“I hope it goes this smoothly when you get married,” Patti said, and when Teddi glanced over her shoulder, Patti’s gaze was on Leah. She looked proud and happy.
“Oh my God, right? Me, too.” Leah chuckled along with her, then caught Teddi’s eye across the room and winked at her.
Teddi was caught short. They hadn’t discussed anything remotely having to do with legalizing what they had. They hadn’t touched on how Teddi felt about marriage in general—it was a sham. And they certainly hadn’t yet gotten into her feelings about getting married again—no, thank you. Things were good. Hell, they were great, weren’t they? They didn’t need to change a thing, and they certainly didn’t need a piece of paper to say they loved each other. They were together. They were exclusive. They were perfect just the way they were. Maybe Leah was just humoring her mom, because she couldn’t possibly be thinking about a wedding.
Could she?
* * *
“Holy cow, I feel like I haven’t seen the two of you together in ages.” Tilly hugged Leah, then leaned around the table and hugged JoJo as well.
“Holy cow?” JoJo said, her eyebrows raised in major question. “Not holy shit or Jesus Christ or what the fuck? You’re going with holy cow?”
Tilly rolled her eyes, but there was the ghost of a smile on her face. “Listen, Jen has asked me to clean up my language a tiny bit, so I’m doing my best.” She sat, blew out a breath. “But it’s fucking hard, you know?”
“And the world has righted itself,” JoJo said with a nod.
“Where is the lovely Jen, anyway?” Leah asked. “You know we like her better than you now.”
“Oh, I’m aware, bitches.” Tilly picked up her menu to peruse. “I invited her, but she insisted that this was my thing with my girls and she didn’t want to encroach on that.”
“And now I like her even more,” JoJo said. “If you ever break up, we’re keeping her and getting rid of you.”
“I would, too. That’s definitely the smartest option.” Tilly closed her menu as the waiter arrived and took their lunch orders.
“So, what’s new with you guys?” Leah asked as they handed over their menus. It had been several weeks since they’d been able to make a lunch or brunch or dinner work for all three of them, so there was much catching up to do in a fairly short period of time.
JoJo talked about her boys and the impending end of the school year. “They’ve become little monsters.” She called them that often, but the love in her eyes when she said it cleared up any confusion over how she really felt. “They’re climbing the walls.”
“Like they do every June, right?” Tilly sipped her water.
“Like goddamn clockwork, yes. They’re driving me crazy.”
“Maybe you should just kill ’em. You know? Save yourself the trouble next year.” Leah shrugged nonchalantly, then shot a half grin JoJo’s way.
“Don’t think for one second that hasn’t crossed my mind,” JoJo replied. The waiter arrived with their food, and her tone softened, became wistful, as she continued, “Actually, what I’d really like is for them to stop growing. I mean, how did I get here? Weren’t they tiny babies, like, last month?”
“Sure seems like it,” Tilly said, digging into her tuna salad.
“Anyway. Tell me something happy.” JoJo popped a French fry into her mouth and turned to Leah. “How goes the wedding planning? I got my Save the Date magnet last week. Is Kelly nervous yet?”
“She’s getting there.” Leah felt herself warm at thoughts of the wedding. “It’s so surreal to watch all of this, you know? Like you just said about your boys, I feel like Kelly’s still a kid. Like, she can’t be getting married yet. She’s too young.”
“Except she’s not.” Tilly.
“Except she’s not.” Leah took a bite of her grilled cheese sandwich, let the sharpness of the Gruyère dance on her tongue. “She’s going to be somebody’s wife. In three months.”
“And then she’s going to be somebody’s mom,” JoJo said, pointing her fork.
Leah shook her head. “Oh my God. I can’t even.”
“You’re such a mom. You know that?” JoJo said it with love, and she wasn’t far off.
It was such a weird emotional journey Leah had been on. She was certainly not Kelly’s mom, but because of their eight-year age difference, she’d often felt more like a parent than a big sister. Kelly’s impending wedding was causing opposing reactions in her. Pride and melancholy. Joy and a bit of sadness. The closer the day got, the more intense Leah’s feelings became.
“It’s just bittersweet.” Leah’s smile came from her heart. “I’m stupidly happy for her. It’s just really weird to see her so grown up. Wait until your boys get married.”
“What do you mean?” Tilly asked. “Those boys are never getting married. Nobody will ever be good enough for their mother.”
“You got that right.” JoJo sat up straighter. “So, what does Kelly have left to do?”
Leah scrunched up her nose as she thought, trying to remember what they’d talked about at the most recent meeting with Teddi last month. “Let’s see. She’s still up in the air a bit on the flowers. She needs to decide on shoes. She keeps going back and forth between heels and slight heels.”
“Oh my God, tell her to go with the slight heels. Or even better, flats.” JoJo’s expression was adamant. “She’s going to be on her feet all day long. She can thank me later.”
“I’ll pass that along.” Leah finished the last bite of her sandwich and dabbed her face with a napkin as Tilly reached over and snagged a fry off her plate. “Salad remorse?” Their usual exchange.
“Every damn time.” Tilly shook her head as she munched the fry.
“Is all the planning making you think about what you’d like for your wedding when the time comes?” JoJo asked. “Whenever I see a bridal show on TV or Say Yes to the Dress is on, I start to think about what I’d do if Rick and I ever decided to renew our vows.”
Leah felt her own sheepish grin bloom. “I do. I admit it. I think I’d do a spring wedding.”
“Yeah? Rick and I got married in June, but so does everybody else in the universe, so I think I’d pick a different season if I could do it again.”
“I like what spring symbolizes, you know?” Leah felt herself becoming a bit wistful as she imagined her own wedding. “New beginnings. Freshness. Rebirth.”
JoJo agreed, then glanced at Tilly. “You’re awfully quiet over there. No opinion?”
Tilly shook her head. “Nope.”
“Seriously?” JoJo cocked her head.
“What’s wrong?” Leah asked. She knew Tilly too well, and JoJo was right. Tilly without an opinion was unheard of. Tilly shifted in her seat, looking super uncomfortable. Leah furrowed her brow. “Seriously, Tils, what is it?”
Tilly sat up, shook her head casually. “Not a big deal, really. Just, remember when we were at dinner last month? And you and I went to the bathroom and left Jen and Teddi together?”
“Yeah…” Leah drew the word out, having zero idea where Tilly was going.
“Jen was asking Teddi questions about her job, how she liked planning weddings, and did she have ideas for the next time she got married.”
“Okay…”
“Teddi told Jen that she wouldn’t get married again. That she’d done that and wasn’t going to again and good thing she was dating a divorce attorney.” Tilly gave a chuckle, but then chewed on her bottom lip.
“Huh.” It was all Leah could think to say.
“I mean, they laughed about it, Jen said, so I’m sure it was just lighthearted. That Teddi was just joking around.” Tilly looked to JoJo, seemingly for help.
“Of course she was joking,” JoJo said, jumping into the mix. “I mean, what kind of a wedding planner doesn’t want to get married?”
“Right?” Tilly nodded with great enthusiasm, then waved a hand dismissively.
Leah wasn’t sure what to think. It was very possible that Tilly was right. Tha
t Teddi had been joking around, being light and fun with somebody she’d just met. Yeah, that was probably it. That had to be it. Because the alternative wasn’t something Leah wanted to think about. No, she didn’t want to get married now. Or even soon. But she did want to get married. It was important to her, that commitment. And the idea that she’d fallen hard for someone who didn’t share that view was almost too much to handle. Because she’d know, right? She’d know if Teddi didn’t want to get remarried. Wouldn’t she?
“I’m sure Teddi was just playing,” she said, waving it off. “She’s fun and has a great sense of humor.”
Tilly and JoJo both agreed, and Leah tried not to notice the relief on their faces as they all laughed. Oh, that Teddi. So funny, right? Such a jokester. But it was relief Leah didn’t feel. She was going to have to talk to Teddi about this at some point, wasn’t she? She had no idea how, though. She’d have to think on that for a bit. Find the right time, the right approach. Because it was important. It was the future, and the future meant so much to Leah.
And then a thought struck.
What if Teddi’s view of the future was completely different from hers? How did she not know this already? What if they simply did not want the same things?
What the hell would Leah do then?
Chapter Twenty-three
“I had no idea you could grill. Or that you’d look so sexy doing it.” Teddi put a plate on the side shelf and wrapped her arms around Leah from behind, setting her chin on Leah’s shoulder. “Your stock just went up again.”
“Yeah? I’ll have to add that to my online dating profile.” That got her an extra tight squeeze and a pinch to her side. “Ow!”
“That’s what you get. No more dating profiles. You’re mine now.” A kiss on the cheek punctuated the statement and Leah smiled. “God, it’s hot out here.”
“The burgers are almost done. Go inside. Be in the a / c. I’m right behind you.” Leah watched Teddi head inside, laughing softly as she blew a kiss in Leah’s direction.
Happy.
That’s what Leah was. Happier than she’d ever been. Thrilled beyond measure over how lucky she was to have a woman like Teddi. Leah was thoroughly in love. Totally, completely, deeply submerged in Teddi. This relationship was what she’d always wanted, what she’d waited so long to find.
July had shown up on a blaze of heat. It was still early in the summer for that kind of crazy humidity, and Leah felt a trickle of sweat roll down the center of her back as she slid the burgers off the grill and onto the plate Teddi had brought her.
The air-conditioning hit her like an icy slap when she walked into the house. She’d made the mistake of letting Teddi set it to her liking. “I didn’t realize my thermostat had a setting marked arctic,” she called out, sliding the door shut behind her.
“Babe, it’s ninety-seven percent humidity out.”
“I am well aware, as is my hair.” Leah rolled her eyes upward as if she could see the frizz the weather caused. “And it’s like the North Pole in here.”
“Dramatic.”
“Pretty sure the sweat that was rolling down me has frozen in place.”
“Dramatic and hilarious. A twofer.” Teddi took the plate from her and added a burger to each of the plates she’d doctored up on the kitchen counter. Buns, lettuce, tomato, onion, condiments, sweet potato fries. Two bottles of beer looked like they were part of a commercial, condensation running down the sides.
Leah snatched one of them up and took a swig, then shivered exaggeratedly. “Dramatic, hilarious, and freezing.”
Teddi handed her a plate, leaned in close to her ear, and whispered, “Don’t worry. I’ll warm you up.” A swipe of her tongue across Leah’s ear punctuated that promise, and Leah shivered again, but for reasons that had nothing to do with the air-conditioning.
It was a Thursday night, and as had become their routine when they were together on a weeknight, they ate side by side on the couch while watching a show of Teddi’s choice. Tonight it was an episode of Dateline. Leah watched her face as the story progressed. Teddi was riveted, and Leah’s heart did that thing that had become a regular occurrence: It warmed and swelled whenever she looked at Teddi when Teddi didn’t know she was being observed. The way she focused on the show, the way her chewing slowed down or sped up depending on what was happening. Little quirks of hers that Leah had been noticing and tucking away made her grin. And once in a while, like that night, Teddi would glance over and catch Leah staring.
“What?” she asked, her face flushing a pale pink.
“Nothing,” Leah said with a gentle shake of her head. “I just love you.”
Teddi leaned over and kissed her quickly. “Love you, too.” Then back to the investigation on the screen.
“Thank God they found him guilty,” Teddi said a little while later as they carried their dishes into the kitchen, rinsed them, loaded the dishwasher. “I was worried they might not.”
“People are awful,” Leah said as they returned to the living room.
“Well, not all people.”
“Lots of them.”
“You need to watch something full of love and happiness now?” Teddi knew her well, handed over the remote with a knowing expression on her pretty face.
“Yes, please.” Leah switched the channel to a new romance that was premiering that night, then curled herself into Teddi. Reaching for the back of the couch and the fleecy throw that hung there and dodging three swipes by Lizzie before she got a grip on it, she feigned irritation as she muttered, “Middle of freaking July and I need a blanket on me.”
Teddi laughed and tightened her hold.
The movie turned out to be about a couple on the verge of getting married, and the comic relief was represented by a minor character who was their wedding planner. Teddi had a great time pointing out the inconsistencies with real life. “That’s not what happens…Oh my God, I’d never do that…Seriously? She didn’t charge for that?”
Leah laughed, found it amusing, and did her best to tamp down the niggling little voice in the back of her head that kept saying Ask her. She couldn’t. It wasn’t the right time. She didn’t want to alter the mood. She was afraid of starting an argument. So many excuses why she couldn’t bring up a subject that was important to her. Until the movie ended with the not-even-a-little-bit-surprising wedding. Also not surprising was the fact that she teared up.
“Aww, you okay?” Teddi asked, pulling Leah closer and kissing her head.
She nodded, collected herself, craned her neck around to look up at Teddi. “It was so sweet. Didn’t you think?”
“I did, yes.”
Leah sat up and looked at Teddi’s face. “It didn’t make you tear up, though.”
A warm, tender smile. Teddi reached up and stroked Leah’s cheek. “Honey, if I teared up at weddings, I’d have a bit of a problem, don’t you think?” She arched an eyebrow with humor.
“Good point,” Leah said and let it go.
For now.
* * *
Something was up with Leah.
Teddi could feel it. It wasn’t big, wasn’t something that interrupted their conversations or interfered in their time together. No, rather, it was something that just kind of hung out in the background, like it was waiting for the right time to step into the spotlight, jump up and down, and wave its arms. Was it biding its time? Would it reveal itself at the most inopportune of times? And most importantly, had Teddi lost her marbles, thinking of a feeling or mood of Leah’s like it was an actual living thing that hid and knew how to make decisions about timing?
A quiet scoff pushed through Teddi’s lips, but Leah didn’t seem to notice, which was good. It was Sunday and they were on their way to Kelly and Dylan’s for dinner. Their wedding date was closing fast and Kelly’s stress levels were high. Leah had suggested that maybe cooking dinner for guests was something she didn’t need to do until after the big day, but Kelly had blown up at her. Maybe that’s what was bothering her? If she had som
ething she needed to talk about, she’d say so, right? If that slight shadow behind her eyes that darkened the bright green just a little was something important, Leah would bring it up. Until that happened, Teddi had to respect her right to privacy.
Yeah, but… Teddi closed her eyes for a moment. She’d respected Julia’s privacy, too, and look where that had gotten her.
“Are you okay?” she asked Leah before she could stop herself.
Leah blinked several times as if she’d been lost and Teddi’s voice had yanked her back to the driver’s seat of her car. She shot a quick smile Teddi’s way. “Yeah. I’m good.”
The fact that she didn’t ask why Teddi posed the question was kind of a clue that there was something bothering her. Obviously, she wasn’t ready to share it.
Teddi left it alone, but it sat in the back of her mind, niggling at her and irritating her like a scratchy tag in a new sweater.
Kelly was both happy to see them and also a little bit on edge, but as she hugged Leah, Teddi could see her visibly relax. Leah was her calming force, and it made Teddi smile as she followed behind them through a small and charming living space and out the back door.
The deck was spacious and looked newly painted a deep, dark brown. A glass-topped table sat off to one side, circled by four chairs with brightly patterned cushions in reds and oranges. In the center of the table was a pitcher of what looked to be sangria and several glasses. Along the side of the deck, there were also two zero-gravity chairs side by side and then a grill on the opposite side. Dylan stood in front of it, scraping the grate with his grill brush. He turned to them and grinned a hello as Leah gave him a hug. Teddi did the same. She’d only met him once so far at one of the meetings, but she’d liked him instantly. He was a tall, handsome African American man with a demeanor that put you at ease the second you were near him. What he seemed to care about most in the world was that his fiancée was happy.
“Less than two months away,” Teddi said as they took seats and Kelly poured them each a glass of sangria. “How are you guys feeling?”
Hopeless Romantic Page 21
