Page 91 of Big Stick Energy
“Yes. I was just…” She gives a guilty glance in the direction of the wedding chapel. “Having a look around. Shall we go to the patio?”
Hmm.“You go ahead. I think I’ll take a look around, too. I haven’t seen the wedding chapel yet.”
She opens and closes her mouth a couple of times. “All right. The flowers aren’t up yet, though. Tomorrow it will be lovely.”
“Oh, I’m sure. I just thought I’d stretch my legs. See you over there? Save me a glass of rosé.”
“But…”
I leave her there staring after me, and I cross the lawn in the opposite direction. Because my spidey senses are tingling.
After I turn the corner around the main hotel building, the wedding chapel comes into view. It’s on a gentle rise, nestled against the tree line. It’s built to look like it’s been here forgenerations—weathered cedar shingles gone silver-gray and white trim that gleams in the twilight.
I open the door and step inside, admiring the big windows toward the ocean. The room is set up to position the shimmering Atlantic Ocean as the wedding party’s backdrop. It’s exactly the kind of calculated New England charm that Dad’s company excels at—genuinely beautiful, designed to photograph perfectly for the marketing brochures.
In less than twenty-four hours, my brother and Maribel will stand here and pledge undying love to each other. They’ll use words likeforeveranddeath do us part. I’ve got to hand it to Theo. It’s pretty incredible that anyone in the Kendrick-Randolph family has the guts to do that. We learned at an early age that love, dysfunction, and betrayal go hand in hand.
I’m happy for him. I really am. Maybethisis the real reason I came to the wedding—to witness my brother trying to break the curse. To see if it can be done.
As I do a full circle, though, I spot one thing out of place. And now I know I was right to come in here. The oversized photo of Danny is propped up against the whitewashed wall. Eric’s mom went with the darker frame from which Eric’s brother smiles out, looking a little more smug than I remember.
Good grief, Patty. Couldn’t leave it alone, huh?
There’s only one reasonable thing to do in this situation. I have to steal the photo and lock it up somewhere. I tuck the bulky frame under my arm and head for the door of the chapel.
But where to put it? In our hotel suite? Eric will see it, though. And he needs plausible deniability. I could hide it under the bed, I guess, but that would be creepy.
A closet?
I’m only a few paces beyond the door, though, when I spot Patty Tremaine standing beside a shrubbery. I startle like a girl in a horror film.Oh shit.And then I mentally brace for combat.
But she only puts a hand over her mouth and drops her head.
Oh, man.“Patty, I’m sorry. Let’s talk about this.”
She shakes her head, unshed tears in her eyes.
“Patty,” I say, crossing to her. “I’m not trying to be a bitch about this. But I don’t think you realize how much you could hurt Maribel with this.”
“Iknow,” she wheezes. “I’m terrible.”
“You’re not terrible,” I say reflexively. But, hello? Bringing a giant photograph of the bride’s dead lover to her wedding isn’t exactly a loving move. “But you’re trying to make this about Danny. And it’s just not. Tomorrow is about Maribel and Theo. It’s, like, the one day of their lives that’s only about them. It’s, like, the law.”
“It’s not about Danny,” she says, flicking tears away from her eyes. “But it should have been. He never got his day.”
“No, he didn’t,” I agree, shifting the clunky picture to my other hip. “Come over here a minute, okay?” I nod toward a bench facing the ocean. “Let’s sit.”
With a resigned sigh, she follows me over and sits down. “You’re judging me. But you’ve never buried a child. People tell me tomove on. They have no idea how impossible that is.”
“It’s a terrible thing,” I say dutifully. “But, as an outsider, I can name some living people who could use more of your attention. Maribel has her own needs. And what about Eric?”
“Eric is fine,” she says immediately. “He has a big life. And he hasyou.”
Um… “Are you sure, though? You called Danny agenerationaltalentthe other day. When’s the last time you said the same to Eric?”
She blinks. “People say all kinds of wonderful things about Eric. Even on the news.”
“Patty,” I say, exasperated. “He needs to hear it fromyou. What if you took half the attention you pay to Danny and spent it on Eric and Maribel and whoever else in your life deserves your love? You have a lot left to give.”
