Love on a Deadline (9 page)

His mother appeared in the doorway a moment later. “Have you seen your sister? I can't find her anywhere.”

“No, but maybe she went into town. She wanted to talk to Mrs. Sweet about ordering cupcakes for the reception.”

“Cupcakes.” His mom's nose wrinkled with distaste. “I don't know why they're so popular. Cupcakes are for children's birthday parties, not weddings.”

“It's what Hollis wants.” A phrase Ethan had repeated at least a dozen times over the past twenty-four hours. “She and Connor want to keep things simple.”

“Simple.” She sniffed.

“That doesn't mean it won't be special. The two don't cancel each other out.” Quoting Mac made Ethan think about Mac.

And thinking about Mac made him want to see her again.

When
was
he going to see her again?

On the way home from church yesterday, Hollis had told him that Mac wanted to interview her before the next issue came out, but she hadn't come over to the house.

Now that his mother had arrived, Mac probably assumed he didn't need her help with the wedding anymore. But he needed her honest opinion. Her spunk.

Her smile.

“I don't know what's gotten into your sister lately,” his mother said. “She used to be so sensible.”

No, Hollis used to do exactly what their mother wanted. She didn't know what to do with her offspring when they deviated from her perfect plan.

“Hollis is marrying a great guy, Mom, so I think you can trust her decisions.” He pressed a kiss against her cheek. “Just enjoy the day.”

“I'll do my best, but I still think they should have gotten married at Porter Lakeside—”

“I meant enjoy
this
one.” Ethan didn't know whether to be amused or exasperated by his mother's tenacity. Considering it was a trait she had passed on to both her children, he should probably go with amused.

“I just took a batch of blueberry scones out of the oven.” She pivoted toward the door. “I'll bring a plate out to the patio if you care to join me.”

Ethan would rather have one of Mrs. Sweet's cinnamon rolls, but he nodded. “I'll be there in a minute.”

He walked to the desk and slid the scrapbook back into the drawer.

“Thanks, Dad,” Ethan whispered. “In a few weeks I'll be starting one of my own.”

“Ethan!”

Ethan shook his head. The scones must be getting cold.

“I'm right here—” He pushed open the French doors leading onto the patio, and the first thing he saw was an enormous black Lab camped underneath the table.

His mother stood a safe distance away, as if she wasn't sure whether the dog posed a threat to her or the scones. “I can't get it to leave! Do you have any idea who that animal belongs to?”

Ethan scraped a hand across his jaw to hide a smile. “As a matter of fact, I do.”
Thank you, Snap.
“I'll make sure he gets home.”

“I'm going inside.” His mother closed her eyes. “I feel a headache coming on. If you see Hollis, please remind her that we have a list of things to accomplish today.”

“I will.” Ethan clapped. “Let's go, Snap.”

The Lab zigzagged through the woods as Ethan made his way to Mac's house. The scent of bacon—so much better than scones—filtered through the screen in Coach's kitchen window as Ethan rapped on the back door.

A barefoot Mac appeared a moment later. She wore a T-shirt
and denim shorts and the same guarded look Ethan had seen on her face when he'd stumbled upon her in the gazebo the day he arrived in Red Leaf.

“I think this belongs to you.”

“Snap.” Mac yanked the door open and the Lab shuffled past her. “He doesn't usually leave the yard when I let him out in the morning. He didn't get into any trouble, did he?”

“Are you kidding? He saved me from having to eat a blueberry scone. Now I can sneak into town and buy one of Mrs. Sweet's cinnamon rolls.”

“Get one for me!” a voice sang out.

Ethan blinked. “Is that Hollis?”

“They came over a little while ago.” Mac's reluctance was obvious as she ushered him down the hallway and into the kitchen, where his sister and her soon-to-be husband sat at a table in the breakfast nook.

“Well, this explains why Mom couldn't find you.”

Hollis had the grace to look guilty. “I promised her that I would go through her wedding checklist this afternoon, but Connor and I made a list of our own.”

Ethan glanced at the empty plates. “Starting with breakfast at the neighbor's?”

“That was an added bonus.” Connor smiled at Mac.

“We want to take the canoe out to Granite Rock this morning, so I asked Mac if she minded interviewing me on the way there,” Hollis explained.

Ethan's gaze shifted to Mac. “So you're working from a canoe this morning instead of your office?”

“A reporter has to be flexible.” A smile chased through Mac's eyes and Ethan realized that was what he wanted to see.

Hmmm. Maybe
he'd
start a list too.

“Connor has never paddled a canoe,” Hollis whispered, even though her fiancé was sitting right next to her. “He's a city boy.”

“I've never climbed a tree, either, or caught crayfish under the dock,” Connor confessed cheerfully.

“I haven't been in a canoe for years,” Ethan murmured.

“You should come with us, then.” Hollis rose. “Mac was just telling us that she would see you doing cannonballs off the side of Granite Rock.”

Ethan looked at her with interest. “You did?”

“You can see it from the deck.” Mac collected the empty coffee mugs from the table. She didn't look at him but Ethan felt a surge of satisfaction when her freckles turned pink.

Check.

“So.” Hollis dipped her paddle into the water as Mac steered the
canoe away from the dock. “What do you want to know first?”

Mac wanted to know what had happened to the Hollis Channing who'd dropped her wet towel on Mac's clothes in the locker room after PE, forcing her to go to history class looking like she'd taken a shower with her clothes on. The one who ran for class president just so she could lobby for full-length mirrors in the girls' bathroom.

When Ethan's sister had marched into the church nursery, Mac was sure she was about to be fired. Hollis's unexpected appearance had been as disconcerting as the hug that followed.

Over Hollis's shoulder, Annie had given Mac a see-I-told-you-people-can-change smile.

Mac wasn't sure about that. Until Hollis had shown up
at Mac's door that morning, her ponytail threaded through the back of an old baseball cap and not a speck of makeup on, her celebrity fiancé in tow.

“Well,” Mac said slowly, “when it comes to wedding stories, everyone wants to know how you met.”

“At a hospital fund-raiser . . . What? You look surprised.”

“I thought you were going to say you met at a club or a swanky party.”

“No swanky parties for me.” Hollis chuckled. “Running your own business doesn't give you much time to socialize. I'd been away on a business trip, previewing a new clothing line for Crush—that's the boutique I own—so I was late for the dinner.

“Ethan never mentioned he'd met Connor, let alone that they'd become friends. He squeezed in another chair at the table and Connor and I . . .” Hollis paused, searching for the right word.

“Clicked?”

“More like rubbed each other the wrong way. Connor was so standoffish. Whenever I tried to start up a conversation, he would get this strange look on his face.”

“What kind of look?”

“The look a person would have if a window mannequin started talking,” Hollis muttered.

Mac laughed and Hollis joined in.

“Poor Ethan.” Hollis shook her head. “He couldn't understand why we weren't getting along.”

“So you're saying it wasn't love at first sight.”

“More like second sight. I decided to throw a party for
Ethan when he finished his residency at Midland Medical, and he put Connor's name on the guest list.

“I'd spent weeks planning it, but the day of the party, everything went wrong. A freak storm buried the city in about a foot of snow. The caterer's delivery truck slid off the road on the way to my condo and ruined everything.”

“No.” Mac pulled in a breath, imagining Hollis's reaction.

“It gave a whole new meaning to the term
fusion cooking
, that's for sure. I thought I'd have to cancel the dinner, but at about two o'clock someone knocked on my door. It was Connor, looking like the abominable snowman.

“He'd raided his pantry and managed to convince a very reluctant taxi driver to drop him off a few blocks from my condo. We made spaghetti and canned green beans and garlic bread out of hot dog buns for the people who braved the weather. By the time Connor served those little frosted animal cookies for dessert, I was already halfway in love with him.”

Mac knew their subscribers would love that story. “How did he propose?”

To Mac's astonishment, Hollis blushed. “I . . . um . . . I kind of proposed to him.”

“You proposed. To him.”

“It was obvious Connor wasn't going to do it,” Hollis said candidly. “So I decided the situation called for extreme measures.”

“He didn't
want
to get married?”

“Of course he did. It just took a little time to get him to come
around to my way of thinking.” Hollis flashed her cheerleader smile. “When Connor finally said yes, I didn't want him to change his mind . . . hence the very short engagement.”

“But . . .” Mac was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that Hollis had proposed. “How? What did you say to him?”

“I'm afraid it wasn't the most romantic proposal,” Hollis confessed. “I told Connor he was being an id—
stubborn—
and that I was afraid of the future, too, but as long as we were together, it would be perfect.”

Perfect.

Mac had her perfect future in mind too.

Red Leaf would be a place to take a creative break from her career as an award-winning journalist, not her permanent home.

Her gaze strayed to Ethan, laughing with Connor as their canoe cut a straight line through the center of the lake. He'd made his mark on the football field in high school and now he'd returned to Red Leaf as a doctor. A doctor. While Mac was still writing about the secret life of tomatoes.

Hollis's cell phone chirped and her face lit up when she looked at the screen. “I've been tracking my wedding dress, and according to this message, it's scheduled to be delivered at ten o'clock. I want to surprise my mother, so I should be there to sign for it.”

“That's all right.” Mac felt a stab of disappointment. “We can finish the interview later. I should get back to work too.”

“You are working! Ethan said something about your editor wanting all the prewedding details. I would think a sneak
peek at the wedding dress would qualify.” Hollis leaned forward and rested the canoe paddle across her knees. “Trust me. You're going to want to see Mom's reaction when I show her my wedding gown.”

“Because it's . . . simple?” Mac guessed.

“Because it's the laciest, puffiest,
gaudiest
dress you've ever seen.”

For all the changes she'd seen in Hollis Channing, the girl couldn't do gaudy. “And you . . . like . . . it?”

“Mom picked it out.”

“But you just said it was going to be a surprise.” Remembering details was part of Mac's job.

“Oh, it will be.” Hollis giggled. “I sneaked it out of Mom's closet before we left.”

“You're wearing your mother's wedding dress?”

“Sometimes”—Hollis's solemn tone was a counterbalance to the laughter in her eyes—“you do crazy things for the people you love.”

Things like delivering food in a snowstorm.

Mac couldn't help but feel a pinch of envy.

“Change of plans, guys!” Hollis stood up and set the canoe rocking as she waved her arms to get their attention. “Time to go back!”

Connor and Ethan waved to acknowledge they'd gotten the message, but instead of heading to shore, they paddled in Hollis and Mac's direction.

Hollis sat down. “Do you mind switching places with Connor for the trip back?”

“Switch places?” Panic flared inside Mac. “Why?”

“There's something I have to talk to him about before we get to the house.”

Mac flicked a glance at the canoe cutting toward them through the water. Connor Blake might have the sculpted perfection of a leading man with his tawny hair and sapphire-blue eyes, but Mac didn't experience even the tiniest blip in her heart rate when she looked at him.

But Ethan . . . well, she should carry one of those portable defibrillators in her pocket.