he figured it wouldn’t hurt to keep an eye on his younger brothers. They could get rowdy. Since Dillon had gone home with Erika, and Corey said he needed a good night’s sleep because he was getting married the next day, that left Ethan to step up and keep furniture and glassware from getting broken. Not to mention that someone had to be the designated driver.
Jackson, especially, seemed intent on having himself the wildest weekend on record. He’d been blessedly silent for the toasts at the rehearsal dinner. But at the Hitching Post, he raised one full glass after another. He toasted the picture of the almost-naked lady over the bar. And he toasted man’s freedom from apron strings and fancy weddings. He flirted shamelessly with every pretty woman in the place.
Ethan also met more than one good-looking woman that night. He flirted, too, a little. Why not?
But he didn’t have the heart to ask a pretty girl if she might like to come on home with him. Since Lizzie had been making noises about quitting, he hadn’t felt much like hooking up. Sometimes in life, even for a guy who liked women a lot, there were more important things than sex.
When the Hitching Post closed at 2:00 a.m., Ethan managed to coax his two liquored-up brothers into his SUV. They rolled down the windows and sang stupid drinking songs all the way up Thunder Mountain to the resort. It was past three when he finally got them into their rooms and down for the night.
Back at his house, everything was quiet and dark.
Lizzie would be awake within the hour, he knew, to get going on the cake. He considered waiting up for her, maybe brewing her some coffee so it would be ready when she needed it.
Maybe making peace with her …
But in the end, he only shook his head and climbed the stairs to the master suite.
There would be no peace with Lizzie. He knew that. Not while she was so set on leaving him.
Lizzie was up at four, as planned, and got right to work. She didn’t see Ethan all morning. Apparently, it had been a long night and he was sleeping in.
Or maybe he was just avoiding her after their argument yesterday.
That was fine. She had a lot to do and no spare time for worrying about smoothing things over with him.
Everything went off without a hitch. She was putting the finishing touches on the decorations at one-thirty that afternoon.
The resort manager, Grant Clifton, was kind enough to send a van and a couple of big, strong guys to Ethan’s house to pick up the wedding cake. They arrived at two. With Lizzie supervising, the guys got the cake into the van. One sat in back to protect the cake against any possible mishap during the drive. Lizzie followed them up the mountain to the resort.
She breathed a huge sigh of relief when they got the cake into the ballroom and onto the cake table without serious incident. A few of the gerbera daisies looked wobbly, though. Lizzie was carefully straightening them—each one with its stem in a tiny separate tube of water—when the bride appeared.
Erin Castro let out a cry of sheer joy. “Oh, Lizzie! I swear, it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen!” She grabbed Lizzie in a hug.
Lizzie laughed and hugged her back. “I’m so glad it’s what you wanted.”
Erin hugged her harder. “What I wanted? It’s more than that. It’s … my dream cake.”
As resort staff bustled around them, getting the ballroom ready for the reception that evening, Lizzie and Erin stood side by side, their arms around each other’s waists, and admired Lizzie’s creation. It was really quite something, each graduated tier white and smooth as driven snow, draped in fondant flowers and edible pearls, crowned with the bright-colored daisies.
“Perfect,” said Erin.
“Good.” Lizzie nodded. “My job here is done.”
Erin turned to her again. “You know what? We really need you right here in Thunder Canyon.”
“Need me? For what?”
“Corey told me all about your family’s bakery in Midland. He said you’re planning to open a new bakery there.”
“Yes, I am.”
“Well, how about opening one here instead?”
Lizzie was flattered. “I’m honestly touched that you think I’d fit in here.”
“I don’t think it. I know it.” Erin turned and took both of Lizzie’s hands. “I’m only saying, you know, just consider it, give it some thought?”
It wasn’t going to happen. But then again, Lizzie was finding she really did like this charming mountain town and the people who lived in it. Why jump straight to an unqualified no? “Sure. I’ll think about it.”
“Great—and I’ve got to get moving.” Erin grabbed Lizzie in one last hug. “Hair. Makeup. It never ends. So … six?”
“I’ll be there. I can’t wait.”
Lizzie went back to the house, which she found empty.
Still no sign of crabby Ethan, which was fine. Until she figured out how to smooth things over with him, and make him see that he had to get real and accept that she was not giving up on her lifelong dream, well, there wasn’t much point in dealing with him anyway.
They would only end up getting into another argument.
She went to work cleaning up the kitchen. And when that was done, she took a long, lazy bath. She put a lot of straightening gel in her hair, blew it dry and took a long time with the flat iron. It turned out great, falling in soft waves to her shoulders, smoother and sleeker than she’d dared to hope. She also lingered over her makeup, getting it just right.
Her dress was a vivid royal blue, sleeveless, with a V-neck and a swingy hemline. She had gorgeous dressy blue sandals with very high heels to go with it and some fabulous chandelier earrings with cobalt-blue stones.
Lizzie was a realist. She was no great beauty and she knew it; her nose was too big, her jaw a bit too strong. Her maman had been petite and lovely. Lizzie, though, took after her tall, broad-shouldered dad.
“Stand up straight, ma chère,” her maman always used to say. “Be proud. There is no beauty like that of a tall, proud woman.”
Lizzie had always tried to take her mother’s advice to heart. Tonight, in five-inch heels, she would tower over a good portion of the men at the reception. So be it.
When she checked herself out in the full-length mirror on the back of her bathroom door, she felt totally satisfied with what she saw. She twirled in a circle and loved the way the hem of her blue dress swung out around her.
Yeah, she would definitely do. With a last wink at her own image, she hustled into the bedroom to grab her blue satin clutch.
The light tap came at her door just as she was about to open it. Her heart rate accelerated at the sound.
Sheesh. No reason to get all breathless and fluttery just because Ethan had decided to be
