Page 16 of The Wedding Twist

Despite Jack not being at all her type, it was a fun back-and-forth. When was the last time she’d engaged in some harmless flirtation anyway?

With Matt, they’d started out as classmates at university, and their relationship had evolved in what Celeste now knew had been a matter of convenience. They’d had similar friends, lived in the same area, liked doing the same things on weekends. Had there ever been a strong sense of attraction, playfulness, or magnetism? She didn’t think so. It had burned when he’d broken things off, but in retrospect, staying together would definitely have been settling.

Once she had things in order in her life, maybe it would be time to start dating again. Her friend Lindsey had just employed a matchmaking service that she swore by. She could date someone in the city—it was only an hour’s drive away—and it might be nice to have an excuse to drive in and go shopping and visit great restaurants.

For now, even though dating was nowhere near a priority, there was nothing wrong with some fun flirting with an attractive distraction.

*

Maybe his parentshadn’t been so off base after all. Teaching wasn’t half bad. Jack might even go as far as to describe it as fun.

All six of his students had been successful with the day’s fly, and five of them were chatting among themselves about recent catches and plans for the spring season. When he glanced over at Celeste, she was listening politely and applying hand cream.

Jack could tell she spent a good amount of time on her appearance. Not in a way that made her look overly made up or vain, but there was a sheen to her that he imagined took some time to achieve. He liked it.

He’d thought it might be distracting and annoying to have a photographer in the class, but Quinn was professional and stayed out of everyone’s way, and Jack was feeling optimistic about having his company featured on her profile.

Having Celeste back was no doubt a major contributing factor in how much he’d enjoyed the evening. More than once she’d caught him looking at her, even once dipping her chin and looking up at him with a knowing glance. It was adorable. It was flirtatious. It was irresistible.

And then there was the fact that she’d brought cookies for the group. The combination of her presence along with the gooey sweet dessert was making him forget all about the promise he’d made to himself. Was that all it took? Was he that weak?

Maybe he needed to do something about all this pent-up energy. Two years was too long to be alone.

He’d dated a few women after Christine had left but no one who had captured his attention. It was hard in this area anyway, where people knew each other and you ran the risk of running into an ex at the grocery store or the gym. In Jack’s opinion, it wasn’t worth the trouble.

He looked up at the clock and was surprised to see that it was already after eight p.m. The time had flown by, and it seemed like everyone else was so absorbed in their work and conversations they hadn’t noticed either. “All right folks,” Jack said. “Looks like time’s up for tonight. You all did great work.”

“We only have one class left. When do progress reports come out?” Celeste said.

“This isn’t that kind of course. One hundred percent of your grade rests on the final exam.”

“I’d better get studying,” she said.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jack noticed Quinn laughing to herself. He didn’t care. Being around Celeste was fun.

“See you next week, teach,” said Celeste.

“See you next week,” he echoed.

He was already counting down the days.

Chapter Six

On the morningthat the Harris/Grant wedding party was due to check in, two days prior to the wedding, Celeste dragged herself out of bed shortly after five a.m.

She could have slept for another three or four hours, easily, but something she’d learned over time was that carving out an hour to herself before a weekend like the one that lay ahead was essential.

It was going to be a full-on four days, starting with welcoming guests and orienting them to the local area, assisting with last-minute wedding preparations, and finalizing the details for all the events leading up to Kassie and Jeff’s dream wedding. Between now and Sunday afternoon, once everyone checked out after brunch, Celeste’s life was going to be 100 percent consumed by the wedding, so she had to relish the few moments to herself before the workday began. Plus immediately after checkout on Sunday, she had her first accounting class.

She took her time under the spray of hot water in the shower, then got dressed for the day and crossed the parking area to the kitchen entrance for a coffee to take to the quiet of the great room.

When she entered the kitchen, she found Jeannie, apron covered with powdered sugar and phone cradled between her shoulder and ear. Her brow furrowed in what Celeste recognized as annoyance, something she didn’t see often from her mother. “I thought he was supposed to be back this week,” Jeannie said. “He was going to be the backup.”

Uh-oh. The guests hadn’t even arrived, and clearly they were already facing a hiccup.

“All right, well, send me his number, I guess,” she said. “Goodbye.”

Jeannie tossed her phone onto the counter beside a rack of cooling lemon tarts, then washed her hands in the sink. “Your father has a temperature of 101. He’s in bed shivering. There’s no way he’ll be able to take the guys out tomorrow. I called Bill, but Aline said he stayed an extra week in Florida to golf. She gave me the name of some guy Bill hunts with. Jameson something?”

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