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“And even if that doesn’t work out, there’s a rumor that one of those places that just opened up the street might not make it. Dad knows the building owner, so we might be able to go into one of those spaces, but it would be much better to own a space than rent.”
We talked about the bakery and the wedding and had a delicious brunch.
“I almost want to stay and see the wedding people come in, but I think it would be a little weird,” Linley said as we finished up.
“Yeah, too bad. I mean, they have all these other guests here too, so they wouldn’t even know,” I said.
That made her smile.
“I don’t mind if you want to stay. I’ll just get some coffee and sit out on the porch,” Gray said. He was so chill about everything. No whining if he had to wait or go shopping with Linley. If he got tired, he just found a corner and read a book, or just hung out until she was done.
“I’ll stay,” I said. I didn’t have anything else to do that day, and it sounded kind of fun.
“Deal. Let’s get another round of coffee then.” Linley and I ordered coffee refills and went out on the back porch to watch the wedding reception mayhem.
“This could be its on reality show,” Linley said as we sipped our coffee and watched people run around.
Alivia was nowhere to be seen, but I had no doubt that she’d make an appearance at some point. She was in charge of it all. The captain of the ship. She needed a hat.
The smell of the food from the kitchen was overwhelming, and even though I’d just eaten, I could definitely go for whatever they were making.
“You know Em and Natalie crashed a wedding on their first date,” I said. “They ran away when someone noticed them, but still.”
“Oh, that’s funny. I don’t think I’d mind a wedding crasher. The chances of it happening here are pretty high, and I don’t think I’m really going to be paying attention to wedding crashers. I’m planning to be totally tipsy and totally happy,” she said.
“It’s going to be an amazing day,” I said.
“It will be,” she said, setting her cup down with a sigh.
We didn’t have to wait long for people in semi-formal attire to start arriving. It was easy to tell the wedding guests apart from the regular vacationers at the hotel.
They walked right by us, down the steps to the lawn, and toward the tent. Servers were already there with drinks and hors d'oeuvres while everyone waited for the wedding party to get their pictures taken and be ready to eat.
Music started to play through speakers on either side of the dance floor.
The wedding party, including the bride and groom, didn’t come for another half hour, and the bride seemed frazzled, worrying about getting the right pictures.
“I hope I’m not going to end up stressed,” Linley said. “I mean, I’m going to do my best not to freak out about things that don’t matter.”
“You won’t,” I said, patting her on the arm. “If you start to get stressed, just look for me or Alivia or Paige.”
Speaking of Alivia, there she was, facilitating the bride and the groom and the wedding party and the photographer and everyone else. She walked with an air of authority and it was sexy as hell. Seeing her command this entire circus was…such a turn on.
She made things happen. When she spoke, people listened and then rushed to carry out her commands.
I’d seen shades of that commanding presence when we’d been together that night, but other moments she’d been so soft.
The many facets of Alivia Ackerman.
The bride and groom posed for what seemed like five thousand pictures, and it wasn’t until another half hour passed that they finally made their grand entrance, announced by the DJ. There were coordinated dances.
“Yeah, I’m not doing that,” Linley said.
Once the speeches started, we decided we were bored, so went to find Gray. He was out on the front porch, asleep in one of the chairs.
“You’re too young for this,” Linley said after we’d woken him up.
“I can’t help it. The chair was so comfortable,” he said, looking sheepish.
“You’re giving me dad energy right now,” Linley said. “And I can’t decide if I’m into it or not.” She gave him a sidelong glance and I could tell that she was definitely into it.
“Okay, then, let’s go,” I said loudly.
Linley and Gray remembered that I was there and we went and got back in the car.
