A Winter’s Wedding (Christmas Cove #3)

Chapter 17

After spending another night in Buffalo, Leo received word that the highways were finally going to open by mid-morning. Although they were officially late getting home, lazing in bed with his wife was exactly where he wished to stay forever. But important things, like driving home and having a second wedding still awaited. He reluctantly dragged America out of bed and to breakfast at the same donut shop he had visited the day before. This time, the coffee would be hotter and the donuts fresher.

“I’m excited to get home,” America said as she shook the excess powdered sugar from her pastry onto a white plate. “As fun as this trip has been, and it has been pretty good, I never want to take a road trip again.” She rubbed the side of her bum indicating there had been too many hours spent sitting in a car.

“Never?” Leo asked with batting eyes. “I’ve liked it very much. Especially the part last night.”

“Don’t be vulgar,” she said with a wink, and the apples of her cheeks warmed. On the table next to her coffee mug, her phone buzzed, and the screen lit up. “It’s my mom.” America stood from the seat at the counter and walked to an empty booth near the windows where pink and red paper hearts left over from Valentine’s Day still hung.

Her mom and dad crammed beside each other vying for camera space. “America. I tried to call you last night, but it wouldn’t go through. Where are you?”

“We got snowed in yesterday, in Buffalo. Service has been spotty.”

“Buffalo? What on earth are you doing there?” her mom said.

There was far more explaining America needed to do than she had the bandwidth for at the moment. “Our flights got canceled out of Vegas and the airline couldn’t rebook us until Friday. So, we decided to drive.”

“Was it a nice surprise? Seeing Leo?” Mom said with a shoulder shimmy.

“You knew?” America turned back towards Leo who gave a finger wave. “Of course, you knew. You probably helped set up the whole thing.”

“Guilty,” her dad said with a mischievous grin. “Cam did most of the work, but I helped too. I’m pretty romantic when I want to be.”

“He is,” her mom said and rubbed noses with her dad.

“I appreciate it, I do,” America said though she felt like she was still trying to convince herself that the trip hadn’t been an exercise in self-discovery and learning to operate outside a plan. “It was definitely an unexpected weekend.” America felt it was safe enough to admit as much. “How was the cruise?”

“It was very nice, mon ,” her dad said with some kind of fake Jamaican accent. “There we were, all tan, and relaxed, ready to come home and see our beautiful daughter and that handsome husband-to-be of yours, but when we disembarked, we discovered that our flight was canceled.”

“Wait a second, you’re not back home yet either?” America asked. “There’s a lot to do, and I can only ask Carol to help so much. I don’t want her to think I’m taking advantage of her in any way. What are we going to do?”

“Don’t fret, dear. Everything will happen when it’s supposed to happen.”

“Your mother’s right,” her dad chimed in from off the screen somewhere. “Take a deep breath for me.”

America took an exaggerated breath and blew it out.

“One thing at a time. When will you be back to the Cove?” her mom asked.

“By tonight,” America said. “And what about you?”

“Your father was able to book us a flight to Pittsburgh, that’s as close as we could get since that winter storm has shut down half the country. I guess we’re driving the rest of the way, just like you.”

“We still have all day Friday to sort everything out. So, stop worrying and enjoy this little pre-wedding adventure with your soon-to-be-husband,” Dad said, and guilt panged America’s core. “I hope you’re being safe.”

“Dad!” America wanted to climb into a hole and die at her father having to tell her and Leo to be safe.

“He’s talking about driving safely,” Mom said with a little giggle and America realized she had jumped to the wrong conclusion. Mom whispered into the camera, “But you are being the other safe too, right?”

“MOM!” America covered her face with her free hand. “Are we really doing the whole birds-and-bees thing right now?” She wanted to get off this phone call as soon as possible.

Vivian shrugged with a grin the size of Pennsylvania across her face. “We’re only a couple hours behind you but let me know if anything changes.”

“Will do.” America ended the call.

Returning to the counter from the most embarrassing conversation she could recall ever having, America tossed her phone to the surface. “I don’t know how I’m gonna tell them the truth about all this. If we lie, how will my parents ever trust us again? It just doesn’t seem right, but I don’t know what else to do. All the guests are expecting a perfect wedding like we’re the king and queen of the Cove or something.”

Leo chuckled but sucked it in when he realized she wasn’t being hyperbolic. “I don’t think they see us like that. And how do you know what their expectation is? Did you ask them?”

“They strung up a banner across Main congratulating us!”

“True, they did do that, but I thought it was a sweet gesture,” Leo said and looked down at his phone screen. “They just want us to be happy is all.”

“Exactly like I said. Their hopes and dreams are riding on our perfect wedding ceremony.” America shoved a bite of jelly donut in her mouth. “What do you keep looking at?” she said, though her words were muffled by delicious pastry.

“The baker texted.”

“Why?” She drew out the word hoping he would stop her soon.

“There’s an issue with the cake.”

She finished chewing and washed down the powdered sugar with a sip of hot coffee so that he could hear her clearly. “What kind of issue?”

“There is none,” Leo said and hid his face behind a steaming coffee mug.

“But you just said there was an issue.” Using her fingers, she slowly lowered the rim below his mouth. “Do you mean there is none, as in no cake?”

He nodded. “Sorry, America. I was getting the whole story before freaking you out.”

“I’m not freaking out,” America spoke as calmly as possible, although inside, she was for sure freaking out. “What happened?”

“The storm knocked out the power and all the cakes thawed out. Then the freezer leaked caky juice all over and shorted out some of the equipment. Needless to say, there is no cake coming.”

“Can we call other bakeries? What about Alfonso, he can whip something up. Right?” America relaxed into her chair, more like deflated into it and thought through possible options including making cupcakes herself. “I can do it. We have plenty of time when we get back. This is fine. Everything is fine.”

“If that’s what you want to do? Sure, I’ll help.”

She leaned in and kissed his cheek. “This day had better not get any worse.”

“You better knock on some wood. That’s playing with fire,” Leo said and rubbed her shoulder. The gesture was nice, but not enough to fix her mood. “I’ll make some calls before we leave the hotel. As much as I love a good cupcake, I’ll see if we have other options, okay?”

“Thank you.”

“You want anything to go?” he asked, and America shook her head. Leo handed his card to the waitress. “What did your mom have to say, anyway?”

“You’re sweet for wanting to change the subject, but I’m afraid it’s not going to help this time.” America sipped her coffee. “Their flight got canceled too. But Mom did say that she helped you surprise me the other day. I know things have gotten a little out of control, but I want you to know it was a really magical night.”

“It was, wasn’t it?” Leo tapped the corner of his wallet on the counter and sipped his coffee. “Are they going to miss the wedding?”

“They caught a flight to Pittsburgh and are driving from there. We’ll probably get into town about the same time. Mom said not to worry, that we have all day tomorrow to pull everything together.”

“For our fake wedding?”

“Yes! For a fake wedding. Now can we go before anything else bad happens?”

“Knock on that wood,” Leo suggested again, though he meant it as a joke, she heeded his warning. With a balled-up fist and gritted teeth, she tapped her knuckles on the wooden counter three times.

“Happy?”

“Delighted,” Leo said and took his card back from the waitress. “Thanks.”

She leaned across the counter. “Your card was declined. I’m sorry, sir. Do you have another form of payment?”

Leo looked at America and rolled his eyes. “I guess our luck just ran out,” he said and tucked his card away.

America took a twenty-dollar bill from her wallet and handed it to the waitress. “Keep the change.” She turned to Leo. “If there’s just one more thing that goes wrong…” she said as a warning while Leo held the exit door open for her.