A Love Song for Always - Piper Lawson Page 0,29

cove.”

“Hell yes. I’m going to show it to my entire audience,” Beck promises.

“No, you’re not,” Elle retorts.

“Where’s our boat?” Rae asks, scanning the horizon.

“Dad and Haley and the kids are taking a boat. Tyler too. We’re taking better transportation.”

Tyler texted to say they were nearly done and would meet us there. I shelve my feelings about that and look past my friends. I see a string of horses heading up the beach, a rider on the first one only.

“Wild West!” Beck hollers. “I’m so ready for this.”

When I arranged this with the wedding planner and the resort, I’d imagined Tyler and me riding off into the sunset. He’d told me he’d never been on a horse before—something about a fear of horses that he promised, after I teased him about it, wasn’t really that bad—and I figured it was about time.

It was going to be romantic and cheesy and perfect.

But he’s not here. I shove the thought away and resolve to enjoy it until he is.

The trail leader, a woman of middle age with a warm smile and a fastidious eye for her horses and how we engage with them, introduces us to our mounts and tells us the basics. Most of us haven’t ridden before, and when I get on, I’m grateful for the saddle to help me keep my balance.

Once we’re all on horses—mine is a beautiful black mare named Ilsa—we head in a row…

Out toward the sea.

“Excuse me. Pretty sure these are land animals,” Elle calls.

The guide turns in her saddle. “The cove we’re going to requires a bit of off-roading.”

She leads us into the shallow water, the horses seemingly content to plod through the water that brushes the bottom of my stirrups. The rhythmic sloshing of the sea against Ilsa’s body is strangely comforting.

I sigh in the sunshine, loving the feel of it on my skin, the steady creature beneath me. They carry us around the beach and beyond some rocks.

My mind goes blissfully blank as we round the last shelf of rocks, revealing a new beach. There are stunningly green trees, white sand the length of a football field, birds circling, and craggy rocks at either end.

“It’s very challenging to get here except via the water,” the guide informs us as our horses plod up onto the beach, stopping next to one another as all of us look around our new surroundings. “The forests are protected, so there’s no access by land vehicle from the main resort.”

“It’s incredible,” Elle admits.

My phone rings, and I grab for where it’s wedged in my pocket, hoping it’s Tyler.

It’s not.

“Miss Jamieson,” the hotel coordinator chirps over the phone, “Mr. King has arrived. Shall I have him meet you?”

I’ve been working on this for months, but hearing it’s happened just as Rae’s horse stops next to mine, the knot in my gut twists tighter. “Yes. Thank you.”

Since Rae mentioned the name Echo Entertainment, I’ve been thinking about it. But she’s determined to have it out with the company, and who better than him?

Except this is our wedding weekend. We only have a couple dozen guests, and it took everything I had to get him here in the first place. If Rae confronts him…

Ugh. Each possible outcome is worse than the last. From having two wedding guests at each other’s throats to him actually leaving.

We dismount, and the guide sets the horses to graze at the foot of the trees, where little sprouts of grass or other plants are growing. She tells us about the plants and animals here as she unpacks the saddlebags.

“Wait a second—isn’t there supposed to be lunch?” Beck asks.

“That will be here with the boat,” she tells him.

I look up into the trees, hearing the same birds I heard at our villa.

“Fruit doves?” I ask the guide.

“Very good. His mate could be around here somewhere. Most doves mate for life. They’ll always return to one another, year after year.”

“That’s ineffective. They should have a dove crew,” Beck tosses as he heads out toward the water, stripping down to his shorts. “Like a harem.”

He wades into the water, digging in the pocket of his shorts.

“What are you doing?” I call after him.

“Filming for my audience.” Before he can hold up his phone, he screeches, bending at the waist as if he’s been struck. “Something just brushed my leg.”

“Sea monster,” Rae deadpans. “I read about them in the literature in my room.”

Beck narrows his gaze. “Not funny!” But it touches him again, apparently, and he drops his phone. “Fucking