And so began another week without my boyfriend. It seemed like that was happening more and more lately. It was already September, and we’d been together only three or four times since the beginning of the month. It felt like I was seeing more of Simon, what, with how much work he was doing for the inn. I understood and didn’t fault Jamie for how busy the merger was making him, but it wasn’t fun.

* * *

“You look tired, Lane,” Carlos said late Friday morning. The outdoor tent and chairs for the ceremony were finally set up and ready for the following morning. Since Carlos was shorthanded, I’d wound up helping.

I smiled. “I’m not used to chair duty.” I pulled up my phone and looked at my event notes. “The florist is going to be here at 6:00 a.m. to start setting up,” I told Carlos. “Can you be here to oversee that?”

He nodded. “Sure thing.”

“I’ll be in by eight thirty. I don’t think the DJ will be here before then, so, really, you’ll only need to handle the flowers. Oh, and the doves. They’re scheduled for delivery between seven and eight.”

“Where do the doves go after they’re released?”

“I think they fly home. The bird people always leave with empty cages, so I assume the birds know where to go.”

“Smart birds.”

A text buzzed on my phone. Gaspard. I groaned. Texts from Gaspard this close to wedding day always made me nervous. “I gotta go check on the kitchen.”

Carlos nodded. “Wait, Lane. Tomorrow, I’ll be here through the morning but need to leave at noon for Javie’s soccer game. I’ll come back after to oversee the takedown. Will that be a problem? I’ll make sure Chris is on standby to help with anything you need while I’m gone.”

I wasn’t Carlos’s superior in any way. As head of facilities, he had more employees that answered directly to him than I did. But with Thornton gone and Ida mostly absent, we’d all sort of developed this group accountability system to keep everything running like it needed to run. It wasn’t so much that Carlos was asking my permission. It was more like he was making sure the day could happen like it needed to without him around.

“It should be fine,” I told him. “How’s Javie doing? She did great when she came to the Hamilton’s soccer clinic.”

“She scored two goals in her last game.” He beamed the way only a proud dad could.

“Yeah? Like father, like daughter.”

“When will we ever see you on the field again? Are you giving up your cleats?”

“Never. I’ve just been so busy. It’s not easy to get weekends off from this place.”