LITMIR.BIZ

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but still, so much hung in the balance. I couldn’t get Ned to sign off on the chapel if he was adamant it needed more work. And with the brides arriving the next morning, it made it almost impossible to forget.

      Soft moonlight shone through the kitchen window. The lodge at nighttime was a beautiful thing, with only the hoot of owls punctuating the quiet.

      “Let’s focus on what we need to do and hope Kai comes through for us. Yeah?”

      For once Amory didn’t joke, didn’t try and lighten the mood. She always understood me so well, sometimes better than I did myself. And she knew the only way to stop stressing about it was to think of the brides, and making their time at Cedarwood magical.

      “OK,” I said. “Georges is well prepped for their arrival. Canapés first, followed by a festive lunch. The champagne is cooling, though we’ll have to make room in one of the big fridges for the bouquets. The florist will be here by eight, and will decorate the table centerpieces, the chapel, and the suites.”

      Hope shone in her eyes. “Can you imagine how delicious this place will smell? Georges’s amazing cooking and an abundance of bouquets?”

      Splashes of color everywhere would brighten up the lodge, and make it so much more feminine. “It’ll be beautiful. Micah’s just setting up the stage for the orchestra now.”

      Amory took out her phone, and flicked open her notes section. We spent the next couple of hours making sure we hadn’t forgotten any detail, no matter how small.

      “I’m going to call it a night,” I said, rubbing my belly, full after far too many cups of cocoa and a midnight snack of warm mince pies that we’d pulled out of the oven on Georges’s instruction.

      “I’ll tidy this up, and I might head to bed too,” she said. “Though I’m kind of wired… the usual pre-event insomnia, no doubt.”

      I gave her a big bear hug, grateful from my head to my toes she was here with me. “Thank you for everything, Amory. There’s no way I could have done any of this without you.”

      She hugged me back hard and said, “As if, darling. You’re a star and you know it. I could live here for ever and not miss New York, you know, so please don’t kick me out any time soon. When you left, Manhattan lost its shine. I love working with you. We make a good team.”

      “The dream team. Stay for ever, Amory.” She was a city girl through and through, and I’d thought, despite what she said, that her time here would be short-lived, while she worked through her feelings for Cruz. Hope bloomed that she might stay for good, but then guilt tapped me on the shoulder that it would come at the detriment to her relationship if so.

      Trudging upstairs, I washed up, and did an Amory, throwing my clothes to the floor, and falling into bed in an exhausted heap. Just when I thought I’d nod off, Amory’s voice rang out sharp in the silence. What now?

      The front door banged shut, and her voice carried up the stairwell. Who was she arguing with? A man’s voice drifted up, quieter, trying to calm her down.

      Curiosity got the better of me, so I grabbed my robe and went to investigate.

      I stopped at the top of the stairs and peeked down. Cruz!

      “You don’t get it,” she said. “And you never will!”

      He caught her by the elbow as she tried to stomp away. “Why is expressing my love for you so wrong?”

      She huffed and crossed her arms. “Because you’re rushing things. What we had was perfect as it was, so why change it?”

      He shook his head, his eyes blazing at what she said. I was eager to hear his side of the story and crept down the first few steps.

      “Because that’s what you do when you’re in love, Amory. Jesus. You show it, you flaunt it, you go to the next stage. If you’re serious about calling it off, then I understand and I’ll walk away, but I won’t let you ruin what we have because you’re scared of commitment. Why can’t I tell everyone I love you?”

      She huffed. “Why is it anyone’s business but ours?”

      He narrowed his eyes. “Why did you leave that night?”

      “You know why! Because I had… an eyelash malfunction.”

      “And that made you plunge down fifteen flights of stairs?” His voice was incredulous.

      “Well, I wasn’t seeing straight, obviously, and I just needed to get home and apply eyedrops. And then…”

      “And then…? That’s the bit I don’t understand,” he said, in a voice that shattered my heart. It was full of such longing, such concern, but unmistakably full of love. Whatever had been about to transpire that night back in Manhattan, it was obvious it had come from a place of love. And Cruz had given Amory ample time to think things over in the relative calm of Cedarwood.

      Even if it meant losing my best friend back to the big city, I hoped they’d work things out.

      “And then I got spooked, Cruz. You’ve changed so much in the last few months and I’m trying to come to terms with the fact that you suddenly want different things than you wanted a year ago.”

      He pursed his lips, nodding like she was right. “I guess it struck me that my life was great to anyone looking from the outside in, but I needed more. I don’t feel that same thrill about making big money – what am I, a glorified bean counter? It just doesn’t make me feel alive any more. That whole corporate world depresses me, working all hours, sacrificing living so I can have a fat bank balance I don’t have time to spend.”

      “So you want a different job?”

      “I want a different life, but more than that, I want you.”

      “But you want the whole package, right? A house in the ‘burbs with a big garden that needs constant attention, a traipse down the aisle, babies?”

      He didn’t answer for the longest time, and I held my breath, wondering what he’d say.

      “I won’t lie to you, Amory. I do want all of that. I want you to meet my family, for my mom to chatter away as I herd you into the kitchen and show you how to make llapingachos, which we’ll eat together huddled around the bench. I want to show you where I grew up, and how much my life changed when I moved away.”

      “That’s really sweet and all, but I’m not the type moms usually chatter away to, Cruz. I’m always too opinionated, too ambitious, too much for people, and I don’t want to pretend I’m the perfect Stepford type… I don’t want to pretend at all. I’m hopeless at being domesticated, and I think you’re ready for the cute bungalow, the soccer mom SUV, and top-of-the-range dental plan for your yet-to-be-conceived dark-haired beauties.”

      Cruz shook his head.

      “So, is your hesitation because you don’t think you’re enough, or because you don’t want that same kind of life? Because I’m telling you right now, domesticated or not, you are enough, you are more than enough, and my family will recognize that in a heartbeat.”

      And that, I thought, is how you make a woman feel loved.

      She mumbled something I couldn’t hear so I crept closer, stepping on a groove in the wood which sighed like an old man. Two sets of eyes turned sharply toward me. Damn it! I squinted and put my hands out, groping for a wall that wasn’t there.

      “Don’t try the old ‘I’m sleepwalking’ trick again. Get down here, you eavesdropper.” Amory clucked her tongue but I kept up with the charade for Cruz’s sake.

      “How much did you hear?” she asked.

      My hands fell to my sides and I slowly opened my eyes, making a show of squinting in the bright light, and adding a yawn or two for good measure.

      “Ahhh… how did I get out here?” I gave Amory a go-with-it stare. “Oh…

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