The Mills & Boon Christmas Wishes Collection. Maisey Yates
remembered. The party!
Today!
I threw the covers to the side, and raced to the shower. There was no time to fill the claw-foot bath for a proper soak, so I quickly scrubbed myself awake, eyeing the gold faucets, the regrouted tiles, and the ornate antique mirror hanging over the vanity. As I applied makeup, my phone pinged with a message from Amory: Good luck for tonight, darling! Show them how it’s done! xxx
Her message gave me the boost I needed. I texted back: Thanks, Amory, wish you were here xxx
Ten minutes later, dried and dressed, I fluffed my un-Carrie Bradshaw curls, and took the stairs two at a time down to the lobby, almost taking out Kai, who stood at the foot, folder in hand.
“Whoa, where’s the fire?”
“FIRE?” I screeched. “Not again!” Wild-eyed with terror, I sniffed the air, only detecting the scent of Kai. Woodsy, spicy, and manly.
He grabbed my hand. “It’s just an expression… albeit a bad choice under the circumstances. I need you to breathe, to take five deep, centering breaths.” His beautiful, serene lips twitched, like he was making a joke of his own foibles.
I kept my eyes on his and pecked him on his beautiful lips. He let out a little shocked gasp and I laughed. “Breathing, schmeathing.” I was too excited to regulate anything except my caffeine intake and even that would have to wait. “Kai, let’s breathe later. We have to dress the room, and about five million other things!” I pulled him by the arm into the ballroom. Had I just kissed him, even in jest? A tingle of belated longing raced through me, but Kai was right there once again, talking to me about something.
He tried to get me to focus on his face. “Clio, I get that you’re excited. It’s a big day for the lodge. But it’s quarter past six in the morning. At least have a decent breakfast, some herbal tea, and then we can get moving. Definitely do not have any coffee. You’re already wired.”
A manic laugh escaped me. This was my favorite part of being an event planner. The day of. It’s where everything (hopefully) came together, the room alive with decorations, the champagne glasses polished to a shine and waiting patiently to be filled. Fairy lights were strung, glittering in each window… but today was even more special, more sentimental than any party I’d done before, and I only hoped Edgar and Imelda loved every second of it.
“OK, yes. No coffee, good idea.”
In the kitchen, Kai brewed a pot of tea, and I surveyed the newly installed kitchen, making sure it was spotless and ready for Georges. It was shiny and new but still I felt a twinge for the older kitchen, which was now relegated to the scrap heap.
It dawned on me how early Kai was. It was a record, even for him. “Why are you here already, Kai?”
“I wanted to go over everything, make sure it’s right, in case we need to touch up paint or anything else before the party. I’m nervous too. I don’t want anyone tripping over an uneven floorboard or brushing up against wet paint, if we retouch.”
I nodded. “Yes, good idea. One last safety check. Though I moved all the tables and chairs into the ballroom last night.”
He raised a brow. “You moved them all? By yourself?”
I laughed. My legs felt like lead today after all that heaving. I hadn’t banked on them being solid oak. “I couldn’t sleep. It was one less thing I’d have to do today. I meant to get them moved yesterday, but we ran out of time.” I flexed my bicep, which was actually more concave than convex. “All part of the job,” I said.
He shook his head. “You should have asked me, I’d have helped.”
“It’s OK. Let’s go over our list.”
An hour later, Micah and Isla found us in the ballroom, setting up the framed photos of Imelda and Edgar and their family and friends. Kai was placing them in a pattern along the walls, with temporary hooks. Their smiling faces buoyed me, as they stared from each grainy photo.
“That looks amazing,” Isla said. “I love the different sizes.” She walked up to survey the biggest photo, the one that took pride of place in the middle. “Is that their wedding day?” Imelda wore a simple shift dress and Edgar a suit with pant hems that sat just above his ankle, no doubt a borrowed suit in which he still managed to look debonair, despite its being stretched to fit over his lanky frame. It wasn’t their clothes you focused on, it was the light in their eyes. Happiness radiated from the picture – it gave me goose bumps, trying to imagine that they’d shared fifty years of wedded bliss from that day forward. Their separation in the war only made their reunion sweeter, for how lucky they must have felt when Edgar made it home alive… unlike so many of his friends.
“Yes, they were married in the chapel at Cedarwood,” I said. “See the lake in the distance?” I pointed to a patch of glittering water that was gray in the photo.
Isla’s eyes filled with tears. “They still look the same,” she said. “Sure, they’ve aged, but they’ve both still got those same smiles, like they’re sharing a secret.”
I slung an arm over her shoulder. Edgar and Imelda were firm favorites with everyone who worked here, not just for their graciousness in thanking everyone, and inviting them to their anniversary party, but because they were good, honest people, who made everyone feel like they mattered. “The secret is their love. Can you imagine knowing you’ve got someone on your side, no matter what, for the rest of your life?”
Micah stood just off to the side of Isla, and they exchanged a look, one of longing and hope. I moved away, not wanting to intrude on whatever was passing wordlessly between them. I could have been totally wrong, but I had a feeling there’d be another wedding at Cedarwood soon…
Kai sensed the moment too, and said, “Clio, could you help me in the lobby for a minute?”
Like children we dashed into the sumptuous room, and covered our mouths, giggling. Kai composed himself first. “Is there something in the water here?” he joked. “Sends everyone into a tizzy of romance?”
I nodded and said seriously, “Yes, I do a special love dance when there’s a full moon, and Gemini is rising in Taurus. Seems to be working so far.”
He shook his head and laughed. Gazing at Kai from under my lashes, my heartbeat sped up, but it was just the idea of love that caused it, the thought of having something like Imelda and Edgar. Or something like what was blossoming between Micah and Isla.
Maybe I was destined to be single? Perhaps the wedding planner who made other people’s wedding days perfect – and had the biggest dream-wedding board on Pinterest – wasn’t capable of love herself.
“I’m going to miss this place,” he said.
Kai had got the call the day before – another job awaited him in Vermont. He was leaving the day after the party. And after the Vermont job he was heading to San Francisco for a job over the Christmas period. I wanted to say so many things, to beg him to stay and help renovate the chapel and make me climb the godforsaken mountain… But I didn’t say a word, because what did we have? A friendship, and that was all. I had no claim on him and I couldn’t stop him from taking good, paying work for a whim of mine, much as I wanted to. “I wish you could stay.”
He cast his eyes to the floor. “I’ll be back one day to visit… and you won’t remember me, you’ll have so many faces passing through.”
Silence filled the space. As if I’d ever forget Kai.
“Let’s go back and hang the tulle from the ceiling,” he said eventually, his eyes not shining the way they usually did.
Micah and Isla were unpacking boxes of candles, ready to adorn each table. Isla jumped up when she saw me and inched over to the door, motioning me to follow. “I told him a few days ago,” she whispered. “You were right. About everything.”
I gave her a hug, and resisted the urge to jump up and down.