Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Nate’s phone woke him from a deep sleep.
He’d tossed and turned all night and had finally drifted off just as dawn was breaking.
He’d been having a weird dream about weddings, and somehow his ringtone was taking the place of church bells.
He fumbled around for his phone and answered the call just before it went to voicemail.
“Nate. Did I wake you up? I’m so sorry. Shall I call back?” It was Liz, and she was firing questions at him. What time was it? Why was she calling?
“Uh, yeah. No problem, I’m awake.” Nate did his best to sound coherent and halfway intelligent. It was Friday morning, and Liz never called like this, so it must be about something important. “Are you okay? Can I help you with something?”
“You’re not going to believe this,” she began, “but Jason sprained his ankle this morning. We’re on our way to the clinic to get it X-rayed now.
” Barely stopping for breath, Liz continued, “Zach and Yuriko are coming in this morning to have one of our last meetings before the wedding. Their schedules are so tight I can’t ask to reschedule.
I was hoping, since you already made such a good impression on Zach, that you could look after them until I get there. ”
Nate was fully awake now. “Sure, no problem. I know he wants to talk about the technical side of things, so I can take care of that first.”
“Perfect, that’s what I was thinking. Maybe you could show them around and keep them busy until we’re finished at the clinic. I should be there by elevenish at the latest.”
“I’m on it. Don’t worry. We’ll see you later.”
As Nate got ready for work, he thought about all the things he needed to do today, including calling his brother to get last-minute instructions about his wedding this weekend.
He’d been so busy this week, he hadn’t had time to even think about it—except, of course, when he was daydreaming about spending more time with Tamara.
Then there was his to-do list for the Married in Malibu wedding, which now included meeting Zach and his fiancée and managing their questions about its progress.
And underneath everything were his growing feelings for Tamara. No wonder he hadn’t slept well.
Before driving in, he checked his messages and saw a short email from Zach. The message was exactly the way someone like Zach would have done it, asking if it would be okay to drop by to discuss wedding details. Oh, yeah. It would be more than okay!
Nate found himself feeling very grateful for the box of coffee beans he had in the trunk of his car.
Thanks to Tamara, those carefully curated and blended coffee beans were already in his care.
He’d be able to surprise Zach and Yuriko and let them sample the coffee this morning. He was eager to try it himself.
Married in Malibu was surprisingly quiet when he arrived, and there were only a couple of cars in the parking lot, one of which was Meg’s. In the wake of Kate’s party, everyone must be taking their time, and, of course, Liz was at the medical clinic. He hoped Jason’s sprain was nothing serious.
Travis was also already working. Nate told him that Liz would be late, explaining about Jason’s ankle, and asked him to let everyone know that she’d be in around eleven a.m. He also asked Travis to keep an eye out for Zach and Yuriko, who would be arriving soon.
Nate went up to his office with the box of coffee and got to work on the wedding files for Zach. A short time later, he looked out the window and saw a Tesla sports car pulling into parking lot. Nate went down to meet them just as Travis called to say Zach and Yuriko had arrived.
Zach looked much the way he had on the video call, but in person, he seemed smaller somehow, and more personable.
“Nate,” he said, offering a hand. “It’s good to see you. May I introduce my lovely fiancée, Yuriko?” The woman beside him was simply stunning, dark-haired and slender. She and Zach made a perfect couple.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Nate said, trying to think of what Liz would do at this point. “You must be getting excited about the wedding.”
Looking around Married in Malibu’s grounds with obvious delight, Yuriko smiled.
“I’m getting very excited, and it will be so nice to have our families here.
I’m sure you’re all doing a wonderful job.
Zach has assured me that you’re the best, and what I’ve seen of Married in Malibu online is definitely impressive.
I just wish I’d had time to come over before now. ”
Nate gave her what he hoped was a sympathetic nod.
“Before we get started,” he said, “Liz has had a bit of an emergency this morning, but she should be here in less than an hour. If you are okay with this, I thought you might like to have a tour of the property and meet some of the people who are working on your wedding.”
“We’re not going to start with the uplink?” Zach asked with a smile.
His fiancée laughed. “Zach, I’m sure Nate will show you all the coding you want in a little while. For now, can we at least start by exploring the grounds and talking about dresses and cakes?”
Nate smiled. “We can begin with the gardens, which are really beautiful right now, and then we’ll head into some of the workshops.”
It was a perfect way to start because Nate was a little nervous about taking Liz’s place, and it gave him some time before he showed Zach how the technical aspects of the wedding would work.
It wasn’t so much that Nate lacked confidence in his code.
It was just… Well, it was a little like having Jimi Hendrix critique your guitar playing.
There was no one alive who could get through that without some nerves.
Nate took the happy couple the long way around the property, introducing them to the rest of Married in Malibu’s staff.
It did a lot to steady his nerves, because it was obvious that Yuriko loved everything they were doing.
And because Yuriko was happy, Zach was happy.
Anne’s dress designs were finished, and as Meg talked them through it, Nate could see the way Yuriko leaned in, paying attention to every detail.
The wedding hall was being transformed from a blank canvas to an elegant backdrop that combined elements of the couple’s two cultures. The effect was seamless.
Next, they went down into the kitchen to go over the details for the food and the wedding cake.
As usual, Jenn had baked samples of cakes and pastries, using all of their favorite flavors, which included green tea and lemon meringue.
The couple filled up on them, guessing at the flavors in each, then laughing at each other’s guesses when they turned out to be wrong.
“Pistachio?” Zach said. “How could you think that was pistachio?”
“I’m not the one who thought vanilla was cucumber.”
Zach and Yuriko seemed to complement each other perfectly.
It was like they’d been friends forever, but it was also more than that.
Nate would never have mistaken them for just friends; he would have known instantly how important they were to each other even if no one had told him. And their chemistry was palpable.
From Jenn’s kitchen, they went to see Daniel, who took some preliminary shots both to finalize the lighting and to give Amy visual references to work from.
While Daniel was posing the happy couple and making final adjustments, Nate stepped out and called his brother to check the final details for the San Diego wedding.
As he made a few notes, his brother sounded totally happy and excited.
But then, with his family, weddings were always happy occasions.
It was the divorces that were the problem.
Looking at Zach and Yuriko, he was reminded that not everyone had a bumpy road in terms of matrimony.
It was possible to have a happy life with someone you loved and to have a marriage that stretched into decades.
Even the details of his brother’s wedding showed him how smoothly these things could come together.
“Okay,” Zach said once the photos were done. “I think it’s time to look at some code. And maybe… have some coffee?”
It was a question rather than a demand. He obviously didn’t know if their coffee request had been fulfilled, so Nate was pleased to tell them he’d be serving up the special new blend.
The mention of coffee actually had a kind of calming effect on Nate, because he knew it was one thing that was absolutely ready to go.
He suggested they head up to his office. “You can look through what I have so far for the interface between the stream and the patch, and I can make the coffee.”
“Sounds perfect,” Zach said.
“The coffee certainly does,” Yuriko agreed.
So, as Nate made drip coffee, one of his computing heroes sat at his desk and went through his solutions for the interface with a fine-tooth comb. Every so often, Zach paused at a line of code, checking the specifications against his phone.
Nate made as little noise as he could while he prepared the coffee. When it was ready, he placed the carafe and cream and sugar on a tray and took it to his office. He handed a cup to Yuriko and then set one beside Zach.
Ignoring his coffee, Zach looked at Nate. “This is good,” he said, referring to the computer screen. “No, it’s more than that, it’s elegant.”
Could there be higher praise than that, coming from someone Nate had admired as long as he’d been in the computer business? Anyone could write code that worked, but writing elegant code was far more difficult.
“Are you sure you don’t want a job coding for one of my startups?” Zach asked. “We could definitely use you.”
“He seems pretty happy here, Zach,” Yuriko said, saving Nate from having to answer the question. The truth was that he was happy. He wasn’t ready to give up working at Married in Malibu right now. Especially when it kept him so close to Tamara.