Tess in Boots (11 page)

CHAPTER 11

“Wake up, Tessy.”
Jake placed a hand on my shoulder and jostled me awake.

I opened one eye and squinted against the morning sunlight that filled the room.
“What do you want?”

“
Wake up. I need you down at the barn in thirty minutes. It’s important.”

I rolled
over and pulled the pillow over my head, but Jake yanked it away and tossed it aside. Then, he tugged the covers off me and threw them to the floor.

“
Hey!”

He snapped his fingers. “
Let’s go. And put on something nice. This is a business meeting.”

Almost thirty minutes later, I
shuffled along the path leading down to the barn. I wanted to kick myself for not getting to sleep sooner the night before, but between worrying about Jake and wondering why Logan hadn’t called yet, it had been a long night.

Is Jake in some sort of trouble?

The look on Sara’s face haunted me. I couldn’t get it out of my mind. Something was wrong with Jake. But what? Where were those super twin instincts I was supposed to have? I’d spent most of the night imagining one awful scenario after another. I couldn’t even escape from worrying about him in my sleep. Every time I dozed off, I would have the same dream: Jake, drowning in a rushing river, and me, clinging to a rock amidst the rapids and trying to reach my hand out to him.

My only reprieve was the time I spent fretting over Logan. I even went so far as to get out of bed and check online to make sure his flight landed on time the previous evening. It had. So where was he? Why hadn’t he gotten in touch with me yet? This wasn’t part of the plan.
I remembered Thatcher’s question. How long
was
I going to wait? It was a full two weeks since we last spoke. We’d had our share of disagreements before, but this was new territory for us. Logan and I had never gone
this
long without speaking to one another. Maybe I should give in and call him, but if I did, what would I say? Did he even want to hear from me? After our last conversation, I wasn’t sure.

Part of me was ready to throw in the towel and go home. And yet, what would I be going home to? If Jake needed me here, and I mean really needed me, then maybe I
should
stay a little longer, to buy myself some time to figure out my life.

But what to do about Thatcher? I managed to go all day yesterday without seeing him, but I couldn’t avoid him forever. And I couldn’t shake the feeling that I didn’t
want
to avoid him. My mind reeled as I reached the barn and noticed an unfamiliar car parked near the entrance.

“
Oh, great,” I muttered under my breath and smoothed a hand over my hair. Who could it be at this hour? Jake said something about a business meeting. What did he have up his sleeve?

I walked through the open door and was greeted by a smiling Jake.
“Ah, here she is. Right on time.” He came over to me and put an arm around my shoulder, guiding me to the center of the room until I was within arm’s reach of a beautiful woman. She seemed around my age, maybe a bit older. Her hair was in a neat bun, and she wore a pencil skirt and a crisp pinstriped blouse. She looked like she stepped right out of an office building and made a wrong turn to end up here.

“
Vivian, this is our onsite wedding planner, Tess Dougherty,” Jake said. “Tess, this is Vivian Wallace.”

Wedding planner?
I tried to give Jake a look, but he wouldn’t catch my eye.

“
Hello, Tess. Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice.” She held out her manicured hand, and I hesitated a moment before shaking it.

“
Vivian wants to book the place for a wedding on the thirtieth,” Jake said.

“
The thirtieth?” I fished around in my brain to come up with today’s date. “As in two weeks from today?”

Jake beamed at me.
“Uh-huh. I already told her we can fit her in, because we happened to have a last-minute cancellation.” He gave me a look, as if to say,
don’t blow this.

“
You did?”

“
Uh-huh.”

“
Oh.” I turned to Vivian and plastered on a smile almost as big as Jake’s. “Of course.”

“
And if there’s anyone who can pull off a last minute affair like this one, it’s our Tess.” Jake patted me hard on the back. “Best in the business.”

“
Hardly,” I said.

“
She’s being modest.” He put one arm around me, pulled me in close, and tousled my hair with his other hand.

I wiggled free and swatted Jake’s hand away.
“If you don’t mind me asking, Vivian, how did you find the place?”

Jake broke in before she had a chance to respond. “
She drove by the other day and saw the sign. So she pulled in and we got to talking. I told her she should meet with you though, seeing as how you’re the wedding planner. And here we are.”

“
Yes. Here we are. Well…” I trailed off, unsure of where to take the conversation next.

“
I thought you and Vivian could schedule a meeting for later today to start working on the details,” said Jake. I gave him a grateful smile. Typical Jake. He always knew what to say in situations like this. Whenever we got in trouble as kids, Jake was the one who did the talking.

I nodded. “
Of course. Right. I guess we’ll have to get started right away. Are you free this afternoon?”

“
That’s perfect,” said Vivian. “What time?”

“
You tell me. You’re the bride.”

“
Actually, she’s not the bride,” Jake said.

I turned to Vivian.
“You’re not?”

“
I’m a personal assistant,” she said.

“
Oh. Do you want to check with the bride, then?”

She shook her head. “
That won’t be necessary. I’ll be acting as a liaison. I’ve been told to spare no expense and to keep a very low profile. I hope you’ll understand if I tell you that discretion is of utmost importance.”

“
We understand,” said Jake. He lowered his voice a little. “We’ve dealt with celebrity weddings before. Carl’s Creek is a popular choice because it’s so remote.”

We’ve dealt with celebrity weddings before?
I guess he wasn’t lying, if watching the Royal Wedding together via phone conference counted. And Jake hadn’t even wanted to do that. I called him and forced him to turn it on.

“So, Vivian
…” I clasped my hands together in an attempt to collect myself. “How about four o’clock then? We can meet back here, if that’s all right with you.”

“
Yes. That’s perfect. See you then, Tess.” Vivian readjusted her purse and turned toward the door to leave. “And thank you very much, Jake.”

He lifted his hand in a salute. “
My pleasure. If you need anything at all, don’t hesitate to let me know. You’re in good hands with Tess.”

She nodded, and then turned and walked out to her car. We kept big fake grins on our faces as she pulled away with a couple perky honks of the horn.

When she was out of sight, I turned and punched Jake in the arm. “What the heck was that?”

He laughed.
“I told you I needed you.”

“
You blindsided me! Why didn’t you tell me she was coming?”

“
Because I wasn’t sure she’d even show. And this wedding thing is your baby. I didn’t want to get your hopes up or have you all in a tizzy if it turned out to be nothing. The whole situation seems a little weird, don’t you think?”

“
It’s not
that
weird. You hear about this sort of thing all the time. Celebrity couples showing up unannounced to some middle-of-nowhere place to get married before the paparazzi can find them. It’s kind of romantic.”

“
If you say so.”

“
Do you think they’re famous?”

He shrugged.
“You’d at least have to be pretty well-off to have a personal assistant.”

“
Well, yeah.” I put a hand on his shoulder. “Jake, this could be good for the vineyard.”

“
I know. So, will you stay?”

I sighed.
“I shouldn’t. But you know me. I’m a sucker for a wedding.”

He patted me on the back.
“You are, indeed. Well, you’ve got a lot of work to do then, huh?”

“
You can say that again.” I watched as he shuffled behind the bar and stooped down to rummage through the cabinets. “Jake?”

“
Yeah, Tessy?”

“
Is everything… all right? Are
you
all right?”

He popped up, both hands resting on the bar.
“Yeah. I’m great.”

“
Are you sure?”

“
Sure I’m sure.”

I studied his face, trying to search his expression for something more. But there was nothing to be found.
“Okay. But if you’re not, and you need to talk about anything, I’m here.”

“
I’m
fine
.” He flashed me a confident smile. “Even better now that you’re staying.”

“
Just know I’m here for you, Jake.”

“
I know, Tessy. You always are.”

***

Back at the cottage, I checked my phone first thing and my heart soared. A new text message. When I opened it up, I saw it was from Annie.
Call me when you get a sec.
I felt a little deflated. Still no Logan.

I dialed Annie’s number
, and she picked it up on the third ring.

“
Hey,” she whispered into the phone.

“
Are you at work?” I stood at the French doors and looked over the trees to the mountains on the horizon.

“
I am. Hang on.” There was a rustling sound on the other end of the line. “Okay, I’m outside now.”

“
If this is a bad time—”

“
No. It’s fine. I can talk for a second.”

“
Well, good. How are things? I’ve missed you.”

“
Look, Tess. I have to tell you something. It’s something I don’t want to tell you. But you’re my best friend. So I’m going to tell you.”

“Tell me what?”

She took a long breath. “I saw Logan last night.”

A wave of relief crashed over me.
Logan! She saw him.
But in the next instant, my relief was replaced by anxiety. Questions popped into my mind faster than I could ask them.

“
You did? What did he say? How did he look? Did he mention me at all?”

“
He didn’t see me.”

I paced around the cottage.
“What do you mean? I thought you said you saw him.”

“
I did. Tess, he was with someone.”

I froze.
All of the air left my lungs with a whoosh. Tears welled up in my eyes.

“
Are you there?”

“
I’m here.” My voice shook. “Do you think it was someone from work?”

“
I didn’t go up to him or anything. But… it didn’t seem like a business meeting to me. He was having a drink with some girl. They were talking and leaning in all close. They looked… familiar. I saw her kiss him on the cheek once. I didn’t see anything else.”

“
Was she pretty?”

“
Tess…”

“
Answer the question, Annie!”

“
Well, yeah. I guess she was pretty. But she’s no you.”

I let the tears spill over and fall onto my cheeks.

“Tess? Are you there?”

“
Yeah.”

“
I’m so sorry. It could be nothing. But still… it didn’t look like nothing. I felt like I should tell you. Do you want me to come down there this weekend? We could hang out.”

“
No.” My voice cracked, and I cleared my throat. “No, I’m fine. We’ve booked a wedding. I’m swamped for the next couple weeks.”

“
I shouldn’t have said anything…”

“
No! Annie, you did the right thing. Thank you.”

“
I hate this for you.”

“
I know. But you still did the right thing. You’re a good friend.”

There was a commotion on her end of the line.
“Listen, I gotta run. Call me tonight if you need to talk.”

“Yeah
. Bye.”