Page 42 of The Gingerbread Bakery (Dream Harbor #5)

‘Fourth,’ Hazel said from her seat beside him, and everyone laughed, including Noah who shook his head.

‘Fourth, I guess. But I’ll take it, because for the first two years I knew him I was pretty sure the man hated me. As you all know, that's just part of Logan’s charm.’

More laughs, even from Logan.

‘Jeanie, on the other hand,’ Noah went on, ‘I liked right from the start, and I was pretty confident she liked me, too.’ He winked and Jeanie shook her head, laughing.

‘I couldn’t think of a better couple,’ Noah said. ‘I mean except for maybe me and Hazel.’ The crowd groaned and Hazel swatted him on the arm.

‘What about us?’ Kira shouted from her place beside Bennett.

Noah chuckled. ‘We can all have different opinions about that, but since today is their day, let's raise our glasses to Jeanie and Logan.’

Again, the guests drank in the bride and groom’s honor.

Noah sat back down, and Hazel leaned into his side.

Her curls were tucked away from her face with a pretty silver comb and, while her dress matched Annie’s in color, a gorgeous dark red, the cut was different.

She’d chosen a lower neckline with spaghetti straps and Kira had gone with an off-the-shoulder choice.

Annie’s was modest in the front but dipped dangerously low in the back.

She loved it and especially loved that Jeanie had let them choose what suited them best.

It was one more thing that made the wedding feel extra special.

Several rounds of champagne later and the speech portion of the evening had gotten completely out of control, which Annie probably should have seen coming. Somehow the microphone had started being passed around and everyone in town seemed to have something they wanted to say to the happy couple.

Annie thought maybe as co-maid of honor she should put a stop to it, but the bride and groom seemed to be enjoying themselves. So, she sat back, kicked off her shoes, and was enjoying the show.

‘That don’t-go-to-bed-angry advice is all wrong,’ Isabel was saying, glass of champagne in hand. ‘Sometimes you need to just sleep it off and wake up fresh.’

‘Or even better go to bed and don’t sleep!’ Marissa suggested, eliciting hoots and hollers from her table of rowdy ladies.

Isabel raised her glass. ‘Great. Even better, go to bed and don’t sleep,’ she said with a laugh. ‘Cheers to the couple!’

‘Cheers to Logan and Jeanie!’

The microphone was passed to Dot and she stood up.

‘I wanted to say I'm so glad you two ended up here together. Deep down, I knew that giving Jeanie the café was a good idea. I just didn't realize how good it would be! It really worked out for all of us,’ she said with a smile, looking down at Norm in the seat beside her. ‘I’m so happy for you two.’

‘And I’m forever grateful to you!’ Jeanie called from the sweetheart table. Jeanie’s face must hurt from smiling so much but Annie was thrilled to see the bride so happy and that they’d pulled this wedding off.

For the first time in weeks, she felt like she could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

At least she did feel relieved until she looked across the room and caught Mac staring at her.

What the hell was she going to do about that?

It didn’t help that he looked unfairly gorgeous in his suit or that he had watched her walk down the aisle like she was all he ever wanted.

She thought about what Pete had said during the ceremony. Was it remotely possible that the man who had broken her heart all those years ago actually might turn out to be her person ?

‘I just wanted to say a huge congratulations to my beautiful sister and her new husband,’ Bennett said, taking the floor. ‘And I also wanted to take a minute to say what an amazing job Kira did putting this wedding together.’

Kira smiled up at him as everyone applauded.

‘I had plenty of help,’ she said. ‘Annie and Hazel, the best bridesmaids ever. Daisy, for the beautiful arrangements. And a huge shout out to Archer for this amazing food. I couldn’t have done it by myself.

So many people pitched in. I'm so happy to have had such an amazing couple be my first customers, but please do keep us in mind for future large events, hashtag kiranorthevents!’

Annie smiled. She couldn't help but remember last year at this time when Kira was doing everything in her power to not get sucked into the Dream Harbor vortex, and now here she was planning events for the town.

This place had that effect on people. They came here sad or lost or alone until Dream Harbor worked its magic.

She looked over at Mac again. Had the town worked its magic on him? Of course, he’d live here for the first half of his life, but he’d been gone for so long. Was this place in his heart like it was in hers?

She watched him laughing with Noah and she thought about all the ways he had come back.

For three years, she’d tried to pretend it wasn’t true or it wasn’t real or it wouldn’t stick.

But here he was, friends with her friends, renovating his parents’ old house, running his dad’s pub.

Mac was here in Dream Harbor again. He had set up his life here and he wanted her. All she had to do was say yes.

She turned her attention back to the speeches in time to hear Cliff comparing marriage to fishing and making some sort of obscene, rod jokes. Maybe it was time for her to confiscate the microphone. She was about to when Mac took it.

He cleared his throat looking around the room. His gaze stuck on her only for a moment before flitting away.

‘I wanted to say congratulations and to say thank you to Logan.’

Logan looked up, surprised, his eyebrows raised.

‘Thanks for letting me have a clean slate with you, and for being one of the first people to welcome me back to town. It’s funny how when we’re young we feel like we need to get far away from where we grew up, or at least some of us do, in order to find ourselves.

And I did learn a lot about myself while I was gone.

I lived in a lot of amazing places, and I met a lot of interesting people but, in the end, I missed home .

I missed the people here. I missed this. ’

His gaze landed back on Annie. She felt her skin flush. Had he really missed her the whole time he was gone?

Mac cleared his throat.

‘Anyway, I’m really happy for you, man, and thanks for letting me be a part of it. Cheers to the bride and groom and to Dream Harbor.’

‘To Dream Harbor!’ the crowd echoed, raising their glasses one more time.