be run over by the paraphernalia involved in all that success if he didn’t find a minion to organize his crap quick. “Tough to find office lackeys these days?”
“With both Zach and Mackenzie out of the rotation I had to promote my lackeys,” Drew grumbled.
“Raw deal. Still, no way should you still be working at seven on a Friday. We should get going. There’s a line of shots on the bar at the Loose Moose with your name on it.”
“I need another ten minutes.”
“All right. It’s your party. Guess we’ll be fashionably late.” Tavish eased his way past a stack of paddles leaning against a shelf and threw himself into the chair behind the other desk. He linked his hands behind his head and leaned back in the cushy leather seat, propping his booted feet on the corner of the desk. The seat springs complained with a metallic squawk.
The complaint from Drew was a hell of a lot more colorful. He yanked off his reading glasses and tossed them onto a stack of invoices. His eyes lit a livid blue. Put Lauren and her brother side by side and he’d barely be able to recognize them as siblings. Lauren, with her blond hair and hazel eyes, resembled their late mother. But temper-wise, the Dawson siblings shared a hair trigger.
“Quit it.” Drew spat the words out.
“What, this?” He leaned back again, eliciting one more metal-on-metal grind from his chair for emphasis. He shot his friend a cocky grin. “Invest in some WD-40. Problem solved.”
“Funny, lubricating the chairs hasn’t been a priority.” He waved a hand around the office. “We’re so short-staffed I barely have time to sleep. I need to find a replacement for Zach or else I’m going to lose it.”
“Shouldn’t you have replaced him months ago?” Drew’s assistant had been injured in a brutal ski accident during spring takedown and had been off since. Add in Tavish’s sister being almost seven months pregnant, and Drew was short two of his most experienced guides.
“I thought I’d be able to cover for him. Once Mackenzie started showing, she pretty much took over as my assistant in Zach’s stead. But he had a setback with his rehab. He won’t be back to work until well after the wedding. And without him—or someone to work in his place—Mackenzie and I won’t be able to go on our honeymoon.” Drew pressed his fingers into his temples.
“Jeez. Getting married makes you overdramatic.”
The other man glared before turning back to his computer. “You offering to step in?”
Tavish snorted.
“Then shut it. I’m just emailing a few buddies in Colorado who might be able to help me out. Then we can go.”
Him, work in Sutter Creek? Ha. Right. Tavish was about as capable of that as his father had been. Even if he didn’t have plans to hop on a plane to Alaska on Monday—which he did—there would be no way he could cover for Zach once Andrew and Mackenzie were out of town. Being in Sutter Creek had always made him itchy to leave. Adding his divorce to the mix made that nagging itch intolerable.
But I have a few weeks off after the wedding. And Drew’s in quite the bind.
Not wanting to look too closely at the strain lines on his friend’s face, he stared at the ceiling and tapped his fingers against the arms of the chair. It would be super crappy if his sister couldn’t go on her honeymoon. She’d been talking about the two-week retreat to a nearby spa resort for months. The baby was due to arrive at the end of the summer, meaning it would be a long while before Mackenzie and Drew could get away again.
Tavish couldn’t imagine holing up in Sutter Creek with a kid and a wife. When he and Lauren had married last year, it had been because she’d decided to leave Sutter Creek behind, to split time between his assignments and her volunteering internationally. He just wasn’t built to stay in one place for long.
Two weeks, though. That would be a heck of a present for Mackenzie. Better than the set of wedding portraits he’d planned on taking for her. Ignoring his conscience as it chomped a hole in his stomach lining, Tavish picked up a pencil to doodle on a piece of scrap paper. “What kind of work?”
“Supervising sites, occasional guiding. Assistant crap.”
“Maybe I could help out.” He’d have to avoid Lauren, but that wouldn’t be hard. She was married to her job at the clinic.
“Uh...you’re not the most reliable. No offense.”
Tavish bristled. Knowing he was genetically incapable of sticking around Sutter Creek for any length of time was one thing. Having his best friend confirm it was another. “No, man, I think it would work. I’ll leave Monday to hang out with the polar bears, then come back for your wedding, hit on the bridesmaids—”
“Hey! My sisters are the bridesmaids.”
“Right. Sorry. Scratch that. Still, I’ll pitch in here and be gone the minute you’re back.”
Drew didn’t need to worry about his sisters’ honor when it came to Tavish. Given Tavish’s relationship with Lauren, he’d never seen Cadence, the baby of the family, as eligible. And Lauren? Well, tried and failed there.
Seeing her today had made his brain spin, a clicking whir not unlike the ancient slide projector of his grandmother’s that he credited with getting him hooked on photography. Except instead of pictures of his mother being schlepped across the country in her family’s old woody station wagon, the images that flashed across his brain starred Lauren’s creamy skin against white hotel sheets and the lights of the Las Vegas Strip glinting off the gold band on her left hand. A gold band Drew knew nothing about. Tavish had promised to keep that secret, even though hiding something so monumental from his best friend made him feel like a pile of bear crap.
And when he’d promised secrecy to Lauren, he’d also made a promise to himself—that he’d stop thinking about his ring on that gorgeous hand that somehow knew just the right way to grip him.
More than that—she had a total grip on his heart.
Helping out Mackenzie and Drew ran the risk of having to fight those thoughts from surfacing daily. Hourly. But what kind of brother would he be if he didn’t facilitate a final kid-free trip for his sister?
“I can’t let Mackenzie give up her honeymoon. She’s already had to compromise by rushing the wedding. Thanks to your not having paid attention during tenth-grade sex-ed,” Tavish added lightly.
A crumpled-paper ball bounced off his head.
“Asshole. But you’re serious about filling in, aren’t you?” Drew asked.
He nodded, curving up one side of his mouth in his own disbelief. “It’s been a while since I’ve been able to help Mackenzie.”
“It’s been a while since you’ve been willing to help her, you mean.”
Ouch. The accusation reverberated in his chest. He rubbed at the resulting ache. “Guess I can’t argue with that.”
Drew blew out a breath. “Add on the few days you’d be here before the wedding and you’d have to be in town for over two weeks. You sure about that?”
Tavish picked up a hunk of
