The happy couple plans to get married the last weekend in August, due to Gabe's work schedule. While Bronwyn expedites the wedding details with the help of a local wedding planner, Madi and I quietly got the word out to the Boardwalk Babes, Bronwyn's friend, Amelia, and a few others regarding a bridal shower.
Despite the last-minute notice, the response has been wonderful, and I imagine a full house. I had planned to host the gathering at the bookstore after hours due to its size and convenience, but the Babes protested. Mary Elizabeth insisted on having the shower at her home because of the care and concern Bronwyn showed when Mary Elizabeth had a medical issue while visiting the bookstore a while back. I couldn't say no to the sweet woman.
So venue handled. But within a few seconds, I'd lost nearly all control over the location and the food, with the older ladies going into mama mode and each claiming Bronwyn as one of their own, leaving me to handle decorations and games.
"Llama cake, llama cake, llama cake!" Dani says, running into the kitchen.
I laugh as I uncover the llama cake Dani had requested for her birthday. I can't believe it's even a cake. The llama's face is adorable, with ringlets of icing for hair. Lucy the Llama, named by Dani on the car ride home, wears a wreath of brightly colored flowers dusted with sparkling glitter and green leaves tipped with gold.
"Looks like Mak outdid herself," Kace says, referring to Makayla Blackwell and her Itty-Bitty Bakery.
I look up, only then realizing how close he's standing. So near I can smell his cologne and soap and the scent that's just him. But instead of causing the typical nausea, I feel…comfort. And I catch myself taking a deeper inhalation and reveling in him.
Oh, Linds. Seriously?
I snap out of it and swallow hard. "Yeah, she, um, did a great job."
I move back from the table where Dani is kneeling on a chair admiring her unboxed birthday cake in all its glory and go to the counter to rid myself of the Kace-fogged warmth engulfing me. The kind that makes me once again think of being held in his arms and kissed and?—
"What did Mads order again?"
I froze, mind blank and then say, "A book cake."
I barely have time to take a breath before he's back. Right there beside me and so close, I'm distracted yet again. "Here," I say, plucking up and handing him a package of napkins to try to get some distance. "Table, please."
Kace takes the package and literally tosses the napkins toward the table. I sigh. So much for gaining some breathing room.
But what had I expected when he couldn't hold the napkins and the crutches? Anything that could be tossed, was. It's a pattern he picked up the moment he was able to tolerate the crutches under his burned arm. But thankfully he has good aim, and his physical therapist says it's a good way to stretch the abused muscles and skin and help with his range of motion.
Dani gets down with a scrape of the chair legs and runs into the other room.
"I'm going to help Madi with the balloons! We have to blow up all of them!"
We've bought several packages of balloons in various sizes, and if all blown up? "That's about a hundred balloons," I murmur. "Should I put a limit on those? Don't forget you'll be wading through balloons on those crutches."
"I'll be fine. Let them have their fun."
Madi chose rose-gold-glitter and matte black balloons for herself, and after Dani had taken a long look at Madi's cool balloon colors, she'd chosen brightly colored glitter-confetti balloons to match the flowers on the head of her llama cake and gold to match the llama's ears.
"The guys will be here soon. What can I do to help?"
Madi shrugged when asked what she wanted for her birthday. Turning seventeen didn't seem to excite the girl, and it made me wonder what she received for her sweet sixteen. Had her mother done anything to celebrate the big day? Is Madi's lack of excitement indicative of past birthdays and having learned to not get her hopes up?
Or is it because what she really wants is for her mom to reappear? "Nothing. I think I've got it covered. Can I ask a question, though?"
"Yeah, sure. What is it?"
I glance toward the living room, glad the television is going and Dani's animated chatter leaves no room to be overheard. I lower my voice to a whisper anyway. "I'm just wondering how often you got to see Madi before her mom left her here."
I watch as Kace shakes his head, a solemn expression stealing over his handsome face.
"A couple times when she was younger, but I hadn't seen her since she was about ten."
So Madi's mother basically dumped her daughter off with a stranger, uncle or not.
"Pam's always been a wild card. Taking stupid risks as a teenager. A serial dater but never any long-term relationships. I'm not sure Mads has ever met her father or that my sister even knows who he is. I never thought she'd dump Mads and take off like she did, though. That was a surprise."
My heart breaks for Madi. And for Kace. I can't imagine the stress and emotional toll it's taken on him. "What are you going to do?"
