She paused on her deck and allowed herself a moment to breathe in the peace and solitude, and then walked along the lake trail toward the Boathouse.
Her team were poised and ready and she delivered a final briefing, making sure they understood every dish and all the ingredients.
By the time the first guests arrived, everything was in place.
The band was local and sufficiently versatile to keep the growing crowd entertained as they stood on the newly completed deck, drank Élise’s special cocktails and enjoyed the breathtaking view of the lake.
Élise circulated, dutifully chatting to the people Kayla introduced to her, discussing her plans for the Boathouse and the Inn at Snow Crystal, smiling until the muscles in her face ached and her head started to throb. Sounds mingled, music tangled with threads of conversation an
d laughter.
A bright point of the evening was when little Sam arrived with his family. He looked uncomfortable in a clean shirt with all the mud scrubbed from his face.
Élise made a point of locating the pizza bites she’d added to the menu especially for the younger guests.
“Yum.” He helped himself to four and then caught his mother’s eye and put one back on the plate. “Kayaking was wicked fun. Brenna is awesome.”
“Hey, you were a champ.” Brenna ruffled his hair as she walked past. “You’re going to put up a fight in that race tomorrow.”
“I’m gonna win.” Sam spoke with his mouth full of pizza and his mother rolled her eyes, switching the baby onto the other hip.
“Talk or eat honey, you know the rules. Not both together.”
“It’s a week until my birthday.” He was almost jumping on the spot. “I’m getting a red mountain bike. So cool to be here for my birthday. I’m spending the whole day with Dad.”
“A red bike?” Élise made a mental note to bake him a cake. “That sounds like a great present.” She noticed that Brenna was wearing her usual black dress and assumed Kayla had lost the argument.
“I’ve waited three years.” Sam’s fingers hovered hopefully over another slice of pizza and Élise helped him out and put two slices on his napkin.
“Three years is a long time. You must be very excited.”
“Dad promised I could have one on my ninth birthday. I’ve got a bike at home, but it’s a baby’s bike.” He all but drooled over the pizza. “Can we have this same pizza for my birthday?”
“I’ll speak to the kitchen.”
Brenna stole a piece of pizza and winked at Sam. “When you’re with me tomorrow I’ll give you a map of the mountain bike trails. Be sure and start with the beginner one.” Her smile dimmed fractionally and Élise glanced over her shoulder to see what had caught her friend’s attention. Across the room, Tyler was laughing with a pretty blonde in a tight silver dress.
Élise ground her teeth and turned back to Brenna to suggest she ask him to dance, but the other girl had vanished.
Worried, Élise searched the crowded deck for a moment and then spotted her in a quiet corner talking to Josh, the chief of police.
She liked Josh. She’d had to put in a call to him once when a group of drunk tourists had descended on the restaurant on a Saturday night and he’d handled the situation skillfully and tactfully. In fact, she was fairly sure that half the people dining there that night hadn’t even realized there was a problem.
And despite the small scar under his eye and the uneven ridge of his nose, both earned in the line of duty, he was handsome.
Maybe Brenna should give up on Tyler.
If they hadn’t got it together after all this time, maybe they never would.
Sliding a final pizza bite onto Sam’s napkin, she wished the family a fun evening, then turned around and bumped into Kayla who was looking worried.
“I can’t find Brenna.”
“She’s hiding in a corner with Josh. I thought you were lending her a dress?”
“I tried. She thought my red one was too low.”
“How low was it?”