‘It’s Saturday,’ Markus pointed out.
‘Weekends are the busiest at the resort. We have a wedding at eleven.’ Sierra barely contained her shiver. The bride and her mother were a handful, and the only reason she was excited for this particular wedding was so that she could finally get it over with. ‘Then there’s a fiftieth birthday party at seven p.m. And that’s on top of all the standard entertainment for the other guests.’
‘You need any help?’
‘Not unless you actually need something to do …’
He tapped his laptop. ‘I’m covered. But give me a call if you need extra hands.’
‘I will.’ Sierra frowned down at her watch, surprised that none of the others were up and about yet. ‘If Poppy wakes up, can you watch her until Nina comes down?’
‘Of course.’
‘I’ll meet you guys at Gifford’s at two. I’m gonna drive myself so that I can leave a little early if I need to.’
Markus clapped his hands excitedly at the prospect of wedding dress shopping. ‘I think we could all use some serious retail therapy.’
She headed out, only stopping one last time to look back at him. Markus sat straight in his chair, and though his eyes were focused on his open laptop again, they were sad.
Sierra knew how empty those two little words, ‘I’m sorry’, landed. So, she didn’t say them. Instead, she said, ‘Hey,’ and when he looked up at her, she settled on, ‘you’re going to get through this. And I’m here if you need anything.’
He didn’t reply, only blew her a kiss.
Sierra drove straight to the resort building, parked, and was seated at her desk only fifteen minutes later.
She worked solidly for a few hours, keeping her attention focused on the monthly accounting, marketing and advertising, and reviewing the restaurant’s weekly produce order, certain that she’d be interrupted at least once with a wedding emergency.
It came at ten-fifteen, only forty-five minutes before the bride was supposed to walk down the aisle.
Lucas, Hunt Ranch’s event planner, flung open the office door, his eyes wild. ‘We have an emergency.’
Experience had taught Sierra that wedding emergencies could typically be resolved, and that panicking wouldn’t help anything. So, she calmly leaned back in her chair. ‘Lucas, take a breath.’
He took a comically huge inhale, filling his tiny chest, and then expelled it in a whoosh of air. ‘The bride wanted to arrive on horseback.’
‘I know.’ Sierra frowned. ‘I thought we arranged it.’
‘Oh, we did.’
‘I’m confused. What’s the problem?’
‘Sierra, she can’t ride. Like at all.’
‘What?’ She caterpillared her manicured nails on the glossy surface of her desk. ‘She said she was intermediate.’
‘It must have been a petting zoo when she was a kid or something. Benji brought Midnight up to start getting him ready and Charlotte had a panic attack.’
Because her urge was to curse, Sierra took her own advice and breathed deeply. Midnight was one of their two Friesian horses. The huge, black horses with their regal forms and feathered legs were used for ranch photo shoots, movies, and weddings. And while Midnight did well with beginner riders, a completely green, terrified rider on a seventeen-hand horse was never a good idea – especially on the most important day of her life. ‘Let’s not panic.’
‘She’s supposed to walk in forty minutes!’ Lucas collapsed into a nearby chair. ‘I hate weddings!’
Sierra knew he secretly loved the drama. But she didn’t call bullshit. ‘Solutions,’ she demanded, and pushed to her feet.
Marching to the door, she asked, ‘Is she committed to the horse? Or can we just change it to a normal walk? Have the horses for the photos afterwards?’
‘She pulled the “Ever since I was a little girl” card,’ Lucas said, following her.
‘Is her father giving her away?’ Sierra pushed through the doors of the resort like a woman on a mission. ‘Would he be comfortable enough to lead Midnight?’
