The Beach Wedding Read online

  Rose raised an eyebrow. “I’m impressed.”

  “I don’t normally spend this much time watching all my customers,” Tamara said with a grin. “Only the ones I’m hopefully going to be seeing a great deal of for the foreseeable future.” She slid their coffee milkshakes over, then settled in on a barstool on the other side of Liz. “First, I think you should take a long drink from your glass,” she urged in a gentle voice. “And then you should get whatever is bothering you off your chest.”

  Rose waited until Liz had mainlined nearly half her frosty, cream-filled glass before she said, “This is about Jason, isn’t it?”

  Liz looked at her in surprise. “How…?”

  “You told me about what used to be between you, remember? And I’ve seen the pictures the paparazzi has taken of the two of you during these past two weeks. It didn’t look like just an act to me.”

  “It wasn’t,” Liz found herself blurting out. “And then this morning Jason asked me to marry him.”

  “I take it I shouldn’t be saying congratulations right now?” Tamara asked.

  “I panicked and I ran away. I told him I couldn’t do it, that I couldn’t marry him and still be me.”

  “I know relationships can be difficult,” Rose told her, reaching out to cover Liz’s hand with her own.

  “How would you know? You and RJ are perfect!”

  Rose laughed softly. “RJ and I definitely didn’t have the perfect relationship that you think we had. For years I pushed him away. I worked with him, and I kept him at arm’s length, always denying what I felt about him. I even had a fiancé I left at the altar.”

  “You did?” Liz couldn’t believe it, not when Rose and her husband were so perfect for each other. “How? Why?”

  “Because I finally realized how much I loved RJ. Fortunately, I had some wonderful people around me at the Rose Chalet who helped me see that I didn’t have to push away the man I loved just to be who I thought I needed to be. They showed me that what I felt in my heart counted for more than what seemed sensible or logical or safe. And now I can’t imagine what my life would be like without RJ as my husband.”

  The look on Rose’s face as she said that—as if living without RJ was the worst thing she could possibly imagine—impacted Liz in a major way. Because the thought of never seeing Jason again…

  “Now, tell me why you think you can’t be with Jason,” Rose said as more tears threatened to spill down Liz’s cheeks.

  In a halting voice, she explained how they’d started dating ten years ago and had become so close so fast that it had been utterly overwhelming—how it had felt as though her independence and her own dreams had been completely swept away.

  “And now?” Tamara asked.

  “I’m worrying about the same things. I’m only just getting started at Married in Malibu, and I’m terrified that being with Jason will cause the rest of my life to fade into the background. I’m scared that there won’t be anything left of me if I say yes.”

  “You’re not some twenty-one-year-old kid fresh off the bus from Kansas anymore,” Rose pointed out. “You’re a successful woman with everything in front of you, including the man you love, if you want him. But only if you have the courage to truly talk to him this time rather than running away again.”

  “It’s okay to be scared,” Tamara added. “We’ve all made mistakes when it comes to romance, but how many of us really get the opportunity to set them right? Whereas you actually got a second chance with Jason.”

  Liz knew they were right. She also knew what a big mistake she’d made earlier that morning. She wasn’t the same person she’d been ten years ago, nor was Jason. And she shouldn’t have run again. Instead, she should have trusted herself—trusted both of them—to be strong enough to actually talk things through this time.

  Because even if they were both so different in so many ways, and they still had plenty of things to work out between them, one thing hadn’t changed.

  Love.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “I love him,” Liz said aloud.

  Looking back, it was clear that she’d always loved Jason, from the very first moment she’d met him. Even in the years he hadn’t been there, her love for him had remained like an ember buried deep inside of her, waiting for him to return and bring the flames roaring back to life.

  “You’re saying that like it’s news to us,” Rose said with a smile.

  Tamara nodded. “Of course you love him. The question is, what are you planning to do about that?”

  Now that her eyes were finally open, Liz could see that Jason had spent the past two weeks wooing her slowly, letting her know how much he cared about her all the while. He’d spent so much time helping out for the wedding, not only because it gave them an extra pair of hands, but because it had allowed the two of them to reconnect as well.

  But then, when he’d made his grand gesture on the beach, she’d run away.

  Again.

  “Just how hurt did Jason sound when he called you?” Liz asked Rose.

  “Honestly, while I don’t know him all that well, he sounded—” She paused a moment. “Destroyed.”

  “How well do you have to know him?” Tamara said with a shake of her head. “The guy obviously loves you to pieces, Liz. Of course he’s going to be a complete wreck.”

  Tamara was right. Jason had offered his heart to her, along with another chance at a life together. It would take a gesture at least as grand as his proposal on the beach to undo the damage she had inflicted when she’d panicked and rejected him.

  “If you truly love Jason,” Tamara added, “then you should do whatever it takes to make things right.”

  Liz looked at Rose. “Was that what you did with RJ?”

  “Yes, I ran away from my wedding to tell him how much I loved him. If I hadn’t done that, I might still be with Donovan.” Again, Rose’s expression filled with sadness as she imagined a world where she hadn’t told RJ how she felt, where she hadn’t risked everything to be with him.

  Liz didn’t ever want to look in the mirror and see that expression staring back at her. Didn’t even want to think of what her future might be like without Jason in it.

  She needed to do something to prove that she was ready to make a lifelong commitment to him. Even if their relationship wasn’t always going to be easy or simple. Even if she felt overwhelmed sometimes.

  Because the one thing she now knew for sure was that they definitely did bring out the best in each other. Together, they had not only put on a spectacular wedding for his niece, they’d also made each other incredibly happy at the same time.

  “I have an idea that I have to try,” Liz said suddenly. “Even if it doesn’t work.” She shook her head. “No, it has to work. Although, I might need some help.”

  “Whatever you need,” Rose said without any hesitation, “it’s yours.”

  “How would you like to try getting a second wedding ready in a couple of hours rather than in a couple of weeks?”

  Tamara stared at her as though she’d gone mad. “I saw how much coffee you all went through to put on a wedding in two weeks. Is two hours even possible?”

  Rose seemed to be wondering the same thing. “They’ve already torn down nearly everything in the main hall, so the time it would take to—”

  “I wasn’t planning on having it at Married in Malibu,” Liz clarified. “I just need some help from our amazing staff. But I know you wouldn’t want it to seem as if you just give your weddings away.”

  “From what I understand,” Rose said with a twinkle in her eyes, “today is meant to be a day off for my Married in Malibu staff, and I can’t control what they choose to do on their day off. If they want to help a friend with her wedding, I’m certainly not going to stop them.”

  “Thank you, Rose,” Liz said as she impulsively threw her arms around her boss. “For everything. And thank you for the drink, Tamara.” She gave the other woman a hug, too. “It turns out that a hefty dose of sugar and
cream—and a good talking-to—was exactly what I needed to help me think straight.”

  “Anytime, Liz,” Tamara said as she hugged her back. “Anytime at all.”

  “It’s my day off, too, you know,” Rose said as Liz got up to head for the door. “And I do love a good wedding.”

  “So do I.” Tamara grinned. “And since I’m the boss here, I can take any days off I feel like. In fact, I can also take as many coffees and cakes as I’d like to cater this wedding.”

  Liz blinked back tears, stunned that these two women she hadn’t known even a month ago had already become such good friends. As the three of them walked the short distance to Married in Malibu’s main building, Liz made a quick phone call.

  “Hi, Amber. It’s Liz. I know it’s pretty much the worst thing in the world to interrupt your honeymoon, but I desperately need to make sure that your uncle is going to be at home for the next couple of hours, and you’re the only person I can count on to make that happen.”

  “Why do you need him at home?”

  Liz took a deep breath and explained it—all of it. How hard Jason had worked for her love during the wedding preparations, what had happened that morning after his proposal, and what she planned to do now to make it right.

  “You’ve already hurt him once, Liz. Twice. I don’t want to see my uncle hurt yet again.”

  “Neither do I,” Liz said. “I love him, Amber, and I don’t want to ever hurt him again.”

  Amber hesitated on the other end of the line. “All right,” she said at last. “I’ll tell him that I want to Skype. That will keep him home.”

  “Thank you,” Liz said. “Thank you so much.”

  A few moments later, as they stepped into the main hall and she looked around at her staff all working so hard, Liz realized just how well she had begun to get to know each of them—and how much she truly appreciated them all, too. She’d learned that Nathan’s coffee obsession and his tendency to attempt DIY when he should be programming was a good way for his brain to let off steam when he was calculating the answer to a problem with their computer system. She’d learned Kate could spend the whole day outside in the garden if someone didn’t check up on her now and again. She’d learned about Margaret’s fear of speaking up in front of the others, even though her ideas were brilliant, and about Jenn’s worries that things might go wrong while she was baking her mouthwatering treats. She’d learned how much Daniel adored his two children and how Travis tended to treat the rich and famous as though they were kids just waiting to get into trouble.

  “I want to start by saying thank you for the work you’ve put in over the last couple of weeks. You’ve done an amazing job and now—” A part of her could hardly believe she was about to say this, but she would do anything to win Jason back. Even ask her team to pull off the impossible. “Now I need your help organizing another wedding.”

  “You’ve booked another wedding already?” Jenn asked.

  Liz shook her head. “Actually, this isn’t one of our official Married in Malibu weddings.” She took a deep breath then told them, “It’s mine.”

  “Your wedding?” Margaret said.

  “To Jason?” Kate asked.

  As soon as Liz nodded, Daniel was ready with the next big question. “How soon?”

  “Today,” Liz said, then watched the worry immediately appear on all their faces. “I know it seems like it can’t be done. But I really hope you can help, because I just completely screwed up everything with Jason this morning.” She’d never been so forthcoming with any of the colleagues at her other jobs, but this was different. The people surrounding her today weren’t just colleagues. They were friends. “He asked me to marry him and instead of saying yes, I freaked out and ran. I need to fix things—I need to win him back—and I hope that he still wants to marry me.”

  “Since this isn’t an official Married in Malibu wedding,” Rose let the group know, “I’m simply here because Liz is my friend, and I want to help her.”

  “Where are you planning to have it?” Travis asked.

  “Actually,” Liz said, “I thought we’d take the wedding to Jason at his beach house.”

  “I have baked a few things today,” Jenn said thoughtfully.

  “And I could bring the leftover flowers,” Kate said. “We could scatter the petals on the sand and make a bouquet from what’s in bloom in the garden.”

  “The sunset will be the perfect backdrop for photos,” Daniel noted.

  “And we have enough leftover samples of material from Amber’s wedding dress to make a veil,” Margaret offered.

  “Of course,” Rose said, “I’m happy to officiate.”

  On the verge of tears again over how amazing her employees and boss were, Liz rushed home to shower and change into a long, white sundress—the closest thing she owned to a wedding dress. By the time she returned to Married in Malibu, the others were ready to leave, and she called Amber again to let her know they were on their way to Jason’s house.

  As they set off down the beach, she knew they must have looked strange, a whole wedding party walking down the sand. Travis took the lead to get them safely past people who stopped to stare—and there were more than a few who did that—including Laurel Kingston, who was heading toward Married in Malibu as though she was on a mission.

  “Are you here looking for a story, Laurel?”

  “After you tricked me, I came to give you both a piece of my mind.”

  “We had to do it for Amber,” Liz said as they kept moving toward Jason’s house, “but you’re more than welcome to take as many pictures as you want of us today.”

  She’d spent so much time running away from this moment in the past that now she wanted to show Jason that she wasn’t afraid of sharing it with anyone who wanted to see. She wanted to tie herself to him as clearly and openly as she could so that he truly believed she wouldn’t run ever again. If that meant Laurel and a thousand other bloggers writing pieces about this moment and running pictures of Liz and Jason together, so be it.

  Silently, Liz prayed again and again that he’d accept her apology and take her back.

  When Laurel fell in with the rest of them, so did plenty of other people. By the time they reached Jason’s home, there must have been nearly a hundred people in the group.

  Fortunately, Liz didn’t have to wait long for Jason to appear on his deck. He looked every inch the jilted writer—unshaven, dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, and blinking in the sunlight as though he hadn’t been outside all day. Even so, he looked amazing to Liz. He had his laptop in his hand, and Amber’s face was visible on the screen.

  “Liz, what are you doing here?” He spoke to her as if she were the only one on the beach, as if he didn’t even see the crowd behind her. “I was just about to go find you—to beg you to forgive me for screwing up again—when Amber called and said I needed to stay home to talk with her. But then I saw you coming down the beach and—”

  Forgive him? No, he had it all wrong. She was the one who needed to make things right.

  Quickly stepping forward, she went down on one knee in the sand in the same spot where Jason had done so. “Jason Lomax, will you marry me?”

  “You want to marry me? Here? Now?” For once, he was the one who looked overwhelmed as he left the computer on the rail and came down the steps toward her.

  “Ten years ago I loved you,” she told him as she took his hands, “but I wasn’t ready for a life with you, so I ran. This morning, I ran again because I realized that my love for you has grown a thousand times bigger than it ever was. But with some help from my friends, I finally realized that I’m not scared of big love anymore. The only thing I’m frightened of is living without it. Without you. And you don’t have to be scared of losing me anymore, either. I’m not going to run again.”

  “You don’t know how happy it makes me to hear you say this, Liz. But what about how I did it again? How I held on too tight? How I pushed you too hard, too fast?” He dropped to his knees in front of
her and cupped her cheek with one hand. “I never meant to overwhelm you. To come on so strong that you felt like you couldn’t breathe again. But I was scared. Scared that if I let you walk out of my house without my ring on your finger this morning, you’d never come back. Scared that I’d lose the love of my life all over again. I need you to know, to believe me when I say that I’m not going to make that mistake again. However much time you need, I’m going to give it to you. I promise.”

  As the words spilled from his lips, Liz knew without a shadow of a doubt that both of them were going to do everything they possibly could not to make the same mistakes again.

  “I don’t need any more time, Jason. I just need our big love. I need you.”

  The next thing she knew, his hands were tangled in her hair and his mouth was on hers. And this time when joy pierced her heart, there were no gray clouds anywhere in sight, no panic waiting in the wings.

  When he finally let her go, she breathlessly asked, “Was that a yes?”

  His grin was easily the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen as he said, “Yes.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  The setting sun spilled over the Malibu beach in front of Jason’s home, turning gold and blue to purple and red. Liz and Jason stood together at the center of a half circle formed by the crowd around them with the ocean at their backs. Rose stood a few feet in front of them to officiate. To one side, Nathan held Jason’s laptop with the camera turned so that Amber and Robert would have a good view of the ceremony. All the while, Daniel was taking photographs, capturing beautiful memories that would last a lifetime. Laurel, the blogger, was also snapping away with her camera.

  “By tomorrow,” Jason said softly to Liz, “this is going to be all over the Internet.”