by Abby Gaines
Out of courtesy, he used the fork his mom had supplied. “This is sensational,” he said around a mouthful of cream-cheese frosting and moist cake. “What’s the occasion?”
His mom shrugged. “Do we need one? How about another quarter of great results in the business?”
How about the last quarterly report he would deliver?
“I’ll drink to that.” Trey raised his mug in a toast, then drank his coffee.
Nothing to keep him here now. He could leave tomorrow. If he was so inclined.
Nancy glanced at the clock on the stove. “I’m heading to the city soon. I need to be on the road by five past.”
She sipped her coffee, and silence fell. Trey noticed a downturn in her mouth.
“Everything okay?” he asked. “Meg and Daniel still engaged?”
She paled. “Why? Do you know something I don’t?”
“Of course not,” he said quickly. “How are the wedding plans?”
“Fine, apart from the fact I seem to be doing all the work.” Which might explain the dark circles under her eyes.
“You should insist Meg helps you.” As if that would ever happen.
“She’s never here, thanks to that job of hers. Besides, a girl only gets married once,” Nancy said, letting Meg off the hook for the millionth time.
“Or twice,” Trey said. “Or three—”
His mom swatted his shoulder. “Cynic. I believe this will be my daughter’s one and only wedding, so I’m more than happy to do the work.”
“She doesn’t know Daniel very well.” It irked Trey to voice Sadie’s doubts. But it didn’t hurt to sound out an objective observer.
“I’d only known your dad two weeks when he told me we’d get married one day.” His mom’s smile turned dreamy.
Trey could have kicked himself. They’d been having a perfectly good conversation about the present, and somehow he’d triggered a return to his mother’s glorious past. Mind you, just about everything did that.
“Meg emailed some photos,” Nancy said. “I printed them off.” She went to the telephone and retrieved several sheets of paper from the tray on the shelf beneath it. “Take a look.”
The first photo was a close-up of Meg’s hand sporting a large diamond on her ring finger. The next few were taken in a setting he recognized—Sadie’s living room.
Pictures of Meg and Daniel, as he expected. But his snap-happy sister had also taken shots of Sadie with Daniel, laughing and kidding around. The last photo showed all three of them at Cordova Colonial Presbyterian, where the wedding would take place. Daniel had an arm around each woman.
Daniel’s nuts about Meg, Trey assured himself. Yeah, but this whole relationship was so sudden, how deeply rooted could his feelings be? And Meg…she was cute, she was fun, but she had the stickability of a Post-it note.
Could they withstand the tensions inevitable in any relationship?
“Sadie thinks Meg and Daniel have nothing in common,” he told Nancy.
The corollary—Sadie and Daniel had a lot in common. Sadie’s stupid crush actually made sense.
Even if she had responded to Trey’s kiss in a way no woman in love with another guy should.
Dammit, he wasn’t going to think about that.
“I’m not so sure Meg and Daniel are that different,” Nancy demurred.
“Daniel’s responsible,” Trey continued. “And steady and thoughtful.”
His mom eyed him reproachfully. “You think your sister could hold down her job if she wasn’t those things?”
“I guess,” he muttered, foregoing a more definite answer, since he’d often wondered precisely that. Heaven help Meg’s passengers if she should ever have to evacuate the plane in an emergency. She was too used to being the one rescued.
“It’s true Daniel could lighten up a little,” Nancy said. “But Meg will see to that.”
As Trey saw it, his sister needed less frivolity, not Daniel more.
“In many ways Daniel reminds me of Logan,” his mom said.
Trey managed not to roll his eyes. Maybe one day they might get through a conversation without his mom touting his brother as the paragon of every virtue.
“Logan was levelheaded like that,” Nancy continued. “He had that courteous charm about him, too.”
Unlike Trey, who could be churlish and frequently was. He grunted churlishly.
“Logan was passionate about his work, the same way Daniel is,” she said. “That’s very attractive in a man—it’s part of why I fell for your father.” His parents had still been in high school when they met—Nancy’s parents had hired Brian Kincaid to work in their garden after school.
Easy for his mom to talk about a passion for one’s work. Of course Dad and Logan had been passionate…they’d chosen their profession. Trey had been railroaded into it at a time when running a garden center was bottom of his list of One Thousand Things to Do Before I Die. It hadn’t risen much higher in the intervening years.
He pushed his chair back. “Thanks for the cake, Mom. I gotta go.”
Nancy looked at him in a way that suggested he’d disappointed her yet again, merely by not being his brother. Well, he never would be Logan, and he was used to being second best. Hell, he’d made a career of it.
“So now that you have me worried, you’re going to leave?” she asked.
“Uh…”
“You’re right, your sister can be flighty.” Nancy set down her fork. “Daniel’s a wonderful man and I believe he loves her deeply. I’d hate the wedding to be derailed by Meg’s emotional flip-flopping.”
Had his mom just admitted Meg was a spoiled brat?
Trey leaned his chair back on two legs. “I’ll do everything I can to help keep things on an even keel.” Including managing the maid of honor.
“How will you do that if you’re not here?” Nancy asked.
“I’m doing it already. And after I leave I’ll stay in touch via email and cell phone.” If only to make sure Sadie wasn’t reneging on their deal.
Nancy pushed her plate away. “Trey, I want you to stick around until Meg gets married.”
Trey’s chair crashed down on all four legs. “Mom, no, I have plans.” And the wedding was two months away.
“Your plans aren’t fixed in stone yet, are they? I haven’t heard anything about a job.”
That’s because he wanted everything signed and sealed before he revealed his plans.
“That’s not the point,” he said. “I promise I’ll be back for the wedding, and in the meantime I’ll give you and Meg my full moral support.”
“I’ve never understood why you have to leave in the first place,” his mom said fiercely. “You want a break from the garden centers, fine. You certainly deserve one. But why not stick around Memphis?”
“Apart from that one year in college, I’ve never lived anywhere else. I’ve barely had time to vacation out of state.”
“Memphis is good enough for the rest of us.” His mom knuckled her forehead. “I didn’t mean to sound like that. It’s just…I’ll miss you.”
“You’ll have a new son-in-law to get to know. Dan strikes me as a guy who’ll become part of the family fast.”
“Daniel,” his mom corrected.
See, the doctor already had her taking his side. Ugh, that was childish. “Going away will give me some perspective,” Trey said. He didn’t add that sticking around was making him bitter.
“You’re the last person I thought would need to go find himself,” his mom said.
How could she say that? He’d been living by everyone else’s expectations for so long he had no idea what he expected of himself.
“So will you stay?” she asked. “Help make sure this wedding happens? Please, Trey.”
Stay was the last thing he wanted to do. But maybe…to set his mom’s mind at rest.
Besides, he really did want Meg to settle down, though he knew that wasn’t noble or bighearted.
“Yeah,” he said. “I’ll stay.”
/>
His mom’s delighted hug made him feel a tiny bit better about the decision.
“Okay, now I need to go,” Nancy said. “I’m taking Meg’s wedding shoes to the dressmaker for the fitting.”
“Didn’t she try the shoes on when she bought them?”
“She needs to try them with the dress, silly. To get the length right.”
Wedding dress.
“Is this the fitting the bridesmaids are going to?” he asked.
“Of course. You’re not still interested in that trashy Lexie, are you?” His mom shot him a disapproving look.
Sadie would be at the fitting. Sadie, the maid of honor who’d promised to stop planting doubts in the mind of the bride.
Did he trust her?
Hell, no.
If he was going to stick around to fight Meg’s battles, he might as well cover all the bases. And have some fun in the process.
“Where are those shoes?” Trey asked his mom.
SADIE PULLED UP OUTSIDE Bride Beautiful just as Lexie Peterson was entering the store. From behind, she looked no different than she had ten years ago—long blond hair, long slender legs.
Sadie wondered if Lexie was still the same on the inside: too cool for her own good, looking down on anyone less glamorous.
It was lucky the two of them had attended different schools, so their dislike of each other had never been too blatant. During summer vacations they’d put up with each other for Meg’s sake. They’d dropped the pretense right after graduation—Sadie hadn’t seen Lexie since, though she’d answered the phone to her a few times. And quickly passed the phone to Meg, who flitted with ease between Sadie’s small, quieter crowd and Lexie’s party crowd.
Sadie pulled her key from the ignition. What did it matter if Lexie had changed or not? She could tolerate the woman, so long as Meg was there as a buffer.
Sadie’s cell phone buzzed. Meg.
“Let me guess, you’re late,” Sadie said. Would she have to make small talk with Lexie, or could she hide out here in the car?
“Worse,” Meg said. “Three of my colleagues were involved in a shuttle crash on the way to the airport. Only moderate injuries, but I’ve been called up for a flight to Tucson.”
Sadie quashed her instant relief—it was clearly inappropriate to celebrate a traffic accident. “Of course you need to go,” she said. “I’ll tell the store we’re postponing the fitting.”
“Don’t do that,” Meg said swiftly. “We’re already running out of time to get my dress altered. Irena is worried about the length—can you try it on for me?”
“Try on your wedding dress?” Sadie squawked.
“Uh-huh.” The blare of a car horn came down the line, followed by a curse from Meg.
“Don’t crash,” Sadie said. “Meg, isn’t it bad luck to have someone else wear your wedding dress?”
“It’s worse luck to be injured in a shuttle crash,” Meg retorted. “Come on, Sadie, I’m flying every other day this week. Mom’s on her way to the store with my shoes right now—she’ll be there by quarter to. Try on the dress with the shoes and that’s one less thing for me to worry about.”
Heaven forbid that Meg should actually have to worry about something, Sadie thought acerbically. Ugh, she was starting to sound like Trey. “Your feet are bigger than mine,” she said.
“It’s the length of the dress that matters and we’re the same height.”
“But—” Sadie pulled herself up. If anyone should take on this task, it should be the maid of honor.
“Of course I’ll do it,” she said. Another blast of a horn came through the phone. “You watch the road. I’m hanging up now.”
“One more thing,” Meg said quickly. “Don’t forget, the dragon will be there, too. I mean, Daniel’s mom.”
“You call her the dragon?”
“She doesn’t like me,” Meg said. “Can you say nice things about me? Tell her I’m perfect for Daniel?”
“Uh…” Sadie said.
“Thanks!” Meg hung up.
Sadie’s thumb was slippery on the phone’s End button. Which was ridiculous. Trying on a wedding dress was no big deal. And she could tell Daniel’s mother that Meg was perfect for him. It wasn’t as if she’d never lied before.
Anyway, Meg was likely imagining her future mother-in-law’s dislike. It was probably tradition.
Sadie pushed herself out of the car on leaden feet.
Irena herself opened the door of the appointment-only boutique and was dismayed to hear the bride couldn’t make it. She treated the shuttle crash as if it were a personal inconvenience and only grudgingly accepted Sadie’s offer to try on the dress for length.
“We’re the same height, but if you’d rather wait until Meg can be here, that’s fine,” Sadie said hopefully.
“No. You will do it.” Irena’s Russian accent made it sound like an order, with disobedience punishable by firing squad. “Come, other bridesmaid is here already.”
When they reached the fitting-room area, it turned out Daniel’s mom was already there, too.
“Angela, so nice to see you.” Sadie went to shake Angela Wilson’s hand, but the older woman kissed her cheek.
“Sadie, dear, what a pleasure.” Angela was just as charming as Sadie remembered.
“Hi, Lexie,” Sadie said.
“Sadie! I haven’t seen you in forever!” Unexpectedly, Lexie hugged her. On instinct, Sadie pulled away, then got a grip on herself in time to pat Lexie on the back and kiss the air in the vicinity of her cheek.
“You look great.” Lexie’s smile was wide and white.
“Thanks.” Sadie tensed as she waited for the kicker.
You look great…for a geek. You look great…beige is really your color—giggle. Maybe wearing her beige suit today hadn’t been a good idea, even if it was Donna Karan.
Lexie was still looking her up and down. Sadie’s palms were damp—crazy that someone she hadn’t seen in years could make her feel such an outcast.
“Did you always have such amazing legs?” Lexie asked.
“Uh…” Sadie stepped back and almost stumbled—on her amazing legs—into a rack of bridal veils.
“This is so bad,” Lexie chirped. “The smartest girl in town ends up with the best legs. How fair is that?”
Sadie was aware of Daniel’s mother listening in, her expression carefully neutral.
“It’s, uh, my legs are pretty average.” She smoothed down her above-the-knee beige skirt. Her legs were in fact pretty good. But having Lexie say so was weirding her out. Maybe it was the setup for an elaborate joke.
Irena pulled aside a heavy taffeta curtain into a shared changing room. She and her staff had hung several choices of bridesmaid dresses—different styles and colors—in the changing room.
“Turquoise for you.” Irena gave Sadie a little push toward the turquoise corner. “And yellow for the blonde.”
“Goodness.” Daniel’s mom eyed the array. “Meg has colorful taste, doesn’t she?”
Meg did have colorful taste…but Angela’s comment didn’t sound like a compliment.
“Meg has gorgeous taste,” Lexie insisted, and Sadie felt guilty she hadn’t been quicker with her own rebuttal.
“Fabulous taste,” she agreed, not exactly to outdo Lexie, but to emphasize that Angela couldn’t criticize the bride and get away with it.
Still, if the tension between Meg and Angela was based on personal style, Sadie didn’t think it was too big a deal.
“Get started, ladies,” Irena ordered. “I will return in five minutes.” She didn’t physically set a stopwatch, but Sadie had the impression the timing would be exact.
The flurried removal of clothing ended the conversation. Sadie had never been the sort to try on a dozen different outfits if there was one she liked; she concentrated on getting into the turquoise dress that most appealed to her without snagging the gauzy overskirt. She reached behind her to zip up just as Irena came back.
The Russian woman clapped her
hands twice. “Let me see you, ladies.”
Sadie and Lexie turned on command. Sadie felt as if she should salute, as a member of the Bridesmaids’ Battalion.
“Oh, my gosh!” Lexie slapped a hand to her forehead. “Sadie Beecham, you grew great boobs, too. I can’t believe it. Last time I saw you, you had nothing! What are you—34C?”
“Er, yes.” Sadie cringed at the thought of Angela listening to all this. Daniel’s mother was a psychologist—she was probably drawing all kinds of conclusions about both Sadie and Lexie.
“Same as me.” Lexie winked, welcoming Sadie into the 34C Sisterhood. “This is so cool, seeing you again.”
“Cool,” Sadie echoed. She wasn’t sure she’d ever used that word in her teens, let alone recently. Had Lexie forgotten the years of judging her and finding her not cool enough to be part of the gang? Did that mean Sadie should forget them, too?
Sadie was pleased with her own dress, but Lexie looked truly gorgeous with her blond hair tumbling about her shoulders, and her flawless skin set off by the deep yellow.
“Keep still,” Irena admonished her, “while I make some tucks. We want your beautiful figure to shine.”
Disobeying orders, Lexie gave a little shimmy and winked at Sadie in the mirror. “So, Meg tells me you’re single, Sadie? You broke up with someone recently? A vet?”
“Yes.” Sadie cursed Trey and his imagination. “But I’m fine about it.”
“Plenty more fish in the sea, right?” Lexie’s chuckle verged on bawdy. “Have you met Daniel’s groomsmen?”
“Not yet.” Sadie sensed Angela Wilson stiffening in horror. “But I’m not really looking for someone.” Anyone other than the groom.
“That’s when you find the best guys,” Lexie said wisely. “When you’re not looking. Smart girl.” She fidgeted, earning a tut from Irena. “I can’t wait to see Trey. It must be three years since we last got together.”
What exactly did got together mean? Sadie wondered. “I wouldn’t say Trey’s a good relationship bet,” she heard herself say discouragingly. Why not put the kibosh on a flirtation between Trey and Lexie, since he was so determined to stop Sadie getting her man.
“Oh, I know.” Lexie laughed. “But he’s so hot, it’s always worth a try.”
