Page 2 of Dreaming of Dawson

“Of course. I was just thinking… it’s a shame Tanner and Zara aren’t making a bit more of their wedding.”

“You don’t think getting married on Valentine’s Day is enough?”

She tilts her head. “That’s romantic, I’ll admit, but they’ve just moved house, so the budget is fairly tight. I’m doing them a special deal, but they’re not even going on honeymoon, and it all feels a little… sad,” she says, searching for a word which she clearly feels is appropriate, although I can’t agree, and I shake my head to prove it.

“Maybe they’ve worked out that the marriage is more important than the wedding,” I say, and she smiles.

“Maybe they have, but we’re not supposed to think like that… not in our business.”

“I know, but it’s the truth, isn’t it?”

I can’t speak from experience, obviously, but it makes sense to me.

“It is,” she says. “It’s just that Tanner’s been down this road before.”

“You mean this is his second marriage?”

“Yes. His first was to his high-school sweetheart, Sabrina. They’d been together since they were… I don’t know… fifteen, or sixteen, I guess, but they split up about three years ago.”

“They were married for a long time, then.”

“Yes, but their divorce was pretty ugly. They have a son, you see, and…”

“You mean Nash? Tanner’s best man?” I say, recalling the seating plan we were working on last week.

“Yes. From what I’ve heard, Sabrina didn’t make things easy.”

“Tanner must have a good relationship with Nash now, though.”

“Oh, he does. He’s a fabulous father. He absolutely dotes on Nash… and Zara, obviously.” She smiles and tilts her head. “I guess that’s why I wanna go the extra mile on this one. He’s such a nice guy, and it’s so good to see him happy again.”

Her face falls and I have to ask, “What’s wrong?”

“Oh… it’s nothing.” She smiles. “It’s just that thinking about Tanner reminded me of someone else.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. His best friend. He was a nice guy, too… before his wife left him.”

“Did she just leave, or was there someone else involved?” I ask, noting the blush on Peony’s cheeks, which seems like an odd reaction.

“There was another man involved,” she whispers.

“I see. And this guy… Tanner’s best friend… he’s not a nice guy anymore?”

“Let’s just say he’s struggling to come to terms with what happened, although it was over two years ago now,” she says, letting out a sigh. “But none of this is helping us find pink candles, is it?”

“No, it’s not.”

She chuckles and I pull the laptop a little closer as she flips back through her notepad.

“Oh… just before you get into that,” she says. “Can you pull up the diary?”

“Sure.”

I switch screens, opening our bookings application and turning the screen slightly, so she can see it.

“Hmm… Cooper gave me four dates, and it looks like we’ve got all of them available, so he said to go for the earliest one, in which case…” She glances at the notepad and then back at the screen. “Can you book out March 22nd?”

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