Champagne and Lemon Drops: A Blueberry Springs Chick Lit Contemporary Romance (31 page)

February and March had been rough. It felt
like every time she turned around there was a wedding roadblock
whether it was the availability of the minister, the caterer
hurting her wrist, or even just getting the baker to settle on
whether or not he could make the cake they had chosen. She breathed
a sigh of relief thinking of all they had gone through to pull this
grand wedding together in such a short amount of time. And now they
were within a week of saying their vows.

She rubbed his shoulders and he leaned his
head back, resting it on her shoulder. "Hey," he said gently. "I
love you."

"You can say that again."

"I love you," he said, laughter lifting his
voice.

"Wanna work on our vows?"

"Sure." He tucked a bookmark in the journal
and flipped it closed. He spun to face her on the stool. "I meant
to tell you earlier, the florist said their supplier is
experiencing a blush rose shortage due to weather somewhere or
other." He ran a hand down his face and forced a smile. He looked
drained. He'd seemed tense for the past few days and she wondered
if the idea of getting remarried had been weighing on his mind.
"She's planning to place yellow roses in the bouquets instead. I
told her that was fine. However, I was wondering if we should make
a few minor changes to our color scheme?"

"It'll be fine." Beth smiled and climbed
into Nash's lap. He wobbled on the backless stool and she gave him
a deep kiss. "Thanks for all your help with the wedding. You've
been amazing." Despite the minor issues, she was nowhere near a
bridezilla and that was directly due to him.

"It's no problem," he said, surprised. "It's
kind of fun. Natasha kept me out of the planning when we got
married so it's been nice." He rubbed his nose against hers. "I
like working with you."

She smiled and gave him a kiss. "You've
seemed tense. Are you worried?"

"About Oz?"

She frowned and leaned away. "What? Why?"
She slipped off his lap.

"Uh." He cleared his throat, throwing her a
sheepish look. He ran a hand through his hair. "I've felt a bit
threatened."

Beth blinked. "Threatened?
Has he been
threatening
you?"

"I love you, and want to marry you. My heart
is intrinsically tied to yours. I can't bear the idea of harm ever
coming to you in any way."

Chills ran through Beth. "What happened,
Nash?"

"Everywhere I go, I hear about Oz. Everyone
has such high hopes for him. It's threatening."

Beth crossed her arms, relieved but
aggravated. "Threatening?"

"Everywhere I go in Blueberry Springs, I
have to measure up to Oz. The Before Oz. The New Oz. The Oz who
knows everyone, is friendly, helpful, and was devoted to you.
According to half the town, you two were the perfect couple whereas
I can't even find the right arena to compete with the guy. I can't
be Oz. I'm Nash." He thumped a fist on the island and let out a
rough laugh.

She swallowed hard. "I'm marrying you, not
Oz."

"I know, but this is about
me. My
feelings
.
People refuse to accept that I'm the new guy who has new things to
offer. Like money, prestige, success, and security, which has
always been valued by everyone I know. In Dakota, I'm a catch. But
out here...." He shook his head and turned his hands over, staring
at his smooth, empty palms. "Out here, I'm just an outsider. A man
who can't fix a snowmobile and is oblivious to when you plant
winter wheat. What the hell does winter have to do about the wheat?
Its color? When you plant it? Harvest it? What? I don't know. It's
like half the time everyone is speaking a foreign language. And
there are so many industries out here to know about. Mining,
exploring and tourism, lumber, ranching, farming. You name it, you
have it."

He let out a sigh and rubbed his face.

"I'm an intruder. I haven't
lived here forever. I don't know everyone and everything. I'm
clueless about everything deemed important here. I'm the outsider
who drives a car from Germany. I will
never
measure up to Oz. I will
never
fit in. And even
though Blueberry Springs is important to you, I just can't do it. I
can't find the door in." Nash's forehead furrowed and his hands
clenched. "People think I'm cold."

She stared into Nash's flat eyes, stunned.
She had assumed his strength made him immune to caring whether or
not he fit in. She felt for him, but she also knew that in the city
she'd be in the exact same position and that if he tried—really and
honestly tried—that the town would warm up to him and bring him
into their fold.

"They don't think you're cold," Beth said,
swallowing the partial lie. She reached for his hand, searching for
a way to explain that people liked and admired him despite his
differences. "They don't understand you, that's all. They find you
closed compared to everyone else. It's not fair to judge you by the
same standards because you don't have the lifetime of training for
all the minute social nuances—that's assuming you'd want to be like
all us country bumpkins." She made herself choke out a
half-laugh.

"Is that what it is? I need training?" Nash
frowned.

"Hey," she called softly.
She waited for him to look at her. "People admire and respect you
because you are a doctor and you treat me right. You do good work,
Nash. Those are very important qualities around these parts. Those
make you a
real
man whether you know about winter wheat or not."

She held his hand and focused on him, rocked
that Blueberry Springs had him feeling so insecure and not sure
what she could do about it—if anything.

***

Beth slid a sheet of paper and a pen across
the kitchen island toward Nash. "Cynthia said they wrote down
everything they loved about each other and that became their vows.
Shall we try it?" She took a swallow of her rum and Coke and
cracked her knuckles. Despite Nash's earlier revelation she still
wanted to get their vows crossed off their list, even if she wasn't
feeling quite as inspired as she was half an hour ago.

Nash winced. "Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Crack your knuckles."

Beth bit down a grin and slowly, cracked her
thumb. He closed his eyes and drew in a long, controlled breath.
She let out a delighted laugh. She was looking forward to many
wonderful years of torturing this poor, unexpected soul.

He reached over and pinned down her hands.
"Let's write."

They sat quietly, staring at blank pieces of
paper. Nash flicked his pen back and forth between his fingers.
"I'm not good at this writing stuff," he muttered.

"Just jot down what you love about me."

Beth tucked her head down, prepared to let
her love flow onto the page. After thinking for a minute, her pen
began scratching over the paper. She loved the fact that Nash
helped people every day through his work and how his eyes became a
lighter color when he was happy. Before his little revelation, she
had admired his confidence and how he always seemed so certain
about everything. Her pen hovered over the page. Was it all simply
an act? Was he really as lost inside as everyone else?

Who was this man she was marrying?

Slowly, she began writing again. The man got
things done. His refreshing efficiency never ceased to appeal to
her. There were no hours of consultation with the guys or a
two-hour trip to the hardware store, or even months of
procrastination to change a faucet. He made his decision and got it
done. It was that simple. Even though he usually hired someone else
to do it.

Beth stretched her arms over her head and
flexed her fingers. She peeked at Nash's piece of paper. One
sentence. He frowned at her and covered his page with an arm.

Beth reread her notes. She kept thinking of
Oz. Many of the things she loved about Nash, she had also loved
about Oz. Yet, how could it be? The two men were so different. She
read her list, bothered that majority of her vows could also work
for marrying another man. She tapped her pen against the island and
cleared her throat. "Ready?"

His eyebrows jumped up and pen stopped
moving. "To share?"

"Yep." Originally she'd wanted her vows to
be a surprise, but seeing how he seemed to be facing some kind of
writer's block, she didn't want to go on and on about him if he was
going to sum up his love in one sentence. "I'll go first."

Her cheeks warmed as self-consciousness
crept in. "The way you look unguarded when you sleep. The way your
whiskers are a different color than your hair color. The way
you—"

"Wait. I look guarded?"

"What?"

"When I sleep. You said I look unguarded. Do
I look guarded when I'm awake?"

"Um, no. It's just that you look innocent
when you sleep." She consulted her list again. "The way you—"

"Innocent? What do I look like when I'm
awake?" She glanced at Nash in irritation. "No, really," he
insisted.

"Incorrigible." She flicked a hand at his
list. "Did you want to go first?"

Nash furrowed his brow and cleared his
throat. He ran a hand through his neat hair and began. "You're
clean and don't have messy pets or friends. You're nice to people.
You respect my space, and you have smooth skin."

Nash folded his paper, looking pleased with
himself.

Oh.

He loved her because she was clean, nice,
left him alone, and presented well.

This was not what she had in mind. At
all.

Chapter 18

Beth groaned and handed Katie a cup of
coffee. She sat in the chair across from her friend and banged her
filing cabinet shut. "Keep on not believing in marriage, Katie.
Wedding planning and details are complete hell."

"I thought Nash was taking care of most of
it? At least that's what you were complaining about last month—that
there was nothing for you to do."

"He has... it's just..." Beth buried her
face in her hands and groaned again. "I need to find a way to
magically make Nash's vows half decent."

Katie quirked her head. "What do you
mean?"

"I mean, his vows suck and we have less than
a week to try and find an appropriate vow. We shouldn't have put it
off for this long. I had no idea he wasn't poetic. I just assumed
he'd write an awesome vow."

"But all you have to do is make up some
flowery gook and everybody gushes."

"According to Nash, I'm clean."

Katie burst out laughing and Beth scowled at
her. "Not funny."

"But how Nash is that? It's perfect." Katie
clapped her hands in glee and Beth contemplated kicking her in the
shins. Her office was small enough she could get her without
getting out of her chair.

"Okay. Sorry." Katie lowered her head in
thought and Beth hoped she could come up with a good plan and fast.
"Hang on." Katie jumped from her chair. "I've got an idea. Be right
back."

Minutes later, Katie returned, looking
triumphant.

"What've you got?" Beth asked, trying to see
what was up with Katie's very worn piece of paper. She hoped it
wasn't one of Will's super sappy love notes. Beth had made the
mistake of peeking at one of the ones Katie had left lying around
at her place a few months ago, and they were beyond gushy. She knew
Will was romantic, but his letters were one-hundred percent,
over-the-top romantic goop that had made her feel like a voyeur who
had scooped out the sugar bowl.

Katie folded down the top of the tattered
note. "Inspiration. It was written for me, but maybe Nash could
borrow an idea or two."

Beth scrunched her nose but
Katie failed to notice. Katie cleared her throat and stood by the
closed door. "
She can make any moment feel
intimate."

Beth raised an eyebrow. She knew Will was a
sap, but seriously. And Katie carrying this thing around with her
all the time? She was just as bad. Maybe even more so since she
felt the need to keep it hidden all the time.

"Yeah, maybe not that one," Katie said
quickly. "It sounds too personal. You don't want everyone in
attendance getting frisky with each other."

Beth snorted a laugh and indicated that
Katie should continue reading.

"
She smells like rain."
Katie paused
to consider it. "That's pretty good, don't you think? He could
borrow that one. It's creative and sweet. We could somehow make him
think that it's his idea to say that about you."

Beth frowned. Something about that last line
seemed familiar. It was like a faint call on the wind. Familiar and
fleeting, yet undefined.

"Oh, here's a good one." Katie looked up.
"What?"

Beth deftly snatched the note. Katie tried
to retrieve it, but Beth was already reading it under her breath.
She held her friend off with one hand, her mind furiously taking in
the tight printing, the words, the meaning, the emotions.

She unfolded the top of the
note and glared at Katie. "
Reasons I Love
Beth
? Really?" She read a few of the lines,
loudly. "
She smells better than rain. Her
skin glows when she is happy. Her smile lights up my gray life. Her
kindness makes me want to be a better person. Her voice wavers when
she is trying to hide her emotions. She has faith in everyone. She
is forgiving.
" Beth's voice shook, but she
continued on, her tone growing softer. She needed to keep reading.
To make him real. To solidify her thoughts and feelings. The note
was like an oasis. An oasis she wasn't sure she was looking for,
but couldn't help torturing herself with nevertheless.
"
She is tender and softly independent and
strong. I want to wrap my fingers in her delicate brown curls and
snuggle up in her trusting, warm, brown eyes.
"