Page 24 of The Runaway Bride's Vow

Logan’s gaze met hers as he softly said, “My ex-wife was supposed to pick her up yesterday but her flight was cancelled. She couldn’t get another flight until last night.”

Brooke nodded in understanding. She latched onto the knowledge that he was no longer with Kaylie’s mother. Did that mean he was single? She ignored the bubble of hope that swelled in her chest.

Honk-honk.

A white compact pulled into the lot, and a woman with brunette hair cut in a bob waved to them. Brooke wasn’t sure what she should do, so she turned back to her car and grabbed her bag that held her purse and lunch. She learned to bring food with her since the guys didn’t like to take the time to go to lunch.

Who knew that painting gold trim could take so much time? But there was lots of blue tape to place around the areas she wanted to paint. Plus, she wanted to be careful and do it perfectly.

She paused and glanced over her shoulder. Logan was holding his coffee as he talked to Kaylie’s mother. They seemed to be getting along. That was good.

As though he could sense her looking at him, he turned his head. His gaze met hers. He lifted his coffee cup ever so slightly and then wait… Was that an ever-so-slight smile on his face?

It all happened so quickly that she wasn’t sure what she had seen. And then he turned his attention back to Kaylie and her mother. The moment was over, and she was left with questions. Had he smiled? Did her hot coffee offer hit the spot?

She turned to head inside the chapel with Henry’s coffee in hand. She had to get started right away because she had wedding planner duties in the afternoon. But that wasn’t what was on her mind. Instead, she was thinking about Logan. The coffee was a start, but she would have to step it up the next time if she wanted to show him that they could be friends. It would make their business relationship much easier.

Chapter Eight

Friendlier.

It was how Brooke would describe her relationship with Logan. Selena’s suggestion about getting him some hot coffee seemed to thaw his frosty exterior.

And though things were starting to improve, they still weren’t friends. She wanted to change that. In order to do that, she decided to take the age-old advice of winning a man over via his stomach. The problem was that she wasn’t a good cook.

It didn’t stop her from planning a special lunch. With Kaylie at her mother’s this week and Henry at a doctor’s appointment, it was just them on Friday at lunch. And she had a surprise in store for Logan. She just hoped he liked it.

She’d spent the morning staining the benches just like Henry had shown her. It wasn’t hard work. It just took a steady hand and lots of patience. Once upon a time, the benches had a gold trim but through the years it wore away. Once the benches were all sanded—Henry was doing that part—and then stained, she would go back to add this finishing touch. And then the benches would be clear-coated.

But before their lunch break, she’d taken the effort of driving back into the city to get food for lunch for both herself and Logan. This would be kindness act number two. It wasn’t until she was standing in line at the checkout that she asked herself why she had chosen this challenge to see through to the end.

She didn’t have a good answer—at least none she was willing to acknowledge. She told herself it would improve their working relationship and that, in turn, would be good for this massive project. After all, she was hoping to use her oversight of the renovation as another example of why she should be given a promotion to wedding planner instead of continuing to be Clara’s assistant.

Granted, when she’d started to work for Clara, she knew nothing about event planning. But Clara had been patient with her and mentored her. Now Brooke couldn’t imagine doing anything else. There was just something so rewarding about seeing the bride’s face light up on their special day, not to mention when they found the dress.

As she drove back to the chapel, she had the window down, letting the ocean breeze in. The radio was turned up, and she was singing as she pulled into the parking lot. She pulled to a stop next to Logan’s pickup. At least he was still there.

She grabbed the big brown bag full of sandwiches, fruit cups, chips, and refreshments. She’d realized as she was standing in line to order the food that she wasn’t sure what he liked, so she bought more than she normally would have in hopes she had something he’d like to eat.

With an old blanket draped over her arm, she clutched the bag of food. In her other hand, she grabbed the tray of drinks. At last, she headed toward the chapel. Lucky for her the door was propped open. She heard some hammering at the front of the chapel.

“Time for an early lunch break,” she called out.

Logan glanced over his shoulder from where he was replacing a couple of floorboards at the front of the chapel. “Are you talking to me?”

“I am.” She held up the bag of food. “I’ve got more than enough to share.”

He shook his head. “That’s okay.”

She struggled not to sigh in frustration. “Seriously. I’ve got too much for me to eat alone.” Way too much. “After all, you do have to eat.”

“I have a date today.”

His words stopped her cold in her tracks. Had she heard him correctly. “A date?”

He nodded. “So I don’t have much time.”

An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. He hadn’t mentioned anything about a girlfriend. Maybe that partly explained why he’d been so distant. Why hadn’t she thought of that?

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