And that wasn’t her.
Smiling, she hit “send” on the email, feeling good about her decision. Maybe she’d go walk a few blocks in the morning and check out the tiny storefront to see what she’d need to make it a real business.
It’d keep her distracted while she waited—and hoped—for Rome to answer her messages.
SIXTEEN
A week later, Elise was curled up on one of the couches in the main lodge, hugging a pillow and watching Brenna flick through one of Miranda’s wedding magazines with an expression of horror on her face. “These are awful,” she leaned over and whispered to Elise, pointing at a pink taffeta floor-length creation. “She looks like she’s going to the world’s gaudiest prom.”
Elise grinned. “I thought you wanted your colors to be pink and orange?”
“I really don’t want any colors,” Brenna murmured, ripping the page out of the book and then crumpling it into a ball and tossing it into the fireplace nearby. “It’s your brother who’s making me go through this farce.”
“Hey,” Miranda protested from across the room. She came storming over. “You said you wanted to borrow a magazine, you doofus. You didn’t say you’d be defacing them!”
“Trust me, I’m doing the world a favor with that one!”
“Bren,” Miranda huffed, wrestling the thick magazine out of her friend’s arms. “I have to return that to the library. You can’t tear pages out of it, you nut.”
Grumbling, Brenna let Miranda have the magazine. She lay back on the couch and flopped dramatically, then looked over at Elise. “Why aren’t you doing something exciting tonight? It’s Saturday night. You should go out, get drunk, and get laid.”
“Brenna, please,” Grant called from his desk. He was still working, despite the fact that it was the weekend. “That’s my sister you’re talking to. Let’s not encourage anything of the sort, all right?”
Elise smiled at the face Brenna made at Grant. “I thought I’d hang around and see how Beth Ann and Colt are.” She looked over as Miranda curled up on one of the big leather couches opposite them, magazine in hand. Miranda’s fiancé, Dane, had gone to pick up the couple from the airport. “Should we order food?”
“I’m picking up pizzas as soon as they get here,” Grant called again, still listening in to their conversation. “Their plane was delayed, so we don’t know what time they’re getting back.”
“Where’s Pop?” Miranda asked, glancing up from the magazine.
“Um,” Brenna said. “I might have left an ATV out in the woods with a flat. He went to go fix it.”
“Brenna,” Grant warned.
“What? Oh, come on, baby. You saw how anxious he was about Colt and Beth Ann getting back. The man needed something to do.” She winked at Elise. “Plus, sabotage is fun.”
Miranda cocked her head, listening. “I think they’re here.”
Brenna bounded up from the couch and went to the window, peering through the blinds. “Ooh, yup, they are! Yay!”
Everyone got to their feet, waiting for the newcomers to enter the lodge. Dane was first, grinning. “Guess who I found hanging out at the airport?”
He moved aside.
A smiling, rosy-faced Beth Ann entered the lodge, dressed in a heavy cable-knit sweater, jeans, and boots. Her long blond hair was pulled into two braids that hung over her shoulder, and she looked happy but exhausted. Behind her, Colt came in, a thick growth of hair on his chin and his normally short hair shaggy under his knit cap.
Brenna squealed. “Oh wow. You both went full mountain man!”
“Thanks, honey,” Beth Ann drawled, but went forward to hug Brenna. “It’s good to see you, too.”
Hugs and handshakes were exchanged, and to Elise’s surprise, she got a hug from Beth Ann as well. The woman was still beautiful, despite having dirty braids, a face devoid of makeup, and wind-chapped cheeks. They sat down on one of the couches and Brenna retrieved beers from the fridge while Grant went out to grab pizzas.
Colt’s hand immediately went to Beth Ann’s knee, possessive. “So.” He glanced at Miranda and Dane, who took over the couch Elise had been sitting on. She moved to a nearby chair and took a beer from Brenna as she passed them out. “What’d we miss?” Colt asked.
“Nope,” Miranda said. “We get to ask you guys about your trip first. How was Alaska?”
“Cold,” Beth Ann said, putting her fingers on her cheeks. “This place feels like an oven right now. A warm, delicious oven. It was fun, though.”
“Did you learn a lot about the outdoors?” Miranda asked.
Beth Ann’s cheeks flamed even brighter. “Some.”
“We spent our time well,” Colt drawled. “Not much of it outdoors, though.”
“Ew,” said Miranda. “Tell me no more or I’m going to have all kinds of disturbing visuals.”
Dane grinned and pulled his fiancée closer to him. “I keep telling Mir that we need to go up to the cabin for our honeymoon, but she keeps telling me no.”
She poked Dane in the ribs. “If I want to rough it, all I have to do is go home, Mister I Don’t Like Electricity.”
He leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “True.”
Colt gave Beth Ann another devouring look and then began to talk about their vacation, and Elise felt her heart squeeze. She was surrounded by all kinds of happy couples and here she was, alone.
Beth Ann and Colt chatted about Alaska for a while, and Pop eventually made it in to greet his son and daughter-in-law with bear hugs, and Grant came back with pizza, and they all ate and drank beer. It was a fun, cozy little impromptu party.
“I’m surprised you’re still here,” Beth Ann said to Elise with a smile. “Not that I’m not happy to see you.”
“I’m actually going to rent a storefront on Main Street,” Elise told her. “Set up my own photography studio nearby so we can do our pinup shoots.”
Beth Ann gave a girlish squeal of excitement. “That’s wonderful! I kept thinking about doing pinups as a business when we were on our honeymoon. I loved the shots we did and I think it’d be so fun to do more!”
Elise smiled. “Me too.”
Colt glanced around. “So, am I missing something here? Where’s the new guy?”
Miranda shot Elise an uncomfortable look.