Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Preston
“Okay,” I said to the puppy as I stepped back from the makeshift bed I’d made him under the front desk. “You can hang out here while I’m working, okay?”
Dutifully, Summit pounced onto the flannel blanket I’d set up for him and immediately spun in circles before flopping down and looking at me expectantly.
“You’re a cutie.” I laughed and pulled a piece of beef jerky from my pocket.
I’d picked up a bag of kibble from the grocery store the night before, but I still needed to find time to stop by Mountain Mutts, the local pet store, to grab proper supplies. I didn’t know much about dogs, but I was pretty sure beef jerky wasn’t a suitable treat.
“Thanks, brother. I am feeling pretty cute today.”
My head shot up to see Brody, his laptop in his arms, laughing at me. At the sound of his voice, Summit burst out from behind the counter and ran to Brody, where he immediately started to nip at his jeans, looking for attention.
So much for lying down quietly while I worked.
“He’s going to be a shop dog, huh?” Brody crouched down to let the puppy lick his face and greet him properly. “That could get interesting.”
It sure would. I didn’t know the first thing about having a puppy. Let alone one in the shop. But Summit was here to stay. After less than twenty-four hours with him, I’d already grown pretty attached to the fluff ball.
“It’ll work out,” I said. “Besides, you know I don’t plan on being in the shop much anymore.”
Brody rolled his eyes. “Don’t I know it.”
A few years back, when Brody had approached me about the idea of going into business to open Peak to Path, an outdoor shop that specialized in mountain bikes in the summer and ski equipment in the winter, I’d been a little wary.
Not because it wasn’t a good idea. It was. Trickle Creek desperately needed a shop to serve locals and the growing number of tourists with all their adventure equipment needs. I was nervous because I didn’t have any experience in running a business, and I wasn’t convinced I’d be any good at it.
But I did have a sizeable savings account, and we’d worked out a deal that meant I’d mostly be a silent partner in the shop, so I’d agreed. It turned out to be an excellent decision, almost exclusively thanks to Brody, who knew exactly what he was doing. And even when he didn’t, he figured it out.
My involvement was mostly in the back shop, tuning up bikes and skis, stocking inventory, doing other grunt work, and filling in for the front-end staff during shoulder season when things got temporarily quieter in town, and our seasonal staff moved on.
“Is there anything pressing you need me to take care of today, brother?” I asked Brody as he extracted himself from puppy kisses and got up off the floor. “Or do you just need a body up front?”
“I need a body until at least three,” he said. “But if you can start tagging the clearance ski equipment and moving it to the far side, we can start bringing the bikes out and gearing up for the summer season.”
“I think we can handle that, can’t we, Summit?”
The puppy wagged his tail, happy to be included.
Brody rolled his eyes. “Try to keep your assistant from chewing on the inventory, okay?”
“I make no promises.”
“I’ll be in the back working on the books.” Brody gave Summit one last pat. “If he’s getting in the way too badly, send him back to hang with me.”
Jess
I didn’t even recognize myself when Kat Carlson spun me around, and I faced myself in the salon mirror.
My hand moved as if on its own accord and gingerly patted the elaborate twist of curls she’d magically worked my curly auburn hair into. “How did you…what did you…” I looked over my shoulder at her beaming face. “I swear, you’re a magician. Is this all really my own hair?”
“Of course it is. Your hair is amazing.” Kat tucked a piece into a bobby pin and brushed an imaginary strand off my face before once more stepping back and assessing her handiwork.
“Do you like it? Seriously? You have to be honest with me because if you were thinking of something else, or had a different vision at all, it’s important you let me know.
This is the most important day of your life. ”
Most important day of your life.
Her words reverberated in my skull. I swallowed hard and nodded. “It’s perfect. I honestly didn’t have any vision for what it would look like. I just wanted it to look bridal.”
“Well, you’ve definitely achieved that.” My friend Lauren’s reflection appeared in the mirror. “You look freakin’ amazing, Jess.”
“You really do.” Kat nodded. “And I’m not just saying that because I did it.” She laughed at herself and spun my chair around. Kat and I had grown up together, and she was one of my oldest friends in Trickle Creek. Lucky for me, she was also an amazing hairstylist.
“What about your makeup?” Lauren asked, giving me a once-over. “Not that you’re not gorgeous without it,” she added quickly. “Because you are.”
“But wedding makeup is different,” Kat agreed. “I can help you out, but you know who’s really good at it?”
“That would be me.” We all spun to see Noa, Kat’s sister-in-law-to-be, burst through the door of Strands, Kat’s hair salon. “And lucky for you, Jess, I love a blank canvas.”
We all laughed, and Lauren moved to pour more prosecco in our glasses. I hadn’t been sure about even bothering with a hair and makeup trial, but now that I was surrounded by my friends, I was glad I’d let them talk me into it. It was nice to spend time together.
Noa pulled up a little table and started to unpack her supplies. “Your skin is so perfect, Jess. I really don’t think we’ll need much,” she said as she smeared something she said was a primer on my face. “And we definitely don’t want to cover those gorgeous freckles.”
I offered her a genuine smile. It had taken me a long time to accept my freckly face. It didn’t help that some of the boys growing up—okay, one boy—had given me an annoying nickname.
But just as I’d come to love my curly hair, I also loved my freckles. They were all a part of me.
“I think we should focus on the eyes,” Noa said. “Just enough to make them pop in the photos.”
“Pop?”
“You definitely need to pop,” Kat agreed. “It might seem like too much up close, but in the photos, it will be perfect. Who is doing your photos?”
My brain immediately started to spiral as I tried to remember the notebook with details and prices scribbled in it. “I don’t even know if I’ve booked a photographer yet,” I confessed. “It’s on my list.”
Noa froze, brush in hand, her mouth open. “You haven’t booked one yet?” She spoke slowly, pausing on every word.
I shook my head. “I don’t think so, but maybe Trevor’s organized something. He has all sorts of contacts from the city, and if I’m being honest, there are a lot of details he’s taken care of. He has a bit of a vision, I think.”
“That’s sweet,” Kat said with a dreamy smile. “I don’t think Andy would know the first thing about planning a wedding. It’s super cute that Trevor wants to be so involved.”
I bit my bottom lip. I didn’t want to burst Kat’s illusion that my fiancé was sweet or cute. And it’s not that he wasn’t. But Trevor’s involvement in the wedding had a whole lot less to do with our day being perfect for the two of us and a whole lot more to do with how it all looked.
It was a familiar thought I’d been having more and more over the last few weeks, as everything got closer and what was supposed to be a small, intimate ceremony got bigger and bigger. Last time I’d checked, I didn’t even recognize most of the names on the guest list.
Trevor assured me they were important contacts and investors who would be insulted if they didn’t get invited. I couldn’t shake the feeling that what was supposed to be the most special day of my life was nothing more than a business arrangement to him.
I shook my head and reached for my mimosa as I rejoined the conversation, and immediately wished I hadn’t. The girls were all talking about caterers, flower arrangements, and cake flavors. All the things that were usually so exciting when it came to planning a wedding.
Only, instead of feeling excited, the only thing I could feel was my anxiety growing. I tried to focus on my friends as Noa expertly applied layers of makeup on my face.
“What kind of cake did you decide on?”
“Oh…I think we’ll just go with vanilla.” It was a guess, because Trevor and I hadn’t discussed flavors at all.
Judging by the odd look Kat and Noa exchanged, I couldn’t help but think I guessed wrong.
“And flowers?” Lauren asked. “I assume Charli is doing them?”
I nodded, confident in that much. Of course, Charli, Kat’s sister, was doing our flowers. The owner of Alpenglow Flowers, no one did a better job than Charli. “I haven’t met with her yet, but—”
“Do you have pictures of what you want?”
I stared at Lauren. Was I supposed to have pictures?
“I’ll take that as a no.” My friend laughed. “What about centerpieces?”
I shook my head in response.
“Favors?” Kat asked hopefully.
“Do people still do that?”
She shrugged.
“Seating arrangements?”
“Music?”
I squeezed my eyes shut and blew out a breath, trying not to let my friends’ questions incite a full-blown panic attack. After all, this kind of thing was normal, right?
Preston
Two hours later, I did end up sending Summit back to hang out with Brody.
Not because the puppy had been getting in the way, but because I figured my brother could use the company.
I appreciated that he handled the shitty business tasks for the shop, and if a cute little fur ball made that task a little bit easier, I’d gladly lend him out.
Besides, it gave me a chance to print out the flyers I’d been working on for the Teens in the Trails group. I’d started up the group a few months earlier, when the Search and Rescue team started noticing more and more young people getting in trouble in the out-of-bounds areas of the ski hill.