The Beach Wedding (Married in Malibu Book 1) (5 page)

J
ason had always appreciated
that whatever his mood, he could look out his windows and find some part of the ocean that would match it—some days felt like calm seas and others were closer to the rolling power of the waves. He often needed to stare out at the water for a while before he was ready to start writing for the day. Right then, though, it didn’t seem to matter how long he stared out over the surf. He simply couldn’t sum up everything he was feeling. Couldn’t even begin to, actually.

He was supposed to be working on his latest thriller—the publisher’s deadline was only a couple of weeks after Amber’s wedding date. Early on, he’d learned that there was no substitute for simply sitting down and writing. He was currently working on a key chapter that would define who the hero of this novel was at his core, but Jason still wasn’t sure if he had the guy completely clear in his head. After a fruitless half hour of doing little more than staring at the screen and seeing only Liz’s face instead of any of the words on the page, he pushed his laptop away and moved to stand at the window.

If someone were to look up at the house from the beach, he knew how he would appear: brooding, stony, like one of the heroes in his books. But he wasn’t unfeeling. If anything, he was feeling far too much. It was impossible not to when Liz had been close enough to touch and yet a million miles away. In the end, he hadn’t been able to stop himself from asking why she’d left.

Her answers had left him reeling.

Jason’s computer dinged, and when he realized that Amber was trying to get through to him on Skype again, he leaped to answer her call. Was she having second thoughts about the wedding at Married in Malibu?

“Amber, is everything all right? I thought you’d be busy shooting.”

“I was, but I hurried back to my trailer as soon as I got a break. Is she still there?” Amber looked concerned. When he said no, she went on, “I need to make sure that you’re absolutely okay with things.”

“Don’t worry about me, honey. You should just be concentrating on your movie and your fiancé right now.”

“I know how much Liz meant to you. I know how broken up you were when she left. You don’t have to pretend to be a tough guy with me.”

“That was all a long time ago,” he said, and though it was the truth, he now knew for sure that time hadn’t done one single thing to diminish his feelings.

“It doesn’t matter how long ago it happened. The point is that it hurt you. She hurt you. And now she’s back. Are you certain that it’s going to be okay working with her on the wedding?”

Thirty minutes ago, Jason would have agreed with Amber’s assessment of things. He’d thought it was all so cut and dried—Liz had left and broken his heart, end of story.

But now he knew that their story was a million times more complicated and layered. And he was only just beginning to unravel his thoughts and emotions in the wake of all that Liz had finally explained to him.

Nonetheless, he wasn’t going to let anything get in the way of his niece’s big day. Not even the fact that seeing Liz again had spun his world completely off its axis. “Your wedding will be perfect, honey. Both Liz and I are going to make sure of it.”

“I love you for wanting the best for me and Robert, but you know that’s not what I asked,” Amber pointed out with a slight frown. “I need to know that you’re okay.”

“I’m the uncle here,” he said with a smile. “I’m the one who’s supposed to be looking after you.”

“I know. But I can’t stand the thought of you getting hurt again.”

For so long, he’d wanted to know why Liz had left. Now that he did, even though it was a lot to take in—especially the parts where Liz had pointed out that he’d been so afraid of losing her he’d held on too tight—Jason realized he actually did feel better.

Liz hadn’t left because she hadn’t loved him. Instead, she’d loved him so much that she’d tried to do whatever she could so that he could achieve his dreams.

“Liz and I have just spent some time talking things through,” he told his niece.

“And?”

He smiled again, knowing he’d need to wrap his brain a lot more firmly around everything that had just happened before he could even begin to discuss it with Amber. All he could honestly say at this point was, “I’m glad she and I finally talked. In any case,” he added before she could push again, “like I said, you don’t need to worry about me, honey. But I’m glad you do.”

They went back and forth for another couple of minutes about directors and scriptwriters and waiting around for an hour to get a shot that lasted only a few seconds. It was good to hear about everything going on in Amber’s life—and to know how great it all was. Jason had always wanted to be there to help his niece build an incredible future. Of course, he’d never expected that Liz would factor into Amber’s future—or his own, for that matter.

“Earth to Uncle Jason?”

“I’m still here,” Jason assured her. “Tell me more about the tweaks you’re making to get the script to work.”

“No, we don’t need to talk about that anymore. Not when I know you’re thinking about something else. Someone else.”

“How do you know I’m not thinking about my novel?”

“That’s a different kind of preoccupied face.” She looked over her shoulder. “They’re calling me back to the set, but promise me that you will tell me right away if we need to look for another wedding venue.”

“We’re all set with Married in Malibu,” Jason assured her. “You focus on your movie. Let me take care of everything else.”

But Amber was right that he couldn’t stop thinking about Liz. After being so close to her again—and finally talking about their past—it was impossible not to. Being alone in the same room with her was hard enough: She was so beautiful that he could barely keep his hands off her. But what she’d said had made it even harder.

“I left because I was holding you back
” had shocked him.
“I never expected to find a love that eclipsed everything else”
had resonated deeply with him. But it was
“Why couldn’t you let us each have a little space?”
that kept repeating over and over in his head.

When he’d first seen her again that morning in her office, Jason had been able to use the fact that Liz had left him like a shield to protect himself from what he felt, making it easier to keep his distance. It was never truly easy to stay away from Liz, but at least it had been possible.

But now?

Well...now he wasn’t at all sure that keeping his distance was what he wanted. Not when everything he’d believed about their breakup had turned out to be so wrong.

Love hadn’t died. On the contrary, it had bloomed so fast that it had taken over everything in its path.

Jason went back to the window and saw that the ocean looked calmer than it had a short while ago. Not pulling in so many different directions, simply moving with a steady power and weight that would sweep along anything that went out into it.

Just the way he had swept Liz along all those years ago.

Looking back, he could see now how young they’d been. He’d fallen so hard for her and had been so desperate to keep her that he’d told himself he didn’t need anything but Liz to be happy. But he could no longer deny that Liz was right—he had needed to run free when he was in his twenties, needed to go out and live some of the lives that he wanted to write about. See places with his own eyes that up to that point had only been images on a computer screen and pictures in magazines. He’d needed to turn imagined settings into memories before he would ever be ready to settle down.

“She knew me better than I knew myself,” he said to the empty room.

And the truth was that she always had.

The problem was that he hadn’t known her well enough. Hadn’t seen that he was suffocating her with his intensity, with his passion, with his love. He’d wanted so badly to be there for her, to prove to her that nothing was more important than their love, not even their individual dreams. But he could see now that if he and Liz had gotten married, they would both have ended up feeling completely smothered by their life together. Ten years ago, Jason had been barely more than a kid. He’d wanted to be there for Liz, for Amber, for his writing career, but he hadn’t known how to do it all. He’d been stretched so tight emotionally that there were times when he had been afraid he would snap. He hadn’t seen enough of the world, hadn’t built up enough life experience to truly be ready to share it with anyone, not even Liz.

Just as she’d said today, love was supposed to make you better, stronger, fuller. But they’d both been too young, too immature, too lacking in confidence. Especially him. Which was why he’d clung too tightly. And she’d run.

Now, however, both of them were doing precisely what they wanted to do for a living. They were also older, full of hard-won life experience, and so much closer to living their dreams.

The only thing either of them lacked now was love.

Suddenly, everything clicked into place—both for his book and for himself. Because he finally realized that the protagonist of his book didn’t need to be put through the wringer of any more dark moments. And neither did he. Instead, they both needed to risk everything for true love.

With only a few hours at his keyboard, Jason knew he could completely transform the life of his fictional hero. When it came to real life, however, he suspected wooing Liz was going to be a heck of a lot harder.

But he also knew that nothing would ever be as hard as living without her.

“
I
’m almost done setting
up the sound system,” Tyce Smith told Liz a few days later. “If you could put me in touch with the artist you’ve booked to play the first wedding, I’ll tweak things to their specifications.”

“I haven’t booked anyone yet, but I’ll let you know as soon as I have.”

Liz could hardly believe that Tyce had set up their sound system. Even knowing that he’d started out working as the Rose Chalet’s music director didn’t take away from the fact that he was an increasingly big star. There were a dozen more important places he could have been, but he was clearly so loyal to Rose that he was willing to put those other opportunities aside.

Tyce wasn’t the only person Rose had sent their way. RJ was helping to finish the renovations to the venue, which meant that Nathan had no excuse not to give his full focus to solidifying the framework for their computer system. Liz had already forwarded Amber’s measurements to Anne Farleigh, the Rose Chalet’s talented dressmaker, while Phoebe Davis was currently in the garden with Kate. Liz had half expected her gardener to resent the Rose Chalet florist’s intrusion into her territory, but the two women were bonding over an azalea bush that needed careful management. In addition to being given assistance with setting up the music, lights, and floral arrangements, Married in Malibu would also be working with Julie and Andrew, the Rose Chalet’s caterers, to help Jenn with the food for their first wedding.

“I could check in with some friends about their availability,” Tyce offered. “And you could always get Rose to ask around. We know trying to put together your first wedding in two weeks while also getting the venue up and running is a lot to ask.”

The Rose Chalet already had access to great people, so of course it made sense to use them. Even RJ’s presence made sense—he might be one of the owners of the business, but he was also a tremendous help when it came to construction and renovation. But Rose was different. Liz didn’t like the idea of having to call her boss in for help. It felt too much like asking to be rescued. Anything Rose could do for her, Liz should be able to do for herself, shouldn’t she?

“Thank you,” Liz said with a smile, “but I need to check in again with Jason to see if Amber and Robert already have a specific band in mind before we hire anyone else. I’ll move it to the top of my list.”

Ah yes, the list. Liz had thought she’d gotten so much from Jason when she’d been over to his house to see him. Yet it turned out that there were still so many holes, so many places where they needed more information.

The list had started out as notes on Liz’s tablet, but she had transferred it over to pen and paper as it grew. She preferred a physical list, if only for the satisfaction that came when she was able to cross something off. Not that there were too many things crossed off so far, however.

After thanking Tyce again for all he’d done to help, Liz set off through the building to check in with the others. She found Margaret holed up in her office working on two big concept images that showed how the wedding could look. One was an Art Deco design with a jazz band and servers who looked like they had stepped out of a 1930s ballroom. The other design was much more modern—full of sleek lines, metal elements, and mirrors that bounced light around the venue.

“I like both of your ideas a lot.”

“I do, too,” Margaret said. “But…”

“You’re having trouble deciding.”

Margaret hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Sorry. I know that you need the final layouts as soon as possible.”

“Everything you’re doing is great,” Liz assured her. “But at this point, we should get a decision from the clients on which way they want to go. If you could finalize these designs today, I’ll present them right away and get an answer.”

“Great,” Margaret said with clear relief. “I’ll put them in a file for you right now.”

Liz headed over to Nathan’s office and was pleased to actually find him there. Although judging by the sawdust on his clothes, he hadn’t been sitting at his desk for long. Daniel was there, too, with one of his cameras connected to one of the computer’s USB ports.

“I had an idea while hooking up the lighting with RJ,” Nathan explained as soon as she walked in. “What if we were to project photo montages of the happy couple on screens around the venue before the ceremony starts?”

“I like it, but is that going to be easy to put in place in time?”

“We need to make sure our Wi-Fi is secure so that we’re not accidentally broadcasting to the whole world. And get some great photos to project, of course. But Daniel thinks that if we take photographs as the bride, groom, and their guests come in, we could have them ready to go up by the time the ceremony starts.”

“Obviously, those wouldn’t be the final images,” Daniel explained, “but it could add an interesting and unique element to the wedding.”

Despite her reservations about the time crunch, Liz knew to trust her team. After all, that was why she had hired them. Because they were the best.

After telling them to carry on, she headed for the kitchen where Jenn was going through recipe books and making notes for the menu. She had smudges of flour on her cheeks, but on Jenn, that looked perfectly normal.

“I’ve got a couple of different menu options,” she immediately offered, “and I think they’ll work really well, but do you happen to know how many guests are vegetarian, gluten-free, or dairy-free?”

“No, but I’ll find out right away.” LA might be full of beautiful people, but they didn’t stay that way without a lot of work. Celebrities could be the trickiest of all when it came to food, and no wedding venue serving such high-end clients could hope to get by without catering to the specific needs of every single guest.

Travis grabbed her on her way out of the kitchen. “After thinking things through more carefully these past few days, I’m going to need contact details for the guests’ security teams so that I can brief them on our procedures. I’ll also need to make it clear to everyone that on the day of the wedding, all security goes through me. That okay with you?”

“Absolutely, and I will get you that information as soon as possible.”

She stepped out into the gardens, which had been transformed by Kate’s efforts, with help from Phoebe. The tangled and overgrown sections had been replaced with lines of plants standing neatly in their pots, waiting to be transplanted into the flower beds.

“What do you need to know about the flowers for the wedding?” Liz asked.

“I was actually just about to come in to give you my list,” Kate said. “It would help to know whether they simply want roses or something more exotic. And, of course, what we’re going for with the designs inside. And if anyone has any allergies, because there are some blooms that are worse than others.”

Ten items later, Liz had to admit that Kate was very thorough when it came to her job. By the time Liz went back to her office, her list of new questions was so long that she could easily have panicked. Fortunately, she had dealt with similarly overloaded situations in her corporate work and knew that the best way to move forward was to simply push her panic aside, put her head down, and tackle one item at a time.

Bothering Amber was out of the question. Liz couldn’t add to the stress of her hectic filming schedule unless absolutely necessary. Especially not when these exact interruptions had been a big part of why she’d backed out of the wedding in France.

Which left only one person who could give her the information. Jason.

At his house, while she’d just barely escaped without kissing him, she hadn’t been able to avoid delving into their past. In truth, were it not for the frenzied pace of her job here, she would have been able to think of little else but the way Jason had looked as he’d said, “I was a wreck when you left. I was so broken up that I thought I’d never be able to put the pieces back together. I loved you more than anything, and you left without even letting me try to convince you to stay.”

“Just stick to the list, and you’ll be fine,” Liz told herself.

Even so, her heart rocketed around inside her chest as she called Jason, beating even faster when he picked up and agreed to come over in an hour. Just a handful of words from his lips—and knowing he was going to be close enough to touch again—threw her even further off her game.

Would he want to talk more about their past?

Or, even more terrifying, had he been serious when he’d said he wanted to talk about the sparks flying between them now?

By the time Jason walked into her office fifty-five minutes later, Liz’s entire body was thrumming with anticipation. And memories. Memories so strong that one look at his bristly chin was enough for her to guess, “You’ve been working hard, haven’t you?”

“I finished my book fifteen minutes ago,” he said with a smile. “Once I worked out what my hero wanted, it was easier than I thought it would be.”

“Congratulations.” Liz couldn’t imagine writing not just one book, but a dozen, as he had over the years. “Is this the final manuscript or still a rough draft?”

“I’ll start revising it after the wedding.” He sat down on the sofa, and he looked so good that she was grateful for the small barrier of the desk between them as he said, “Some things need time to settle so that you can look at them properly and really understand how to move forward.”

She was almost painfully aware of the sparks flying between them...and of the fact that he seemed not only to be talking about his book, but also about the two of them. Or maybe it was just that being this close to him again was making her a little crazy. Because by
moving forward
, he couldn’t possibly mean them, could he? No, surely he was just talking about his book.

“Thanks for coming so quickly. I’m desperate for more detailed information.” She hid her discomfort over her deeply emotional thoughts by getting out the design folders Margaret had prepared for her. “First, we need a final decision on the theme and color scheme.”

Jason took his time studying the two options before pointing to the arrangement with the Art Deco touches and the warmer colors. “Amber is looking for something classic, but at the same time she doesn’t want it to feel like the same wedding everyone else has. I think it will be just right for her.”

Yet again, Liz was thankful that Jason knew his niece well enough to make these decisions. He’d obviously built an incredible relationship with Amber in the wake of her mother’s death. Not everyone could have managed that; in fact, a lot of men would have run from it. But not Jason.

Jason wasn’t the kind of man who ran.

“Thanks for the quick decision. Knowing which way we want to go will make a lot of things easier.”

“That’s true of a lot of things, isn’t it?”

“Yes, well…” Liz had a feeling he was talking about the two of them again, so she desperately tried to keep the conversation on track. “We will pick the flowers to match the room design, but do you know if Amber has any strong preferences? A particular flower that she’s always loved?”

“If you can find something that manages to bloom beautifully in difficult conditions, that would be a nice touch.”

Trust Jason to look for the meaning in everything, even flower arrangements. “I’m sure Kate can come up with something amazing. Now, about the guests, do you know who will need their own security people, whether there are any allergies or other specific requirements for the food, and which guests will need us to arrange transportation from the airport or somewhere else?”

When Jason smiled before answering, she had a feeling that he was deliberately trying to put her at ease. Clearly, she was looking far too stressed out. “I believe Amber’s friend Hannah will have security with her, and possibly her current co-star, as well. I have contact information for both of them on my phone. Why don’t we give them a ring now and work everything out?”

Thirty minutes later, when the security issues had been taken care of, they went carefully through the guest list. Despite how nervous being this close to Jason still made her, Liz couldn’t help but be charmed by the way each name on the list came with a small anecdote or observation that brought it to life.

“Robert’s Aunt Petunia has decided to backpack all over the world,” he told her with a grin, “even though she’s seventy-three years old. She’ll probably complain that the food isn’t spicy enough, but if you made it the way she likes it, no one else would be able to eat it.”

“That isn’t a problem,” Liz said, already looking forward to meeting Robert’s aunt. “I’ll just get Jenn to make sure that her food is a lot hotter than everyone else’s.”

Liz loved the way Jason turned the people around him into stories. People she had never met became living, breathing individuals to her, simply because he was describing them so well.

Although it suddenly made her wonder, how did he describe her to other people? And what story did he tell? Was it a story of the time they’d spent together when things were good? Or was it a story about the way they’d split up?

Working hard to corral her focus, she said, “Nathan, our IT specialist, has an interesting idea of projecting photos of Amber and Robert and their guests around various points in the room. If you agree that’s a good idea, we’d like a few personal photographs to work with in addition to the shots we’ll take when everyone arrives, so that we can have those available at the venue shortly afterward.”

Jason thought about it. “It does sound interesting, certainly unique, but will it be secure? I know you would never give any of the photographs away or try to sell them to the press, but people are so good at stealing things online. Besides, I’ve never met a photographer who didn’t want to play with their pictures forever.”

“If you deliver the photos to us on a USB stick, we’ll store them in that form, and we won’t put them anywhere there could be outside access. And obviously, the photographs would just be early versions,” she explained. “But if anyone can take great pictures without needing to retouch them, it’s Daniel. I’m very lucky to have such a great team to work with.”