“It’ll be a surprise all right,” Fiona muttered. “All right. So. Assuming Iva doesn’t murder Hollis when she finds out about his master plan, and the wedding is going to go on as scheduled…you’re going to need to figure out how to put this curse—and its ghost—to rest. Right?”
“Right.” Callie heaved a sigh of relief that she’d got Fiona back on her side. “But how do I do that?”
Fiona settled back in her seat. “Well, you could do what Leslie Nakano did up at Shenstone House when she was being haunted—actually try and talk to the ghost and see what she—or he, or whatever—will tell you.”
“I was already planning to do some serious research about Brenda Tremaine—yes, she’s some relation to Ben; that’s how we got access to the building back then because they still own the place—and the others who died. I guess that’s where I should start.”
“Yes. And you’d better get on it pretty soon, since New Year’s Eve is only three weeks from tomorrow,” Fiona said, baring her teeth in a humorless smile. Then her expression turned crafty. “Why don’t you ask cutie Ben Tremaine to help you do the research. He’s still single, you know, and it’s his own family’s building. And I do like his beard.”
“I do too,” Callie said. And blushed.
Dammit.
Four
December wasthe busiest time of the year for most people, but when you were an event planner—especially one who specialized in weddings—the craziness was off the charts. Thus Callie had Christmas-themed weddings,Nutcrackerpremieres, and holiday parties up the wazoo.
That was why it was a whole week later before Callie had time to make the ninety-minute drive to Wicks Hollow from her home base in Grand Rapids.
T-minus fourteen days till the Crazy Cursed Tremaine Tower Wedding.
Why am I doing this to myself?
The problem was, it was too late to change things now. Not only had she promised a gorgeous wedding event for Iva Bergstrom and Hollis Nath, but she’d booked (and paid for, nonrefundably) the photographer, musicians, invitations, flowers, and food…and aside fromthat, she’d had five “teaser” pieces in various midwest publications about the Breaking of the Tremaine Clock Tower Curse wedding.
She’d been on the local television morning show in Grand Rapids, and had been interviewed on two different radio stations. Numerous blogs—both wedding planner-type blogs and ghost-hunter blogs—had picked up the story and reposted it.
Even Baxter James, the cute and shy brewmaster who did freelance writing for some of the local papers, had done a big spread for theGrand Rapids Press—complete with photos of not only Callie and her office, but also Hollis Nath (who was a bigwig lawyer in the city and seemed to know everyone) and his bride…along with photos from the fateful night Brenda and Barclay had tried to get married.
In short, she’d trumpeted her intentions far and wide via as many avenues as possible, so noweveryone(or at least it felt like everyone) knew about the wedding that was meant to break a deadly curse.
What was I thinking?
But pulling out now or changing venues would leave an ugly stain on her business and leave Callie looking like an irresponsible and unreliable wedding planner.
She sighed and tuned in the radio to a satellite All Christmas All The Time station as she sped along the highway. Thank goodness the snow that had been promised wasn’t supposed to hit for at least another three hours. She might not get to Wicks Hollow and the Tremaine Tower until the sun was just setting, but at least she wouldn’t be driving in a lake effect snowstorm.
It was Tuesday—the only night she really had free between now and December 27th—and it was the last chance she’d have to look at the Bergstrom/Nath venue before it was crunch time. Every other evening between now and then was busy with holiday parties and weddings—not to mention Christmas itself—and the days were filled with last-minute meetings, decoration finalizations, and food tastings.
Fortunately, most of the parties she had going on were with regular vendors and venues, so even though CQEvents never took any party for granted, at least she knew the gigs and their settings very well and was comfortable with each of them.
Except for the Bergstrom/Nath wedding. That was definitely a growing concern, potential curse notwithstanding.
Callie had sent a list of requests to the caretaker related to getting lights fixed and checking on the stability of the stairs and balcony. The Tremaines had agreed she could replace the curtains in the anteroom, so Callie had put a rush on those. She’d also hired a cleaning crew to go in and clean out the antechamber and sweep up the spiral stairs, so at least that should be in better shape than last time.
The mistletoe would surely be gone.
But so would all the critters, she hoped.
Callie still had the building key from before, so she didn’t expect to run into anyone, like the caretaker—even though she’d sent a last-minute email that she would be checking the venue tonight. There was no chance she’d run into Ben Tremaine.
Which was good, because when she left to go home last week, she’d walked by the Roost on the way to her car. And she was pretty sure she’d seen him in there, sitting with a bunch of guys. They looked like they were playing Trivia, and whoever they were, they’d be lucky to have him on their team. The guy knew everything.
But apparently he hadn’t been that busy after all.
Callie had too much to do to spend any time feeling awkward or shy around him anyway. He’d be far too busy doing end of year numbers for—it seemed—half of the businesses in Wicks Hollow, to be checking up on her anyway.
Callie parked on the street not far from Trib’s, which was packed to the gills even though it was a Tuesday night in the off-season. It looked like standing room only from her viewpoint as she climbed out of her car. No surprise. Her uncle’s restaurant was known throughout the county as the trendiest, most fabulous eatery, and it was booked for business dinners, client thank you dinners, and family dinners from the day after Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day. Despite being his niece—and Iva Bergstrom being his good friend—Callie considered herself lucky that Trib’s had actually agreed to cater the New Year’s Eve wedding.
