Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 53349 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 213(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53349 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 213(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
“Good morning, Tamara,” he said, seeing the carafe and inhaling the rich scent of the coffee. “Is that for me?” he asked jokingly.
“I’m afraid not, but if you come over to the shop in ten minutes, I’ll make you any kind of coffee you want,” Tamara promised.
“Ahh, you don’t have to do that,” Travis said.
“Oh, but I want to. Let’s make a deal—you let me in so I can leave this stuff in Nate’s office, and don’t mention I was here, and you can have any coffee you want on the house. Deal?”
Travis laughed, “You bet it’s a deal.”
In less than five minutes, Tamara was back downstairs. She made Travis promise he would come and collect on their deal, and then she went to work, smiling to herself as she crossed the road… again.
Nate was trying not to panic at the time. He knew that everyone else on the Married in Malibu team was already at work, sitting in the garden preparing for a quick last-minute meeting with Zach and Yuriko before their big day tomorrow. They still had about half an hour before the couple was due to arrive, and there was lots to discuss, although everything was ready. The team would just be waiting for him to show up before Zach and Yuriko. He should have been there ages ago.
Nate had run into some problems yesterday, although he didn’t say much about it to his coworkers. In his typical fashion, he’d tried to maintain a cool and calm demeanor and not let anyone else see how worried he was. But as the ringmaster of the wedding venue, he knew that Liz had picked up on his vibes. She’d trusted him to fix the problem, and he hadn’t let her down. What it did mean, however, was a seriously late night, and as a consequence, he’d overslept this morning.
He pulled into the parking lot and didn’t even have time to go up to his office. He took his satchel and sprinted to the meeting, feeling more than a little relieved that he had arrived before Zach and Yuriko. As he walked into the garden, a dozen pairs of eyes turned in his direction, and a dozen pairs of shoulders relaxed.
“Oh, hi, everybody. Sorry I’m a little bit late…” Before he had a chance to say anything else, Liz handed him a coffee. Sweet mercy, he thought as he took his first sip, and Liz began the meeting.
Two hours later, Zach and Yuriko had left. They were thrilled with absolutely everything and kept marveling at how many details had been considered and how many problems had been solved. Nate couldn’t have been happier.
For reasons no one could explain, Tamara’s coffee shop had been hopping all morning, and for the millionth time, she wondered how on earth she’d been able to run the place on her own for so long. The teens were old pros now, and they could whip up any sort of exotic coffee. The customers got a real kick out of them, and Tamara’s little business was gaining a great reputation.
Tamara took a late lunch, grabbing her phone and a salad, and went to relax on the back step. She thought about Nate and how he was doing. She wondered if he had found her little gift, but just because she hadn’t heard from him yet didn’t mean a thing. It was the day before the wedding, and he would be swamped. She trusted Nate and knew he would call or visit whenever he had two seconds.
She began going through her emails and was surprised to find an email forwarded by Nate from what was obviously his brother’s address. The subject line said Wedding Photos.
Sure enough, there was a link there to photographs from the wedding at the beach house. Most of them were of Tim and Florentine, obviously, but Tamara found several of her and Nate. Photos of them standing together, dancing together, caught midkiss, laughing, walking on the beach…
The part that made Tamara’s breath catch was just how much like a couple she and Nate looked. They looked so natural together in the photographs, so obviously right for each other.
Of course we look like a couple, Tamara told herself. We might have been trying to convince his family that we were a couple, but we are a couple, and these photos prove it.
Once the wedding meeting was over, Jenn invited Nate to swing by the kitchen and said she would make him something to eat.
Ten minutes later, he was sitting at the island, eating a sandwich. “Wow, Jenn, this is delicious,” he said. “I didn’t get time for breakfast this morning, and I’m starving.”
She shook a playful finger at him. “Nate, you have to start eating properly. Coffee and Twizzlers are not food groups.”
“Yeah, I know. Once this wedding is over, I’m actually going to stock up my fridge.”