Chapter One

Alex

“For the love of good sushi, Lake. You act like I’m torturing you.”

“You are.” My best friend, Lake O’Brien, slumped into the chair and laid her hands grudgingly on the table of the nail salon.

I dropped into the chair next to her and smiled apologetically at the manicurist across from us. “Most women consider a manicure to be relaxing. Look at Melissa. She’s enjoying herself.”

We both turned to the chairs behind us. Our other best friend, Melissa Frye, sat with her feet soaking in a tub of bubbling, scented water. She lifted her champagne flute, only half filled with mimosa, in a mock toast and sank deeper into the massage chair.

“Clearly, I’m not most women.” Lake eyeballed my clipboard. “How am I supposed to sit here and relax, knowing there’s still so much that needs to be done back at Naked Brews?”

I pulled the clipboard against my chest so she couldn’t see the huge list of to-do items still needing to be checked off. “You let me worry about that. There may be a lot to do, but you’ve got your number one girl in charge. I just want you to relax and enjoy the next few days. You only get married once, or something like that.”

“Knock it off, Alex.” Melissa glared at me from across the room, but being slightly tipsy and the size of a house elf ruined the effect.

“What? I think I’ve done a remarkable job, setting aside my personal opinions on the institution of marriage.” I patted Lake’s arm. “I’m very happy for you and Walsh.”

Lake gave her left hand to the manicurist for the inspection of her torn cuticles and rough nails. “I’m less concerned about your thoughts on marriage and more worried about leaving you guys for almost two weeks at one of the most important points in Naked Brews history. What if there’s another attack?”

The thought had crossed my mind. When Lake set the date for her wedding to Walsh, they’d arranged everything so that the opening of Ice’s Brew Pub happened just a few days after their return from their honeymoon. We all just assumed the arson investigation would be wrapped up by then. But after several months of looking into it, the police weren’t any closer to finding out who set the fire that had almost killed Melissa.

“Nothing has happened for months now. Maybe the person trying to take down Naked Brews gave up.” The words sounded hollow coming out of my mouth, but what else could we do? With no leads, Detective Murdock basically told us the case was cold unless something else happened.

Lake gave me her death star glare. I was getting it from all sides.

“Dip your fingers in here, sweetie.” The manicurist set a bowl of something foul-smelling in front of Lake.

Lake followed her instructions but wasn’t happy about it. “It’s not too late,” she said, wrinkling her nose at the concoction in front of her. “Walsh and I don’t have to go on our honeymoon right away. We could stick around and go after the opening.”

“Don’t even think about it,” Melissa shouted from her chair, not even bothering to open her eyes. “I have spent the last three months planning the most perfectly romantic, beer-focused honeymoon imaginable. If you cancel, I’ll never forgive you.”

Lake blew a piece of hair out of her face. “Ireland isn’t going anywhere. And the pubs and inns you have us booked at have all been there for hundreds of years. I think they’ll hold for another month or two.”

“Never. Forgive. You.” Melissa took another sip of her mimosa.

I certainly didn’t believe in marriage, but I couldn’t let Lake’s dream die. She deserved this time away with Walsh. “You can’t postpone your honeymoon.” I looked to the manicurist for backup, and she nodded along with me. “Besides, we both know if you postpone, you’ll never go. First, it’ll be a busier than usual summer season. Then in the fall, you won’t be able to go because of all the beer festivals and competitions happening at that time of year. And we both know there’s no way you’re going to leave the country during ski season. It’s our busiest time of year.”

“Maybe in the spring we—”

I held up my hand to stop Lake’s next words. “In the spring, something else will come up that stops you from going, so don’t even think about it. Tomorrow, you’ll get married, and after that, you’re leaving for Ireland. I don’t want to hear another word about it.”

“Fine. I’ll get married and go to Ireland. I’ll even get this stupid manicure.” Lake slumped back into her chair. “But just for the record, you guys are the worst best friends ever.”

“Aw, we love you, too,” Melissa said, winking at me.

“Would it make you feel better if we went over the agenda?” I tapped the clipboard still firmly pressed my chest.

Lake nodded. “Yes, please.”

I set the clipboard in my lap and pulled a pen out of my purse. “Okay. Walsh is picking up the mysterious Damian right before the rehearsal dinner. And Anthony and Lauren are graciously picking up your mom and Walsh’s foster mom from the airport right about”—I glanced at my phone—“now.” I flipped through a few pages until I got to the end of my list and made a note to send Anthony and Lauren a thank-you note later.

“Good Lord, Alex.” Lake grabbed for my clipboard, but I pulled it out of reach, and the manicurist snatched Lake’s hand back. “Seriously, how much do you still have to get done?”

“It’s not that much,” I lied. “It just looks like a lot because it has everything I need to do for the wedding and a few things I need to handle with our distributors to get ready for the brew pub opening. Once the wedding is over, it won’t be so bad.”

“Yes, it will. As soon as the wedding is over, you have to start focusing on the massive PR to-do list for the pub opening. I knew Ireland was a bad idea.” Lake leaned in toward me and dropped her voice to a whisper. “Maybe we can just go to Denver for the weekend.”

“Never. Forgive. You.” Melissa opened her eyes and threw her foam pedicure shoe at Lake. It missed by a yard, but that was pretty good for Melissa.

“Okay, but we have to do something.” Lake nodded her head toward my clipboard. “I realize managing the marketing for the brew pub is nothing compared to handling the PR for your parents, but this is asking for too much. One person shouldn’t be in charge of sales and all the marketing. We need to hire someone to take over sales and distribution from you.”

I spun my chair around and thought about it. Sweet-talking our distributors was fun, but handling sales for the brewery was never my dream job. If I didn’t have to worry about delivery dates and making our outside customers happy, I could really ramp up the marketing for the new pub and make it a must-see destination for beer lovers.

“Done.” I flipped to the back page again and wrote hire new sales manager on my list before shoving the clipboard under my chair. “Now. No more talk about the brewery. We’ve got to finish up here because you’re scheduled for a massage in thirty minutes.”

Lake waved her right hand in the air, her freshly painted nails glistening with still wet lacquer. “Yay for more torture.”

I shrugged. “That’s what I’m here for.”

As one of Lake’s best friends and unofficial wedding planner, I was determined to give her the amazing wedding she never dreamed of. Because planning the weddings of my friends was the closest I would ever come to walking down the aisle myself. Marriage was for suckers.