CHAPTER TWO
IF ALICE BIRMINGHAM could have custom-ordered weather, she would have requested exactly what she saw. Blue sky, temperature in the mid-seventies zone of perfection, a tiny breeze off the lake.
Planning an outdoor wedding at the end of August in Michigan was tempting fate because of late summer storms, but this ceremony was going to be all right. Alice brushed back a long strand of red hair and relaxed her shoulders.
“Are all the weddings you plan this perfect?” June Hamilton whispered, pausing to stand with Alice well behind the last row of seated guests. “I hope no one will mind if I stop and watch.”
Alice smiled. “You own one third of Starlight Point. I don’t think anyone is going to complain.”
White chairs gleamed in neat rows on the boardwalk. A flowered arch stretched gracefully over the heads of the groom, in a black tuxedo, and the bride, in an airy white gown. The top layer of organza on the bride’s skirt caught the breeze and floated for a moment. “I should have had you plan mine and Mel’s.”
Alice laughed softly and whispered, “You’ve been married several years, right?”
June nodded. “Almost three. And I still think his annoying habits are cute. Of course, I knew all his habits long before we got married because we met when I was four.”
“That’s a long engagement.”
“More like a long estrangement between meeting and getting married, but Starlight Point brought us back together.”
Growing up in nearby Bayside, Alice was well aware of the amusement park’s reputation for thrills of all kinds. With roller coasters piercing the sky, Lake Huron lapping at three sides of the peninsula, and good food and fun all summer long, Starlight Point was where everyone went to have a good time.
“You missed the best part,” Alice whispered to June as they stood side by side in the August sunshine. “The moment when the bride and groom first see each other and the groom looks as if he’s been hit by lightning.”
“In a good way, right?”
“Yes, if the wedding is meant to be. Now that overseeing weddings is in my job description, I’ve developed a system for determining if the marriages will last.”
June laughed quietly. “I know you’re organized, but doing a spreadsheet on the couple’s chances makes you sound like a bookie.”
“No spreadsheets, just anecdotal observation. A thunderstruck look on the groom’s face says a lot.”
“The silly, slack-muscled look of love,” June said. “We used to call that wonder-eyes when I was younger and worked here for the summer. All those summer romances...”
Alice knew many local kids who’d worked here for the summer and met friends and future spouses. She’d worked as a midway sweeper the summer she was seventeen. With a short broom and dustpan, she’d walked a dozen miles every day. It was tough on her feet and even worse for her fair skin, but she’d fallen in love with the amusement park.
Starlight Point had only changed a little in the past eight years. The Sea Devil ride and last year’s double coaster were new additions, but there’d been some losses, too.
She remembered seeing June’s father, Ford, walking the midway and greeting guests during her summer sweeping. The owner of Starlight Point had passed away about five years ago, a summer Alice would never forget for her own reasons.
“I love weddings,” June whispered to Alice as they watched the exchange of vows and rings from a distance. “All that sparkle, fancy dresses, dancing and cake.”
“It’s intoxicating,” Alice agreed. “But don’t you wonder what they think the next day when they wake up?”
“I hope they eat leftover wedding cake in bed,” June said. She sighed. “People should get married on this beach every day.”
“As your events planner, that would be totally fine with me. We could recruit engaged couples from all over Michigan and fly them in to get married right here for one substantial fee. I could write it up for the website—white sand beach, historic hotel, on-site wedding cake baker.”
“Augusta would love that,” June said, referring to her sister-in-law. Gus ran three bakeries at Starlight