“Whatever icing is left, I’ll take it,” she said around yet another spoonful of chocolate. “And between this, some wine, and the yoga pants and hoodie I plan on putting on when I get home, my pathetic look should be complete.”
“You’re not pathetic, Skye, you’re just sad and there’s nothing wrong with it.” She put her tools down and faced her. “You should crash at my place tonight. We can be sad together.”
Her eyes went wide. “What are you sad about? I thought things were going well.”
She shrugged. “My sister’s baby shower is in two weeks. You know what that’s going to be like, right?”
Sadly, she did.
“Your family is awesome and everyone loves you and if they want to give you any grief about being single, simply pop a cupcake in their mouth and tell them to go…”
“I get what you’re saying,” Leanne quickly interrupted. “No need to break out the potty mouth.”
Unable to help herself, she laughed. Leanne was way sweeter than either she or Josie were, and sometimes it was fun to just mess with her with even the threat of a swear word. “Okay, then. No feeling sorry for yourself.”
“Skye…”
“And hey, there’s still a couple of weeks so maybe you’ll meet a great guy and you tell everyone about him and how happy you are!”
“Right,” she replied dryly. “Because things like that happen to me all the time. You’d think on one of these jobs–a wedding, an engagement party, any of them–that I’d meet a cute, eligible single guy. But do I? No.”
“Right there with you.”
“Elliott’s got some cute friends. Maybe…”
“Don’t you dare even say it! There is no way I’d even consider hooking up with one of his friends! Cute, eligible, or otherwise!” Groaning, she put the near-empty bowl of frosting down. “Maybe I should go. If I’m this much of a mess before the ceremony, I can’t even imagine what I’ll be like after it.”
“Good plan. I’ve got this covered.”
“Thanks, Lea. I appreciate it.” Standing, she looked around. “I’m just going to do one last walk-through of the room, but I’ll let you know when I’m definitely on my way out.” They hugged before Leanna went back to putting flowers on the cake.
Resigning herself to being a coward, Skye walked back out to the banquet room and did a final check on everything. She spotted two servers lingering near the hall of the groom’s suite and her curiosity was piqued. When she got closer, she whispered, “What’s going on?” They both jumped and she could tell they were afraid of getting in trouble, so she put their minds at ease. “Everything okay back there?”
Dot, who had been with Meet Me at the Altar since the beginning, gave her a nervous smile. “It sounds like the groom and best man are arguing, and we sort of got sucked in while trying to hear what they’re saying.”
Elliott and Tyler were arguing? That didn’t seem like a thing.
And now she had to stop and try to listen too.
“Um…if you need us to go and finish straightening chairs…”
Raised voices hit Skye and all she could do was shush Dot and step a little further into the hallway and pray no one else caught what they were doing.
Within minutes, the girls were gone and Sky was holding her breath outside the door of the groom’s suite.
“Look, all I’m saying, El, is that I want you to be sure.”
Straightening his tie and staring at his reflection in the mirror in the tiny groom’s suite, Elliott gave his best friend Tyler an easy smile. “We’ve been over this before. I’m sure.”
“You were sure three other times…”
“Those were nothing like this.”
“Okay, fine. This is the first time you’re walking up the aisle. It’s just that…”
“Is this really the conversation we should be having right now? The wedding is about to start,” he said with a huff. Running a hand through his hair, he cursed the fact that no matter how hard he tried, it never looked completely neat.
Maybe I should have gotten it cut yesterday instead of last week…
Stepping in front of him and blocking his reflection, Tyler’s smile was more than a little forced. “How long have we known each other?”
“I don’t know. Pre-school or something,” Elliott replied as he took a step back to try to put some space between them. He loved Tyler like a brother, but close-talking was definitely not something he enjoyed.
“Exactly. Since forever. I know you and I know what you’re doing.”
“Um…trying to not be late for my own wedding? Yeah.” But when he went to move, Tyler stopped him.
“Tracy’s a nice girl. She’s sweet and funny and…a good friend.”
“But…?”
“But…I don’t see this as the great love for either of you. Are you sure you’re getting married because you’re in love with her or just because you want to get married?”
Now he’d had enough. “Why is everyone so down on marriage?” Elliott snapped, storming across the small room. “I mean, maybe it’s not right for everyone, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t right for someone! For me! I don’t understand why everyone is on my case over this!”
“Elliott…”
“No! You need to understand where I’m coming from. I want to be married and I want to be married to Tracy! I believe in falling in love and starting a family and going through all the highs and lows that go along with that! I want to live with someone who loves me and gets me and who completes me! Is it wrong to want to sleep beside the perfect person for you for the rest of your life? Is it wrong to want to enjoy inane conversations at two in the morning over…over…I don’t know…whether or not there’s a sale on lawn mowers?”
“Elliott, you’re spiraling.”
“Can you blame me? We’re standing here, ten minutes before my wedding, arguing over whether or not I should be doing this! If this is how you felt, why would you wait until today to bring it up?”
He was about to say more when Skylar seemed to crash through the door. “Oh, my God! I’m sorry!” she said. “I…I…was doing final check and lost my balance at the door and…and…”
Her eyes went wide when they landed on him, and Elliott’s immediate thought was how adorable she looked when she was flustered. Even dressed in a very nondescript navy blue dress that was all about business and not formal enough for a wedding guest, and her honey-blonde hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail–it looked stylish on her. It was an odd observation, but…there it was. He was about to ask if she needed anything, but she seemed to realize she had interrupted something and took a step back.
Clearing her throat, she muttered another apology before leaving the room. It took all of three seconds for Tyler to start talking.
“Believe me, I wanted to say something sooner, but…I don’t know…there never seemed to be the right time!”
“And you suddenly thought this was it?”
“Okay, I get it. The timing sucks,” Tyler conceded. “It wasn’t intentional, I swear!” He paused and seemed to collect his thoughts. “No one’s saying anything bad about marriage, Elliott. This is about marrying for the right reasons and to the right person! Honestly, I think you love the idea of marriage so much that you’re a little blind to who you’re marrying!”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” he demanded, more than a little offended.
“It means,” he paused and let out a long breath. “I don’t think Tracy loves you. Not the way you love her.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he argued.
“El, I’ve been around you enough to know that you guys act more like people hanging out together than a real couple. She’s like a friend or…”
“Marrying someone you’re friends with is a good thing, Ty. At the end of the day, you should genuinely like the person you’re married to.”
“Oh, I agree, but there should be more. There should be...you know...all the other stuff. The ro
mantic crap.”
“I am not taking relationship advice from someone who says romantic crap.” And before Tyler could object, he raked a hand through his hair and went on. “And what do you even know about this? Tracy and I do a ton of romantic stuff!”
“No, you do a lot of romantic stuff for Tracy.”
“That’s not…”
Wait…was that true?
Clearly Tyler caught his hesitation and decided to run with it. “Think about it, Elliott. All the romantic stuff that the two of you do, is initiated by you.” He paused. “What did you do for her for her birthday?”
“Took her to Napa and did the hot air balloon ride with a champagne picnic afterwards. Why?”
“And what did she do for your birthday?”
“Um…you know…we did the uh…the thing,” he stammered vaguely.
“Dude, she bought you those custom car matts! And she didn’t even wrap the box!”
“But I wanted them so–if you think about it–it was a very thoughtful gift!”
“Fine, you wanted them. How about for your anniversary? What did you do?”
“I surprised her with a trip to Asheville where we went for that spa retreat. It was something for the both of us.”
Tyler stared at him hard. “And what did she give you?”
Dammit.
“She uh…she had forgotten that it was our anniversary.”
“How are you not seeing a pattern here!” Tyler cried. “For all your talk about wanting what your parents have and what your grandparents have and all that happy horseshit, you are clearly settling here!”
“I’m not!”
“Yes, you are! Because that girl is nothing even close to what you say you want! There are no shared hobbies, no cute trips or inside jokes…none of it! If anything, she just seems content to hang out and let you take her places! Why are you settling?”
“I get that you don’t agree with the way I think and that’s okay. You don’t have to.”
“Elliott, can you really stand here and tell me this relationship is perfect? That there isn’t anything about Tracy that you would change? Or anything about the relationship that doesn’t check all your boxes? Because I’m going to tell you, I can see that there are things that just don’t…I don’t know…fit.”
Letting out a long breath, he pinched the bridge of his nose and silently counted to ten because – sadly – Tyler had a point.
If he were being honest, there were some aspects of his relationship with Tracy that weren’t as romantic as he’d hoped. But that came with time, right? All the examples Tyler had just given were things he had brushed off as no big deal, but…maybe they were. He just attributed it to her laid-back attitude and was hopeful that once they were married, things would change.
“And what about this wedding?” Tyler asked, breaking into his thoughts.
“What about it?”
“Most women dream of and plan their wedding for years! This was sort of put together in a matter of months and…”
“And what?”
“And it just seems to me like it was treated as just an everyday kind of event rather than the biggest day of her life.”
“Since when do you know anything about planning a wedding?” he snapped.
“Since I have three sisters who I had to sit through wedding planning hell with! Trust me, each of those weddings took a minimum of a year to plan and they were all super obsessed with every little detail. Tracy just went on Pinterest and said, ‘Here. Do this.’ I mean, that’s not normal, Elliott.”
Okay, so maybe she didn’t show as much enthusiasm for the wedding as brides usually do, but maybe that was just nerves. Maybe…
Just as he was about to explain some of this to Tyler, Skylar popped her head into the room and announced it was time. “Thanks, Skye. We’ll be right there,” he said with a smile. Then, without a word, he walked back over to the mirror to make sure he looked okay. Standing beside him, Tyler asked him one more time if he was sure about this, and Elliott told him he was.
And in that moment, he truly believed it.
When he was in front of the room and looking out at all his family and friends, he felt good. Confident. At peace.
The music began to play and the next thing he knew, Tracy waltzed toward him–a beautiful vision in white–and he thought about how lucky he was. How fortunate. She looked so happy–happier than he’d seen her in weeks! Her smile told him her earlier lackluster reaction to the wedding really had been about nerves. Now that their big day was finally here, she was just as excited as he was, and her radiant smile was the sign he needed to truly relax. Yes, a radiant smile that was…
Not quite directed at him.
Hmm…
Looking over his shoulder, Elliott caught a glimpse of their officiant–Tracy’s BFF Daniel St. James. Somewhere in the wedding planning process, the idea of having one of their friends officiate had come up and it seemed like a good idea at the time. He had expected it to be one of his friends, not hers, and certainly not this guy.
Yeah, he wasn’t overly thrilled with Daniel stepping up to do the ceremony, but Tracy had convinced him it was the perfect personal touch to their big day.
However, looking at the smile Daniel was currently directing at Tracy, he wasn’t quite so sure.
Once Tracy was at his side, she did smile at him and–for a moment–Elliott relaxed. Why was he looking for trouble or letting his mind wander toward things that didn’t even matter? Daniel and Tracy were friends and rather than looking at this as a bad thing, he should be thankful that he cared enough to want to be a part of their big day. Taking her arm and looping it through his, he faced forward with confidence.
Here we go…
“Family and friends, welcome,” Daniel began.
Elliott studied him and tried to relax but…he frowned. Daniel looked like he had just stepped off the cover of GQ while Elliott looked a little…well…not like the cover of GQ. They were both wearing tuxedoes, but Daniel’s had a more custom fit to it while Elliott’s was definitely of the rental variety.
And it didn’t end there.
Here’s the thing–Elliott had no problem with who he was. He knew he was tall and good-looking–but not overly so. He was a hard worker, loved to volunteer his time wherever it was needed, and cared deeply about the people in his life. Maybe he was a little on the quiet and reserved side and he enjoyed the simpler things in life, but it made him happy.
He made a good living as a software engineer and had been the fastest climbing one in the company! And while some called him nerdy looking–he was one of those people who enjoyed wearing glasses–he never felt inferior to anyone.
Until right now.
“You know, when Tracy and I first me, I knew we were going to hit it off,” Daniel was saying and Elliott forced himself to focus. “I remember the first time we hung out on the playground in fourth grade,” he went on with a small laugh and then proceeded to tell a story of the two of them bonding over peanut butter cookies–Tracy’s favorite.
Okay, that was sort of new information…
“I think back at all the amazing times we’ve had together–the trips to the Bahamas, the cruise to Mexico…”
Wait…when was this?
“Do you remember the time we got stuck in the rain when we were camping and had to share a sleeping bag in my tent?” Daniel asked while flashing his model-worthy dimples.
Is this even an appropriate story for a wedding service?
Elliott discreetly tried to clear his throat to get the point across that he was not amused with the direction of this speech, but no one seemed to notice.
“Tracy, you are my best friend and the most amazing woman in the world,” Daniel went on. “And you deserve every happiness and all that is good in this world because you are everything that is good and perfect and wonderful. We are all better people for knowing you.” He paused. “At least, I know I am.”
O-kay…
“Marriage
is about the joining of two lives and making them one. About commitments and the future and building something together. Something special.” He let out a long, soft breath, and his gaze never left Tracy’s. “And every time I think of that for you, I know that the only way to make sure that happens, is if you’re with me.”
Elliott felt the collective gasp in the room all the way to his soul.
Say what now?
Tracy went to pull her arm from his, but for some reason, Elliott held firm.
“Daniel,” she began, her voice trembling slightly. “What? I mean…”
And then, the six-foot Adonis stepped forward and it was like something out of one of those damn rom-coms Elliott enjoyed watching so much. The guy had the perfect amount of shame and confidence that made you want to cheer for him.
Your typical romantic hero.
Except…he was the bad guy here! No one should be cheering for Daniel because he–Elliott–was supposed to be the hero in this scenario! This was his day! His moment! How could he not…
“Maybe I should have said something sooner, but…I couldn’t. I thought I was doing the right thing,” Daniel explained, his eyes never leaving Tracy’s. “You are the only person in this world who makes everything right, and I know the timing of this really isn’t ideal…”
Did everyone think it was appropriate to bring their feelings up today??
“But I wanted you to know – needed you to know – before you said I do to another man, that…well…I would love the chance to prove to you how perfect we can be together.”
Next thing Elliott knew, he was stepping aside and watching his fiancé kiss her BFF.
This cannot be my life!
As he stood there stunned, he wondered just what exactly he was supposed to do–should he break them apart? Yell? Scream? Just what is the appropriate reaction to having your wedding hijacked in such a dramatic fashion?
Before he could figure it out, Tracy and Daniel looked at him. “Elliott, I’m sorry, man. I really thought I’d be okay with this,” Daniel said and, dammit, he sounded sincere.
“Me, too,” Tracy said. “I’m so sorry, but…I always hoped one day Daniel would feel for me what I felt for him. I just thought it wasn’t meant to be.” And then she had the nerve to smile at him.
Bride & Seek Page 13
