Beach Wedding Read Online Free Page B

blast from the
past.
    Hot blast, that is. The warm air greets us the minute we step out of
the terminal. I wince. I’d almost forgotten how the humidity
feels as it hugs you with its soggy warmth. My hair is going to be
100% frizz in no time.
    “Ginny!”
    I turn at the yell. Marcie is striding out with Pixie and Clyde in
tow. They all flew first class, of course, while I squeezed in coach.
    “Are we ready to get this show on the road, yeah?” Clyde
seems to be actually melting as he takes off his black leather
jacket, slinging it over his shoulder.
    “You guys have a limo waiting,” Marcie tells them. Before
I can get excited about the thought of AC and a driver, she says to
me, “We’ll be driving ourselves. This is Nick and Neil.”
She points to the guys toting cases of AV equipment. “They’ll
go in the limo and start shooting footage. I’ll ride with you.
You can fill me in on this town of yours.” She strides to the
rental car booth.
    I lose her in the cluster of people, but it’s not hard find
Marcie in the crowd. She’s the one with the loudest voice,
demanding GPS, AC, and WiFi en route. Soon, I’m behind the
wheel of the rental car, hitting the highway with Marcie in the
passenger seat.
    We drive away from the hustle and bustle of the city, and it doesn't
take long until we break away from the Miami traffic. Marcie fields a
constant stream of calls, talking “press strategy” and
“demographic shifts” and “live plus three ratings
bumps.” She yells, cajoles, and threatens, and by the time she
finally hangs up and turns her attention to me, I’m intimidated
and more than a little impressed.
    “So, I’ve talked to the mayor of Pelican Crawl Klatch,”
she starts. I’m through trying to correct her. “He says
we have to give a presentation at a town meeting. It’s probably
just a formality to get them to sign off on the permits.” She
catches my look. “What?”
    “Nothing. Town meetings can be kind of… odd, that’s
all.”
    “This whole place sounds like a nut factor. But if wooing the
locals over at a town meeting is what it takes, when in Rome…”
    “Pelican Key Cove is anything but Rome. No aqueducts,” I
say.
    She looks at me funny. “What about ducks? I thought it was
pelicans.”
    “Never mind.”
    “So, is it true about the alligators?”
    “What about them?”
    “That they’re roaming wild.”
    “More like slithering.” I catch her look of panic.
“Don’t worry. If you stay out of the marshes, you’ll
be fine. Most of them are harmless.” I smile. “My aunts
even adopted one, old Algernon, who lives down in the creek on the
back of the ranch.”
    “A pet alligator?” Marcie curls her lip. “Are they
crazy?”
    “Nope. Just from Florida.”
    I drive on. The highway crosses the bay and into the keys, a
gorgeous stretch with beach views and the wide blue horizon. My heart
is beating faster now, closer to home. I’ve avoided making this
trip for so long, but now I can’t help but feel the ocean vibes
take me over, nostalgia thick in the summer breeze. The built-up
tourist strips and beachfront hotels pass by, and now we’re
really getting out into nature: beaches and swampland, small-towns
strung along like sparkling jewels, the road getting sandier with
every passing mile.
    Growing up in paradise, it was easy to take all of this for granted.
As a kid, I dreamed about big cities and the hustle and bustle of a
million people, a place where nobody knew my name. It was a
restlessness that only grew the older I got. Some people love the
laid-back pace of life by the beach, but I felt stifled, impatient
for my real life to begin. Looking back, I can see I was still
grieving my parents’ deaths. I wanted to be far away from the
painful memories. My aunts did their best. They loved me and raised
me to never feel alone. But still, I couldn’t shake the hunger
of knowing there was a big wide world out there my parents never got
a real chance to explore. It was