Blissed (Misfit Brides #1) (11 page)

Since her divorce, Natalie had known she wouldn’t take over the family business when her parents retired. Divorced people didn’t own shops on The Aisle. Period. Maybe if she’d gotten remarried, she could’ve kept the boutique, but Nat’s short marriage had shown she wasn’t cut out to be a wife. Natalie had still been her mother’s biggest helper in planning the Games every year though. They’d all thought they would have more time before Mom needed to worry about a real replacement for both the Games and the shop. “They can learn next year. But there will never be another golden anniversary of the Games. This is the first year since the flood that the hotels are booked solid. Bliss is finally back in the destination wedding game. Everything has to be right this year. And it’s not. Not even close.”

Little boy giggles carried into the hallway.

Lindsey looked toward the office, then back at Natalie.

Pointedly.

“Are you sure you’re doing this for Mom?” she said softly.

Of course. Who else would she do it for? No matter how badly Nat wanted to still fit in Bliss, the QG had made it abundantly clear that Natalie was wasting her wishes. “How will Dad feel if the Games fall apart?” Nat said. “Mom’s not the only one I’ve let down. I can save Mom’s Games. I can do it for both of them.”

“And then what?” Lindsey said.

“And then—” Natalie’s throat clogged up and her breastbone ached as if her ribs were caving in.

And then she would be done. It would be time to move on.

To truly say good-bye.

She inhaled and licked her lips. “I’ll worry about that after the Games.”

“Nat—”

“I’ll never have another chance to do this, Lindsey. Please don’t be one more thing standing in my way.”

Lindsey crossed her arms. “You’re still only one person. Mom had a team behind her. You can’t—”

“I can. I’m the only person who can do this right, and I’m doing it.”

Noah darted out of the office. “Aunt Lindsey! I made you
two
dinosaurs!”

“Saved by the preschooler,” Lindsey murmured. She went down on her knee to his level while he launched into the story of the epic tea party the dinosaurs were having.

Natalie ruffled his hair—he was adorably irresistible this morning—then caught Lindsey’s eye. “Send him back in when you’re ready to go. I have some work to do.”

Lindsey nodded, but Nat had known her sister long enough to get the message behind the nod.
Don’t work too hard
.

She’d take that into consideration.

After Knot Fest.

Chapter Six

CJ
STAGGERED back into St. Valentine’s rectory early Monday evening after spending the day cleaning Bob and Fiona’s gutters over in Willow Glen. The rest of his family had scattered back to their respective homes and jobs, leaving just him and Basil in Bliss.

Him and Basil and the Queen General, who was perched as delicately as a Queen General could be at the edge of the stiff pleather sofa in the rectory living room. She held a basket of cake balls that were decorated like little brides and grooms. The fact that CJ even knew what cake balls were gave him serious concerns about his own balls.

“You have a visitor,” Basil said.

His Holy Wimpiness snagged his newspaper and retreated across the creaking floorboards to the kitchen.

Never a good sign.

CJ took a step into the room. “Mrs. Elias.”

“CJ, my dear, do call me Marilyn.”

With those predatory eyes killing the effect of her blinding white smile, he could think of a few other things to call her.

Like batshit crazy or scary as hell. Basil had God on his side, and even he was hiding.

“Nice of you to stop by,” CJ said.

She rose and offered the basket of cake balls, and CJ instinctively jumped forward and cradled the gift.

“By the power vested in me as Knot Festival chairwoman and as a direct descendant of the founders of Bliss,” Marilyn said with every ounce of authority necessary to pull off the bizarre statement, “our community formally welcomes you into its loving folds.”

CJ could see how God would be kinda helpless against this woman. “Ah, thank you,” he said.

“As you’ll be with us for a while, I wanted to offer my assistance in anything you might need.” The Queen General gestured to the basket. “You’ll find coupons and brochures for all of Bliss’s best restaurants, nightlife, relaxation services, and adventure opportunities tucked in there. I’ve also prepared a job reference and character recommendation form, should you decide to seek employment or alternate living accommodations. Drop my name, and you’ll have no issues with anything your heart might desire. We simply want you to be happy and comfortable as long as you’d like to stay with us here in Bliss.”

He was in some kind of
Stepford Wives: The Bridal Chronicles
movie. “Thank you,” he said again, glad he’d stifled his silent snort of disbelief when she’d said
adventure
.

If this was how she acted when he was on her good side, he didn’t want to provoke her bad side. And that was more than a little jacked up.

“I do hope you’ll stop by and see us at Heaven’s Bakery,” the Queen General continued. “My daughter is most eager to offer you her hospitality as well.”

There went his ball sack shriveling up so high it bumped into his lungs. “Mm,” he murmured.

The Queen General leaned in. A cold sweat flushed his body.

“The upstanding population of Bliss is at your beck and call,” she said. “It will be my pleasure to introduce you around town, and I’ve already ordered the country club to begin plans for a welcome reception.”

CJ swallowed. “That’s not necessary.”

“My dear CJ, we want to show you the very best Bliss has to offer. It’s the least we can do to make up for any awkwardness you may have suffered upon your return to town.”

So
this
was how deer felt when a semi came barreling down the road at them.

Did she know about Saturday night?

He sure as hell hoped not.

She flashed another of those scary-as-hell smiles. “Do enjoy your evening, and call me if I can be of the least bit of assistance. I’ll be in touch.”

He saw her out the door, then took the cake balls to the kitchen, giving momentary consideration to burning them as a sacrifice to whatever gods had put that woman on the face of the earth.

Basil was tucked into the square Formica table, his red hair just visible over the top of his newspaper.

“Problem, Princess?” he said, back in full Holy Pompousness mode.

When CJ didn’t answer right away, Basil peeked at him over the top of the paper. “Something you need to confess?”

“Nope.”

No chance in hell.

“Make sure it stays that way,” Basil murmured. “Wouldn’t cross that woman without half our fairer siblings
and
God at my back.”

“Pansy-ass.”

“God bless you.”

CJ stifled an eye roll. Living with Basil made him twitchy, but he couldn’t bring himself to take Fiona up on her offer of their spare bedroom either.

He already felt like he knew his in-laws better than he’d known their daughter. “I’m going for a run.”

“Can’t run from your life forever,” Basil said behind his paper.

“God bless you,” CJ said back.

Best he could do these days.

He popped upstairs into the simple bedroom he’d been assigned, changed into the only pair of shorts and T-shirt he had, laced up his shoes, and set out to visit a few places Serena had introduced him to.

He was here. Might as well look into some of that closure his family kept harping on. He’d start small. Look. Maybe remember, maybe not.

But he got lost trying to find the football stadium where he’d played in the Husband Games and gave up on finding it. Might’ve been his subconscious’s way of weaseling out of memories he didn’t want to face. Might’ve been time had healed his wounds while he wasn’t looking.

Or he might’ve been the pansy-ass he’d accused Basil of being.

CJ jogged through the streets of Bliss, not paying much attention to where he was going once he’d decided to actively avoid the courthouse and the stadium. He concentrated on nothing more than the ground beneath his feet, the burn of the just-this-side-of-chilly air in his lungs, and the strain of his muscles.

It hadn’t been long since he’d gotten down from Kilimanjaro, and he’d trained hard for it, but that was no excuse to slack off. He had plans to hit Utah for some rock climbing soon as he was done in Bliss, and he wanted to stay in top shape.

Soon, he was approaching the monstrosity of a wedding cake.

That
, he would never forget. On the rare nights over the past few years, when a beer and a persuasive companion had talked his story out of him, he’d always mentioned the wedding cake statue. A hundred feet high if it was an inch, with a fountain beneath the middle columned tiers of cake and staircases sloping down to fifty-foot columned cakes on either side.

He had the gear to climb it. He could pretend he was in the mountains. Had to be some kind of law or ordinance against scaling it, which would make it about the biggest adrenaline rush CJ could hope for while he was here.

He rounded a corner, and the full thing came into view. He hadn’t paid attention the last couple of times he’d driven past it this last week, but today, he did. Looked just like he remembered except for the missing fountain. Must’ve been taken out by the flood.

A dark-haired little boy twirled on the flat surface beneath the middle statue, his navy jacket unzipped. CJ kept running, but he watched the kid, squinting to make out exactly what the boy was swinging around. Looked like some kind of stuffed animal with a horn and a dress.

Saw it all in this town.

He put his attention back on the road in front of him. St. Valentine’s was another half a mile up the road, and he was stretching his limits. Hadn’t eaten since Fiona stuffed him full of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and apple slices at lunch.

A
pop-pop-squizzz!
shuddered at the cake, then a child’s scream splintered the crisp evening air.

CJ whipped around. The little boy under the cake danced in place, shrieking and shielding his face while a spray of fountains erupted around him.

“Mommy!” the kid wailed.

CJ darted for him. He was almost there when a flash of denim and dark hair swooped across the fountain and grabbed the boy, hauling him up and hustling him to safety.

Holy
shit
.

CJ paused.

Stumbled to a shocked halt, really.

Hadn’t pegged her for having maternal instincts.

She put the kid down and dropped to her knees, petting his hair and pulling off her jean jacket to wrap around him. Her eyes lifted, momentarily locking with his, and something both vulnerable and indomitable flashed across her features.

Lungs heaving, muscles burning, CJ looked at the little boy again. Dark brown eyes. Mussed dark hair. Lips curled in a howl of fear and pain.

He stumbled another step back.

“Cindy,” the kid was sobbing. “Save Cindy.”

Natalie looked back at the fountain. CJ did too. The stuffed animal lay in the middle, getting soaked. From one of the side cakes, an older woman in a floral print dress and Coke-bottle glasses waddled toward them in her orthotics. “Land sakes, ain’t nobody told us the boy was playing there.”

A squat, furry guy in need of a belt hustled around the other cake. The top two buttons of his blue uniform shirt gaped open. “Aw, hell,” he said, then disappeared back around the cake.

CJ ignored them all and set out to play hero for Cindy.

His lack of fondness for Natalie didn’t mean her kid had to suffer, and God only knew how long it would take to get the sprays shut off. He’d seen firsthand what water could do to stuffed animals.

He’d been responsible for it more than once in his childhood. And any other time, he would’ve smiled at the memories, but watching Natalie with her son, glimpsing her with the family he’d always wanted but would never have, it scratched something more raw than the rest of his scabs.

The spray shut off about the time he stepped off the splash pad with Cindy—an orange stegosaurus dressed in a lime green girly-ass dress that appeared to have taken most of the damage. The little boy had quit screaming, but he was visibly shivering under Natalie’s coat.

CJ could sympathize. That water was like frickin’ ice.

But what had him totally off-kilter wasn’t the water.

It was the way the boy’s head was tucked into her neck, the way she smoothed her fingers down his damp hair, the way his lanky little body huddled into her as if she were his very world.

The purple smudges beneath Natalie’s eyes had spread down her cheeks and her shoulders drooped so low her elbows nearly touched the ground. The rest of her was still completely put together—silky dark hair in place, blouse crisp, shoes unscuffed—but there was one major difference between Natalie Saturday night and Natalie today.

Today, there wasn’t a thing nuts about her.

He also had the striking impression that he’d underestimated her. Probably shouldn’t have attempted to fight
her
without half his siblings and God at his back. Given that ninety-two percent of his siblings were female, he doubted they’d take his side over a single mother’s.

Especially after what he’d done Saturday night.

The older lady had circled the splash pad and now stood over Natalie. “Little fella gonna be okay?”

“Yeah.” She smoothed his hair again without looking up at either the woman or CJ.

The woman shot a covert glance toward The Aisle, which extended straight out from the small park at the edge of the statue. “He need anything?” she half whispered.

Natalie shook her head. “Thanks. I’ve got it.”

CJ approached and held the stuffed dinosaur out.

Natalie took it, gave it a small shake to get off the worst of the water, then tucked it between her and the boy.

“Thank you.” She spoke softly without looking at him, which was somehow worse than if she’d found a way to blame him for her son getting caught in the water fountain too.