"I figured everybody deserved it." Ollie beamed down at her. "By the way, I have an invitation to extend to you and your crew."
Everybody had started moving back toward their work, coffees in hand, but they all paused and looked back at him, curious. "Charlee and Steve would like you all to come to the wedding this afternoon," Ollie said happily. "You've gone to a massive amount of trouble to get this sorted for them, and they'd like you to be there to celebrate with them."
Absolute astonishment broke out over the crew. Somebody said, "But we broke it!" and Ollie laughed.
"I know, but look, it was an accident and you really have gone out of the way to fix it. It'd really make them happy, so…think about it?"
"You know the fanciest clothes most of us have with us are clean jeans, right?" Pauline asked dubiously.
"It's an outdoors afternoon wedding with people who think inviting the construction crew at the last minute is a good idea," Ollie retorted. "I think whatever you've got to wear will be good."
"Well, hell," Parker said into the following silence, "I guess we better get this show on the road, folks. We've got a wedding to go to!"
Within thirty seconds, everybody's coffee was finished and they were back on the job, the scaffolding coming down as fast as Tiffany had ever seen it, and the paint going up with skill and patience. A couple of the crew started taking down the safety fencing, and Tiffany, smiling, turned to Ollie. "Was this your idea?"
"It wasn't! But I thought it was a good one." His eyebrows furrowed above the rims of his glasses. "But I'm not sure I can exactly ask you to the wedding as a date. I'm actually performing the ceremony."
Tiffany's own eyebrows shot up. "You're apriest?"
"What? God, no! I got one of those online ordination things so I could do it! We thought it'd be cool!"
"Oh." Tiffany laughed. "Well, I guess I'll just go stag to the wedding and see if I can hook up with a hot online ordained minister later."
"I assume you'd go corgi, not stag."
"under the circumstances, maybe I'd go koala!"
"This conversation is gettingcompletelyout of hand, isn't it?"
Tiffany grinned up at him. "Yes. And I have to get to work, because apparently we have a wedding to go to this afternoon, so I'll see you in a few hours."
Ollie bent to kiss her, murmured, "I can't wait," and left her to do her job.
CHAPTER 16
At noon, every single member of the wedding party who wasn't actually getting married arrived at the newly-rebuilt, freshly-painted gazebo to decorate it, and Ollie thought he would cry from laughter at the haste and joy surrounding the job. Especially—especially—when Tiffany's construction crew stepped in to help, using the crane to drape garlands around the roof and to put a ridiculously huge bouquet of flowers at the crown of the gazebo.
Ollie was almost certain the crew had bought those themselves: they certainly hadn't been in the original design for the decorations. It was an incredibly thoughtful and generous touch, particularly after all the work they'd already done.
The first time they'd decorated the gazebo, it had been a leisurely process involving a lot of discussion about where things should go. This time, with both practice behind them and a deadline ahead of them, it was a precision strike, with Sarah, the retro librarian, giving good-natured orders that everybody ran to fulfill. Within half an hour, Sarah proclaimed their efforts a success, andeverybody, including the construction team, rushed off to shower and get ready for the main event.
Half an hour afterthat, jogging down the steps from his bedroom to the hotel lobby, Ollie found the construction crew and a surprising number of the earlier-invited guests having an uproariously good time in the hotel lobby. Everybody was clean, many of them still with damp hair or blow-dried curls that the humidity hadn't yet wiped out, and the general air was of an unexpected party in which new friends were being made all over the place.
He searched for Tiffany but couldn't find her, and was about to head out the door in disappointment when the elevator dinged and he turned toward it as if preternaturally aware.
She was impossibly beautiful in a dress that wasn't any more complicated than the one she'd worn the night before. This one was soft pink, eyelet cotton with thin straps that showed off her magnificent shoulders and biceps, fitted through the waist and the hem brushing just above her knees. She was wearing the same clogs as the night before, giving her a little extra height, and she'd done something wonderful and delicate with her hair, swirling it upward with just a few pale curls falling around her throat. Ollie thought his heart would stop, or explode, or both.
She met his eyes like he was the only person in the room, and her smile lit up his soul. Even his koala just sighed happily, and Ollie realized that it had been less and less obnoxious over the past couple of days. Still rude and tending toward looking for fights, but it was as if even the koala was happier now.
We found our mate, mate,the koala replied.What's not to be happy about?
For a moment, Ollie was almost tempted to argue, but then realized that was absurd.Nothing. There's nothing in the world to not be happy about.
Tiffany came through the crowd to him. Ollie put out his hand, and she slipped hers into his, smiling. "You're gorgeous, Minister Campbell."
"I do all right." He was in slacks and a button-down, sleeves rolled up again, and she brushed her fingertips across his forearm in approval. "But look at you," Ollie murmured. "You're a vision, Tiffany."
"God, I hope not. That would probably mean you have heat stroke and I don't think we can scare up another minister in the next thirty-seven minutes." She smiled up at him, eyes bright with teasing. "Thank you."
