As long as they’re after school.” Hunter’s expression was hopeful. “So maybe you could think of something really cool for the book you’re writing.”
Jasper found it easier to write about something if he could actually do it himself. He’d learned to throw knives and use fighting sticks for previous books. And shoot a crossbow. Hunter had begged to be a part of the lessons, but while Jasper was willing to cross some lines, there were others that needed to stay in place.
“I will think of something cool,” he said, “but I will also run whatever it is past your mom.”
“She really did say that.”
“I believe you.” He flashed a grin. “Sort of.”
Hunter laughed and tossed Koda a piece of cookie.
“So what’s going on for the rest of your day off?”
Hunter finished his second cookie and picked up his milk. “I’m going to go over to a friend’s house.”
“You ride all the way up here?”
“I got a ride partway from a park ranger.”
Jasper thought about the pages he hadn’t written. He was behind on his book and if this morning was any indication—and so far, it was—without doing something drastic, he was never going to make forward progress on his story. Maybe he needed a change of scene and a chance to observe women in their natural habitat.
“I’m heading to town,” he said. “We can throw your bike in the back of the truck and I’ll drive you to your friend’s house.”
“Thanks.”
Thirty minutes later Jasper stood in the center of town and tried to figure out what he was supposed to do now. Walk around and watch women going about their lives? That wasn’t going to be good for anyone. He wasn’t some crazed stalker guy and would watching a random female do grocery shopping or walking her baby get him any closer to solving his problem? He honestly didn’t know where to start. Or how to start. Or what he wanted to do.
He walked over to a bench by the river and sat down. Detective Vidar needed a love interest. He didn’t want the woman to be a cop, so not anyone he worked with. Which was limiting because Vidar, like Jasper himself, didn’t have much of a social life. Dating a victim seemed tacky. Plus, most of Jasper’s killer’s victims ended up dead. So someone involved on the fringes of the crime? Or what? A neighbor? A...
He stood up. This was ridiculous. He knew women. Lots of women. All he had to do was talk to one of them. He looked around and saw the large wall that defined the boundaries of Weddings Out of the Box. Renee. He would go see Renee. Not only could they talk about his book, he would get to see her smile and that alone was worth a trip down the mountain.
“WE CAN DO an assortment of different kinds of apples to hold the place cards,” Renee said, scrolling through photos of apples on her computer. “That adds variety. However if you want consistency and to be in line with your color palette, then I would say stick with the Granny Smith apples.”
She paused and glanced at the speakerphone. There was a moment of silence, followed by the sound of breathless female laughter.
“I’ve hit a wall,” Stacey Treadway said. “I can’t make one more decision. I just can’t.”
“Someone has to,” Renee said gently. “And it’s not going to be me.”
“And I thought apples would be easy. Let’s do the Granny Smith apples for the place cards. They’ll go with the glass towers we’ll have around the space and it will look nice.”
“Done and done,” Renee said, studying her list. “Stacey, I don’t want to scare you, but I think we’re finished.”
“Really? So no more decisions?”
“Not today.”
Stacey laughed. “Let me guess. You’re not making any promises.”
“Nope. But we’re really close and your wedding is going to be beautiful. I’m very excited to see everything turn out.”
“Thanks, Renee. You’ve been so wonderful to work with.”
“You’ve been great, too. Just remember, I’m here for you. Call me if you need anything and I’ll do the same. Otherwise, we are good to go.”
“Wow. It’s getting close. I guess I’ll see you soon.”
“You will.”
They hung up. Renee wrote up the notes from their phone call, entering the information on her computer where it would automatically feed to her tablet. A happy wedding day was all about keeping track of the details.
She’d barely hit the save key when Jasper walked into her office.
He looked good, she thought as she felt a bit of tingling low in her belly. Tall and a little rugged. She hadn’t seen him since their night together and wasn’t sure what to say now. Or think. Or how to act. Unexpected nerves tightened her throat and chest and she had the strangest urge to both bolt and throw herself at him. She settled on doing neither.
“Hey,” he said as he paused by the door. “Is this an okay time?”
“It is. What’s up?”
“I was in town and I wondered if we could talk for a second.”
“About?”
He motioned to a chair in front of her desk. She nodded and he sank down, then looked at her.
“I have no idea,” he said.
“You have no idea why you’re in town or you have no idea what you want to talk about?”
“Both.”
“Okay. Do you want to take a minute and collect your thoughts?”
Instead of answering, he glanced around at her office. “You plan weddings, right?”
“I do.”
“What does that entail?”
Not the question she was expecting. She smiled. “Are you asking for yourself?”
“You know I’m not.”
“Just checking. You might have met your one true love in the last few days.”
His gaze turned knowing. “I had someone on my mind, so no. Tell me what you do?”
“When a couple decides to hold their wedding here, I help them with as much of the wedding as they want. We provide a full service venue. We can arrange catering, bar service, flowers, an officiant and anything else they might want. In addition we have the unique ability to create nearly any kind of theme wedding the happy couple is looking for.”
He
