“It’s brutal,” she muttered. “Like being trapped in the Home Depot garden center.”
Whoa, rough. “It’s a family piece,” Cindy said, digging for calm and all the rationale she’d practiced. “When you marry at a place like Snowberry Lodge, the beauty is in the history. This trellis arch was built by my grand?—”
“It goes or we go.” Dominique crossed her arms.
Cindy sucked in a soft breath.
“I’m sorry,” Dominique added. “I have standards and they must be met.”
“Well, we have standards, too.”
They all spun around at the sound of Jack’s voice. He stood in the doorway, in the white shirt and dark pants he wore under his sleigh ride costume, looking calm, cool, collected, and very handsome.
Here comes the cavalry, Cindy thought with a burst of affection.
But would his help cost them this opportunity? Her heart dropped to the floor at the thought of what a lose-lose situation she was in.
“And who are you?” Dominique asked with a surprising amount of interest.
“The groom,” he said simply, walking forward. “I’m Jack Kessler, Cindy’s fiancé.”
“And ex-husband,” Dominique said, proving that shehadlistened to “Candy” on that first phone call. “I can see why she’d want you back.”
Wait. Was sheflirtingwith Jack?
Dominique came closer and extended her hand. “I’m Dom, Jack. I hope you’re going to use those nice muscles to move the eyesore.”
He shook her hand, held her gaze for a second or two, then put an arm around Cindy. “That eyesore has been in Cindy’s family for generations,” he said. “It’s symbolic of happy marriages and long-lasting unions.”
Dominique lifted an eyebrow. “It’s symbolic of hunting lodges and haunted forests.” She sniffed and turned to Parker. “What do you think?”
He looked through a camera lens, still chewing a pastry. When he swallowed, he shook his head. “The lines fight the geometry of the room. Move it outside, maybe behind the glass as a backdrop. See? Problem solved.”
Dominique took a deep breath and shuttered her eyes on the exhale. “Well, then, we’ll just?—”
“I’ll move it,” Jack said.
Cindy whipped around. “Jack! You can’t?—”
“Yes, he can,” Dominique said. “Parker, set up for some B-roll shots. Sloane, get me powdered. Cindy, I want to see you on camera. And, Jack, darling, why are you standing there? Carry that monster out of my sight.”
Cindy saw Jack breathe in hard enough to flare his nostrils, but he just flicked a brow in Dominique’s direction and walked past her.
While Sloane got Dominique powdered, Cindy hustled to Jack.
“Honey, what are you doing?” she asked, stepping up to join him on the platform.
He turned. “Cameron’s in the ski shed with Nicole. Can you get him over here?”
“Jack, the trellis…our good luck…you were so adamant.”
His features softened as he looked at her. “MJ told me there are two other venues in the running.”
“Yeah, I guess I thought it was a done deal, but…”
“You want this, Cindy.”
“But you want the trellis.”
