Page 7 of First Bride to Fall
“Ah. Yep. Just, um…planning our September.” She smiled at his handsome face with that three-day beard, wondering if things would be simpler if he was her type.
But he wasn’t. And she doubted that she was his.
Her mind was already whirling with ideas about someone else, anyway. While she’d put off pursuing Grant Williams for years, she no longer had the luxury of waiting another second. If she wanted to turn her secret dream of being with him into a reality, she had to wake up and smell the coffee—and get busy doing something about that.Now.
Chapter Three
After the café closed at six, Nell grabbed her laptop and a corner table to do some online snooping. Ever since her private chat with her sisters, she’d been thinking about that bet. By lunchtime, she’d made up her mind. She was going to reach out to Grant by signing up for one of those outdoorsy adventures he led.
Lucas was the first to leave after cleaning out the coffee roaster. It was Friday and his weekly job. “Catch ya later!” Nell looked up to find his gaze lingering on Misty, but Misty was turning chairs upside down and setting them on tables, focused on her work.
“Bye, Lucas,” Nell said. “See you Monday.” She was grateful to have tomorrow off. That fit perfectly with her plan of getting to know Grant better in person.
“Nite, Lucas!” Charlotte called, wielding the handle of a wide-angled broom.
Their barista, Mei-Lin, picked up her purse from behind the counter, her coal-black hair grazing her shoulders. “I’m out of here, too.”
Mei-Lin Chen and Misty had been best friends since middle school. When they were kids, Mei-Lin had spent so much time at the Delaneys’, their dad had joked he had four daughters, not three. Only-child Mei-Lin hadn’t minded. She’d loved being a part of their household.
She shot Misty a look through her frameless glasses and wiggled her eyebrows like she knew something. “Save you a stool at Mariner’s?” she asked, mentioning the nearby bar belonging to the fancy seafood restaurant.
“Yep!” Misty answered. “See you there.”
Charlotte stopped sweeping. “Misty?” she gasped once Mei-Lin had gone. “Youdidn’t.”
“We said we wouldn’t tell Mom and Dad, not friends.”
Nell sighed. Their bet would be all over Majestic if they weren’t more careful about it. Then again, she couldn’t really blame Misty. She and Mei-Lin were super close.
“Just be sure she doesn’t tell anyone else,” Nell advised.
Misty folded her arms in front of her. “She won’t.”
Charlotte glanced at Nell’s computer. “What are you doing over there, anyway?”
She’d located Grant on various social media platforms, but the only one he seemed to update regularly was his Instagram. It was more of a professional account for his store, Blue Sky Adventures, but still. There were some new photos of him scattered among the others of impressive wilderness scenes. He looked as gorgeous as ever with that wavy blond hair and a solid build, fine-tuned from all that mountain climbing and whatnot he did.
Nell clicked the link to his camping store, trying to pick out her adventure. The sooner she saw him the better, and signing up for one of his outings was a great excuse. It was also a super way to prove to him that she was his kind of back-to-nature girl. Although it was true she didn’t spend huge amounts of time outdoors doing adventuresome stuff, she’d always admired those who did. She was also very good at being green.
Hey. She recycled.
She browsed through various excursion options, but some looked too daunting. She wasn’t up for risking life or limb. She just wanted a chance to catch Grant’s eye and get a little conversation going about the future. The veryimmediatefuture.
She clicked on a photo of a campfire. Camping might be fun. But there weren’t any more camping trips scheduled until the end of the month, and she couldn’t wait until then. Rappelling seemed too dicey for someone who hadn’t trained for it. Whoa. Whitewater rafting, too. Seeing as how she got seasick on ferries, that was definitely out.
But wait. Hiking seemed easy. It couldn’t be that different from walking, and Nell walked everywhere in Majestic. All she needed were some sporty clothes. She could buy those tonight. She registered for the next hiking trip, which started bright and early in the morning, and a confirmation bubble popped up before she got redirected to the homepage. A large colorful photo of Grant wearing a big grin and sunglasses greeted her. He was in a T-shirt and a life vest and held a paddle, looking amazingly handsome.
“You’re going kayaking?” Misty asked over her shoulder, causing Nell to jump.
“No.” Nell shut her laptop, but Charlotte set a restocked napkin holder on the table and pried the screen right back open. Where had the two of them come from? They must have sneaked up on her while she’d been filling out forms.
“That’s Grant Williams,” Charlotte said, drooling over his photo. “Nice.”
“Hey!” Even though it was true, she didn’t need her sister ogling Grant. That washerjob.
Misty’s eyes danced as she sashayed toward the kitchen. “Still mooning over Grant? Gee, Nell, you’d think afterall this timeyou’d have finally done something about him.”
This got Nell’s dander up. “Who says I haven’t?”
