THE DAY EVERYTHING fell apart started like any other. Mariah woke up and checked the weather, like she did every morning. She hadn’t been this conscious of climate conditions since she’d been living on the boat.
The weather was cooperating. The fourteenth of February was going to be clear and cold without crossing the line into brutal windchill that would keep everyone indoors.
There were no emails from vendors unable to fulfill their obligations. The morning passed with phone calls and to-do items checked off her list in almost monotonous regularity. The three events: anniversary/vow renewal, engagement and proposal, all planned for and on track.
She should have known everything couldn’t go that well.
Abigail was the bearer of the first bad news. Gord had fallen and broken his hip. He was in the hospital.
Mariah was relieved that her first thought was about Gord and his health instead of how this would mess up her event. At his age, falls could trigger a slide into poor health. He’d been out throwing salt on the sidewalk to make sure no one slipped on the ice and hit an icy patch and gone down.
Gord, meet irony.
The doctors were going to operate, and every indication was that he should make a full recovery. For his age, he was fit and healthy, and he was obstinate enough to get on his feet before he was supposed to.
He would not be on his feet before the fourteenth, however.
He would not be at the church where he and Gladys made their wedding vows fifty years ago, ready to meet her at the altar to repeat them.
After they’d covered all those caring-people issues, they had to focus on the party.
“How bad is this?” Abigail wanted to know.
Mariah considered. “This was probably the least marketable of the three events. It was definitely a feel-good story, and would make Carter’s look good, but I wasn’t expecting a lot of requests for fiftieth anniversary celebrations to come this way.
“But the work your committee did, finding the members of their wedding party and some of the guests, and arranging for them to come, that was impressive. It could inspire visitors. A video could have gone viral.
“Do we know when Gord will be back on his feet? Maybe we have the party a little later?”
They’d miss the publicity kick her grandfather was providing, but they’d still have material for the website and promotion. The out-of-town guests, however, might not be able to make it to a later event.
“I’ll make some calls,” Abigail said. “Find out when Gord is back home and mobile, and if we can rebook everyone.”
Mariah thanked her. With less than a week to go before Valentine’s Day, she wasn’t sure they could cancel the food. Mariah pulled up her list for the anniversary party, ready to prepare a new list for cancellations.
It was closing in on dinnertime when her phone rang. Mariah frowned and pulled it up, expecting someone else was calling to tell her about Gord’s fall. She’d had eleven calls to let her know already. The number on display was Jaycee’s, however, so she pushed the talk button.
“Hey, Jaycee—”
The rest of her greeting was drowned out by a wail. Mariah pulled the phone away from her ear, hoping to be able to understand what Jaycee was saying if she wasn’t being deafened.
It took a few minutes. Jaycee was crying. It was hard to make out words, and for a moment Mariah wondered if Jaycee had heard the bad news about Gord and was closer to him than Mariah had realized. But it wasn’t Gord who was making her cry; it was Dave.
Dave had broken up with her.
“I’m on my way. What do you need?”
MARIAH HAD NO experience with breakups of this magnitude. Wine, ice cream and chocolate were the staples according to books and movies, so she arrived with those.
Jaycee answered the door with swollen eyes, a red nose and a voice so congested Mariah had a hard time making out what she was saying. But no words were needed to tell her that her friend was in pain.
Mariah peeled off her outerwear and followed Jaycee into the kitchen. “I brought rocky road, Snickers and pinot. What do you want first?”
Jaycee’s response was indecipherable.
Mariah chopped the Snickers bar into pieces, swirled it in with the ice cream and poured the wine into a beer mug. She brought it into the living room, where Jaycee was curled up on the couch, an empty Kleenex box on the floor with a pile of used tissues, another half-full box on the coffee table.
Mariah put the ice cream and wine on the table in front of her and sat down beside her.
“Hug?”
Jaycee nodded. Mariah wrapped her arms around her. She felt the quivering in Jaycee’s body and tightened the embrace.
“I’m so sorry. What happened?”
Jaycee’s crying renewed. Eventually, she calmed enough to speak in words that Mariah could interpret.
Last night she and Dave had practiced their dance skate. She’d been frustrated that Dave still didn’t remember the routine. She asked about the new clothes she’d told him to get for the party, and he hadn’t gotten those yet. She’d been upset, and they’d said their good-nights on tense terms.
Today Dave had called her. He said things weren’t working, and he thought they should put a halt on the wedding plans, including the engagement party.
Jaycee had asked him what exactly he meant.
They should cancel the engagement, and make sure they wanted the same things going forward.
Jaycee said if they weren’t getting married, they weren’t going backward to dating.
Dave had said if that was what she wanted...
Jaycee burst into renewed crying.
Mariah had rubbed her back, handed over more tissues and offered wine. She agreed that Dave was an idiot but also was the love of Jaycee’s life. Jaycee wavered between joining a convent and plotting his murder.
Mariah could only offer comfort and caution about shooting someone in daylight in front of witnesses, but her mind had started making new lists.
Lists to cancel another event.
She felt bad for Jaycee. She thought Jaycee and Dave were a good, strong and committed couple. She thought it might even be possible that they could work this out between them. Eventually.
But things weren’t looking good for the engagement party, and on top of the anniversary cancellation, and even the fake proposal, Mariah was looking at failure. She pushed the selfish thought to the back of her mind, but it lingered.
When Jaycee mentioned the name of Nelson in her ramblings, Mariah went on full alert.
“Nelson? What has he got to do with this?”
Jaycee snuffled into another tissue. “I don’t know. Dave just said something about him. Maybe it was just because Nelson was stood up at the altar. Maybe Nelson talked him out of this. I don’t know. I just...just...
“I just don’t know how he could do this if he loved me. His mother...she’s going to be thrilled. She never wanted us to get married.
“You’re going to New York, right, Mariah? Could I go with you? I can’t stay here, not now, not with everyone looking at me...”
Mariah wrapped her arms around Jaycee again and passed her another tissue.
“If you want, of course you can come to New York with me. But not yet. Rachel’s coming over. We need to use those thumbscrews on Dave first.”
IT HAD BEEN a bad day.
Two family pets had to be put down, and the rescue people brought in a dog they’d found. Nelson considered himself an easygoing guy, but when he saw what had been done to the dog, he was ready to put the hurt on whoever had done that to an animal.
He was grateful that this wasn’t a night for dinner with his grandmother and Mariah. Until he’d put some of the day behind him, he was in no mind-set to make polite conversation. What he needed was a long punishing run, followed by a game on TV and some whiskey.
Not a lot. He couldn’t put himself out of commission if an emergency came in, but he needed something to take the misery of the day away, and if not, at least move it to enough distance that he could sleep.
He’d had his run and dropped in front of the TV with the game and a shot glass before he bothered showering. His level of caring about that was in the negative numbers. So of course, someone pounded at his door.
He considered his options. Grandmother wouldn’t pound, and she’d come in if she felt it necessary. Dave was supposed to be busy with Jaycee. The door pounded again, and he grimaced. Must be Mariah. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to have done this time, but that was angry pounding if he’d ever heard it.
He opened the door. Yep, Mariah on the warpath.
“Come on in,” he said to her back as she stomped her way past him.
She stood, glaring at the half-empty whiskey glass.
“Are you drunk?”
“Unfortunately, no,” he said, sitting down and taking another sip. “Did we have something planned this evening? Did I miss a scheduled PDA? ʼCause I don’t remember one, and I’m not in the mood.”
She crossed her arms. “Did you talk to Dave?”
He dropped his head on the back of the couch and looked at her. She was upset, for sure, but he was in the clear. He’d done nothing but his job all day.
“No. I haven’t talked to him at all today.”
“What about yesterday?”
Nelson frowned. “He was with Jaycee yesterday. I haven’t seen him since darts night.”
“You’re saying you didn’t talk him into this.”
“Into what?” Obviously, Mariah was angry with him for something he’d done, or she thought he’d done, but he was pretty sure he was off the hook this time. And he was hurt. Weren’t they past this now?
“He broke up with Jaycee.”
“What?” Nelson jerked upright. Impossible. He knew Dave had been upset about some of the party stuff, but Nelson also knew without a shadow of a doubt that Dave loved Jaycee.
Mariah watched him, then, apparently reassured, dropped into his chair.
“Why don’t you stay?” It wasn’t polite, but he needed to process this news, and talking to Mariah was not going to help.
“I’m sorry. I thought you’d been talking...”
Nelson didn’t have patience right now. And he couldn’t believe Mariah was still so suspicious of him. He’d promised.
But she didn’t put faith in people’s promises.
“No, I haven’t been trying to talk Dave out of marrying Jaycee. I’ve been too busy putting pets to sleep and dealing with animal abuse to start with people.”
Mariah’s face fell.
“I’m sorry, Nelson, really. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions like that. It was just that Dave mentioned something about you to Jaycee when he broke up with her. I’m sorry you had a crappy day, as well. I’ll go, unless there’s something I can do?”
Nelson shook his head. “I think I’d better go see how my buddy is doing. I know he loves Jaycee, so something serious must have gone down.”
“Jaycee right now is considering putting a hit out on him, so tell him to watch his back. And I am sorry, about—”
She waved her hand in a circle, indicating the whole mess that had been today.
He shrugged. Yeah, today was just a total crap show.
DAVE DIDN’T WANT to talk.
“There’s nothing to say. You were right.”
Nelson drew in a sharp breath. Maybe he was in trouble.
“What do you mean? She figured out she was too good for you?”
Dave tried to give him a smile, but it was a poor attempt.
“No, about these big wedding events. Jaycee is so focused on this party that she’s forgotten about us. If she wanted a guy who could dance on skates, she should have gone looking for someone in the Ice Capades.
“I told her the party was getting out of hand, and we should just give it up. She threw a fit. I asked if the party was more important than us, ʼcause from what I could see, the party was driving us further apart.”
Dave picked up what looked like the latest in a line of beers. He held one up for Nelson, who shook his head. Dave shrugged and took a long swallow.
“She said that the party was a test of how we could handle things together. But this party has never been a together thing. I didn’t ask for it, and she didn’t ask me to plan it. I told her I didn’t want a party, and that maybe she needed to figure out what was most important to her.
“She said the party was for us, and if I wasn’t going to even try... I told her I’d tried, and I was done. She could have the party, or she could have me. She said she wasn’t choosing, so I told her I was.
“It’s just like you said. I thought we were solid, but Jaycee has been a different person with this party stuff. And maybe she’s right. If we can’t handle this, then maybe we can’t handle other things. Better to end it now.”
Nelson had time-traveled and was reliving his last conversation with Zoey. He’d made all the same points Jaycee had. But Nelson had been told this was normal for brides, so he’d ignored everything Zoey said.
And ended up with no bride at his wedding.
He felt guilty, as if he’d been prioritizing the wrong thing again. But he wasn’t the one focused on the party, not this time. He’d learned his lesson. Not just about parties, and about weddings, but about manipulating and forcing people into doing what he wanted. He’d been good at that.
Not anymore.
He left Dave alone, once he made sure Dave had no more beer and was going to head to bed. He didn’t try to talk him into anything. He wondered if Dave would have been as bothered by the engagement party planning and seen it as a breaking point if Nelson hadn’t talked to him about his own wedding, but he’d never know.
He stopped by his grandmother’s house, after texting Mariah that he needed to talk to her. She met him in the lounge, looking defeated for the first time since he’d met her.
That bothered him, more than he’d expected.
“I tried to talk to Dave. I don’t know if he and Jaycee can work this out, but he’s not interested in the party, and I don’t think they can figure things out in time for it anyway.”
Mariah nodded, her arms wrapped around her body.
“That’s what I thought.”
Nelson had to try to cheer her up. “You could still have the skating party. Take pictures, use it for some publicity. And you’ve got the anniversary and our proposal.”
Mariah shook her head, eyes on the ground.
“Gord fell and broke his hip. He’ll be in the hospital on the fourteenth.”
“Oh.” Not the greatest response, but Nelson wasn’t sure what else to say.
“It’s over. I’m going to tell Grandfather to cancel the press. I’ll have to talk to the committee, see if they want to try again.”
“You’re giving up?” Nelson was shocked. He didn’t think anything could stop Mariah once she was going.
“What else can I do? I told Grandfather we had a fiftieth anniversary/vow renewal, an engagement party and a marriage proposal. All happening here at Carter’s Crossing, all designed to show how romantic this place can be. Now all I have is a fake proposal. That’s not going to bring people here.”
Abigail came into the room in her robe. “You’ve heard the news, Nelson?”
“I have, and I’m sorry.” Seeing Abigail raise her eyebrow, he shook his head.
“I know, I haven’t been a big supporter. But you’re trying to save this town, and I shouldn’t have let my hang-ups get in the way.”
Despite the problems, the approving look from his grandmother was a touch of warmth.
“I should go call my grandfather now, let him know.”
Abigail looked at Mariah, her posture drooping, her voice tired.
“I’ll do that, Mariah. You go and rest. You’ve been working hard. Get a good night’s sleep, and things might look better in the morning.”
“Nice try, Abigail, but I’ll let you talk to Grandfather if you want. I can wait to hear what he has to say. And we have vendors to cancel—”
“Tomorrow,” Abigail said. “I’ve called a committee meeting tomorrow. Don’t give up just yet.”
Mariah gave Abigail a hug and nodded to Nelson as she left the room. He missed the embraces they’d shared, selling their fake dating.
That was probably over now.
It hit him then. Mariah was done. She’d be leaving. There’d be no more fake dating, no more time spent working together with Toby. No arguing, no annoying her. No kisses, no proposal. No Mariah.
It wasn’t the best time to realize that the dating had become more real than he’d understood. Not with his grandmother watching, and Mariah ready to leave town.
Abigail poured herself a glass of scotch from the liquor cabinet that lived on the far side of the room. She raised an eyebrow, and Nelson nodded.
It had been a spectacularly bad day.
Nelson wanted to make it better. He couldn’t change what had happened at work, but what about the rest of this disaster? For most of his life, he’d gone after what he wanted with a single-minded focus. Captain of the school hockey team. Valedictorian. USC. The best equine practice in the US. His drive and ambition had always been something people admired. He’d thought it was good.
Until his wedding. When he’d discovered just how much he would do to get what he wanted. How much he could hurt people he cared for, in order to get to his goal. He’d tried to justify it, to say it wasn’t just for him, but he’d had to come to terms with how selfish he’d been.
He’d reined himself in after the debacle with Zoey. Part of that was guilt, part of it a need to punish himself. He couldn’t go around spreading hurt like that.
When he started a veterinary practice in Carter’s Crossing, it had been something that was just his. That success had been his, but it hadn’t come at a cost to anyone else. He could focus all his drive into his practice without it spilling over on anyone else.
He was so bad at darts that there was no fear of going overboard there. He’d played rec hockey and baseball, but that was a team activity. And he’d always made sure to keep it on a fun level, not serious competition.
But since the wedding, since he’d decided he had to make some drastic changes and not to take things over, he’d never had anything he wanted as much as Mariah, here, fake dating him. He didn’t want that to end.
Why did he feel that way?
The answer hit him hard and fast. Because he’d never be able to convince her to make it real otherwise. He needed more time with her.
His mind went right to finding a solution—a way to keep her here, at least through the fall when her year was up. That meant salvaging at least some of the Valentine’s Day events. He could think of ways to do that. But those ways meant pushing himself into people’s lives, playing God. Things he’d sworn not to do again.
He mentally struggled. He could do it, he was sure. If he went to Dave, he could convince him that Jaycee was right, that the engagement party was a test, and that things would be better after that. Dave trusted him. He could tell him all the ways that he, Nelson, had been different from Jaycee. Nelson knew, now, that he’d been driven by ambition. He saw the wedding as part of his career plan, and for that, he’d overlooked Zoey, and how she felt.
Which meant he hadn’t felt for her what he should.
But he didn’t want to manipulate his best friend just to get what he, Nelson, wanted. He didn’t want to be that guy. Not anymore. He couldn’t do that to Dave.
But he wondered, as he thought it through, what was Jaycee’s reason for her fixation on the perfect engagement party? This party wasn’t going to help Jaycee’s career. She’d never been the kind of person who had to have the biggest and best of anything. This was costing her the man she loved. There had to be a reason.
If he could find that reason, then maybe they could still make this work. Without taking over or bending others to what he wanted. Could he? Could he put the brakes on once he started?
Nelson dropped his tumbler on the coffee table, untouched. “I’m heading out, Grandmother. Got some things to do.”
She gave him a slight smile. “You do that, then. I think it’s too late to call Gerry, so I’ll wait till morning. Unless I hear from you.”
His grandmother saw too much, but right now he had a mission.
Five minutes later he pulled up in front of Dave’s house.
He’d changed his mind about asking Jaycee what the thing was, whatever was driving her to go crazy about this party. He knew what it wasn’t, but he also realized, it wasn’t his issue, and not his relationship. Dave needed to know why she was doing it. Not have Nelson tell him.
Dave had given up the beer to physically work out his frustration, Nelson deduced as his friend finally answered the door. He was sweaty, wearing ratty shorts and a faded T-shirt. His eyes were blurry and had a tendency to wander. He looked angry at being disturbed, a frown crossing his face. Nelson had taken a note from Mariah’s book, and given the door a hard pounding, and refused to give up.
“Whatcha doin’ back here?”
Nelson shoved his way in. Dave lurched back.
“Dude. Not cool.”
“I need to tell you something.”
Dave focused his gaze on Nelson. “Now?”
“Now. I should have told you before.”
Dave stumbled into his kitchen and sat on a stool, a beer in front of him. Nelson thought he’d run out. Apparently not.
“Say it ʼn’ get out.”
Nelson’s fingers itched to put away the empty bottles and wipe the counter, but he restrained himself.
“I should have told you why I pushed Zoey so hard on the wedding.”
Dave frowned as he looked at him, but he was interested. Nelson had kept most of the details of that disaster to himself.
“Why?”
“For my career.”
Dave looked shocked. Bleary shocked. “Really? You used your wedding for that?”
Nelson nodded, feeling the shame that he should have felt three years ago.
“I know. I was selfish and stupid. But Zoey’s dad was a partner in the practice, and so many of the guests were people that I needed to impress. I wanted to be partner someday, and I was already working toward that.”
“That why you wanted to marry Zoey?”
“No. I loved her...” Had some part of him seen Zoey as a step on his career path? Just how self-centered had he been?
“I don’t know. But Jaycee—”
“Not what Jaycee is doin’.” Dave set down his beer bottle.
“I know,” Nelson said. “The party isn’t going to help her job, and it’s not helping her with you. She’s never been a diva. So why is this so important to her?”
Dave shrugged. “I dunno.”
Nelson leaned toward him. “Then you should find out.”
Dave stared at him. “Does it matter?”
“I don’t know. But it might make a difference. And you don’t want to throw away what you two have for something stupid, do you?”
Dave’s gaze shifted to his beer bottle, but he didn’t look like he saw it. Nelson waited, letting him think it through. He picked up a couple of empties and dropped them in the recycling box. Dave didn’t notice.
He sat down beside his friend again.
Dave’s lips tightened. “Yeah, I wanna know what’s more important than what we have. It better be worth it.”
Nelson relaxed. He didn’t know what Jaycee’s reason was, and he didn’t know if finding out would make a difference, but this was something they needed to work out. It was good for Dave.
It might make a difference to Mariah. If the engagement was back on, then maybe the party would be. But Nelson was stopping now. Instead of pushing through to get what he wanted, he was just pushing enough to help his friends.
“Now,” Dave said. “I wanna know now.”
Nelson narrowed his eyes. “I don’t think you’re up to driving. This isn’t something you want to do over the phone. And you might want to be sober.”
“Not waiting anymore.” Dave covered his mouth as he burped. “I need t’know. Drive me?”
Nelson saw the pain on his friend’s face. Might as well find out while he was partially numb, if this wasn’t going to work.
“You might want to put more clothes on.”
JAYCEE MET THEM at the door with red eyes and nose, and flannel pj’s that covered her from head to toe.
She shot Nelson a dirty glance. “What do you want, Dave?”
He pointed a finger, that just missed her nose. “I wanna know why.”
Nelson thought Dave had sobered up on the cold ride over. Now he wasn’t sure. He kept an eye on him.
“Why what?” She wiped a tissue across her nose.
“Why does this party have t’be perfect? Why do I have t’dance? Why can’t you think about anything else but the stupid party?”
“It’s not a stupid party!” Jaycee yelled back. “Why can’t you see that?”
“I dunno! But I can’t! Tell me, what is so important about it? We coulda just had a dinner, like Mom said.”
Jaycee shrieked. Nelson covered his ears, wondering if her neighbors’ dogs would hear that and cringe.
“Yes, your mother would have loved a dinner party with all her friends, where she could make nasty little digs all the way through the meal about how unworthy I was and how much better Nelson’s sister would have been. That’s why the party. I wanted to prove to your mother that I’m not trash. I’m just as good as the Carters.”
Nelson knew he shouldn’t be here for this, but he didn’t dare interrupt.
“This party was going to be the best engagement party Carter’s Crossing ever had, and then all her snide remarks about it would stop. All her friends were going to love my party. It was going to be so perfect...”
Jaycee started crying again. Dave, not that drunk, and not that stupid, quickly folded her in his arms.
“Oh, baby. No. Shhh, shhh. It’s okay. I’m sorry about Mom. I’ll talk to her.”
“I wanted to handle her by myself. I didn’t want to make you choose sides.” Jaycee sniffled.
“I’m on your side, babe. Always. I’ll tell Mom to back off or she’s not invited to the wedding.”
Jaycee raised tear-drenched eyes to Dave and hiccupped.
“Really?”
“Of course. I didn’t know she was doing that. I’m sorry I didn’t notice. But the truth is, you’re too good for me, and I know it.”
Jaycee drew in a shuddering breath. “I’m sorry I was so awful. I just wanted everything to be so perfect... You don’t have to dance. We don’t have to have a party. Just you. If you don’t mind if your mom—”
“I’m not marrying my mom. I’m marrying you. And we’re making our own family. If she doesn’t treat you with respect, then she’s not invited to be part of it.”
Jaycee’s chin trembled. “I love you, Dave.”
“I love you, too, Jaycee. I’m so sorry—”
“My job is over?” Nelson needed to extricate himself.
The two turned to him, having forgotten all about him.
“Thanks for the ride,” Dave said. “But I think I can take it from here.”
“You’re letting him stay, Jaycee?”
She gave Dave a wobbly smile. “Yeah, I think we have some things to talk about.”
“Enjoy your talk,” Nelson said, winking.
“Go away, Nelson,” Dave said, eyes fixed on Jaycee.