Back To The Lake Breeze Hotel

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Did they teach that bland everything’s fine expression in public relations classes? Nate had it down to a science.

Maybe he was right and everything was fine. The conductor blew the whistle, and the train lurched into motion. Alice and Nate stood by the rails of the second car, right behind the orchestra. The usual quintet was supplemented by several more instruments to guarantee enough volume to compete with train noise and wind. They played a traditional wedding march, and Alice held on to a post supporting the train car’s roof to watch the ceremony unfold.

It’s going well. The bride and groom met under a garland of flowers suspended from the ceiling and kept their balance thanks to a flower-covered railing. Their small bridal party sat in the front row of white chairs and parents and immediate family were right behind.

Nate smiled at Alice. “It’s different, that’s for sure.”

“Every wedding is unique,” she whispered. She listened to the vows over the train’s public address system. Despite a few railroad puns, the vows were in substance, much like the ones Alice had heard dozens of times. The bride’s long brown hair was arranged in a complicated twist with a short veil attached to the back. Purple ribbons wove through her hair and edged the hem of her gown. The groom teetered a little as he turned to take the ring from his best man’s outstretched hand. His boutonniere slipped sideways with the quick movement, but otherwise the wedding was flawless.

As the train passed through the Wonderful West station for the first time, the bride and groom kissed. Alice breathed a sigh of relief. The ceremony was officially over. Now all they had to do was enjoy a full circuit of Starlight Point while the orchestra played, and then they’d all disembark for the reception.

“They went through with it,” Nate whispered to Alice when the minister made the final proclamation.

Alice cut him a glance. “I’m happy for them.”

Nate gripped the railing. “We used to ride this train when we were—”

“Younger,” Alice said, before he could use a more powerful word such as lovers or engaged. Nate’s expression held a trace of sadness, even vulnerability in the set of his lips and the line between his eyebrows.

The photographer in the first car aimed his camera in Alice and Nate’s direction, and Nate’s expression immediately flashed to PR neutral.

Everything’s fine.

It was now. She had a job she loved, a future and a life of her own in Bayside. There was no point in speculating about how it might all have been different.

The train passed Virginia and Henry, who stood waiting by the large white reception tent, and Alice waved. Their presence assured Alice that every detail had been followed to the letter. She’d be glad when everyone was off the train and under the tent. She already had a bus lined up to pick up all the guests at four o’clock and return them to their cars in the marina lot. That would give her crew an hour to clean up from the reception and remove everything but the tent for the evening festival.

Thank goodness the haunted houses weren’t opening for another two weeks. There wouldn’t be much foot traffic in the Wonderful West on a Friday evening, and it gave her crew just a touch of breathing room in case things did not go exactly according to plan.

Alice leaned on the railing as far away from Nate as she could manage and watched the familiar scenery go past. She’d been on the train ride dozens of times and knew a fake shoot-out with mechanically animated skeletons was just around the next bend. Even though she knew it was coming, she was still startled every time the pretend guns fired.

Just as the western town came into view, Alice heard shouting from the back of the train. Two men were out of their seats in the last car having an ugly verbal exchange. Nate saw it, too, and he and Alice went to the back of their car, watching in horror as two wedding guests drew back their fists to take a swing at each other.

“Gotta be kidding me,” Nate muttered. He swung a long leg over the back rail of their train car and jumped onto the car behind them. He was going to make his way back there on a moving train? Alice wanted to follow, but her close-fitting dress and high-heeled pumps wouldn’t allow her to swing gracefully along the edge of the train car as Nate was now doing.

The two men in the back car were grappling while horrified guests scooted away. One man was trying to stop them, holding out his hands and shouting. Alice got out her cell phone and called the Starlight Point police department. “Fight on the train,” she said. “Two wedding guests. We’re just passing behind the Lake Breeze Hotel right now.”

Nate had jumped to the rear car by that time and Alice watched him work his way down the side of it. He got to the fighting men just as one of them took a wild swing and fell off the train. Alice made a split-second decision, summoned her courage and jumped off the moving train. Someone had to see if the man was injured. She thought she might land on her feet because she had some athletic experience. Years of figure skating had given her poise and balance and decent jumping ability.

However, it was her first time jumping from a moving train and she completely failed to estimate the difficulty level. She tumbled and flailed, gravel flew, and she came to rest in a thick scratchy brush.

What have I done? She opened her eyes and saw the train disappearing around the next curve. A man dropped to his knees beside her and slid his arms under her. He brushed her hair back from her face. “Are you all right?”

In her scrambled state, Alice was afraid for a second it was the fighting man and he was going to take a swing at her. She risked a look at this face.

Nate’s dark eyes stared into hers and his hand was gentle on her cheek. He must have jumped off the train right after I did.

“If I close my eyes, can I pretend nothing happened?” Alice asked.

She heard Nate’s low laughter. “That’s my job, finding a way to gloss this over.”

He helped her sit up and continued to kneel next to her. “Your dress...” he said, gesturing to a long tear starting from the hem and going halfway up her thigh.

Alice grabbed the edges of the fabric and held them together. Her rose-colored shift was destroyed. She just hoped the rest of it was still decent. Nate took a handkerchief from his suit pocket and dabbed at scratches on Alice’s neck and shoulder. “Superficial, but I bet they sting like crazy,” he said. He handed her the cloth. “Do you think anything is broken?”

“The heel off one of my shoes,” she said as she glanced down and realized her favorite pumps were ruined, “and my personal pride will never be the same.”

“First time jumping off a train?” he asked.

She nodded and found a smile, despite the unexpected twist of the themed wedding.

“We’re not alone,” Nate said. One of the fighting men was walking toward them along the tracks. Nate stood and put himself between Alice and the stranger.

“Stop right there,” Nate said. “The police will be here in just a minute, and I will personally make sure you answer for this.”

Nate took off his suit jacket and handed it behind him to Alice. “Use my phone and call Henry to let him know what’s coming on the train.”

Alice found his phone in the pocket of his coat, which was still warm and smelled like Nate—a damp forest smell that reminded her he loved the outdoors. A memory of a camping trip they’d gone on flashed over her. As they’d sat by a fire watching the flames, he’d shared some of his grief over his mother’s passing and she’d felt as if she really knew him for the first time. But when the campfire died, he was back to pretending he was fine.

Alice pushed aside the memory and called Henry. She gave him a quick warning and told him to make sure the Starlight Point police officers knew the description of the person they were looking for.

Alice struggled to her feet and swayed a little. She put a hand to her forehead, reminding herself to take a deep breath and assess the actual damage. Nate slid an arm around her and held her against his chest while he kept an eye on the other man. He didn’t look at her, just held her as if she were a pillow or a bag of groceries.

Two Starlight Point police officers came through the trees and bushes separating the train tracks from the rear parking lot of the Lake Breeze Hotel.

“There’s your man,” Nate said. The officers walked over to the assailant. The fight had apparently gone out of him with his wild swing and fall from the train. His shoulders slumped and he kept his hands up in surrender. One of the officers cuffed him anyway.

“Got two cars in the hotel lot. I’ll take him to the station,” an officer said. “You two can ride in the other car and we’ll write up the report.”

Nate bent to pick up his suitcoat from the ground. One of the sleeves was torn. He put the coat over Alice’s shoulders.

“I’m not cold,” she protested.

“You need to look decent in case anyone’s watching.”

Despite his cool tone, he kept an arm around her as they picked through the bushes and trees to the waiting police cars.

Nate held open the front passenger side door of the police car and closed it after Alice got in. She took Nate’s coat and laid it across her lap to cover the lengthy exposure of leg under her ripped dress. It was bad enough Nate had seen it; she didn’t want to feel exposed and vulnerable in front of anyone else, especially the cop, who was several years younger than she was.

After he got in the back seat, Nate leaned forward. “If any cell phone video of that fracas emerges on social media, I’m going to claim it was staged to make an authentic Wild West–themed wedding train even more exciting.”

Alice laughed, amused and horrified at the same time.

The young police officer got in the driver’s seat. “Do you two need medical attention? I could run you past first aid on the way to the police station.”

“I’m fine,” Nate said from the back seat, “but Alice may need someone to take a look at her.”

She shook her head. “I’m fine. I’d like to get back to the wedding.”

The officer raised an eyebrow. Of course she’d get cleaned up and changed first. She knew she probably didn’t look anywhere close to being presentable. “Might be a while,” he said. “I heard on the radio they’re bringing in a man and a woman they picked off the train at the Wonderful West station. Might be a lovers’ spat we have to sort out and decide who’s pressing charges where.”

“A crime of passion,” Nate said softly from the back seat. “Those make good stories, just not what we need at Starlight Point.”