A Bride Until Midnight / Something Unexpected. Wendy Warren

a dreamer. Only those closest to her knew the reason she kept it hidden.

      The world was feeling like a good place as Summer dropped her phone back into her shoulder bag and walked into Rose’s Flower Shoppe. As always, the scents of carnations and roses met her at the door.

      “I’ll be right with you.” Josie Rose’s muffled voice sounded as if she was speaking into the cooler. Eight months pregnant with her third child, she entered the room with one hand at the small of her back and the other on her basketball-size belly. “There you are, Summer. Someone was here a little while ago asking about you. A man,” she said in a stage whisper.

      For the span of one heartbeat, Summer’s only thought was, they’ve found me. She waited, unmoving.

      “Can you say tall, dark and handsome?” Josie asked, oblivious to Summer’s inner turmoil.

      Oh. Okay. Summer could breathe again, because that description ruled out Drake and her father.

      When she’d first moved to Orchard Hill and shortened her name and bought her inn, she’d often caught herself looking over her shoulder. There had been times when she’d been certain someone was following her. She wasn’t afraid, physically, of her former fiancé or her father. It was the havoc they could wreak and the media circus they were capable of creating that she so dreaded. Her father had connections to people in high places. She’d seen him in action with her own two eyes and knew he had the ability and the capability to ruin people for pleasure or personal gain.

      Nothing had ever materialized out of those certainties that she was being followed. Eventually her paranoia subsided. She relaxed and began to enjoy the life she was painstakingly building, but old habits died hard, and this morning dread had reared.

      “He had the greenest eyes I’ve ever seen on a man,” Josie continued.

      Summer knew only one man who fit that description. “I think you’re referring to Riley’s brother Kyle. He’s staying at the inn this week.” Offhandedly she asked, “What did he want to know about me?”

      “Oh, your favorite color, what kind of flowers you like, that sort of thing. Now, I can’t say more without spoiling the surprise, but it’s like I told him, a man never goes wrong with red roses. Come on back. I’ll show you what I had in mind for Madeline’s bridal bouquet.”

      Summer had been on edge these last few days because Kyle was a reporter. Other than choosing his profession, he’d done nothing to warrant her distrust. In fact, except for asking her a few questions about her background, which was a very normal thing to do when people were getting to know one another, he’d done nothing except come to his brother’s aid, sample a bowl of crème brulee at three in the morning and beguile her with his wit and charm over breakfast.

      He’d hinted about making love, but she’d been thinking about that, too, so she could hardly chide him for it. She was beginning to like him. Summer took pride in the fact that she showed everyone common courtesy. She granted people who earned it her respect, but her affection wasn’t given lightly. And she liked Kyle Merrick, truly liked him.

      After consulting with Madeline over the phone, Summer finalized the order for the flowers for the wedding. Josie Rose was right. The bridal wreath spiraea, lilacs and baby’s breath were going to be perfect compliments to the sprigs of apple blossoms from Madeline’s family orchard. She spoke with Chelsea first and then Abby, as she started back toward her car. Since the rain had dwindled to a mild sprinkle by then, she didn’t even bother with an umbrella.

      She smiled a greeting to Brad Douglas, one of the accountants with the CPA firm located across the street, waved to Greg and Celia Michaels, owners of the antique store around the corner, and held out a steadying hand to Mac Bower who’d been the proprietor of Bower’s Bar & Grill for sixty-five years.

      A pair of strappy, high-heeled sandals in the window of the shoe store on the corner caught her eye. Lo and behold, they were even on sale.

      The world felt like a very good place, indeed.