"And you must be Allie," Mrs. Davenport said and kissed Allie on both cheeks.
"This is Carter's girlfriend," Liz announced. Carter felt a thrill of pleasure, hearing Allie introduced ashisgirlfriend.
"So terrible how they treated you at the hotel. My brother-in-law is on the board, and I have already complained to him. It's unconscionable, especially with your being so sweet to help Liz with Brandy." Mrs. Davenport lowered her voice and said conspiratorially, "No one else wanted to deal with Brandy. She is a handful and very intense. You are a saint, Allie."
"Not a problem. I want her to have a nice wedding, and we don't want Liz to tear out her hair," Allie replied with a smile.
"And she has such nice hair!" Mrs. Davenport exclaimed. "Thick and gorgeous! We just need to find you a man."
"Mom!" Liz said, clearly mortified.
Carter snickered then followed Allie to help with whatever else needed to be done.
As Carter watched Allie mix drinks, he said, "You seem like a natural here."
She shrugged. "It's glorified catering. I can do that."
When she finished mixing up the beverages, she wrote out cards for the drink and the food offerings.
"You have such nice handwriting," Mrs. Davenport marveled.
"It's from writing out menus and such," Allie told her.
"I’m just going to have a little sample, if you don't mind, Allie," Mrs. Davenport said as Carter poured a drink for her.
"Just what I need," she said after taking a long drink. "I don't think I was this stressed for my own daughter's wedding."
"You're feeding off my residual anxiety," Liz said. She grabbed Carter's wrist and checked the time. "We need to change, Allie. Carter, is that what you're wearing?"
"Yes?"
"No," Liz said. "Go change. We have a photographer coming, and Brandy will kill me if the pictures aren't amazing."
After going upstairs to change into a suit, he gave himself one last look in the mirror then stepped out of the guest room just as Allie walked out of Liz's room.
"You're wearing heels?" Carter blurted out.
Allie gave him a weird look. "I used to bartend officers' parties, remember? Heels were required. I don't like them, but I can function in them for short periods of time."
"I'm just not used to seeing you without your boots and jeans or a stuffy business suit and flats," he said. "You look good."
She winked at him and walked downstairs to talk to the caterers.
Carter grabbed a drink and watched the guests stream into the large room. He greeted people he knew, and they asked him about work and being out of the military. Any time he had a free moment, he watched Allie. She was wearing one of Liz's dresses. Her dark hair was pulled up, and Liz had put a dark, striking lipstick on her. She looked exotic, and she moved around the room assuredly.
Carter was standing with Jack and Grant when Allie walked by.
Jack looked taken aback when he saw her. "Allie? I hardly recognized you."
"Thank you for being here, Mr. Holbrook," she said. "I know Brandy and Fernando really appreciate your coming out to celebrate their engagement. Please, there are signature cocktails I made myself, and Nancy made some of the desserts, of course," she said. "If you'll excuse me, I need to talk to the caterers."
Carter was almost giddy with how professional but aloof she was.
One of the servers handed Jack a signature cocktail.
"It's made with brandy," Carter told Jack with a small smile.
"It's delicious," Jack said in amazement.
