Page 57 of Coming Home

“But I’ll bet Jackson is. And he would be happy to take his new wife dancing if she wore this.”

Fortunately, the boutique also stocked shoes, and Rylie chose a pair with chunky, three-inch heels which were the same shade as the wedding dress. Surprisingly, they were chic and comfortable. Even if they hadn’t been, Ainsley would have chosen them. They looked as if they had been made to be worn with this dress.

They talked nonstop on the way back to the Cove, the dress bag lying in the rear of the SUV, the shoebox next to it. Rylie dropped her off at the bakery, and as Ainsley walked up the stairs to her apartment, she thought she had never been happier.

She couldn’t wait to see what marriage between her and Jackson would be like.

CHAPTER 20

Ainsley was soaking in a tub, about to get out, when her cell rang. She leaned over the tub’s edge to pick it up, seeing it was Jackson.

“Hi, you,” she said huskily.

“Hey. I missed you last night.”

She sighed. “I missed you, too. But I’m with Rylie on this one. I don’t want to see you until the ceremony today. Not that I buy into that ‘bad luck to see the groom on your wedding day’ bit, but I think the anticipation will be good for us.”

“Agree. I took out some of my frustration with Gage this morning. Did our usual training session, using the barbells out of the back of his truck. Then we ran three miles.”

“I hope you didn’t use up all your energy,” she said, her meaning clear by her tone.

He laughed. “I plan to keep you up all night, future Mrs. Martin. And I mean all night.”

Ainsley shuddered, thinking of Jackson’s hands on her, doing the marvelous, delicious things that made her body come alive.

“I’ll hold you to that, Mr. Martin. Did you do anything else this morning?”

“Went to the office. Drew up a quick will for a client in Salty Point. She came by and signed it. I’ll get to the courthouse early and file it before our ceremony.”

“You better not be late.”

“Trust me, I won’t be. I did go by the house to check on the progress. Pete was there. It’s really coming along, Ainsley. Pete thinks we’ll be in it sooner than he anticipated.”

She had met with Pete and selected everything from the farmhouse sink she wanted put in to the handles on the new, soft-close kitchen cabinets. She had worked with Rylie on the shades of paint for various rooms and on the bathroom makeovers. By the time Pete’s crew finished, the Nelson home wouldn’t be recognizable. It would have transformed into the Martin household.

“Any estimate on when work will be completed?” she asked.

“Pete had said four to six weeks. He’s now saying three to four. That’s entirely thanks to Carter, you know.”

Not only was their friend catering all but the cakes for the reception, he had donated an entire week of his time to work on their house, convincing a few of his firefighter friends to do the same.

“Carter is a good friend. I can’t wait to taste everything he’s made for our party,” she said.

“How about you? What did you do today?”

“I put the final, tiny finishes on our wedding cake. Gus helped me load it into my SUV, along with the groom’s cake. He is so proud of his cake, Jackson, and he should be. It turned out better than I could have imagined. If my instructors at l’Ecole Len?tre had seen it, they would have hired him on the spot.”

“I’ll be sure to find Gus at the reception and compliment him. Are you pleased with the cake you made? The last I saw, it was really coming together.”

“I am.”

Ainsley had baked three tiers, using an English garden as her theme. The dominant colors in the floral cake were varying shades of pink and mauve, with the green stems and leaves. On the middle tier, she had lettered the line, You will forever be my always. Jackson hadn’t seen the quote, and she was eager to view his reaction. She felt it was her best work to date, and Gus had reminded her to photograph it so that the picture could be placed on the Buttercup Bakery website. She did so, also including his groom’s cake, photographing it from several angles.

It had surprised her when Jackson told her Gus had contacted him for ideas to incorporate into the groom’s cake. At first, Gus had thought to make the theme sports-related, but after talking to Jackson, Gus had told Ainsley he had changed his mind. He didn’t share with her what he designed and baked, and she had only seen the finished product this morning when they drove both cakes over to Boo’s house.

It had been all about Paris—and had taken her breath away.

Gus told her that Jackson had said he had never left the country before, and he wanted to travel with Ainsley at some point, especially to Paris, knowing she had spent a formative part of her time in the City of Lights.

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