Loe raamatut: «Back To The Lake Breeze Hotel»

CHAPTER ONE

IF ALICE BIRMINGHAM could have custom-ordered weather, she would have requested exactly what she saw. Blue sky, temperature in the mid-seventies zone of perfection, a tiny breeze off the lake.

Planning an outdoor wedding at the end of August in Michigan was tempting fate because of late summer storms, but this ceremony was going to be all right. Alice brushed back a long strand of red hair and relaxed her shoulders.

“Are all the weddings you plan this perfect?” June Hamilton whispered, pausing to stand with Alice well behind the last row of seated guests. “I hope no one will mind if I stop and watch.”

Alice smiled. “You own one third of Starlight Point. I don’t think anyone is going to complain.”

White chairs gleamed in neat rows on the boardwalk. A flowered arch stretched gracefully over the heads of the groom, in a black tuxedo, and the bride, in an airy white gown. The top layer of organza on the bride’s skirt caught the breeze and floated for a moment. “I should have had you plan mine and Mel’s.”

Alice laughed softly and whispered, “You’ve been married several years, right?”

June nodded. “Almost three. And I still think his annoying habits are cute. Of course, I knew all his habits long before we got married because we met when I was four.”

“That’s a long engagement.”

“More like a long estrangement between meeting and getting married, but Starlight Point brought us back together.”

Growing up in nearby Bayside, Alice was well aware of the amusement park’s reputation for thrills of all kinds. With roller coasters piercing the sky, Lake Huron lapping at three sides of the peninsula, and good food and fun all summer long, Starlight Point was where everyone went to have a good time.

“You missed the best part,” Alice whispered to June as they stood side by side in the August sunshine. “The moment when the bride and groom first see each other and the groom looks as if he’s been hit by lightning.”

“In a good way, right?”

“Yes, if the wedding is meant to be. Now that overseeing weddings is in my job description, I’ve developed a system for determining if the marriages will last.”

June laughed quietly. “I know you’re organized, but doing a spreadsheet on the couple’s chances makes you sound like a bookie.”

“No spreadsheets, just anecdotal observation. A thunderstruck look on the groom’s face says a lot.”

“The silly, slack-muscled look of love,” June said. “We used to call that wonder-eyes when I was younger and worked here for the summer. All those summer romances...”

Alice knew many local kids who’d worked here for the summer and met friends and future spouses. She’d worked as a midway sweeper the summer she was seventeen. With a short broom and dustpan, she’d walked a dozen miles every day. It was tough on her feet and even worse for her fair skin, but she’d fallen in love with the amusement park.

Starlight Point had only changed a little in the past eight years. The Sea Devil ride and last year’s double coaster were new additions, but there’d been some losses, too.

She remembered seeing June’s father, Ford, walking the midway and greeting guests during her summer sweeping. The owner of Starlight Point had passed away about five years ago, a summer Alice would never forget for her own reasons.

“I love weddings,” June whispered to Alice as they watched the exchange of vows and rings from a distance. “All that sparkle, fancy dresses, dancing and cake.”

“It’s intoxicating,” Alice agreed. “But don’t you wonder what they think the next day when they wake up?”

“I hope they eat leftover wedding cake in bed,” June said. She sighed. “People should get married on this beach every day.”

“As your events planner, that would be totally fine with me. We could recruit engaged couples from all over Michigan and fly them in to get married right here for one substantial fee. I could write it up for the website—white sand beach, historic hotel, on-site wedding cake baker.”

“Augusta would love that,” June said, referring to her sister-in-law. Gus ran three bakeries at Starlight Point, serving up cookies and doughnuts to park patrons, and a flagship bakery in downtown Bayside that turned out gorgeous wedding cakes. “Not that she needs any more business.”

Alice did the mental math. She had already scheduled a wedding for almost every weekend through New Year’s Eve. It wasn’t what she’d signed on for when she landed the job of special events coordinator at Starlight Point, but if she had to embrace all the emotional and financial entanglements of weddings to keep her dream job, she’d keep her opinions to herself.

Mostly.

“And they walk down the aisle and boom, married perfection,” Alice whispered as the bride and groom kissed to the sound of applause and the five-piece orchestra burst into a wedding exit march.

“You have to love this,” June said.

“When I see the revenue coming in, I do. But now it’s showtime part two with the custom-ordered dream reception coming up. Have you seen the decorations in the rotunda?”

“No,” June said, “but judging from the gleam in your eye, I’m probably going to want to get divorced just so I can get married again.”

Alice chuckled. “I wouldn’t advise throwing away a good man when you’ve got one, but come with me anyway and see the lobby.”

They turned and headed for the historic Lake Breeze Hotel, perched right on the beach. In only moments, they walked through the wide glass doors.

Alice hadn’t been exaggerating about the dream reception. As they entered a fairyland, their heels clicked against the elegant wood floors in the six-story-tall rotunda. Shimmering tulle hung in strips from the central chandelier, and tables overflowing with candles and flowers circled the room. The bride had chosen pink with gold accents for her colors. The large circular room smelled of roses and lilies and glimmered with glass, candles, china and silverware.

Alice breathed in the effect. Too bad it was temporary. Weddings always went too fast, especially compared with the months of planning and preparation. And a wedding reception in the lobby of a working hotel had to be finite. Without a separate conference facility or hall, a reception snarled the hotel traffic. Alice’s staff had one hour to move in all the carefully prepared decorations. The afternoon dessert and champagne reception would last two hours—just enough time for toasts, pictures, cutting the four-tiered cake and dancing the traditional first dances.

After that, everything would go into storage and families with beach bags and sand between their toes would again traipse through the lobby on their way to the elevators. As a thank-you to hotel guests inconvenienced by the reception, Alice made sure any fresh flowers that were left when the event ended were made into bouquets and delivered to rooms with couples celebrating anniversaries or honeymoons. She even had waiters deliver elegant plated pieces of cake to guests waiting to check in at the front desk.

Alice knew how little things could add up, and big events were just a lot of little things packed into one small section of time and space. One mistake could screw up the whole thing. It was one of the many ways weddings, she thought, differed from marriages.

“I’m definitely divorcing Mel and starting over,” June said.

“Didn’t you have a beautiful wedding the first time?”

June smiled. “We did. It was a Christmas wedding in the ballroom. Red roses and evergreens, a six-tiered cake and a live band. I spent a lot of time teaching Mel to dance before the reception.”

Alice imagined those lessons were more fun than work, but she certainly admired June’s spirit of perfection. Weddings should be perfect, right down to the dance steps.

“But he’s still not as good a dancer as you, I’d bet.”

“After seven seasons on Broadway, I’m tough competition.”

The small orchestra that had played for the ceremony on the boardwalk came in and took their seats on the edge of the rotunda. They tuned their instruments and straightened sheet music on their stands.

In the two years Alice had coordinated special events for Starlight Point, she’d developed relationships with many local industry professionals. She was becoming a regular at the bridal shop that did expert and quick alterations. She had her own seat at the counter in Augusta’s downtown bakery where she could flip through a huge portfolio of wedding cakes. Alice knew all the members of the string quintet and had four Bayside ministers on speed dial.

Alice straightened the silverware on the cake table. “Do you regret giving up the stage and coming home?”

June shook her head. “Only a tiny bit once in a while. I gained so much more than I gave up. How about you? You still live at home with your parents. Do you regret never leaving Bayside?”

“No,” Alice said. She tugged a wrinkle out of a crisp white tablecloth. “Definitely, no.”

There were things she regretted, but location wasn’t one of them. Starlight Point was her dream job, bringing back happy memories of a time in her life when she thought she had it all figured out.

“Have you met our new public relations guy? He just started yesterday, and he’s got lots of experience with updating websites, photography and networking. He’s a local who just came back to the area,” June said. “Maybe you know each other.”

“I haven’t met him yet,” Alice said as she checked the time on her phone and switched it into camera mode.

“He’s supposed to come take pictures for the website, but if he doesn’t hurry he’ll miss the big entrance,” June said. “He already missed the wedding itself.”

Alice wanted to ask more about him and talk to June about how her department and his might work together, but time was tight. She walked to the glass lobby door and peered out. “They’re headed this way.”

She nodded to the leader of the orchestra and held up two fingers to signal he had two minutes before striking up a lively entrance piece. She and June faded to the edge of the room to wait for the bridal couple to sweep in with their family and friends. She was ready with her camera to capture the moment the bride saw the rotunda’s decorations. In a word, it was perfection.

* * *

“I LIKE THE way you’re jumping right into work,” Jack Hamilton told Nate as he dropped him off at the Lake Breeze Hotel. “I’m glad I finally talked my sisters into hiring someone to sell us year-round.”

“You make it sound cheap when you put it like that,” Nate said. “But thanks. I’m going to make sure there isn’t a person in Michigan or the entire Midwest who doesn’t know about the Starlight Point brand and want to be here on their next fifteen vacations.”

“You better get to the wedding on time,” Jack said.

“I wish I had that new camera I ordered yesterday.”

“First day on the job and you’re already spending money?”

“Wait until you see your new website. I promise it’ll be worth it.”

“Talk to my sister Evie about that,” Jack said. “The queen of the accounts.”

Nate got out of Jack’s car, shut the door and waved to his boss. He’d admired Jack from a distance throughout high school. And he wasn’t the only one. Everyone in Bayside knew the Hamiltons—the owners of the amusement park that put the whole area on the map and provided jobs for any local teenager willing to work.

When Nate had realized he’d have to come home to Bayside, he knew Starlight Point was the best and only place he could use his public relations experience.

As he dashed through the entrance of the hotel, he slid his hand into the pocket of his suit jacket to keep his smartphone from flying out. Cell phone pictures weren’t the best, but his first project for the coming week was to add some life to Starlight Point’s utilitarian website, so he couldn’t wait for the wedding photographer’s images.

The special events page needed pictures to go with the list of packages available. He glanced around the rotunda as he entered from the back of the hotel. This couple had gone all out. And he knew from studying the wedding packages available that it was just as expensive as it looked.

Whatever makes people happy. He was in the business of making things look good, and whether or not this bride and groom made it to their first anniversary was none of his concern. For today, it was perfection, and the company website would reflect that image like sunshine off a glass window.

He got ready with his cell phone, focusing on the door where everyone seemed to be waiting for the bride and groom to make a splashy entrance. June Hamilton was talking with an auburn-haired woman whose back was to him. She must be the wedding planner. Good. He needed to make friends fast if he wanted to impress the Hamiltons and make them glad they’d created a new position.

Realizing they had a better vantage point for viewing the arriving couple, Nate approached June and the other woman. He stepped behind them and said, “Hello, June. I’m glad I made it in time to get a picture. Wow, this place is—”

The red-haired woman turned around and his words disappeared. He sucked in a breath.

Alice Birmingham.

He dropped his phone and the glass screen cracked into an expensive spiderweb. While bending to pick it up, he completely missed the grand entrance of the couple and straightened in time to see Alice looking at the picture on her phone with a satisfied smile.

June leaned over to look at Alice’s phone. “You got a good one,” she commented. “Hi, Nate. I’m sure Alice will share it with you. She’s just as invested in special events here as you are.”

Alice stared at Nate and raised her eyebrow. It was only a slight consolation to notice her flushed cheeks. Was she as shocked as he was?

“Sorry,” June said. “I should introduce you two. Alice Birmingham, I’d like you to meet Nate Graham. You’ll be working together a lot now that Starlight Point is going big on PR and special events.”

Nate extended his hand automatically and tried to play it cool in front of his new employer. He always played it cool, just as expected from a public relations expert.

While they shook hands, Nate was aware of June’s interested stare. The Hamiltons were all smart, perceptive people, and it wouldn’t be easy to fake a cordial relationship with Alice for long. Why, in the midst of a full-blown wedding and on his second day of a job he needed did Alice have to walk back into his life? He’d been prepared to see people from his past when he came home to Bayside. In most cases, it would be a welcome benefit to returning home so he could be the son his dad needed right now. But Alice?

“Have you two met before?” June asked.

“Yes,” Alice said.

“No,” Nate said at the same time.

June crossed her arms and glanced from one to the other. “Okay, so maybe.”

“Bayside is a small town,” Alice said.

Nate couldn’t help noticing that five years had hardly changed Alice. She still had cream-colored skin and auburn hair that waved away from her face. Petite and slender, she looked as if she could be twenty, not the twenty-seven he knew her to be. Despite her delicate beauty, there was steel underneath. He’d learned that the hard way.

“When I stopped by the wedding,” June said, “I was on my way to wardrobe. I’m checking on the costumes for the fall festival. I hope our head seamstress, Gloria, is still talking to me after all I’ve asked her to do. Maybe I can meet with both of you on Monday to talk about fall festival details.” June wrinkled her nose and tilted her head. “Even if you two only maybe know each other.”

Nate nodded and Alice did the same.

“Those weekends are coming up fast and we have a lot to discuss,” June added. She stayed a moment more as if she had something else to say, but then she turned and left the rotunda. Nate was relieved to see her go, but his nerves still trembled, his pulse on high alert.

The orchestra played “Pachelbel’s Canon in D” as the bride and groom made a sweep of the room arm in arm, greeting their guests. Everything smelled like flowers and cake, but Nate felt nothing but sick misery. Each wedding he’d attended over the past five years, as his friends had gotten married one by one, had helped toughen his defenses when it came to weddings, but he still worked to shape his expression into PR neutral.

Alice pointed toward the cracked phone in his hand. “That’s not a great beginning.”

“You’re not exactly in a position to lecture me about beginnings.”

“I’m not lecturing you,” Alice said. “June wasn’t kidding when she said we’d be working together. My office is right across the hall from yours.”

“You’re not serious.”

Alice looked away and then returned her gaze to him. She bit her lip. “I’m serious about a lot of things.”

“But not marriage.”

“Weddings are my business now. It goes with the special events territory at Starlight Point.”

Nate laughed heartlessly, but there was so much chatter and music echoing in the room that only Alice would hear it. “Oh, the irony.”

Her cheeks colored deeper, and Nate felt a tiny stab of guilt for being so harsh. Not to mention the fact that harassing a beautiful woman at a fairy-tale wedding would not look good for him or Starlight Point.

“It’s not as ironic as you think,” she protested. “I guess you could consider it a way to atone for what—”

“For what you did,” he said bitterly.

Alice shook her head. “For what I didn’t do.”

Nate wished he was anywhere else. He’d often wondered what he would say if he ever saw Alice again. There was no worse time and place for this reunion than the present. He should shut his mouth and leave if he wanted to keep his emotions together and keep his job. He’d be no good to himself or his dad if he got fired on his second day working for Starlight Point.

He just had to ask one question.

“Have you ever wondered what would have happened if you hadn’t walked out on our wedding?”

Alice’s shoulders dropped and she looked at the floor. “Every day for the last five years.”

Without another word, Nate spun and retreated through the lobby, walking as fast as he could without running and making a spectacle of himself.