A Summer of Secrets Read online

  “I do. Jason and I were friends first.”

  “And now, look at you two.”

  “Look at us.” Bree smiled.

  “You think we can really make this work? Make enough to support both of us?” Cece lazily pushed the swing with her foot, excitement of starting this new life, mixed in with exhaustion of the day and the feeling of not having everything under control.

  “Would it make you feel better if I said I got three more catering gigs for next month? Oh, and a mid-week wedding at Pine View B&B next week. A last-minute elopement with only ten people. I was going to call you and say that I told the bride you’d call her tomorrow night to firm up the details. But here you are. I don’t even have to call you.” Bree smiled.

  “That does make me feel better.”

  “It’s going to work out. You’ll see. I already have more business than I can handle alone.”

  Cece relaxed and let the peace of the evening wrap around her like her grandmother’s favorite quilt. It all was going to work out.

  It was.

  Probably.

  Chapter 5

  Cece and Bree sat at the kitchen table finishing up their coffee. Cece smothered a yawn. The stress of yesterday hadn’t quite been erased with her restless night’s sleep.

  “You look tired.” Bree looked at her.

  “A bit. I’ll perk up soon.” She looked at the old clock on the wall, a gift to her mother from her father. So many memories within these walls. She was going to have to get used to actually living here, instead of just trips here to visit family. “We should probably get going.”

  “We should.” Bree stood but then reached for her cell phone when it rang. “Hello?” A smile spread across her face. “Hey, Madeline. Wow, it’s great to hear from you.”

  Madeline, their cousin. Cece hadn’t talked to her since Madeline and her fiancé, Gil, had come to visit this past winter.

  “You want to get married here? That’s wonderful!” Bree’s eyes lit up. “We have the perfect venue for you. They’re putting up a new building at the lodge—a chalet.” Bree winked at her. “It’s going to be great.”

  Cece watched as a frown then crossed Bree’s face as she listened to Madeline.

  “I could see if we can make that happen. I’m not quite sure if the chalet will be all finished by then. That’s a week or so before we have our first wedding scheduled there.”

  Bree paced as she listened to Madeline. “Okay, let me see what I can do. Are you okay with having it outside or maybe in the main room of the lodge if the venue isn’t finished?”

  Cece watched as Bree listened and paced some more.

  “Okay, let me see what I can do. I’ll talk to Nora at the lodge and call you back. Oh, and hey, lucky for you, Cece is doing the wedding planning for the lodge so she can help you out. She’s actually moved back here to Sweet River Falls.”

  Bree smiled. “Okay, I’ll tell her. Talk to you soon.”

  Bree turned to her. “Maddy says hi, and good decision to move here. You know how she loves this area. Remember when she and her parents would come to visit us at the cabin when we were younger?”

  “Yep, those were good times.” Cece rose and grabbed her coffee cup. “So she wants to get married here?”

  “Yes, this summer. I’m going to talk to Nora and see if we can squeeze them in. Madeline said it won’t be too large. Family and some friends. So if the building isn’t finished, they’re happy to have it outside or in the great room at the lodge.”

  “Let’s head over and talk to Nora.” Cece set her cup in the sink. “Want to walk? It’s a beautiful morning.”

  “Let’s.”

  The girls walked out into the sunshine and up the ridge between their cabin and the lodge. They paused at the top and looked out over the lake. “It’s so peaceful up here.” Cece sighed.

  “It is. I just love this place and everything about it. The town, the lake…”

  “And Jason.” Cece grinned.

  “That, too.”

  They headed down the far side of the ridge and entered the lodge. Nora looked up from the reception desk as they entered the lodge. “Good morning.” Nora motioned them over. “Cece, what are you doing here on a Tuesday morning?”

  “Let’s just say that my company didn’t take my turning in my notice very well. They let me go.” Cece shrugged.

  “Their loss, our gain.” Nora paused and cocked her head to one side.

  “So, since you’re here. I was wondering… could I hire you to order the furniture and fixtures for the new building? I have a guy ordering the tech stuff like the sound system, but I need help with the rest. I loved what you did to sparkle up our outside setup for weddings. You think you could work your magic on our inside setup? Something simple but tasteful and stylish for the weddings?”

  “I’d love to.” This was great. She’d feel like she was pulling her weight with the business. Bringing in new money, not just helping Bree out.

  “We have other news,” Bree added.

  “What’s that?”

  “Our cousin Madeline called. Do you remember her and her fiancé, Gil? They were here this winter and stayed at the lodge.”

  “I do. Lovely girl.”

  “Well, they want to get married here. This summer. I think Gil finally insisted they should really pick a date. I said I’d look into seeing if we could squeeze them in as our first wedding in the chalet.

  Nora grinned. “So the Chalet at the Lodge is really growing on you.”

  Bree nodded. “I do like it.”

  “I do too. I think you have officially named it.” Nora looked thoughtful. “We should get Jason to add the official name to the website.”

  “And it would be so nice if the first one was Maddy’s.”

  “That’s fine with me. Did you check the online schedule?”

  “I did. You’re free the weekend before our first scheduled wedding at the new building.”

  “Well, we’d have to check with Zach. He hasn’t said anything about being behind schedule. And we padded the first wedding by a couple of weeks after he said he’d be finished. But, Cece, you’d have to really get started on ordering for the inside.”

  “I can do that. It would be so wonderful for Maddy to have her wedding there.”

  “Why don’t you go and look over the building? You can talk to Zach. He’ll tell you where he’s planned the wiring for lights and whatever else you need. And Jason will hook you up with some of our suppliers and you can price out what we’ll need.” Nora paused and turned to greet some guests who walked up to the desk. She turned back to Cece. “Can you ask Zach if he can manage to have it ready the week before we had planned?”

  Great, let her be the bearer of that news. “Sure thing.” She turned to Bree. “I guess we’re really doing this.” Cece grinned.

  Bree smiled. “I guess we are. I’ll call Madeline. And see how many rooms she’ll want reserved here at the lodge, too. Or if the lodge doesn’t have enough room, there’s Pine View B&B.”

  Cece nodded and headed out of the lodge. She stopped in her tracks when she realized the one tiny flaw in her newly acquired project.

  She’d have to work with Zach.

  And she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

  Zach had a full crew in today, putting on the roof to the new building. At least that part was going right. Now if the picture windows he’d ordered would come in, that would make him mighty pleased. But for some reason, his order had been canceled—and not by him. He’d talked to the supplier who swore they had no idea how it happened and he must have canceled the order himself.

  Only he hadn’t. They’d worked with him to put a rush order on the new windows, but he’d be cutting it close.

  “Hi.”

  He twirled around at the sound of her voice. He’d recognized it instantly. And that kind of bugged him. “Hi. What are you doing here?”

  “That seems to be a popular question. I turned in my notice and the
y thought it best that I leave… so here I am.”

  He frowned. “They just let you go?”

  “They did. Guess I wasn’t as valuable as I thought I was.”

  He could see a tiny smidge of hurt in her eyes. Well her former employer was a fool. Anyone could tell she was a hard worker and a good person.

  Though… he didn’t really know that, did he? He didn’t even know her. Not really. Except the soft tones of her voice and the sweet melody of her laugh had stayed with him since he’d scurried away on Sunday. Scurried. That word again. He shook his thoughts away.

  “Well, that’s too bad about your job, but since you’re going to start working with your sister, it’s not all bad, is it?”

  “No, not bad. I was just a bit shocked. I’m getting over it though.” Cece swiveled around slowly, taking in the building. “I see part of the roof is up.”

  “We’re working on it. Hope to have it under roof soon.” He glanced up to where he could still see the bright blue Colorado sky through the opening above him. With any luck it would be finished before the big spring storm they were predicting at the end of the week. Sheeting up today and shingles started tomorrow… if the shingle delivery actually came today like it was supposed to. He glanced at his watch. “Was there something you needed? I need to get back to work.”

  “Oh, and Nora wanted me to tell you that we’ve booked another wedding here a week before the first one we had scheduled. It’s my cousin’s wedding. She said you hadn’t said anything about delays and that she was sure you could have it ready by then because we’d planned a two-week buffer in for you to finish.”

  He gritted his teeth. He was already stressed about getting it ready in time. Now they’d upped his deadline. He glanced at his watch again. “Any other surprises?”

  Well, that wasn’t very subtle. He’d let her know she was taking up his valuable time. But he did have a surprise coming. “Yes, I actually came to see you—at Nora’s request.” She paused to let the words sink in.

  He quit looking at his stupid watch and paused. “What does Nora need?”

  “She’s hired me to fix the inside of the building. Pick out the fixtures. And I’ll be ordering the furniture for weddings and meetings. Chairs, tables. We’ll need some kind of arbor or something built—I’m thinking removable—that we can put in front of those big picture windows.” She looked out the large gaping hole. “Or… where the windows will be.”

  “You?” He eyed her.

  “Yes, I’m actually quite good at pulling things together decorating-wise. And Nora doesn’t have time to do it herself. I appreciate her giving me a chance on this. I’m not going to disappoint her.” Cece stood tall—well, as tall as her five foot three inches would allow. “She wants me to coordinate that with you. Well, not the furniture, but the fixtures.”

  “I see.” He did not look pleased. Not one bit.

  “So do you have time to go over where we’ll need fixtures? I’d like to do some looking around and find just the perfect ones for high up in these rafters.”

  “And you think you can get them ordered and brought here in time?” He looked at her. “We were just going to put in some track lighting along the rafters.”

  “Well, show me, and we’ll talk about it.”

  “I—” He glanced at his darn watch again. “Fine, I’ll give a brief tour so you can see what’s planned and take it from there.”

  She took out her notebook and started taking notes as he walked her around. It was clear he was proud of his handiwork. Every doorjamb was square, the window openings plumb. Everything was finished perfectly. It was obvious he was a stickler for details. Her father had given her an appreciation of fine construction and woodworking, and it was clear that Zach’s work was top-notch.

  He loosened up a bit as he led her around. He even quit looking at his watch every five seconds as he proudly showed off the details of the chalet.

  “I really love this building. It’s going to be a great addition to the lodge. You’re doing a really good job on it.”

  She almost laughed when his chest puffed out like when she complimented a young boy.

  “Thanks. I do like doing the job right.”

  “That’s the only way to do it, isn’t it?” They at least agreed on something. “I think I have enough notes now. I’m going to head back to the lodge and see if I can catch Jason.”

  “Let me know if you need anything else.” He nodded and turned away before she even could thank him.

  Okay then. Back to business. The man was all business, all the time.

  Chapter 6

  Zach fumed the rest of the afternoon and evening. It was getting dark, and he’d have to quit. He knew part of it was his own fault. He’d never let on about the delays. Jason and Nora had taken a chance on him with this project. His first solo project without his partner. He had no plans on disappointing them. He’d hire more workers or drive a darn truck into Denver himself to get the building materials. He’d finish it on time.

  Well, now he’d finish it one week early…

  He packed up his tools all the while ineffectively wishing for another couple hours of daylight.

  “Hey, Zach.”

  He turned to see Jason standing under the half-finished roofed part of the building. Not finished roof, mind you, because another worker had gone home sick. “Hey, Jason. What’s up?”

  “Just checking on the progress. Mom said we booked in another wedding a week earlier than planned. You good with that?”

  “I’m good with that.” No, he wasn’t. What he wanted was an extra month or so to finish the project, not one less week. But he wouldn’t say that.

  “Great. I’m glad the project is going so smoothly.”

  Yep, smooth as a raw, split, splintery log…

  “You finished up?”

  “For today.”

  “Come on, I’ll walk you back to the lodge. I saw your truck parked there.”

  That’s right. He’d left it there after consuming a huge breakfast at the dining hall. The last meal he’d had today. His stomach growled as if to chastise him.

  “Sure, let’s go.”

  They walked along the path by the lake, a cool breeze rippling the top of the water. Jason paused on the pathway. “I swear, this view never gets old. There really is going to be a great view from the new building.”

  “Can’t argue with you there.” He paused beside Jason, admiring the lake and the beginning of the stars, twinkling above them in the sky.

  “I really appreciate what a good job you’re doing, Zach.”

  Great, no pressure. “Thanks.”

  They continued over to the main building at the lodge and Nora came down the steps with Cece. He wasn’t amused at his immediate reaction to seeing Cece again. His pulse started to race. Which was not what it was supposed to do.

  “Hi, Zach.” Nora welcomed him.

  “Hey, Nora, Cece.”

  “You know, it’s getting late. Why don’t you and Cece have dinner here at the lodge? You can talk business. My treat.”

  “Oh, I should probably—” Cece stopped in her tracks.

  “No, I need—” He searched for an excuse.

  “Nonsense. You both have to eat. Come on inside. Jason, you joining them?”

  “I’m headed over to see Bree.”

  “Okay, it’s just Cece and Zach, then.” Nora led the way into the dining hall and Zach trudged behind.

  He loved Nora’s meals. There was nothing unusual about having a meal at the lodge.

  Why did he feel like he was walking into an ambush of his own making?

  An awkward silence fell over them after they ordered. Cece stared at her iced tea and concentrated on the melodious tinkling of the ice against the side of the glass when she stirred the drink. Not that it needed stirring. She hadn’t added any sugar to it.

  The man made her jumpy, off-center, unsure of herself. And she hated that feeling. She needed to be in control. If only she could put him on on
e of her ever-present to-do lists and sort him out like she sorted out her tasks.

  She shook her head. That didn’t even make any sense. He rattled her thoughts, too. She squeezed lemon into her tea with a bit more vigor than she intended, and it squirted on her shirt as the tangy, citrusy aroma surrounded her.

  “Why are you glaring at me?”

  “What?” She looked up at him.

  “Glaring. You keep glaring at me.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “You are. Even more than you’re glaring at your wayward lemon slice.”

  She sighed. “Well, maybe…”

  “What did I do?” He cocked his head to one side.

  “You—” Did she dare say her thoughts out loud? “I can’t figure you out.”

  “What’s to figure out? I’m a simple man.”

  As if. “No, you’re actually not. You go from being all friendly and helpful to acting like I’m a bother. The look on your face when Nora suggested we had dinner together… let’s just say it wasn’t the most excited I’ve ever seen a man get about having a meal with me.”

  He pushed back his chair and stretched out his long legs. One of them bumped against hers. She kept herself from jerking away while she watched the emotions slip across his face. Embarrassment, thoughtfulness, then a look of what? Resignation? That wasn’t much better than his I-don’t-want-to-eat-with-her look.

  He let out a long breath. “I’m sorry. It’s just… you throw me off balance.”

  Well, that was more honest than she’d expected. And strangely, it made her feel more in control if he felt off-balance around her, too.

  He looked at her closely, as if trying to decide if he should continue. She could tell the moment he decided with an almost imperceptible nod. “The project—the building for Jason and Nora—it’s a big project. The first one I’ve had on my own. I’ve always had a business partner. I’m trying my best to keep on schedule and… let’s just say I’ve had a few curveballs to deal with.”