“Think we’ll ever find out who dumped the trash?” Bobby said, starting down the Beachwalk.
“Chief Kelly thinks so.”
“I’m sorry it happened.” Bobby said. “Honestly.”
“So why are we out here?”
“Something Wren said the other night.” Bobby slowed his pace as they passed the first Victorian lamp. “She said you and I are the ones to change the culture of our town. All this East versus West stuff, the division we all feel has to end. We didn’t start the rivalry, but our little pranks escalated it. Your speech to the Chamber of Commerce was dead-on. You ruffled some feathers, and maybe that’s why the brunch got trashed, I don’t know. But I’m going to start ruffling feathers with you. Let’s challenge the things that divide Sea Blue Beach.”
“What about Mac Diamond and Alfred Gallagher?”
“Wren had a few things to say about them too.” Bobby laughed to himself. “She said I was blinded by their success and to wake up and smell the coffee.”
“I still haven’t replied to Mac’s job offer.”
“Are you going to take it? It’d be a great opportunity, but he’d own you, Caleb. I guess you know that already.”
“I’m happy to work on the Org. Homestead. I have a few other clients. Simon wants to turn Doyle’s into a brewery. That’ll keep me busy.”
“Wren wants to buy and refurbish the Sunset Bowling Parlor on our side of town. You interested in the job?”
Caleb grinned. “You and me working together?”
“Might just be the thing to start healing the divide.”
Caleb offered his hand. “Friends?”
“Friends.” Bobby shake was solid. “Now, when you going to marry Emery?”
“Ah, okay, I see, I see.” Caleb laughed. “The real reason Wren sent you to talk to me.”
“Come on, man, you’ve loved her since you first met her.”
“Beg pardon, Bobby, but how do you know?”
“Wren dated Shift one semester. They went to prom. Don’t tell me you don’t remember. She was too beautiful for him.”
“And you.”
Bobby’s laugh seemed to echo over the water. “By the way, I know it was Emery who ran into me that night you trashed our field. Kneed me where the sun don’t shine. Took me out of the action.”
“You think so?” Caleb grinned and turned back for the Starlight. “You’re going to have to take that up with her.”
31
EMERY
“The limo is here.” Four little words never incited such panic and rushing about, but it was time to go. True to Ava Quinn’s character, everything about this wedding was timed to the last second.
Shemustarrive at the church at three o’clock as the tower bells rang, emerging from the limo with Dad, walking up the stone steps, into the foyer, and down the aisle as the organist played “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.” In a twist of tradition, the bridesmaids would follow.
The ride from the house to the church was forty-five minutes with ten minutes to spare for unexpected delays. Yesterday Caleb and Emery drove the route four times with Ava while she made notes.
“If the limo driver goes too quickly,I’ll have him slow down. If we arrive early,we’ll go around the block. If nothing else,I’llbe the first bride in history to walk down theaisle a minute early.”
Dad and the wedding planner were equipped with walkie-talkies to ensure everything was in sync.
Yet now the limo had arrived, and no one moved for the door.
