Jake walks around the front of the car and slams the hood before heading over to his work bench and grabbing the 54 ounce gas station soda he picked up when we walked down earlier.
I can see he's thinking about how to answer and I think about showing him some brotherly love with a comment about how I can smell something burning, but something tells me maybe my big bro is about to get serious so I lay off.
"Thing is, you did hire that chick and you did make me help her find you a wife. You know, that's some serious shit there, Brother," Jake leans back against his work bench and stares at me. "Everybody took the job seriously. It's not like you just picked some random girl up at a bar or on a Tinder date and brought her home with a 15 thousand dollar ring on her finger and announced you were getting married."
I take the hint that we're done trying to get the Chevelle started today and climb out from behind the wheel.
"Sure, you caught us off guard with this sudden I want to get married shit, but I get it, Bro, believe me, I get it."
Jake sets his soda cup down on the bench. "You know, we got good parents that are still together after all this time. Mom and Dad make it look so easy, you know?"
I lean against the side of his car and nod. He's right. Our folks are great role models. They've been together for 30 years and they're still in love. Giggling and chasing each other around the kitchen-- used to embarrass the hell out of me and Jake when we were teenagers.
Now I realize how lucky they are. How lucky I am to have that kind of influence to be my measure for what being married is supposed to be like.
"I think that's why I wanted to get married so young, you know?" Jake tells me, "I thought that's what being married was going to be like. Like, me and Jen would get a place and she'd doll it up all cute and make it feel like home the way Mom does. We'd start our own family and things would just work out."
I nod. I never really thought of why Jake and Jen got married right out of high school. I guess I figured it was something Jen was pushing for and Jake was just blinded by the pussy at that age.
"Yeah but, you know getting married doesn't solve all your problems, you know Mom and Dad have been through some rough spots too," I remind him.
"Yeah, I know, but they always work it out," Jake says. "I thought being married meant we'd be a team. I thought I'd be able to count on her to work shit out with me like Mom and Dad do."
My brother looks up at me with a pained look on his face and if he wasn't such a macho bastard all the time, I'd think he might be getting kinda choked up.
"I thought I could count on her not to give up so easily." Jake clears his throat, pounding a greasy fist against his chest like he's trying to knock something loose inside himself. I give him a minute to get himself together again and I'm not about to give him shit about this cuz I know exactly how he's feeling at the moment.
"Kim's not like Jen, Rye," he tells me with a renewed determination in his voice, "I talked to that girl 6 ways from Sunday for months. She knows what marriage is all about, she's not just in it for the fancy dress and the big party, she wants to be somebody's wife, man. She wants to settle down and make babies and eat dinner around the table every night.
"That girl will sit down with you at that same table and work shit out with you when things stop going easy. And I've seen you two together, man, you guys are good together. She's head over heels for you and you're a fool for her. So if she called it quits it's because you fucked up. And if you let her get away because you're too fucking dumbshit to go after her then you deserve to lose her to a better man."
Just like that Jake's done with his little speech. I watch in awe as my brother grabs his cell phone off the work bench and heads through the door into the house, leaving me out in the garage to absorb what he just said.
Kimberly
"Are you going to be OK seeing Ryan at the wedding?"
I know Kay's asking because the rehearsal was awkward, but that wasn't because of Ryan. It was because Kay and Brent got in a huge fight right at the beginning and everyone was walking on eggshells all night.
"Yeah," I assure her, "we're grown ups."
Honestly, even if we couldn't stand each other, I'd still tell Kay we were fine. With less than 24 hours till the I dos, there's no time to bail out now.
So Ryan and I will be fine, walking down the aisle together and standing at the altar together and smiling at each other knowing that we almost had to do it all again in a year only on our own dime next time.
Funny how, after all these years of thinking about having my own wedding someday, I can be so relieved to know that I don't have to worry about fitting into the right dress, or whether or not my guests will like the caterer I pick out, or if the photographer will show up, or the DJ will get drunk.
Those just aren't the things you think about when you're envisioning your big day, but after going through the whole night mare with Kay's wedding planning, I can honestly say I'm nothing but relieved at calling off my own plans. Well, mostly relieved, that is.
"How 'bout you?" I ask, "Are you going to be OK seeing Brent at the wedding?"
Kay laughs shyly. "Oh my God, I'm so embarrassed," she says, throwing her hands over her face and collapsing back on the cushions of the sofa in our hotel suite.
Tomorrow night this will be Mr. and Mrs. Ainsley's honeymoon suite, but tonight it's just me and Kay. The rest of the girls are across the hall and Brent and his groomsmen are staying on another floor.
"I really blew things out of proportion, didn't I?" Kay peeks between her fingers and grins at me.
"Maybe just a little," I agree.
"It's just been so crazy," she tells me, "I couldn't handle one more thing. I told him to talk to her before I snapped but you know how men are."
I nod understandingly.
Brent's mom has been on Kay's last nerve for weeks. Rearranging the seating chart, calling the florist to request "more yellow" in the centerpiece bouquets, and tonight she took it upon herself to change the champagne that Kay and Brent had ordered.
"Who does that?" Kay lays her head back on the arm of the sofa and asks the ceiling. "Who just butts in to someone else's wedding and changes something like that at the last minute?"
I decide not to rekindle this fire by pointing out that it had been done a few days ago. We just found out about it tonight.
"Mother in laws," I tell her with a sarcastic humor. "Mother in laws that were trying to be nice," I add as a reminder.
Brent's mom actually sprung for an upgrade, ordering the champagne that Kay had wanted but decided was out of the budget.
"That's not the point," Kay's voice is muffled by her arm over her face, "everyone keeps getting involved and making decisions for me without asking. I'll be so glad when this is all over."
She sounds like she means it too. I barely got started with the wedding planning before I couldn't take anymore, I can only imagine what it's been like for Kay who's been working on this for a whole year.
"Do you even still want to get married?"
The question has been burning me up for the last week or so. Ever since Kay and Brent started fighting about everything.
"Or do you just feel like you have to go through with it because everyone's expecting you to?"
Tonight was a fiasco. After Kay saw the champagne in the kitchen she had a melt down. She tore into Brent in front of everyone and we all just stood around trying not to notice until Brent finally got her to go outside.
When they came back in to start the rehearsal things were pretty tense.
At least it made it easier to be in the same room with Ryan.
With so much distraction going on around us, there was no time to focus on us.
Kay pulls her arm off her face and turns over so she's propped up on one elbow to look at me straight on. "Of course I want to get married," she tells me, sincerity dripping from her voice, "I love Brent."
Her face breaks into a wide grin, "I can't wait to be Mrs. Ainsley. I'm so exc
ited I could die!"
With that she throws herself back in the sofa and squeals, kicking her heels into the cushions excitedly.
"We're hoping that I'm pregnant by the time we get back from the honeymoon," she blushes as she confesses to me.
I'm a little shocked. I had no idea they were planning on starting a family so soon. Ryan and I had agreed we wanted to wait till after we'd been married for a while. Seeing as how we were already getting married so fast under such unusual circumstances.
"Wow," I tell her, sounding not nearly as happy for her as I should be, "that's cool, good luck."
"You sure you're OK, Kim?" Kay asks.
Nodding, I force a smile and fight the sting of threatening tears.
"I'm fine," I promise, "Why do you keep asking?"
Kay's mouth twists down at one corner and her eyes narrow at me, "Because you love Ryan." She throws her hand up to stop my protest, "You love him and he loves you and I don't understand how you guys haven't figured that out yet?"
With a shrug, I shake my head. "Maybe he doesn't love me?"
Kay looks skeptical but she doesn't argue.
"A man who loved me would have put up a fight for me, right?" I ask, not really sure Kay has the answer. "He wouldn't have just let me go like that, would he?"
"Sweetie," Kay's face goes soft with sympathy, "a man who loves you wants you to be happy. Even if that kills him inside. Maybe he loves you more than he knows how to tell you?"
I roll my eyes at her and head to the fridge to refill my wine glass.
I like thinking that Kay might be right, that Ryan loves me. That he loves me enough to let me make the biggest mistake of my life.
But I can't help but think that a man who really loved me wouldn't let me make the biggest mistake of my life.
Ryan
"You know you want to do this, man, you've got too much invested to bail out now."
Funny, I thought I'd be the one giving the pep talks today. Instead, I've been listening to Brent all morning telling me I need to clear things up with Kim.
Brent checks his tie in the mirror, giving me a cheesy wink in the glass and then straightens his cuffs, making sure the cuff links are properly secured.
"What do you think?" He stands at an angle to the mirror and does some sort of James Bond pose as he waits for my approval.
"I think I don't know what Kay sees in a nerd like you," I tell him.
My buddy is looking good on his wedding day. Brent's all jokes and easy attitude today. Nothing like he was after the rehearsal yesterday.
"She is a lucky girl, isn't she?" He asks his reflection as he messes with his tie again. "So you gonna go get your girl back or you gonna just sit around and bitch about how bad you fucked up letting her walk out on you?"
I groan. He's been on my case since he found out we broke up, giving me crap about what a moron I am.
"How come you're in such a good mood today?" I ask, "Last night I thought we'd be in Mexico by this time today."
I get up and shove him away from the mirror, checking my tux and doing my best to give the groom a little competition.
"I'm marrying the woman I love, man," he tells me.
Brent's hand comes down hard on my shoulder and we both stare into the mirror.
"Dude, this wedding shit? This is over after today. So things got crazy there for awhile, big deal. Now I know exactly how Kay's gonna act when she's stressed out. I know how we're gonna work shit out when things are rough."
Great, he's getting sentimental.
It's his wedding day-- I guess I'll cut him some slack.
"I don't give a shit about this party we're throwin' man," Brent steps away from the mirror for a minute to slip his tux jacket on and then goes through the whole process of primping and straightening things again.
"You know what I'm saying? At the end of it all, the prize is Kay," he tells me. "That's what it's about, man. About being married to a woman that I can't get enough of, knowing that's the way I'm always gonna feel about her."
"Yeah but you knew Kay was the one the first time you met her," I point out. "You guys got lucky."
Brent laughs, "Dude, you weren't there for the very beginning, we had a few hiccups at the start."
This is news to me, my impression was that they'd hit it off right away.
"Oh well yeah, I mean, look at her! Kay looks like a fucking lingerie model for fucks sake," he tells me as we make our last search of the room for anything we may have missed. "That was one of the problems, actually. I mean, getting matched up with someone that out of your league will really dredge up the insecurities.
"But that's what it was, my own damn insecurities. Thinking I wasn't good enough for her and thinking she was going to figure that out."
Brent watches me pat my pocket. I give him a thumbs up when I feel the rings and he keeps on talking as we leave the room and start toward the elevator.
"You did the match maker thing like we did," he says. "That's a crazy way to meet the person you're going to marry, ain't it?"
I nod as the carriage starts it's journey down to the ground floor.
"Long story short, Bro," Brent turns to face me in the lobby before we turn to head toward the ballroom where there wedding is being held, "I almost fucked up the best thing that ever happened to me, and if Kay had let me get away with it, you wouldn't be here right now."
A flash of bright red catches us both out of the corner of our eyes and we both turn just as Kim hurries down the hall toward the bathrooms, the heels of her satin shoes clicking on the tile.
"And neither would she," Brent says in a hushed and serious tone, "that shit is fate right there, man, so go get your woman back before you spend my whole damn reception crying in your beer. Cuz I guarantee you none of Kay's other bridesmaids are gonna take pity on you."
Brent pushes me in the direction Kim went while he turns on his heel and heads off somewhere else.
"Hey! Speak of the devil!" My brother's voice booms across the hall, catching me off guard and bringing me to a dead stop as I see him pulling a girl by her hand toward me.
"This is my baby brother, Ryan," he introduces me to the familiar-looking woman. She smiles and holds out her hand as Jake mentions her name is Isabella.
"The guy who kept me from killing you." Isabella is all bright smile and dark brown eyes as I shake her hand.
For a second I'm confused and then it dawns on me, she's the girl from the bar. That night that the guys were filling my head up with a thousand reasons not to get married. The girl that I thought for sure Jake was going to end up brawling with.
"Err--" I'm confused at hell as I look from Isabella to my brother as Isabella snakes her arm around Jake's waist.
Jake's arm immediately wraps around the slim brunette's shoulders and pulls her close to his side. They look natural together, like they've been standing next to each other for years.
"Oh good!" Mom's voice comes to rest at my side and in a minute Dad joins us, holding a glass of water in one hand and dropping his other arm over Mom's shoulders in a pose that mirrors Jake and Isabella and triggers something inside me that twists hard.
"You met Izzy! Isn't she pretty?" Mom gushes over the girl under my brother's arm.
I give him a look that asks all the questions I can't seem to find the words for at the moment.
Jake laughs, "You don't remember me disappearing for an hour after you dragged me away from her?"
Shaking my head, I think back to that night at the bar. Brent wasn't anywhere near as excited about getting hitched then as he is today. I had my hands full with both of them that night. Now that I think about it, I do remember Jake wandering off for quite some time.
"I went back to the bar to grab another beer and Izzy started in on me again. We ended up taking it outside."
I watch Isabelle's olive skin blush a deep rose as her eyes dart toward my parents.
Mom's too busy chattering about the wedding. How excited she is that "our little Brent"
finally found his princess and then she's back to fawning all over Isabella and I start to realize that Izzy might be more than just a girl that Jake ended up getting along with well enough to bring her to our buddy's wedding.
Jake gives Izzy's shoulders a squeeze and she looks up to meet him half way with a quick kiss before she returns her attention to our mom and Jake steps away and guides me a few paces down the hall.
"She's great, ain't she?" My brother asks when we're out of earshot.
The door to the women's bathroom opens and I see a blur of red as Kim rushes back to the room with the girls are getting ready.
I need to get to her, I need to talk to her before I have to stand up there staring at her while our best friends vow to love each other through thick and thin for the rest of their lives. If we don't get this worked out first, I think that'll kill me.
"Yeah man," I'm torn between running after Kim and hearing how Jake ended up dating a woman who was ready to hit him over the head with a beer bottle the first time they met. "I just don't get how you guys ended up together?"
"I told you man, it's all about how you work shit out. That's the trick to figuring out whether or not you can make things work long term."
"I take it Isabella's good at working shit out then?" I jab him in the ribs.
"Yeah," he chuckles. "That too, but no man. Iz is cool. Like, once we got to talking, it just fell into place. Like, we get each other. I think we've got a chance at making things work."
My eyebrows shoot up and I temporarily forget the time crunch I'm on, "You met this girl what? 3 weeks ago? You're talking like you're serious already."
Jake nods with a shy smile on his face, "You don't need a fancy marriage broker to know when you've found the right one."
Holy shit, my brother is talking about "the one?" I fight the urge to check the news app on my phone for any news about hell freezing over.
"What about you?" Jake's grin goes serious. "You and Kim back on yet?"
A Lucky Break: A Modern Match-Maker Romance Page 7
