wall and “Rock Around the Clock” played on overhead speakers.
“I love it!” Verity told him.
A waitress waved toward the booths. “Take whatever’s open,” she said. “I’ll be right with you.”
They sat across from each other. Verity looked over the menu, her lips curving up as she read. “Now I’m sorry I already had lunch. I’ll have to come back tomorrow for sure and have a burger. In the meantime I’ll indulge myself with an Oreo cookie milkshake.”
“Just avoid the place on the weekends,” Jasper told her. “The wedding crowds pretty much take over. It’s easier to hunker down and wait them out.”
“Is it really that bad?”
“You’ll see for yourself. My friend Garrick is a cop in town and he spends his weekends chasing down people who’ve had too much to drink and want to pick a fight because of something that happened at a wedding or one of fifty-seven other crimes that aren’t much on their own but do tend to add up in volume. Come Monday, we return to our sleepy selves.”
“How fascinating. Does everyone in town work in the wedding industry?”
“Most. There are all the service providers, that sort of thing. Three brothers I know are artists, and Cade and his wife have a horse ranch just outside of town.”
Their server appeared. She wore a red apron over a frilly white dress. “What looks good?” she asked cheerfully.
“I’ll have the Oreo cookie milkshake,” Verity told her.
Jasper glanced at the specials written on a blackboard. The pie selections were blueberry and apple.
“Blueberry pie with a scoop of vanilla.”
“You got it. Want the pie warmed?”
“Sure. Thanks.”
Their server left.
“Did you grow up here?” Verity asked.
“No. Montana. I got here via the army and my writing career. I was on a book tour, driving myself because I couldn’t deal with flying.” He paused. “Did Renee tell you about that?”
“No.” Verity’s expression turned sad. “She’s learned to be very good at keeping secrets. She would never tell me yours.”
“It’s not a secret. I was in the army for about ten years. Military police. I saw a lot of crap you shouldn’t have to see and when I got out, I was messed up in the head, big-time. I went through a lot of treatments. One day our assignment was to write. No subject, just try to get something on paper.”
He smiled. “I started writing and writing. A few weeks later, someone gave me an old laptop. About a year in, I realized I might have something close to a story.”
“The mind’s ability to heal is a miraculous thing,” Verity told him.
“I agree. I managed to sell my first book and they sent me on tour, but I was still too shaky to get on a plane.” He shuddered at the memory. “Way too many people too close together, so I drove. My car broke down right here in Happily Inc.”
He paused, wondering if Renee had told her Happily Inc’s origin story. “You don’t know how the town got its name, do you?”
Sadness flashed in Verity’s eyes. It was quickly replaced by interest, but not fast enough. Jasper saw the emotion and wondered how much of her life Renee kept from her mother and why. Was it all about fear or was there something else going on?
The server returned with glasses of water and their orders. Verity unwrapped her straw.
“I don’t know anything about the town. Not really. Tell me.”
“Back in the 1950s, the town was going under. There was no industry, no tourists and no hope. Frank Dineen owned the local bank and he refused to lose everything, so he invented a history for the town. He talked about how a stagecoach taking brides to the gold fields back during the gold rush had a breakdown. Back then it took a long time to get parts and by the time the coach was ready to go again, all the brides had fallen in love and the stagecoach left empty.”
“That’s a nice story, but it’s not true?”
“Not a word of it. Frank got the town to officially change its name to Happily Inc, then sold the whole thing in Hollywood. A few big stars came out here to get married and the wedding destination idea was born. The town’s been growing ever since.”
Verity smiled. “That’s wonderful. Not the lie, of course, but the rest of it. So when your car broke down, you were experiencing your version of the origin story.”
“I didn’t know it at the time, but yes. I was stuck for a