One-Off (23 page)

“What?” I stopped, unable to form a complete question.

“Your shoulders were getting a little pink.”

I noticed she still had on her jacket and looked around. Her dad was smiling and waving at me, seemingly happy not to have to wear his suit jacket in this heat. I waved back and thanked him. I turned away from the sun so my face didn’t end up getting fried but realized too late that put me face to face with Ainsley. “That was very considerate. Thank you.”

“I burn quickly, too.” She smiled brightly. “It’s one of the reasons Scotland suits me so well.”

I chuckled. The weather held no pull on her. I knew that without needing the sarcasm in her voice to tip me off.

“Have we got everything?” Gary called as he rounded the corner and joined us. “Everyone’s off to the reception. Let’s get the rest of these folks loaded onto the last shuttle and you guys into the cars. Mia is waiting to direct everyone to their seating assignments. The first course will be served ten minutes after you arrive.”

This was why we’d needed a wedding planner. As much as I thought I’d done, we definitely needed Gary to pull off everything in the order it was intended. Not to mention the cleanup at each location.

“Did you want to do the change now?” Gary asked Dallas. “We still have the fitting room for another fifteen minutes. Or there’s a room we can use at the reception.”

Dallas looked at me, seemingly content to let me make the decisions tonight. “Here, I think. Everyone saw you in your wedding gown and we got all the shots we need with that. If you change here, you can take a few photos in the other dress before we go to the other location.”

“Whatever you think.” She giggled and I realized she’d gone into the bridal daze where everything seemed to be happening in a dream. That or her dress was too tight.

“Colin, we’ll be down in a few minutes for more photos.” I turned to lift the coat from my shoulders but Alastair waved me off. I could get it to him at the reception.

“Do you want us with you?” Denver asked her sister as she looped an arm around her husband. She probably didn’t realize the gesture told us she’d rather wait out here.

“We’ve got it covered.” We followed Gary inside. He’d gather everything from the groom’s room first before doing the same with the bride’s once we were done.

“I feel kinda silly now changing into another gown,” she said as we entered the changing room.

I tilted my head and looked up at her. “You wanted something lighter for the party, remember?”

“That’s right,” she agreed, the haze filtering back over her.

“Are you having fun?”

She laughed and cupped my cheek. “I’m having the best time, and I know you’re the reason I can enjoy myself tonight.”

“You’re giving me too much credit. Let’s get you changed and put this gown away.” I began unbuttoning her gown as she unzipped the garment bag that had the less formal gown for the reception.

“When I get back from the honeymoon, I’m going to be your servant for a full week. Anything you want.”

“Not necessary. I’m happy you’re enjoying yourself. You deserve it.”

With the last button undone, the dress came off in a heap on the floor. I held up the second dress and bent to let her step into it. She pulled it up and I zipped the side for her.

We stood back and examined her appearance in the mirror. Her hand flew to her now naked mouth, her husband having kissed off her lip color. I reached into my bag and grabbed the extra that Betsy had left for me.

“Can you fit in that bag?” she joked.

“Yep.” I handed her the lip color and watched her apply it expertly. “Here, take the last of the water. It’s hot out there.”

She stopped applying color and drank from the offered bottle. Her eyes dropped to the coat on my shoulders and she leaned in to study my cheeks. “You have the rest. You got more sun than I did.” She handed me the almost empty bottle. The liquid felt like heaven sliding down my parched throat. “Nice of Ainsley to get you some protection from the sun.”

“It was her dad.” I shimmied the coat off now that we were inside. I could stand in the shade for the next round of photos.

“Only because she insisted he take it off.”

Ainsley had been worried about me? That felt really good. More than was appropriately good, really. I recognized the twinkle in Dallas’s eyes again. “What are you trying to do?”

“Nothing. I think she likes you.”

“She’s barely at the point of tolerating me.”

“That’s not what Colin says.”

I stepped back. “What does he say?”

“That’s she’s too proud to admit she’s smitten with you.”

“She is not.” The denial was automatic.

Dallas shrugged and applied one last layer to her lips. “They’ve talked.”

“She wouldn’t tell him.” Would she? “She’s not one to talk about stuff like that.”

“How do you know?”

“Because she never said anything to our roommates when we shared an apartment. They’d try to get her to talk about women she dated but she wouldn’t spill.” I always admired that about her. Or it could be that I was just sick of hearing about Gwen and Petra’s boyfriends. All of them. In great detail.

“Colin’s a professional interviewer.”

“I’m not buying it.” I shook off her claims. “You’re trying to stir something up, and I can’t figure out why. It’s your wedding. Chill out and enjoy the night. Stop trying to get me riled up.”

“But you’re so fun when you’re riled.” She turned gave my cheek a pinch. “I’m not telling you anything I haven’t seen for myself. I think she’s got the hots for you.”

“You’re in marital bliss mode, chica. You’re not thinking straight.”

“I’m not.” Her eyebrows waggled. “I’m thinking my lesbian best friend might be hooked up by the time I get back.”

I shook my head and pushed on her back to get us moving from the room. I turned and gave my appearance a last once over, noticing I’d either gotten a lot of sun on my face or I was blushing.

Thirty-Two

Outside the Newseum, guests mingled. Food, beverages, and air conditioning were just inside, but these folks were lingering. Half were puffing away on cigarettes. The men had all shed their jackets and the women were walking around barefoot with their heels slung over a shoulder. Until I saw the two photographers standing on the sidewalk snapping pictures, I didn’t understand why the guests had chosen to loiter out front instead of on the upper terrace with the gorgeous views.

Every sign listed this as the
Baird-MacKinnon Wedding
. When Colin suggested it, Ainsley and I flipped out. It wasn’t so much the tie to her that I objected to. I just didn’t like seeing my name on a wedding placard. Ainsley had objected to the tie with me. But after we realized that the marriage of co-anchors would garner interest from tabloids to the tune of several thousand dollars per wedding shot, we agreed to use our names instead of Dallas and Colin’s.

“Dammit,” I swore and told the driver, “Slow down, we’re providing cover.”

“What’s going on?” Ainsley and Denver asked at the same time.

“Freelance photographers. Dallas and Colin didn’t want their photos getting out.” They’d agreed to release their photos to a newsmagazine in an interview they’d do after their honeymoon.

“I thought Gary arranged to book another location for a fake wedding and reception at a hotel downtown?” Ainsley asked.

“He did, but when they don’t show in those locations, they figure out they’ve been duped.” Or when they’ve been tipped off by an asshole network COO.

“What do we do? Dallas deserves to control where the pictures are published. This is her day,” Denver said.

I flicked through my contacts until I found the one for Colin’s dad and placed the call. “Conrad, we need a diversion so we can get Colin and Dallas inside without their photos being taken.”

“What?” He obviously hadn’t spotted the photographers from his car at the back of the pack.

“There are two photographers camped out, waiting for photo ops of Colin and Dallas. We need to convince them this isn’t their wedding.”

“What do you want to do? It’s not like Colin and Dallas can convince them otherwise.”

“No, but you’re in a tux and your wife is wearing an off-white dress. Would you mind being the happy couple of the day?”

“Damn,” he said with wonder in his tone. “Colin said you were smart. We’re on it.”

“We’ll keep going to underground parking garage, but your driver should come to a sudden halt as if you decided you’d rather walk through the front door.”

“Well done. See you inside.”

Everyone in my car was staring at me like I’d snorted a line of cocaine in front of them. “What?”

“How’d you come up with that?” Denver asked.

“You get used to throwing stuff together in the news business.” I called Dallas’s driver and gave him instructions and to let the couple know.

Our car made the turn at the corner and provided a good view of Conrad reaching into the car to help his wife out onto the sidewalk. I knew without being able to see every detail of her expression that she was eating this up.

“Can we talk about her dress?” Denver was craning her neck to watch the couple. “I mean, who does that? Any shade of white or ivory is a complete no-no at weddings. What was she thinking?”

We cracked up at her vehemence. It never failed that some guest would wear one of those colors and not think anything of it. Of course, I was certain Rochelle did it on purpose. I’d only spent thirty minutes in her presence and knew she wasn’t good with someone else getting all the attention.

Our car came to a stop in front of the parking garage elevators. Ross and Logan opened the doors before the driver could and helped the rest of us out. The car pulled ahead to park as I punched the button for the elevators. We’d all planned to go in together, but I needed to make sure the situation out front was in hand.

“In a hurry?” Ainsley asked.

“Just want to take care of something.”

“Need help?”

I glanced at her as the doors opened. “Might be a good idea if there were two of us to convince them.” I got Denver’s attention. “Tell Dallas and Colin to stay away from the windows until I come back inside.”

“Will do.”

Ainsley stepped into the elevator next to me. We rode it up to the ground floor and exited. Gary was waiting and looked surprised when just Ainsley and I exited.

“Two photographers outside,” I told him. “We need you to pretend to be Conrad’s wedding planner.”

We made our way outside where the fake couple were posing for photographs from Isaac who’d gotten out of the car with them. Gary went into wedding planner mode and started positioning them around the courtyard. Ainsley hung back as I bummed a cigarette from another guest and sauntered over to the edge of the sidewalk a few feet away from the photographers. They were looking at their cells, no longer snapping pictures.

“You have a light?” I asked one of them. I detested smoking, but I’d fake it if it would help.

“Nope,” one of them said without looking up. The other did a double take when he spotted my dress and assumed I was part of the wedding party. His eyes raked over me as he shrugged and said, “I can get you one.”

“It’s all right. I’m supposed to quit anyway.” I flicked the unlit cigarette into the trashcan that they were using as a stand for their camera equipment. “Jeez, did Dad hire three photographers for this thing? It’s his fourth wedding, you’d think he wouldn’t need to capture so much of it for all eternity.” I let all the bitterness I usually felt about weddings creep into my tone.

The photographer frowned and glanced over at Gary telling the couple where to stand. “Your dad?”

“Yeah, that’s him.” I waved in their direction.

“We thought this was the wedding reception for Dallas Knight and Colin Pruitt.”

“Why do I know those names?” I glanced up in thought. “Oh, sure, a news show, right? Yeah, I’ve seen it.” I looked at the museum’s entrance and back at them. “You sure you have the right date? We have the place for the night. Dad worked for a paper before he retired. He loves news. We lucked out when someone dropped this booking a week ago. We were going to be stuck at a hotel ballroom if we hadn’t been first on the waitlist here. Not even the grand ballroom, either. Stepmommy was furious about it, but then this place opened up.”

“Shit,” said the guy who hadn’t bothered to look up from his phone. He nudged the other guy’s shoulder. “This isn’t it.”

“Must have canceled and used a different place,” the other guy added.

“Darling,” Ainsley’s voice called out to me as she approached. “The wedding planner is saying that it’s time to go in.”

“Sure.” I gave her my most accommodating smile. “Tell me we get to eat before more photos? If Stepmommy doesn’t get dinner soon, she’ll probably start eating some of the guests.”

“Darling, be nice,” Ainsley said through laughter. “Your dad loves her.”

“He loved the other three, too.” I reached out without thinking and grabbed her hand, holding it in mine. Couples would hold hands, and we needed to sell that. I didn’t need to hold her hand. I needed to sell that I wanted to hold her hand. “You know that news show I watch sometimes with that Dallas what’s-her-name? These guys say she’s getting married today, too. They thought this was the place.”

Both photographers looked over this time. Ainsley’s eyes looked up from our joined hands. “Really? Guess you’ve lost your chance with her. Looks like you’re stuck with me.” She raised my hand and kissed the back before looking at the photographers. “They’re probably at that other museum we looked at. What was it called?”

“Sure, yeah, the National Building Museum. They do a lot of receptions there.”

The quieter of the two slapped the arm of the other photographer and pointed to the street where they’d parked. “They’re right. That place would be big enough.”

“Good luck,” I called after their retreating forms. My hand tugged hers to get us moving toward the pretend newlyweds. As we walked back toward the building’s entrance, I thought about her cool palm and long fingers folded in mine only once or ten times. Her kiss to the back of my hand, the one that hadn’t needed to be so convincing, pretty much overtook the rest of my thoughts.