Page 9 of All Dressed Up

CHAPTER THREE

“I don’t know about this.” Rachel hesitated halfway down the Lakeside Inn’s gravel parking lot.

“It’s just a trunk. It’s not like you haven’t done it before.” Bethany stopped and pantomimed with her hands. “You’ll open it and close it. Easy peasy.”

Rachel wasn’t so sure. Nothing seemed easy when it came to her heart and Will. Couldn’t she go on pretending that they’d never gotten together? Maybe in time she’d start up with someone else.

Her brother’s ex-business partner, Marc Bellamy, was coming to town next week. She’d won French cooking lessons with him through a contest that Donovan and Zoe ran over the winter. Maybe Marc could be her distraction. He was certainly handsome enough.

Trouble was she didn’t want to be distracted by another man. What she wanted was some assurance that the guy she was head over heels for felt the same way about her. She bit down on her lip and glanced up at the huge three-story inn, her gaze resting on the second-floor window with its bright yellow shutters. Inside, they’d find the infamous antique chest.

Why couldn’t she have found a wedding dress inside the first time she’d opened it or some other sign that Will was the one for her?Anysign.

It’d worked out for her friend. Bethany had been the first one to discover the trunk and what it was capable of doing. She’d found Mary’s exquisite, vintage wedding dress inside that fit her to a T. She planned on wearing it when she married Adam this fall.

Rachel turned to Bethany. The last thing she wanted to do was to go up to that room and have her heart broken all over again. “What if I open it and nothing’s in there?”

“If it’s empty, it just means that you and Will need more time. It doesnotmean you shouldn’t tell him how you feel.” Bethany paused, adding, “Who knows... He might surprise you.”

“Yeah... maybe.” Rachel continued to gnaw on her bottom lip, seriously doubting it.

There was only one time that Will had totally caught her off guard during their winter hookups. It was the night Donovan had started a small fire in her kitchen. He’d been making fajitas and not paying attention when her old stove went up in flames.

The Volunteer Fireman’s Department had showed up in seconds, but Will hadn’t been on call that night.

She’d been cleaning up from that crazy evening—wiping down her kitchen counter—when she’d heard her front door slam, followed by Will swooping in and pulling her into his arms for the longest, tightest hug.

She touched her chest, remembering the feel of his heart racing as it melded with hers. She’d thought they’d connected that night, but he’d blown her off the rest of the week. It was that blowoff that led to her putting an end to their hooking up.

A bitter laugh escaped her lips. Maybe she needed to torch her flower shop to get him to show any emotion.

“What’s so funny?” Bethany asked.

“Oh, nothing.” She glanced over at her friend and adjusted her purse strap. “Do we really need to do this?”

“Yes.” Bethany pointed in the direction of the docks. “Tell you what. Let’s go down to the waterside bar and grab a drink first to loosen you up. We’ll make our way to the second floor eventually and justseeif the trunk’s still there.”

“You know it’s there!” Rachel did, too. She’d had Donovan open it a few months ago when he blew it big time with Zoe and was close to losing her forever.

And, of course, Mary had passed along to her twin via the trunk all the items he needed to win Zoe back.

What did the ghost have against Rachel’s happily ever after? She pondered that thought while following Bethany down the pebbly hill toward the water.

It was busy for a Tuesday night with patrons milling around the bar and filling up the outside seating. Rachel could certainly understand the desire to hang out here and soak up summer. The dock was one of her favorite places. She adjusted the straps on her sundress and took a second to take in a deep breath of fresh lake air.

The Lakeside Inn on any other night would have been top on her summer hangout list. Brandon and Abby Swift had done an amazing job breathing life back into the once-abandoned inn. Reaching the tiki bar, she could only laugh seeing Brandon decked out in a crisp blue Hawaiian shirt tossing a cocktail shaker in the air, spinning around, and catching it with one hand. The sound of reggae music boomed from large, black speakers on each side of the bar.

“Well, if it isn’t two of the prettiest ladies in Buttermilk Falls.” Brandon greeted them with a huge, toothy grin.

“Hello, Tom Cruise.” Rachel couldn’t help herself, referring to the famous movie.

Brandon laughed. “What can I get you?”

“Two really strong cocktails...” Bethany slid onto a stool, pulling out the empty one next to her for Rachel. She leaned into Brandon. “...reallystrong.”

“I gotcha. Abby’s Summer Spell coming right up.”

Rachel watched as Brandon went to work, cracking open two pineapple juice cans and mixing in rum and a couple of other ingredients she didn’t recognize. A powerful summer cocktail just might do the trick.

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