Page 108 of April

“Hey,” she replied, chuckling because she had no idea why they were greeting each other just before bed.

“I did all my stuff in the guest bathroom, so I’m ready if you are.”

“What? Why?” Asher asked as she walked toward her and placed her hands on Linden’s shoulders.

“Two birds. One stone. More time to snuggle.” Linden pulled Asher into her and pressed her face to Asher’s chest.

“You’rethatinto snuggling? Is that something I should know about you?”

“Honestly, I never have been.” Linden looked up at her but didn’t pull away. “But since you’ve told me about the woman thing, I’ve been touching you more and more. Have you noticed?”

“A little, yeah.”

“And since last night, I just can’t stop thinking about holding you. It’s all I want to do.”

Asher ran her hands into Linden’s hair and said, “I’d love it if you held me all night long.”

CHAPTER 28

Linden had gotten her wish. She had woken up next to Asher and had kissed her good morning long and slow before they both had to get up and get ready for work. This was the part of being a wedding planner that was both the best part and the worst part – the actual weddings. During the week, Linden still worked typically Monday through Friday, having a few Mondays off here and there, but most weddings happened to be on the weekends, so that meant that she usually had a six-day workweek or, on rare occasions, a five-day workweek if she only had a Saturdayora Sunday wedding and not both. Usually, they tried not to give a planner two weddings to run in one weekend, but Linden and Asher were the best, so they got the most clients. There were also only so many weekends a year, and everyone tried to cram them in during the spring and summer.

She had left Asher at the door of Asher’s bedroom in order to get home, shower, and get ready for her wedding, which would be at a small church and then a hotel ballroom. She’d kissed her there again and promised to see her later that night because she didn’t want to go until tomorrow before she saw Asher again.

The wedding itself was only fifty guests and should only take about fifteen minutes since it wasn’t a religious ceremony. The church only had a front door and no rooms for the bridalparty to get ready, so they had brought in a couple of trailers and had a few tents set up in the back for privacy. It would be awkward, but the bride would walk in through the front door, go to the back, and then the processional music would start, and she’d walk up to her waiting groom. Linden hadn’t ever held a ceremony in a location like this, but the bride had been insistent because this was where her parents had gotten married.

Linden usually hid in the back of the wedding, vigilant for any possible issues, but the church, which was really more of a chapel, made that difficult. There were only so many seats for the guests, and a pew ran the entire back wall, so if she stood back there, she’d block a guest’s view of the ceremony. In the front corner of the church was a small platform with a railing around it, where the three musicians were seated now that the ceremony was underway, so Linden stood behind them. When the ceremony finished, she rushed outside ahead of the bride and groom and small bridal party and motioned for all of them to go back to the trailers while the wedding guests departed for the reception hall.

Once she had everyone safely stowed away, Linden reached for her phone and messaged the assistant, who was already at the reception hall, to let him know that the guests were on their way and that the bridal party was thirty minutes out. The reception would be the more difficult part of today. The bride and groom had families that didn’t quite get along and hadn’t agreed on much throughout the planning process. They had all wanted to control the seating chart for the two hundred guests invited to the party after the ceremony. The mother of the bride wanted her sister to sit at the head table, but the mother of the groom had three sisters and thought it wouldn’t be fair for one and not all to sit up there. Linden was just hoping for a reception without any major drama or events.

When they arrived, she had the DJ announce the bridal party, followed by the bride and groom, and they were off. Linden bounced from the mother and father of the bride to the DJ to make sure he had the right song to play for the first dance and remembered to avoid certain songs that the couple didn’t want to be played. Then, she checked on the cake because it looked like it might be leaning a bit and had the vendor ensure her that it would stay standing for the cutting. She made sure the bar had enough booze and ice and that the tables were released to the buffet in proper order and timing. Finally, the real part of the event was underway. Speeches were done, the cake was cut, and everyone was now mingling, dancing, and enjoying themselves. She could finally breathe.

They only had the ballroom until eleven, which was an early time to end, but the wedding had been at one, and the reception had started at three, so that was still a pretty long party. By ten, a large percentage of people had already left or were making their way out of the event, and that made Linden smile because she wouldn’t have to help wrangle the drunk crowd to leave when the reception was over. The bride and groom were ready to depart as well, which meant that the rest of the group wouldn’t be far behind them. Linden organized their exit and waited until the rest of the guests began making their way home. Then, she settled things with the family of the bride and groom and the hotel and got into her car, sitting in the parking lot. It had been another long day, and she was exhausted. She knew she needed to get some sleep, but there was only one place she wanted to be.

???

Linden pulled into another parking lot and turned off her car. She could hear the music playing from the tent and recognized it as a pretty standard song played at receptions.She’d heard it at least a thousand times by now. She got out of her car, locked it, and walked slowly toward the white reception tent. Thankfully, the heat and humidity had cooperated tonight, so it felt mostly okay to be outside. She scanned the tent, open on all sides, and found her.

Asher had her back to Linden and was standing outside of the tent, looking in, likely keeping her head on a swivel, as they were all trained to do. She was wearing a pastel green dress and short white heels. Her hair was pulled back as it usually was on wedding days, and she had her arms down at her sides. Linden knew that they’d all been taught by Carolyn never to cross their arms at weddings because it made them appear closed off or upset about something, and Asher was a rule follower, to be sure. She smiled at that as she walked closer.

“You look beautiful,” she said from just behind Asher.

Asher turned quickly and looked surprised before she smiled.

“What are youdoinghere?”

“Mine wrapped early, so I thought I’d see if you needed any help.”

“You’ve never done that before,” Asher replied with a lifted eyebrow.

“Well, now, there’s the possibility of sex,” Linden joked with a wink. “So…”

Asher laughed and said, “Oh, thereis, huh?”

“I missed you, okay? It’s been a long day. My wedding was fine, but I missed you, and I knew your party wouldn’t be over yet. I wanted to see you.”

“It won’t be too much longer. Half the guests have already left, and he’s about to play the second to last song. Plus, the bar announced last call about thirty minutes ago.”

Asher then turned back around, likely to make sure everything was still okay, and Linden took the chance and wrapped her arms around Asher from behind.

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