Saved by the Bride (28 page)

Ellery quickly walked Ty down the stairs to show him the other
warehouse, pointing out the features of the truck bay and the possibility to
extend. She heard their receding voices and stretched her hand out for the
signing tablet.

“Miss, I need you to count the chairs as I unload them.”

“What? Can’t I just sign for them?”

“No. Count first, sign last.”

“But I don’t even know how many...”

But the guy had disappeared behind the truck where his buddy
had already started unloading.

Inwardly seething, she started counting. Where was Al or anyone
else from the town?
Seventy
-
five
. Why weren’t they here doing this job? Damn it, but she picked
up the slack for everyone in this town.
One
hundred
and
twenty
. If they were so convinced that this wedding
business was Whitetail’s savior then why weren’t they here to accept a
delivery?

The men put down the last two stacks of chairs. “Did you get
two hundred, Miss?”

“I did.” She quickly signed the liquid display on the machine
and ran down the steps. She found Ellery and Ty deep in conversation on the
blacktop that stretched between the two warehouses.

Panting, she gasped out, “I’m so sorry about that, Mr.
Dennison.”

He merely raised one brow but the action spoke volumes. “Miz
Jacobson. If Long River was to establish itself here, what sort of incentives
would Whitetail be offering?”

Annika thought about how empty the Whitetail coffers were and
chewed on her lip. “What sort of incentives did you have in mind?”

Ty tapped his foot and squinted at the warehouses. “A
significant decrease in the rent.”

Annika glanced at Ellery who shook his head. “Mr. Dennison, I’m
sorry but the warehouses are privately owned.”

The businessman frowned. “I was under the impression from your
correspondence, Miz Jacobson, that the town owned the warehouses outright and
that you were in a position to negotiate.”

Annika looked imploringly at Ellery.

“There’s some room to move on the leasing details,” Ellery
said, and named a figure.

Ty immediately lowered it.

Ellery shook his head and added a thousand dollars to Ty’s
figure.

The CEO of Long River Electronics didn’t even consider the
counteroffer. “Then I’ll be saying no thanks and goodbye. I’m just not feeling
the love, which is ironic given this town’s fixation on weddings.”

Chapter Seventeen

Annika had driven Ty directly to the airport and the
moment his plane had taken off, she’d somehow managed to get her shaking fingers
to type out a text on her phone—
town
meeting
now
—and had sent it to the entire town. She’d left
fury behind a long time ago. Now she was incandescent with rage.
She
was the acting mayor. They’d asked
her
to take on that position, and she’d accepted it
with the same pledge she’d made all those years ago in 4-H—
to
better
living
,
for
my
club
,
my
community
,
my
country
,
and
my
world
. As Whitetail was pretty much all four to her,
she couldn’t believe they’d let her down this way. She’d worked so hard to give
them what they needed and she’d only asked them to do one simple thing. Make a
fuss of Ty Dennison.

As people filed into the town hall, all she could hear was
wedding chatter and it ramped up her anger even more. When the last person took
their seat, she slammed the gavel down hard and said, “I call this meeting to
order.” But that was as far as her meeting protocol lasted. All her anger poured
out in full-flight berating-mother mode.

“I can’t believe what you all did to me today.” She caught
sight of Luke and backtracked slightly. “Not Luke or Ellery, but the rest of
you—” she pointed accusingly, “—hung me out to dry. I’ve worked my butt off for
weeks trying to get an industry for this town, for all of you, and when I
finally get someone to actually visit, you blow them off.” Her hands flew up.
“Ten jobs. You just blew off ten jobs for what?
One
wedding.”

People stared at her in shocked silence. There was no scraping
of chairs, no shuffling of feet and even the sounds of breathing were muted.
Nicole rose slowly and rolled her shoulders back.

“We appreciate that you’ve tried to find us a business, Anni,
but you’ve just lost two prospective customers and—”

The unfair criticism fired her brain into action. “The town
lost us Long River Electronics today by talking about weddings instead of
electronics!”

Nicole waved her hand in a “whatever” action. “The important
thing is that while you’ve been trying to find us an industry, we’ve created
one. We’ve now signed five brides and our fifth is the one that will change
everything.”

A murmur of agreement ran around the room but the agreement was
siding with Nicole, not Annika. She could feel a level of animosity radiating
off the townsfolk and lapping against her in small waves. It unnerved her and
she shifted into conciliatory mode just to get over this hump. “You’re pinning
an awful lot on Bridey’s wedding, but let’s be realistic here. It’s still only
one
wedding.”

Nicole shot her a disbelieving look. “Anni, this wedding will
feature in bridal magazines around the country. Bridey’s dress will be examined
and discussed, and so will the cake, the amazing view of the lake from the
marquee and the menu. Not to mention the rehearsal dinner and the groom’s cake.
But most of all they’ll talk about how we threw a lavish wedding and protected
Bridey and Hank’s privacy all at the same time. All of that will mean we’ll
continue to get bookings.”

Annika gripped the gavel, not at all certain that Nicole was
correct.

Nicole continued. “You did a lovely job on the mural and we’re
grateful.”

Annika smiled. She knew her town well and all Nicole had needed
to do was vent. Given the mural was a totally different picture from what she’d
thought would work best, she’d been reasonably pleased with the result. She’d
even managed to work a tiny vine of hearts deep in the picture. “I’m glad you
like it.”

“We do. And the website you started—”

“Yes, it’s on my to-do list to expand it, but so far it’s
looking pretty good.” Annika hadn’t had time to get much more set up than four
basic pages but the contacts were all linked to Nicole’s phone and email.

“Actually—” Nicole paused and glanced around at the crowd who
nodded at her encouragingly before she turned back. She lifted her chin. “We
think the colors are wrong and the photos you’ve used don’t make Whitetail look
as romantic as it needs to be.”

Annika breathed in sharply.
Wrong
?
She’d chosen shades of blues and greens for the website to tie in with the lake
and the northwoods. It represented the town perfectly. Her heart rate picked up
as indignation swirled. Colors had been her world up until her art had become
too painful to face, and though she had trouble painting now, she didn’t doubt
her color abilities. Her calligraphy clients rarely questioned her color
suggestions. People in Whitetail never questioned her. Her voice rose. “What do
you mean the colors are wrong?”

Nicole’s voice firmed up. “The site should say romance. Right
now it looks like a tourism page.”

“Nicole’s right, dear,” Mrs. Norell added her two cents, and
more murmurs joined her.

Annika’s fingers curled around the edge of the lectern. She’d
created a basic website for them because they’d asked her to and now they were
criticizing it?
Stay
calm
. “I’m sorry—”

“No need to apologize, Anni, you did your best,” Al said.

Her jaw was so tight the ache radiated through her teeth and up
into her cheeks. “Set up a meeting, Nicole, and we can discuss what it is you
want for the website.”

Nicole’s expression became half determined and half pained.
“Anni, we know you’re really busy so we’ve spoken to Joshua about the
website.”

The name wasn’t familiar to her. “Who?”

Eric, the editor of
The
Bugle
, waved his notepad. “My grandson.”

Melissa added, “Remember, he took the paper online and he’s
ready to take your start on the website and really romance it up. Make the site
really wow and reflect our slogan of Weddings That WOW.”

Something akin to dread crawled over her simmering anger and
rampant indignation. She heard her voice rise. “But you asked me to do it.”

Melissa crossed her arms. “I know, but Joshua’s more in tune
with the town’s vision for the business than you are.”

“Vision?” This time her voice came out on a squeak. “A vision
is securing a real industry for Whitetail.”

Nicole suddenly stood taller. “Anni, the budget for the
Callahan-Neiquest wedding is two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

Annika gaped, too stunned to say anything. “The...that’s a lot
of money.”

“It is, and Sean’s thrilled because he says he’ll be saving
money.” Nicole’s triumphant look was justified. “This wedding will involve and
benefit the
entire
town, including our accommodation
businesses.” She waggled her fingers at Wade Anderson who owned a B and B. “The
out-of-state guests will use the accommodations in town and the overflow in the
county. Almost every business is playing a role in staging this wedding. Jason’s
linking all the accommodation from the website and everyone needs to organize a
photo-pictorial for their businesses so he can create a page for each one of
you.”

Ella Norell started clapping. “It’s really happening. The good
news for you, Anni, is that you can stop working so hard now.”

“How do you figure that, Mrs. Norell? It sounds like there’s an
enormous amount of work to do to pull all of this together.”

The entire crowd looked to Nicole who stepped up to the lectern
next to her.

“Anni, you’ve never really believed in our whole-town wedding
idea and you’ve indulged us with your time. But this is a real and legitimate
business, and we need people who believe and who are passionate about its
success. You’re our public representative of the town but because of how you
feel about Weddings That WOW, we’re not sure you’re still the best person for
the job.”

Annika’s throat tightened as she watched fifty heads slowly
nodding in agreement with Nicole, and the tiny wave of animosity she’d sensed
earlier became a tsunami of disapproval. It rolled over her, roaring in her
ears, streaking through her veins and pressing down on her chest like a concrete
girder.

The town had always needed her.

They
don’t
need
you
now
.

Her safe place, the town she’d come back to after her life had
disintegrated, had just resoundingly rejected her.

Anger, loss and bewilderment spun inside her so hard and fast
she could barely focus. “And you all feel this way?”

Mumblings of, “Yes, Anni, sorry, Anni,” left her in no
doubt.

Nicole touched her arm, her eyes sad. “Please know we’re all
really grateful for what you’ve done. We want you to stay involved through
Annika’s Custom Calligraphy and do the invitations and the place cards.”

She managed to get her mouth to say, “Yes, of course.”

Nicole stood staring at her and finally said softly, “Anni,
sorry, but I need to use the lectern.”

The coup was complete. With a shaking hand she laid down the
gavel and stepped back. Every part of her wanted to run but she forced herself
to walk slowly down the length of the hall, all the while hearing Nicole’s firm
voice behind her.

“I need everyone’s attention. We only have three weeks to pull
this all together and I need your complete cooperation, which includes
responding to my emails and text messages promptly. Bridey and Hank are
organizing their bridal attire and reception clothing, and have given us their
color scheme. They wish to be married in the Unity Church and after their
horse-and-carriage ride to the dock, they will go by launch to their reception
at Kylemore. This will be in a windowed marquee complete with chandeliers and
give a spectacular view of the lake. Their housekeeper is designing the menu and
liaising with the Supper Club’s chef and staff. The Callahans are providing the
security and...”

Annika quietly slipped out the door and closed it behind her as
a cold emptiness filled her. Whitetail didn’t need her anymore and the only
thing that kept her legs moving forward was the thought of getting home to Finn.
Finn
. The man she loved. The man who wanted her.
Relief at still being needed flowed into her and she clutched at it. He might
not know he needed her on a conscious level but he truly did, and it wasn’t as a
P.A. Anyone could do that for him but going by how hard he held her hand
whenever they attended a Callahan occasion, he needed her to cope with his
family. With Sean.

With her head spinning, she swung herself up into the cab of
the truck, started the ignition and sent up a vote of thanks. She still had a
job to do. She’d fix the estrangement between Finn and his father and prove to
him how much he needed her in his life.

* * *

Finn carefully fed another invitation through the
thermography machine. Initially, he’d come to the studio because the thought of
an evening without Annika seemed oddly lonely. He’d arrived with the idea of
chatting with her while she worked, but he’d quickly found himself helping. She
was doing a rush job for Bridey’s wedding invitations. Hank had sent out a “come
to our wedding” email to everyone they were inviting, along with the promise of
an “invitation following in the mail.” Annika was almost killing herself to get
them done in forty-eight hours and had been virtually living in the studio.

Given the time constraints and with Bridey’s agreement, she’d
tailored the invitations to be printed with a raised monogram, rather than being
exclusively handwritten. He had no clue why the sudden rush for the wedding.
Bridey hadn’t told him much except to say that they wanted to “get married now”
and then she’d hotly denied—along with a reinforcing punch—that she was
pregnant.

Bridey wasn’t the only person playing their cards close to
their chest. Annika had been very quiet since Long River Electronics had
rejected Whitetail and all he’d been able to get out of her was, “He wanted more
incentives than we could offer.” Ellery hadn’t been much more forthcoming. All
of this was in stark contrast to the time when Kugals had decided against
Whitetail, and Annika had talked long and hard into the night about her worries
for the town. She’d quickly responded to that disappointment by planning new
strategies, but this time when he’d tried to draw her out, she’d kissed him like
every man’s fantasy and the conversation had stalled right there. The sex had
been electric.

“Do you want to swap jobs?” Annika asked from the table where
she sat surrounded by a sea of gold ribbons and pre-addressed mailing tubes.

“No, you tie a much better bow than I do.” He turned to the
high-speed digital printer and duplicator, and picked up the next invitation
with its wet ink monogram. “Besides, I don’t want to stop now that I’ve found my
mojo. I’ve got it all timed perfectly. The moment one invitation rolls out of
the thermography machine completely finished, the next one’s being printed with
wet ink, and that all makes for perfect powder bonding.”

She laughed. “You’re enjoying all this.”

He acknowledged with some surprise that the sensation inside
him was happiness. “It reminds me of Grandpa and when I started my first college
job at AKP.”

“Was he like Sean?”

“God, no.”

“Really?” She snipped a length of ribbon with her scissors. “He
started AKP, didn’t he? He must have had the business acumen that you and Sean
share?”

He hadn’t ever thought of it in those terms. “I suppose he did.
Although Sean and I might share business skills, I’m much more like
Grandpa.”

“How so?”

“People count, not just the bottom line.”

Her brows rose sharply in surprise, as if she might call him on
the statement, but all she said was, “People count with Sean. Look at how he and
Kathleen have built a bridge for Bridey’s wedding and he was really—” She
suddenly busied herself with sliding an invitation into a tube.