Lorri was thankful she didn’t experience any blurred vision on her way home. The EMTs were probably being overcautious, but they’d kind of scared her.
Aside from the fall and the knot on her head, the evening had been a lot of fun. She was still replaying the day’s events when she turned into the neighborhood.
She wrangled the two birdhouses out of her car and carried them to the house, setting them on the porch to unlock the front door.
The county fair had far surpassed her expectations. With the lingering smell of cotton candy and barbecue still on her, she turned the key in the lock, glad she hadn’t missed out.
“Mister? Where’s my boy?” He was like a toddler. When it was quiet, she worried what he was up to.
His heavy paws plodded against the hardwood floors with all the heft of a man’s weight.
Just as she laid her things on the table in the foyer, Mister spotted her and raced over.
“There you are.” She patted him on the head and received the expected warm welcome. “I didn’t mean to be gone so long. You wouldn’t believe the day I had. Let’s check the place out together. You didn’t destroy anything while I was away, did you?”
He looked up with wide-eyed innocence. She’d been fooled by those puppy eyes before.
She slapped her hip for him to follow along. The living room looked undisturbed. Every throw pillow was how she’d left them.
“Good boy.” She pressed her hands to the sides of his face and bent to kiss him on the forehead. “You are getting to be such a big boy.”
She took a quick look through the rest of the house and to her delight he hadn’t gotten into any trouble. Not even a stray paper towel, which he loved to snag from the kitchen counter and shred when she wasn’t looking.
“I guess my puppy is finally growing up.” She placed her hand under his chin. “I’m so proud of you. I bet you’re hungry for some dinner.”
Mister barked.
“I’ll take that as a yes. Let’s go out first. It’s been a long afternoon for you.”
She let him outside while she put her things away. She hadn’t asked Ryder what his last name was, and that had been intentional. She wasn’t looking for anyone in her life. Things were much easier and predictable without a man in the picture, and she was beginning to really treasure this new lifestyle.
But as much as she commended herself on being strong and independent and keeping the handsome man at arm’s distance, she couldn’t help but think about how much fun they’d had tonight.
When she let Mister in, he ran straight to his food dish and scarfed down his food.
She stood there watching him but thinking of Ryder. It was an interesting name. It fit him though. Unique. Strong. Serious, but fun in a way she’d never experienced before. He seemed fine with his plans for the day changing after he rescued her, just shifting gears on a whim. Something she never did. Planning was in her DNA. She excelled at it, and having plans also meant that there were routines in place. Or traditions, like Ryder had said.
Mister trotted out of the kitchen and stood by the back door again.
“Creatures of habit. Not the worst thing in the world to be.” She got up and let him out. “At least we know what to expect.”
From her desk, she hit a key on her keyboard and the computer screen brightened. Emails began loading like a waterfall in her inbox. She scanned the long list then clicked on a new assignment from her boss, Franklin. She’d once thought she wanted his job. As creative director he got first look at every project and was on point to handle the ideation process and pitches to the clients. She’d filled in for him when he and his wife had their first child last year, and that had been a blessing. Not because it was a test drive of her dream job and a chance to prove she was ready for the additional responsibility, but for the realization that the very things she loved about her work were elements she’d lose if she moved up to that next level. She’d never been happier than the day he came back from paternity leave.
Technically it was after working hours, but she had taken almost the entire afternoon instead of just a couple of hours away as she’d planned. She opened the files and printed them. Her best ideas were usually from tiny golden nuggets that came to her during the initial review, and she’d found she worked better with paper in hand and reading out loud, rather than on the computer screen.
On the couch with the stack of papers she began reviewing the details. Budget and timeline would drive a lot of the decisions, and the attached ideas from the client with pictures and links to other companies doing similar things always helped her get a feel for what might delight them. If experience had taught her anything it was that clients knew what they liked, but they didn’t know what they wanted … even when they thought they did.
In fact, most often the solutions that got approved were not the client’s idea at all. That’s why they paid her the big bucks to come up with something fabulous that would stick with the consumer and garner sales or impressions depending on the goal.
This project came with a hefty budget, which was good, because it was a tight timeline. Not impossible, but definitely tight. This looked like a project that her coworker John Pitts would usually run with, but as she continued her initial review, she could see why Franklin had given her the assignment this time. The client was the real estate developer who had built the rural sustainable community where she now lived.
True, John Pitts had done lots of similar projects, even the first two for this company, but Lorri knew she was the right person for this job, having bought her home based on the quality and craftsmanship of this company’s work. Franklin probably thought her recent experience moving out of the city might give her an interesting perspective on it.
She was known for mostly food and beverage accounts of late, so it was a nice switch-up. Her mind was already conjuring up color wheels and themes to capture the best things about this style of living.
Mister let out a single woof at the back door, his way of letting her know he was ready to come inside.
She placed the project printout on her desk. There was such great light here, and on these long summer days that was extra nice.
Mister pranced inside and over to his favorite spot next to her chair.
Sitting behind her desk, she pulled out a box of markers to start brainstorming. She jotted down a few ideas, changing colors for different types of promotions since the client was interested in both print ads and trade show materials including banners and signage.
The name of the company leant itself to some fun ideas too. Bloom. The logo was simple lettering right now, and although it was clean and legible—which often they were not—it didn’t have much first-impression power. She’d work on that first thing in the morning.
Meanwhile she let her thoughts flow, filling pages with ideas. Good ones. She was excited about the direction. The client would either adore them or hate them. She worked up a simpler version. Sometimes clients liked vanilla, so that was a good thing to have in the package. She found, however, that by showing the vanilla version after the preferred one, it only highlighted how good the other was.
It was getting late and she needed to shower off the county fair smells and get into bed. As she showered the music and playful sounds from the children at the fair filled her head. Even being talked into staying by a complete stranger after almost being run over by a fleeing steer had turned into a good chain of events. It’d definitely be a fun story to tell her kids someday. Or Pam’s kids, if Lorri never remarried.
Lorri had always been more of a traditional thinker in the parenting area, and raising a child alone wasn’t something she wanted to do. She’d given up on marriage; maybe it was time to give up on the dreams of being a mother too.
She stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a big bath towel. Her fingers grazed the huge bump on her head, causing her to wince. She brushed her teeth and changed into pajamas.
It was probably too late for ice to help now, but she went into the kitchen and grabbed a bag of veggies from her freezer. She lounged back against the pillows on the couch and pressed the cold pack to her forehead.
Her phone played the special ring tone that she only used for one person. She didn’t even open her eyes, clicking the answer button with her thumb. “Hi, Pam. I was going to call you. Everything okay?”
“Yes. I just got off the phone with Cody. Oh my gosh, you won’t believe his news!”
Lorri almost blurted out that Cody was getting married at The Wedding Ranch next month, but then she’d be telling the secret too. Ryder’s face when he admitted he’d been trying to impress her looked as surprised for saying it as she’d been hearing it.
Pam and Lorri had gone to high school with Cody, a fact Lorri hadn’t disclosed to Ryder earlier. After high school, Pam and Lorri had gone on to college together, but Cody went to Nashville to chase his dream. No matter how much stardom he achieved, he always stayed in touch. Even though Cody Tuggle was now one of the most popular country-western singers, he was still the same down-to-earth guy they knew in school. He’d been Cody Allan Hill back then. Cody Tuggle was his stage name. The one the rest of the world knew him by. He’d always be Cody Hill to her.
“How is he?” Lorri asked. “I haven’t heard from him since Christmas. He was at his mom’s ranch in Tennessee.”
“Well, it’s a small world, my friend.” The tone in Pam’s voice piqued Lorri’s curiosity. “Just the other day we were talking about The Wedding Ranch, and now guess where Cody is getting married.”
“The Wedding Ranch.” She lowered the frozen bag from her head, the smile on her face causing the swelling to pull. “You are kidding me. Please tell me he’s marrying that nice photographer he was so crazy about. The one with the little boy. She sounded like the best thing that had ever happened to him.”
“Kasey Phillips. Yep. Isn’t it great? She lives in Virginia, you know. So it’s really not that crazy that they’d get married at a venue here in North Carolina. Driving distance and all.”
“I’m so happy for him.” Lorri feigned surprise. Ryder had been telling the truth. Score for him. After her ex she had no tolerance for liars.
“Sweetest part of the deal is he plans to carve out a little time for us. I told him we could get together at your house. That’s okay, right?”
“Of course. He can even stay here. I’ve got plenty of room for you, and them.”
“They’ve got accommodations all worked out, but the wedding is a big secret. We can’t let anyone know he’ll be in town,” Pam said. “We’ll have to be really careful about that.”
“No problem. I don’t want to share the little bit of time we can get to catch up with him with anyone else anyway.” Although she might have to give Ryder a real keep-it-quiet speech now. That is if they even crossed paths between now and then.
“I know! I feel the same way,” Pam said. “There’s more good news.”
“As good as Cody finally tying the knot?”
“Better. We’re invited to the wedding.” Pam’s voice rose with excitement.
“Of course we are,” Lorri chimed in. “He couldn’t leave us out of his wedding. We’d never let him live that down.”
“I made that abundantly clear.” Her laugh held mischief and Lorri could imagine the verbal assault Pam would’ve laid on him. “Actually, I told him we’d show up in hideous gowns to embarrass him if he didn’t invite us.”
“Sad thing is we would do that.” Lorri laughed so hard she snorted. “I know exactly which bridesmaid dress I’d wear too.”
“Me too. Carmen’s. Am I right?” Pam said. “Her dress was drop-dead gorgeous. Why she put us in those frilly mountains of fluffy fabric I’ll never understand.”
“Me either, but Cody would never have been able to miss us in those big SweeTart-colored things.”
“We’d have taken up a whole row ourselves,” Pam said.
The laughter made the goose egg on her noggin throb. She pressed the veggies against her head again.
“This is going to be so much fun. We can’t bring dates, and for that I’m grateful,” Pam said. “You know how Bobby hates weddings.”
“Fine by me too. I hate being the third wheel. When’s the wedding?”
“End of August, but they’ll be in Dalton Mill the better part of the week.”
“I’m putting it on my calendar and marking off the days before and after so we can be flexible to his schedule,” Lorri said.
“I did the same thing.”
“You should spend a few days here. I’d really love it if you would,” Lorri said.
“I might do that.”
“I’ll even take time off from work.”
“Sure you will,” Pam said.
“No. Really. In fact, I took the whole afternoon off today. I went to the county fair.”
“You did not.”
“I did. I have a big old knot on my head to prove it.”
Pam stopped laughing. “What happened?”
“Apparently, one of the 4-H market steers went a little wild and I almost got run over by him.”
“What? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Someone pushed me out of the way, and the paramedics showed up and everything. I was so embarrassed, but honestly it was the best day I’ve had in a long time. We made birdhouses, ate barbecue, and I picked out a quilt I’m dying to buy at the end of the fair.”
“This someone? Would it happen to be a handsome man who rescued you?” Pam’s question was filled with hope.
“As a matter of fact, he was very handsome. His name is Ryder. Local guy. Knows everyone. It was fun.”
“I can’t believe it. You sound like you really did have a big day.”
“He won me a giant teddy bear and gave me the birdhouse he made too.”
“Better watch it. That’s probably a marriage proposal in a small town like that,” Pam joked. “But seriously, I’ve been telling you to get better work-life balance for half our lives. I’m glad you’re finally working on it.”
“I am. I also set up my painting stuff up in the loft.”
“Is this Lorri Walker?” Pam teased. “Did you hijack my workaholic best friend?”
“No. It’s me. I’m learning how to enjoy this new life I’ve got and feeling pretty darn thankful about it.”
“I promise I’m coming to see this for myself. I can’t wait.”
“Me either.” Something about this day had changed her priorities.
She hung up, feeling excited about the reunion with Cody. At least the knot on her head would be long gone by the wedding.
What am I going to wear to a celebrity wedding?