warm, strong arms.
Deenie Russell wasn’t like other moms. Caitie had worked that out at a young age. A hippie at heart, and a free spirit to her soul, she’d embraced parenthood the same way she embraced everything else in her life. Coming at it from a different angle, being laid-back to the point of being horizontal. All of Caitie’s friends had been jealous of her since she had such a chilled-out mom.
Plus she ran the town’s bookstore, which was super cool when you were a kid. Caitie’s friends used to love hanging out there with her.
“How was your trip? I told you we could’ve come and picked you up. You didn’t need to rent a car.” Deenie wrapped an arm around Caitie’s waist, leading her up the steps to the bungalow.
“In that old hunk of junk?” Caitie teased, turning her head to the eighteen-year-old Toyota. “Is it even legal to drive that on the highway?”
Deenie shook her head, grinning. “It’s more reliable than the tin cans they make nowadays. I’ve never had a problem with it. Now come inside, you must be exhausted. Would you like a cup of chai tea?”
“Do you have coffee?”
Deenie shook her head. “I don’t, but I’ll pick some up in the morning. We’ve stopped drinking it. Your father’s blood pressure was way too high at his last checkup. They wanted to put him on diuretics. He told them no thank you, he can control this with diet and lifestyle. So no more caffeine for your dad.”
Caitie tried to suppress her smile. There was something ironic about a man who’d spent his life researching pharmaceuticals refusing them when faced with illness. “Is it helping?”
“Absolutely. It’s already dropped quite a bit.”
Caitie sat down on a stool behind the breakfast bar while her mom made their drinks. It all felt so strange yet familiar. She could have easily just gotten home from school and thrown her books onto the counter while her mom was asking her about her day.
“And how are things going with Lucas and Ember? Are they all ready for the party?” Caitie couldn’t help but smile. Her big brother was finally settling down. For a while they’d thought he was married to his job as a firefighter. Until he’d met Ember Kennedy, the one woman who made him think about something other than the service. Now they were engaged, and she was here for their party. Caitie couldn’t help but feel delighted for them both.
“I think so. Ember’s arranged most of it. Everybody in town is going to be there. It should be a good night.” Deenie cleared her throat. “Actually, they wanted to ask you something while you’re here.”
Caitie blinked. “Ember already asked me to be in the bridal party. I said yes.”
“She did? How lovely.” Deenie smiled. “But that’s not what I’m talking about. They want your help organizing the wedding. They’re both so out of their depth.”
“They want my help?” Caitie repeated, frowning. “But I don’t know a thing about organizing a wedding.”
“You run events. That’s the same thing, isn’t it?” Deenie pointed out, pouring out their drinks.
“I don’t plan events, Mom, I consult on them.” Caitie bit her lip. She consulted on way too many of them, in fact. She was running herself ragged. “I could probably point them in the direction of some good event planners, but unless they want a winter wonderland I’m not going to be able to help them too much.”
Caitie’s business was always the cause of interest in the Russell family. When she’d first told her parents she was going to be a Holiday Consultant, they’d been confused. Her father had asked her what she planned on doing for the other eleven months of the year.
“It’s a year-round job, Dad,” she’d told him. “It’s not just businesses and retailers, there’s the movie and TV industry, too. They all need consultants to help them plan their holiday themes. It can take months to get everything done.”
“People think about Christmas in February?” He sounded skeptical. “Isn’t that a little weird?”
“It’s normal. It’s not like you can make a movie in a month. And TV series are taped months ahead. Plus, the retail industry has long order times. I promise it’s a real thing.”
As it turned out, she was right. And her father had been the first to congratulate her when her business started to grow. She was lucky to have such supportive parents, even if she didn’t see them very often.
“I think your brother and Ember will take whatever help you can give them,” her mom said, sliding her cup of chai in front of her. “Neither of them has organized something like this before. They need you, Caitlin.”
A little voice in Caitie’s head told her to run right now. She was way too busy with her work to organize a wedding.
But he was her big brother. She couldn’t let him down.
