by Howe, Violet
We reached the road and set out for the restaurant on the other side. One step on the scorching hot pavement in my bare feet was all it took for me to channel Flo-Jo. I crossed that road in record time, thankful there was no traffic at that moment.
The clock in the restaurant lobby chimed five times as we entered, and Preacher Man and I looked at each other in disbelief. We’d been gone almost three hours, and he’d missed his second wedding.
Little Heidi Hostess didn’t even attempt to hide her disgust when we sloshed into her foyer and asked to use a phone, dripping water and reeking of seaweed. She reluctantly handed it to Preacher Man before leaving to find her manager.
The manager returned with Heidi Hostess hot on his heels. “Swimwear is not allowed…” he started, but then stopped as soon as he saw my white dress clinging to my skin in all the wrong places. He glanced from me to Preacher Man, who was having a heated conversation with someone on the other end of the phone as water dripped from his shorts. Manager Guy looked back to me. “We do have a dress code here.”
Really? Seriously? Did he think I was actually showing up for dinner soaking wet and wearing a life jacket? I‘m sure my expression clearly conveyed the utter ridiculousness of his declaration, but I clarified our purpose just to be sure.
“We got stranded. Our Jet Ski ran out of gas, and we climbed up by the bridge. We just need to call for help.”
The manager swallowed hard, and I could see his struggle to keep his eyes above my chin.
“Why were you wearing a dress on a Jet Ski?” Little Heidi Hostess asked as she stood there chewing her gum like a cow eating cud. The manager cleared his throat and motioned for her to be quiet.
“We were at a wedding on a yacht, and Reverend White here needed to get back to his car. I was supposed to bring him, but we ran out of gas.”
“So someone will be coming to get you? Soon?” Manager Guy looked like he wanted that to happen just as much as I did.
Preacher Man hung up and turned back to me. “The file’s in my car, to which I have no keys. Their number’s in my phone, which is in the water with the keys. I have no way to reach the bride or groom.”
“So who did you call? Is someone coming to get us?” I asked.
“That was my wife,” he said. “She’s in Orlando. She can’t be here for an hour at least.”
Manager Guy cleared his throat and twisted his hands together. We had arrived during prime early bird dinner hour, and patrons filled the lobby, gaping at us in amazement.
“Johanna?” he called out to Little Heidi Hostess, who popped a big bubble across her face in response.
“Try and get everyone seated as soon as possible. And spit out that gum.” He ushered us into the kitchen and out of sight of the paying customers.
“I can have someone drive you wherever you need to go,” he said as he pulled a linen tablecloth from a shelf and handed it to me.
I accepted his offer wholeheartedly, shedding the bulky, wet life jacket and fashioning myself a tablecloth toga to hide my lacy underthings from the openmouthed stares of the kitchen staff.
“Can I try to call my boss?” I asked. “I’m sure she’s worried about me, and I don’t feel right leaving the Jet Ski under the bridge without at least letting someone know.”
“Sure, sure.”
I got Lillian’s voice mail on the first ring, which meant her phone was turned off. I left a message explaining what had happened, the name of the restaurant, and the location of the abandoned watercraft.
“I’ve got someone driving Reverend White home. Is there any place we could drop you?” Manager Guy looked hopeful that soon he’d be rid of us both, but I didn’t really have a place to go. I’d ridden to Tampa with Lillian, so I didn’t have my car.
I shook my head. “I’m not local. I think I’ll head back down under the bridge. I don’t want to leave that thing unsupervised, and I have to think they’ll come looking for me at some point. If I could use your phone for one more call, though?”
I dialed Cabe’s number, unsure of what he could do to help me, but needing to connect with him after all that had happened.
“What’s up, Buttercup?”
At the sound of his deep, rumbling voice my tears started flowing. I poured out the day’s events between sniffles, assuring him I was fine and just needed to hear his voice and know he was there on the other end of the line.
“I’m on my way,” he said. “I’ll be there in an hour.”
“No, don’t come. I’m sure Lillian will be looking for me soon. There’s no sense in you driving all the way over here.”
“Babe, you need dry clothes. You need shoes. Even if she comes and gets you, what are you gonna do? Go back to the wedding bleeding, barefoot, and soaking wet? Let me come get you. Lillian can handle the rest of the day on her own. She’s a very capable lady.”
There was nothing I wanted more in that moment than for my handsome prince to come and rescue me. Well, I wanted a shower, clean clothes, and something to eat, but Cabe coming to get me would solve all that and allow me to collapse in his arms. Win-win.
Lillian got my message and called the restaurant before I went back under the bridge. She said the boat captain would send a truck and trailer to meet me so I could be absolved of duty and go home.
I’ve never been so happy to see Cabe. I don’t know that he could say the same, especially since I reeked of seaweed. We had to ride home with the windows down because of the stench.
I pretty much went straight to the shower when we got back to my place, ignoring my sunburned skin’s protests as I cranked up the heat of the water and tried unsuccessfully to scrub away the fishy smell.
Cabe welcomed me out of the shower with a warm towel he’d fluffed in the dryer.
“Thanks for rescuing me.”
He smiled and picked a strand of seaweed from my hair. “Any time, milady.”
The dinner he’d prepared smelled delicious, but I only managed a few bites before I fell asleep on the couch. Cabe picked me up and carried me to bed at some point, tucking me in with a sweet kiss on my forehead. Probably not the weekend he had in mind when he proposed last night.
Sunday, June 8th
Talk about bad timing.
It had only been two days since the love of my life rode in on—and fell off of—a white horse to ask me to marry him. The bruise on his derriere looked pretty painful this morning as he left the bedroom headed to the shower. Should be a crime to mar such a perfectly sculpted specimen.
Lillian had picked me up to go set up the yacht in Tampa less than an hour after Cabe popped the question Friday night. Then I’d come home sunburned and exhausted after my castaway experience last night, definitely not in a mood to celebrate our engagement.
“I’m sorry. If I had known, I might have been able to move things around,” I said as we stood at the airport departure curb this morning saying goodbye.
“No worries,” he said. “I knew before I proposed that you had to work this weekend and that you were flying to Chicago to get your certification. I just didn’t want to wait until you got back.”
I figured that might have something to do with the last time we parted at an airport, when he got arrested for shoving a TSA officer and I flew to Paris without him and ended up in someone else’s arms.
“You’re not worried about me going out of town, are you?”
He shrugged and smiled. “Should I be?”
I laughed and held up my left hand, watching the diamond sparkle in the sunlight. “Little different circumstances this time.”
Cabe’s blond curls lifted in the early morning breeze. I’d never seen his hair so long before, tousled and unruly as it framed his face and dusted his collar. It only served to make him more attractive, and the butterflies in my stomach swarmed lower as I reached up and ran my hands through those curls, lacing my fingers behind his head and pulling him to me.
Our lips met and held. I inhaled deeply, breathing in his masculine scent and
memorizing every aspect of the moment to carry with me on the plane. His tongue brushed across my bottom lip, and I opened up to him, welcoming his slow exploration. I couldn’t resist twisting my tongue against his, and the kiss deepened as we pressed to each other and tried to savor the minutes we had left.
“I really wish I didn’t have to go,” I whispered against his cheek when I pulled away.
He stroked his hands up and down my back and hugged me to him with a sigh.
“Deacon and I will be right here waiting for you.” He nodded toward the goofy dog hanging his head out the back seat window. Strings of drool oozed from his jowls and dripped down the side of the car door. He cocked his head as Cabe said his name, his ears twitching with excitement.
“See? Deacon misses you already. He’s salivating over it.”
“Nice. Deacon salivates over everything, though. Don’t you, buddy?” I ruffled the fur between his ears and tried to avoid being slimed.
The security guard made eye contact with me as he approached us for the second time.
“Okay, Cable. He’s coming back around. We better wrap this up. The last thing you need with your appearance before the judge next week is another altercation at the airport.”
Cabe scowled in the guard’s direction but released his hold on my waist and picked up my carry-on bag. “Here you go, Buttercup. Safe travels. Call me when you land?”
I nodded and stretched onto my toes to kiss him again.
“I’ll miss you.”
He smiled. “You too, my fiancée.”
He emphasized each syllable of the word, and we both laughed at the newness of it.
“Wow. I like the sound of that.”
Our lips met again, this time hungry and impatient, as we resisted saying goodbye. The security guard blew his whistle near us, sending Deacon into a barking fit.
We pulled apart abruptly, my heart racing as I smoothed my skirt and took a deep breath, stealing a glance back up at Cabe smiling down at me.
His normally translucent blue eyes had deepened into a much richer hue. His sexy grin hinted at naughty thoughts, and I clearly wasn’t the only one who wished we had more time alone.
“We’ll continue this…conversation…later?” I tugged at the front of his shirt and pulled him down for another quick kiss before turning to walk away. I could feel Cabe’s eyes on me, and I knew he’d watch me until the guard made him get in and move the car.
“I love you, Tyler Warren!”
I turned back as he pulled away from the curb, Deacon still barking and wagging his tongue out the window. I laughed and ignored the burning hole in my chest as my heart left with them.
It’s not that I don’t want to go on this trip. I do. I’ve looked forward to getting my certification and fulfilling the terms of my promotion. I’m also pretty excited to see Chicago since I’ve never been, and based on their bios, the instructors of the course should be interesting to learn from.
But I feel like Cabe and I just found each other again, and I don’t want to leave him.
It’s so different flying this time. Last time I buckled into a plane seat, I flew to Paris and back without Cabe, wondering what the hell had happened to make him leave me. This time I’m still flying without him but as his fiancée.
Wow. Fiancée. Still sounds odd to me. Foreign, somehow.
With everything that’s happened this weekend since he proposed, I haven’t had a chance to really process it.
I’m getting married.
I’m going to be someone’s wife. Cabe’s wife, so I’m pretty freakin’ happy about it, but still. A wife.
Holy crap. That’s some pretty grownup stuff.
Oh, wow. I have to plan a wedding. My wedding.
Oh, wait a minute. Oh, dear Lord in heaven.
I have to tell my mother I’m getting married.
I’ve dealt with many mothers of brides in my career, but something tells me my mama is going to be the Mack-Daddy Mother of the Bride of all time.
I have to plan my own wedding. With my mama.
Oh, heaven help me.
We gotta elope.
Tuesday, June 10th
“How’s the course going?” Cabe asked when I called him tonight. “You learning a lot?”
“Yeah, it’s cool to hear the instructors’ ideas and see things from a different perspective. You’d be amazed at how star struck these other girls are about being a wedding planner, though. Some of them are fresh out of high school or community college and have no clue what they’re in for.”
“Are you giving them some truth?”
“Ha! No. Who am I to disillusion dreamers? There’s two of us in the class who have already been working weddings. The others flitter around us like flies on honey. ‘Oh wow! It must be so glamorous. All the dresses and flowers. Everybody must be so happy all the time. You must looove your job.’ Aargh. I do love my job, but they are in for such a rude awakening.”
Cabe chuckled. “I’m sure they’ll do fine. Have you told your mom we got engaged yet?”
I spewed Diet Coke all over the paperwork in front of me. I think I even inhaled some based on the burning fire that lit up the inside of my nose and made my eyes water. “What?” I coughed out.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, just choked on my drink. Abrupt topic change, Cable.”
“So, have you?”
“Um, no. I haven’t talked to her. I don’t think she even knows I’m in Chicago right now. Why do you ask?”
“I was just wondering if you’d told her and what she said.”
I shuddered against the dread rising up within me. “No. I haven’t yet.” Nor did I plan to anytime soon. I wanted to hold off on that announcement as long as possible.
Cabe was silent for a moment. Did it bother him that I hadn’t told her?
“I just haven’t had time to talk to her, you know? I left for Tampa right after you proposed, and then I certainly didn’t have time to talk to her Saturday with the wedding and the whole Jet Ski fiasco. It’s been such a whirlwind since I got here that I’ve barely had time to talk to you and keep up with messages from brides.”
He was still silent.
“Cabe, what’s up? Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“I don’t know.”
I sighed. “What’s wrong?”
“I was just thinking. We’ve known each other six years, but I’ve never met your family. When we get married, they’ll be my family, too. So I dunno. I was kind of thinking, you know, if you wanted to, that maybe we should make a trip to meet your mom and tell her in person.”
My stomach turned inside out as my brain silently screamed, “Nope. Not a chance. No way in hell.”
I hadn’t even had time to fully process that I was engaged. That I was getting married. I knew I needed to tell Mama at some point, but I wasn’t ready. Not now and maybe not ever.
I love my mother, and I know she loves me. But that woman drives me absolutely bonkers. She can take the most simple thing on earth and twist it into torturous drama. I had no desire to set those wheels in motion before I had to. Better to delay the inevitable.
“Ty? You still there?”
“Yeah. I’m here.”
“Well, it was just an idea.”
I winced at the disappointment in his voice. “I know, and I appreciate it. It’s a great idea. I just don’t know if I’m ready for that.”
More silence on his end, but I chose to ignore it. It wasn’t a subject I wanted to delve into further.
“I gotta go, okay? We’ll talk about this more when I get home.”
“Okay. I miss you.”
My heart clenched, and I longed to be curled up next to him.
“I miss you too, Cabe. Bunches.”
“Ya know,” he said, his voice a little lower and more seductive, ”we could indulge in a little long-distance playtime. Whaddya say? Wanna talk dirty to me?”
“Um, as enticing as that sounds, I’m sitting in a hotel bar waiting fo
r the Polly Planner wannabes to come down for a drink and discuss glamour and such. Rain check?”
“Most certainly. Wanna call me later?”
I chuckled. “How about I cash in that rain check in person Thursday night?”
“We could do both…”
I grinned at his playful tone and considered blowing off the girls at the bar to have phone sex with my fiancé. I might have done it, too, if Deacon hadn’t interrupted.
“What’s up with him?” I asked as Deacon barked incessantly in the background.
“He wants to go for a walk. Deacon, buddy, come lay down.”
I sighed and redirected my thoughts back to work mode. “You go walk him, I’ll go entertain my groupies, and we’ll continue down this path another time.”
“If you’re sure. Because I could put him in the backyard.”
I laughed at his insistence. “Good night, Cabe.”
“G’night, Ty. Love you. Miss you.”
I bit down on my lip as I put the phone down, thinking about his request to meet Mama.
Obviously he’s going to meet her eventually. It’s not like I can get married and not tell her.
But not yet.
I kind of want to keep the news just between us for a while. Like a magical secret that only we share. Once I tell Mama, I know it’s going to develop a life of its own and become a living, breathing thing that quickly grows beyond my control. So for now, I want to protect this little kernel of joy and keep it all to myself. For as long as I can, anyway.
Friday, June 13th
It was tough being back in the office today. If I hadn’t already had a planning session on the calendar, I probably would have just slept in and dragged myself out of bed just in time for my rehearsal tonight.
My flight home yesterday was delayed coming out of Chicago, which meant I missed the connecting flight in Atlanta. So by the time I got home and in bed, it was well after midnight.
Cabe and Deacon seemed to be deep in sleep minutes after they hit the bed, but my thoughts were racing with the information overload from the week plus going over everything in my head for this weekend’s wedding and today’s meeting.
