he hardly knew? Even in his own family, Nate never talked about his mother’s accident anymore. He cleared his throat. “How did you know I was...uh...helping my dad?”
“Jack told me. He didn’t say much more than that.”
“It’s not just a rough patch,” Nate said. “It’s a road ten miles long.” Nate hesitated a moment, afraid to share too much with Henry. “But we’ll get down it okay.”
The crowd around them thinned, and Alice and Virginia walked off. His conversation with Henry wasn’t likely to be overheard, but it still paid to be cautious.
“I’m sorry about that,” Henry said, putting a hand on Nate’s shoulder. “I’m coming home again, too, after a life on the road and in the skies. Inherited my parents’ place in Bayside. Most days I love it, but some days remind me it’s tough to come home again.”
Nate nodded, but he didn’t reply. He’d already said too much.
Henry patted Nate’s shoulder and then dropped his hand. “The longer I live, though, the more I know everything gets easier with time. Sometimes you just have to wait for it.”
Virginia waved to Henry from across the midway as crowds of people walked between them. Henry raised a hand and waved back.
“All the Hamiltons have been terrific to work with,” Nate said, glad to turn the conversation away from himself. “I hope these fall weekends pay off.”
“Alice has been working on it nonstop, except for the weddings part. I think June had to talk her into adding the weddings when the Hamiltons realized what a great market it was. Easy money, I guess, since people spend ferocious amounts of money on getting married.”
“Good business,” Nate agreed. “And free PR. If the wedding guests leave with a great impression of Starlight Point, it’s a win all around.”
Across the midway, Virginia and Alice parted ways, and the older lady came over to Nate and Henry. “It’s going to be a great weekend, weather-wise,” she said, smiling broadly.
“Are you working tomorrow morning?” Henry asked.
She shook her head. “Not until later in the day. I’m having breakfast with the kids downtown at Augusta’s bakery.”
“I love that place,” Henry said.
Nate noticed Henry’s eager tone. Was he hoping for an invitation? Nate knew Henry and Virginia were friends, and he’d noticed them working together on numerous special events.
Virginia’s expression sobered. “We love it, too, and Augusta finds us a spot in her side room where we won’t be disturbed. We have family business to discuss.”
“Well,” Henry said. “Doughnuts will make even business a lot more pleasant.”
“I didn’t say it wasn’t pleasant. It’s been five years since my husband died, and we had to put a few things in place at the time that have run their course now,” Virginia said. “In a good way.”
Nate watched the crowds passing and wished he wasn’t in the middle of an awkward conversation. Although Virginia wasn’t his boss and had, in fact, handed over ownership to her three children equally, Nate felt uncomfortable and a little sorry for Henry because he’d been subtly shot down.
“I hope you have a nice breakfast,” Henry said congenially, “and maybe I’ll see you later in the day.”
Virginia smiled and gave them both a little wave as she walked away.
“Piloting a jet is easier than navigating personal relationships,” Henry said.
“You’re telling me,” Nate agreed. “That’s why I save myself a lot of trouble by avoiding them.”
THE WEDDING FESTIVITIES were only moments from starting.
Alice had already heard the bride and groom’s story, and it was one of her favorites so far. Two lovers who had met one summer working at the Point wanted to get married on the old-fashioned train that chugged around the perimeter of Starlight Point, giving low-thrill rides and scenic views to thousands of people a day. The bride had spent a summer loading and unloading passengers, and the groom had been a conductor giving a colorful spiel over the train’s public address system.
Whereas most of the weddings she planned seemed overblown and overly expensive, she liked the sentimentality of this one. When they’d met in her office months earlier to talk about the wedding, Alice had cautioned them that the only way a wedding on the train would work was to have it early Friday afternoon before the gates opened at five o’clock for the evening fall festival. With special permission from the Hamiltons, Alice had lined up employees to shovel coal and operate the train. She’d had the benches removed from one of the open-air train cars and replaced with several rows of chairs for immediate family and the wedding party to witness the ceremony.
Alice and Nate planned to be one car back overseeing the unusual event and taking photographs for the company website. The orchestra was already set up in the second car and the two remaining cars awaited guests. The entire train would make two low-speed circuits of the park while the ceremony occurred, and then guests would disembark at the station in the Wonderful West where a tent was set up for a reception.
“I think this has potential for disaster,” Nate said. “Who ever heard of getting married on a moving train?”
“It’s not the weirdest wedding I’ve been approached about,” Alice returned. “At least it makes more sense than getting married on a roller coaster.”
“Gotta be a metaphor in that,” Nate commented.
Alice rolled her eyes. “It’s our job to give people what they want. As a public relations man, I’d think you’d be all about that.”
Nate studied Alice with a long stare.
“Sometimes people don’t know what they want,” he said. “They just act like they do until it’s too late.”
A familiar stab of embarrassment, regret and guilt carved a path across Alice’s chest. “It’s never too late to be honest about what you want.”
Nate’s expression didn’t waver, but his ears turned pink.
“Here they come,” Alice said as a throng of people in formal clothes approached. They had entered the park through the marina gate where the parking lot had been reserved, and the bride and groom led the pack. “Get ready with your camera.”
Nate snapped pictures of the group’s arrival. The groom wore a dark suit and the bride’s white gown billowed in the autumn sunshine. Wedding guests fanned out behind them as the group approached. Although it was quite an entrance, Alice was sorry to miss the wonder-eyes moment when the bride and groom first saw each other. The traditional walk down the aisle wasn’t there, but holding hands and walking together toward their ceremony almost seemed better.
Maybe this marriage was about more than just the splashy ceremony. She wished all of them were.
“If I ever get married,” Haley said, “I think it will be on the cable cars. I’ll toss rose petals out and shower people below on the midway.”
“Very romantic,” Alice said. “And expensive.”
Haley frowned.
“But fragrant and memorable,” Alice added. “Unique.”
Haley smiled. “I’d be afraid to hire you to plan my wedding. If I looked fat in my dress or my veil was a big mistake, you’d probably tell me.”
Alice laughed. “Maybe not. But I would tell you if I thought you were marrying a big jerk.”
Nate cleared his throat behind Alice and she felt a