An hour later, she and Noah made their trek out to the dock, ready to go. Charlotte and Michael were chatting with Lyle and Marcy. Lily could only hope that Noah’s claim that his sister was discreet ended up holding water. Loose lips sink ships, as her mother used to say.
“Where are Kendall and Sawyer?”
“Oh, shoot. I forgot to tell you they headed back early because Kendall still wasn’t feeling well.”
“You’d think my brother would want to share these things with me, but apparently not.”
“I’m sure he was just worried about Kendall and figured Charlotte would tell you.”
“Yeah. I guess you’re right.”
Marcy Hannafort turned and caught sight of Lily and Noah. She beelined over to them, looking like a woman on top of the world. “Honestly. What a handsome couple you are,” she said.
“Thank you. That’s sweet of you to say.” Lily shifted her weight uncomfortably. They were a handsome couple. What a waste of two perfectly good people.
“We’re very happy.” Noah pressed a dutiful kiss to Lily’s cheek that nearly knocked her off her feet. “Thank you so much for including us this weekend.”
“I know it was my daughter getting married, but I just love weddings so much.” Marcy Hannafort smiled and stared off wistfully, as if she were reliving the last forty-eight hours.
“It was a lovely event. You and Lyle must be relieved it went so well.” Lily shifted her weight again, glancing at Noah, wishing he knew to change the subject to anything other than weddings. Unfortunately, memories of last night, the ones seared into her memory, were dug up every time she looked at him. She was starting to realize exactly how difficult it was going to be to work with him. She would never be able to forget what his touch was like. She’d probably spend at least the next month avoiding eye contact completely. She never should’ve crossed that line, but she couldn’t have helped herself last night if she’d wanted to. Noah was too irresistible and the wait had been too long.
“Honestly, weddings are like a drug for me, so I’d gladly redo the whole thing over again,” Marcy continued.
Lily merely nodded. Considering her history with weddings, she was proud of herself for having lived through this one. As for drugs, she might prefer a horse tranquilizer to witnessing more marriage vows anytime soon.
“You know, I was a wedding planner for years and years. Before the hotel business really took off and Lyle needed my help.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize that.” Noah acted as though he were genuinely interested.
“I helped Annie quite a bit with planning this weekend, although she’s such a Daddy’s girl. She wanted Lyle’s help much more than mine. Even when it came to things like picking out the flowers and tasting cake. You know, normal mother-of-the-bride things.”
“That’s sweet, though. She loves her daddy very much.” Lily desperately wanted to get out of this conversation. Simply thinking about picking out flowers and cake made it feel like someone was jabbing a knife in her side. The mere mention of it made her feel ill. But she couldn’t be even the slightest bit rude to Marcy Hannafort. The big deal wasn’t even close to being signed.
“To be fair, Lyle didn’t have to do much. Once he came up with the idea of using Key Marly, and she agreed to it, the staff took over most of the planning.”
“That’s wonderful.” Lily tried to send psychic messages to Noah to get his gorgeous mouth working harder so he could charm Marcy into a different topic of discussion. “And now you don’t have to worry about it at all.”
“I know. It makes me so sad.” Marcy flashed her eyes at Lily and rubbed her hands together like she was scheming. “So, tell me what you two have planned for your big day. I understand that yours is the next big wedding on the horizon since Michael and Charlotte opted to get married at City Hall.”
“Oh, I guess you’re right. Well, we haven’t really had a chance to get to the meat of it yet.” Lily laughed nervously. Where was she going with this? Lily and Noah were fake engaged, not fake getting married.
“Noah, you mentioned that you and Lily have been discussing how big of a wedding to have. What’s the date?”
Lily was struck with panic unlike anything she’d ever experienced. She was the prepared one. She was the person who was always on top of things, but she was out of her depth and Noah had apparently thrown them both under the bus by delivering factoids about their non-wedding. Lily had to be very careful here, or everything could go up in smoke. “Oh. Uh. June. I know it’s a cliché, but we liked the idea of it.” She shrugged it off.