“Relax, Commander.”
“You relax,” Hope muttered, and did her best to herd the group.
Avery considered pulling Owen aside, but the timing didn’t work, the circumstances weighed against it.
It could wait, she told herself, and fell into the moment.
After the pictures, the return of the bride and groom, the first dance, a few toasts, she managed to pull him back inside.
“I want to dance with you.”
“I’m all about that,” she agreed, “but I have to show you something first. Upstairs.”
“There’s also food—it looks good.”
“We’ll get food, drink, dance. We’ll get it all.” She kept his hand clutched in hers as she hurried upstairs. “Backstory. I was standing out on the porch right before we came down. I was feeling . . . pensive maybe. Big day. And she came out. Or anyway, the door to the porch opened. I was thinking about Clare and Beckett, getting married, taking vows—that sort of thing. Wondering, really, how people get up the spine or whatever it takes to move on that.”
“It’s not spine,” he began.
“Whatever.” She unlocked T&O, drew him in. “Hope called me in, and when I turned around, this was on that table between the doors.”
She closed her eyes a moment, reached into her bag, let out a sigh of relief when her fingers closed over the stone.
“A rock. God, that’s earth-shattering.”
“Shut up. Look at it, Owen.”
He took it when she shoved it at him, turned it over. His expression shifted from amusement to puzzlement, then wonder.
“She gave this to you.”
“She left it on the table. It wasn’t there when I went out. I’m sure it wasn’t. Then it was. I wouldn’t say she gave it to me, but she wanted me to see it. Don’t you think?”
“I’m still trying to get on board with how she could have this, or make it materialize. Or . . . I don’t know what.”
“I decided not to think too hard about that or my brain might explode. He must’ve given it to her. The shape, the initials.”
“Why would he give her a rock? When you think about it—”
“It’s a heart, with their initials inside. Sentimental, right?”
“I guess so.
“You and Hope are the ones looking into it, so I wanted to get it to you as soon as I could. Hope’s helping run the show here, so you’re elected. But we should get it to her after the reception.”
“She gave it to you.”
“Lizzy? No, she just left it where I’d find it.”
“Not much difference.”
“She’d want Hope to have it. Hope’s her descendent.”
“She didn’t leave it where Hope would find it.” He handed it back to Avery. “You need to keep it.”
“It doesn’t feel right.”
“I figure there’s a reason she left it for you. Maybe holding on to it awhile will help you find the reason. And meanwhile I’ll look for William R. We’ll fill Hope in after the wedding.”
“All right, but I feel weird about it.” She traced the initials before she tucked it back in her purse. “And if she takes it back, she takes it back.”
“Did I tell you, you look amazing?”
Her eyes twinkled at him. “You might have mentioned it in passing.”
“You do. And I . . .” No, he thought, not on impulse, not on his brother’s day, even if it was lucky. “We need to get back down. My brother doesn’t get married every day.”
“You’re right.”
“What did you mean about spine?” he asked her as they headed down.
“What?”
“About needing spine to get married. You need spine to, I don’t know, go to war or take on the IRS or skydive.”
“I just meant people have to gear up to take that step into until-death-or-divorce-do-us-part.”
It struck him wrong, just wrong. “Were you always this cynical?”
“I’m not cynical.” Even the word annoyed her. “Just realistic—and curious. I’m a curious realist.”
“Take a look at that,” he suggested when they’d walked back out where couples danced—Clare and Beckett, his mother, her father, Clare’s parents and more. “That’s real.”
Real, he thought again, and what he wanted. What he wanted with Avery.
“And it’s nice. Really nice. A moment. An important moment. But there are thousands of moments after the party. And speaking of that, why aren’t you dancing with me?”
“Good idea.”
He did his best to keep it light, but something had shifted between them with her words. And he understood she felt it, too.
She didn’t have time to brood about it, even to think about it. They only had a week to finish the last details on the house, to load in furniture, stock the kitchen.
It reminded Avery of the final push on the inn, but this time with Beckett and Clare off on their honeymoon, they were short two pairs of hands.
Still, that sense of déjà vu trailed through as she and Hope loaded dishes, glassware, flatware, pots, pans, platters into cupboards.
“She’s not going to be disappointed she didn’t do all this herself, right?”
Hope shook her head. “I thought about that, second-guessed, third-guessed. Then I thought about her coming back from a week off—the work facing her at the store, the kids, the new routine,
“I think so, too—but sometimes I fourth-guess. It’s great the boys are spending a few days down with Clint’s parents. It’s good for all of them, but I have to admit I miss them. And being able to use those tireless legs to run little errands.”
“We’re nearly there. With Justine and Rose handling the clothes, the linens, Owen and Ryder muscling in the big stuff, we’ll have it perfect for their homecoming.”
Hope paused, fingers reaching for her phone. “I should check, make sure Carolee ordered the flowers.”
“You know she did. Relax, Commander.”
“If he calls me that again, I may kick him in the balls.” Hope paused, rolled her shoulders. “It’s a beautiful house—the wood, the details, the sense of space.”
“The Montgomerys do good work.”
“They do. Speaking of the Montgomerys, what’s going on with you and Owen?”
“Nothing.”
Hope glanced toward the stairs. “Justine and Rose are up on the second floor. Owen and Ryder are getting another load. It’s just you and me.”
“I don’t know exactly. Things have been a little off since the wedding. My fault, I guess—sort of. When I showed him the heart stone, I made some comment about marriage. I do till death or divorce, something like that. He thinks I’m cynical.”
“I wonder why?”
“I’m not.”
“No, you’re not. But you put your mother’s baggage in your own closet. Eventually, you’re just going to have to pitch it out.”
