by Claire Adams
The morning rush had died down a little bit, so I was able to take my time making their meals. I added a few extra spices and a lot of love. I brought them out the dishes myself.
“Here you go,” I said, sliding the plates in front of them. “Enjoy.”
Harriet touched my hand; hers were freezing. “Thank you, dear.”
“You’re welcome. And I wanted to let you know they are on the house.”
“Oh, no—” Kenneth started to protest.
“I won’t hear a word from you, mister. This is my anniversary gift to you. I only hope that one day I can say I’ve been with someone for forty years.”
“It’s not easy,” Harriet said honestly. “But I wouldn’t want to be with anyone else.”
“Me neither,” Kenneth said and winked at his wife.
The bell on the door rang and I turned to see Parker standing there.
I couldn’t help but smile. My heart bloomed seeing him there.
“Excuse me,” I said to the Lamontes.
Tony cleared his throat across the way and caught my attention. His look said, “Don’t be too eager,” and I flipped him the bird behind my back. I wasn’t eager. I was happy to see my best friend.
“Hey, long time no talk,” I said.
Parker scratched the back of his neck. “I know, I’m sorry. Can I talk to you about something?”
I looked around. We were still busy enough that I needed to be cooking instead of talking. “Are you staying for breakfast?”
“Not today; I have to get back to Rachel.”
Of course he did. Mentioning Rachel was a surefire way to put a damper on my mood.
“Well, follow me to the back; I have orders to prepare.”
Parker followed me into the kitchen and stood in the corner. He knew not to get in my way, and he probably didn’t want egg or other food particles all over his expensive clothes.
“What’s up?” I asked, grabbing a ticket from the pass through.
“I wanted to talk to you about the wedding.”
“Okay,” I said, fuming on the inside. “Go ahead; shoot.”
“We’re planning a small wedding, close friends and family only. And it’s going to be at the end of next month.”
I froze in my spot. “Wait, what?”
He sighed. “I know it's soon, but we don’t see why there’s a reason to wait.”
“We or she?”
He gave me a look, and I cracked a few eggs on the grill before he said anything. “Rachel suggested it, but I agree. Anyway, that’s not the whole thing.”
What else had she done?
“I want you to be my best man.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “What?”
“I’m serious. You’re my best friend. There’s no reason that gender should be an issue.”
I shook my head and headed over to the other counter to and threw some bread in the toaster before pressing the lever down. “What did Rachel say about this?” I was sure she would have something to say.
“She gets a quick wedding; I get my best friend as my best man.”
Had they compromised over me? Interesting….
“So, what do you say?” he asked.
“Okay, fine,” I said, scooping the sunny side up eggs onto a plate. “I’ll be your best man.”
Parker came up behind me and lifted me off my feet. I let out a yelp. “Put me down.”
He hugged me tight against him. His scent filled my nose, and I sagged against him as he placed me back on my feet. I was momentarily lost in his light blue eyes. His smile was infectious, and I felt one spreading over my own lips. My best friend was positively giddy with the prospect of marrying Rachel. I should have been supportive of and happy for him. I mean, I would have been if he were marrying anyone else but her.
He took my hands in his and kissed me on the cheek. “Thank you. I wouldn’t want anyone else by my side on my wedding day.”
I caught the double meaning in his words, but it was obvious that he hadn’t intended to say I was the one he wanted by his side as his wife. Only as second best.
Chapter Five
Parker
Tuesday morning, I woke up later than normal. Since proposing to Rachel, our relationship had been different. Even though she’d claimed that she would have sex with me once we were engaged, she extended the deadline to our wedding night.
“We’ve already gone this far,” she’d said to me.
And as much as I wanted to have sex with her, she was right. What were two more months when we were going to be together the rest of our lives? I put my needs aside and focused on her. Marriage would be filled with compromises, and this was the first one.
Another thing that changed was my sleeping habits. I was able to sleep through until six, and sometimes seven in the morning. I felt more refreshed than I ever had in my life, and I had Rachel to thank for that.
When I woke that morning, Rachel was looking at me. I smiled over at her. “Good morning.”
“You were snoring,” she said and turned over.
I propped myself up and kissed her on the cheek. “How about we do some wedding planning today?”
She tugged the blankets closer to her. “I have plans with my mom today. But you should get your tux fitted.”
Along with the positive things about being engaged, I found Rachel to be just as standoffish as before, at least at times. We hadn’t done any of the wedding planning together. And even though planning events wasn’t my thing, I was being supportive and encouraged us to do some of the planning together, but she always had something else to do. Maybe she was stressed and not showing it. I hoped everything would be better once we were married.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll do that. Maybe later this week we can do some cake tasting.”
“Yeah, sure,” she said with a yawn. “Let me know which day so I can schedule my trainer ahead of time. I don’t want to look like a cow in my dress.”
I didn’t want to disturb Rachel anymore, so I decided to head over to Sunny Daes. I needed another opinion on my tux, and I hoped that Sienna would come shopping with me.
When I arrived at the back door of the diner, I heard a scream. I rushed inside to find Sienna and Tony laughing together. Tony lobbed a piece of toast at Sienna and it stuck to her hair.
Tony laughed and saw me at the door. He came over to shake my hand while Sienna untangled the bread from her hair.
“Gross! Now I have butter in my hair! I’m going to get you back for that!”
Tony ducked just as a hard-boiled egg left Sienna’s hand. I didn’t have time to move. Thankfully it didn't have a shell on it, but when it hit me, the force was hard enough for the egg to make a slapping sound against my cheek.
Sienna gasped and covered her mouth, giggling through her fingers.
“All right!” Tony said. “Truce.”
“Truce?” I asked. “I wasn’t even playing.”
Tony clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Thanks for taking one for the team, man.”
He left Sienna and me alone in the kitchen.
I picked up the larger pieces of egg from the floor. “You still have a strong arm in your old age,” I teased.
“If we hadn’t called a truce, I’d throw another one at you for that remark.”
I helped her clean up the mess. “I guess you’re not too busy today?”
“No, the weekdays won’t pick up again until after school ends. We had Harriet and Kenneth in this morning. I didn’t tell you that they were here for their fortieth anniversary the other day.”
“Forty years?” I said, dropping the egg pieces into the garbage can. “That’s something to live up to.”
“I know, right? But I don’t think it would be possible for me.”
“Why not?”
“Even if I met someone tomorrow, date, and married him, we’d be into our seventies before it was forty years. And since most marriages end in divorce, I’m not sure if it's in the cards for me.”
&n
bsp; “Don’t be so negative.”
“I’m being realistic. I feel like when they got together, it was a better time and people took vows and promises a lot more seriously than people do now.”
“That’s true.”
She met my eyes and it looked like she wanted to say something but changed her mind. “Anyway. Is there a reason you decided to come by today?”
“Do I need an excuse to see my best friend?”
“Lately it seems like you do,” she said under her breath.
I didn’t want to argue with her so I pretended not to hear what she said. “Do you have any plans this afternoon?”
She glanced out into the dining area where Tony was cleaning tables. There wasn’t one customer in the place. “No, why?”
“I need to go tux shopping.”
“Shouldn’t that be something you and Rachel do together?”
“No. It’s something that a best man would do with the groom.”
“You want me to wear a tux?”
“Only if you want to. But I was hoping to try out some options for my own tux.”
She considered this, then yelled for Tony. “You good with closing early today?”
“Yeah, I think we’ve reached our par for the day.”
Sienna untied her apron. “Give me a second to get cleaned up.”
We had to travel almost forty-five minutes to get to the tuxedo shop. I hoped I wouldn’t need to come back too many times to get fitted. But this place had the best reputation and the largest selection. I’d been to many events, but I rarely had I ever worn a tux. When you made a certain amount of money, you didn’t need to wear flashy clothes to make a statement. I was more like Sienna in that I preferred to be comfortable in my clothes. Suits and tuxes tended to be quite stiff, even though I never scrimped on spending top dollar for the most expensive fabrics and tailoring.
When we arrived, we were the only two customers in the store. I supposed not many people were looking for tuxes on a random Tuesday afternoon.
“Welcome, welcome,” said a gentleman with a strong Italian accent. “I’m Nico, the owner of this establishment. How can I help you lovely couple today?”
“We’re not a couple,” Sienna said, shaking Nico’s hand. “I’m his best man.”
Nico furrowed his thick, unruly eyebrows. “You’re the best man?”
Sienna bumped me in the arm. “See? I’m not the only one who thinks it's weird.”
“All right, all right, I get it.” I shook hands with Nico. “I’m getting married in two months, and I need a tux.”
Nico nodded. “We have a selection of tuxedos to be rented in the basement.”
“I’m not looking for one to rent,” I clarified. I had enough money to afford to have one fitted to my body and one that someone else hadn’t worn.
“Very well, sir,” Nico said. “Let’s find out your measurements and then we can discuss customization.”
At the far end of the store, there was a raised platform in front of a full-length mirror. Sienna leaned against one of the nearby racks.
“My dear,” Nico said. “Let me get you a chair.”
“I’m fine,” she said, waving her hand. “We’ve been sitting for a while. I’ll let you know if I need to sit down.”
He looked at her as if he was trying to figure out if she was being polite or testing him. But he didn’t press the issue.
Nico got very familiar with my body while taking measurements. Sienna made several faces when Nico measured my inseam. It was the only time men didn’t fuss over someone getting intimate with their crotch. There was a man-code for a suit and tux fittings that we all had to suck up and deal with.
Nico brought me a sample to try on to get the correct length and fit for the pieces. Since Sienna was there, Nico suggested I go into the dressing room to try them on. He didn’t know that Sienna wouldn’t care about seeing me in my underwear, but after his reaction to having a girl as a best man, I decided to placate him.
Nico truly had an eye for this. The jacket, shirt, and pants fit almost perfectly.
I came out into the main space, and Nico was nowhere to be found.
“He had to take a phone call,” Sienna explained. She handed me an untied bow tie. “He wanted me to give you this.”
Even though my suits were expensive, I always opted for the tied bow tie; I never cared to learn since they were incredibly uncomfortable for me. I knew Rachel wanted to be traditional, though, so I agreed to it.
“You’re looking at that as if it's about to bite you,” she said.
“I don’t know how to tie this,” I admitted. “I’ll just wait for Nico to get back.”
Sienna stepped onto the platform. “It’s a good thing I did theater in high school and have experience with many types of dress. Let me.”
I lifted the collar of the shirt and wrapped the tie around my neck.
Sienna stood inches away from me. “It’s strange to be doing this,” she admitted, her hands tugged on the fabric of the bow tie as she worked.
“What do you mean?”
She took a breath and shrugged. “Did you ever think I’d be getting you ready for your wedding day to someone else?”
To someone else? Had she thought of us being together at some point?
It had crossed my mind in the past, too, actually—especially when we had come so close to dating after high school. In the summer before college, Sienna and I had taken a weekend-long road trip. After the drive, I’d felt something different between us and I could have sworn she’d felt the same. The last night of the trip, we slept in the car since I gambled away our money at a small casino where the legal age was eighteen. It had started to rain, allowing us to create our own little cocoon.
We’d been alone together before, but the tension in the air was unlike anything I’d experienced with her. We were so close to kissing, but I was the one who ended it. I didn’t want to ever lose Sienna, and if we crossed that line, our friendship would be at risk. Even after gambling away our money, I didn’t feel right about gambling with us.
That night had been a turning point in our relationship down the friends-only path. But I did reminisce about it sometimes, especially in between my own relationships. That “what-if” lingered in my mind until I could distract it with another girl.
“You were always going to be a part of my wedding somehow,” I said. “I had debated on making you a flower girl.”
She popped me in the arm, hard.
“Ow,” I said chuckling.
She was smiling, though. That rambunctious woman.
“Did you think I wouldn’t want you there?”
“No, but I didn’t think I would be in the wedding party. At least not on your side of it.”
It took a lot for Sienna to open up to people, especially other women. Which was why her other closest friend was Tony. It would have been a miracle if Sienna had become good friends with anyone I considered marrying, so I knew she would never end up a bridesmaid at my wedding.
Sienna finished with the tie and smoothed the edges against my chest. She took a step back off the platform as I smoothed my collar down over the tie. I tore my eyes away from her and glanced at myself in the mirror. Even without the proper shoes on, the suit was perfect. I knew I’d made the right choice to come here. Maybe I could take Sienna out to lunch to thank her for agreeing to come out with me.
Nico came back into the room. “So sorry about that.” He clapped his hands together. “Parker, this tux fits well, yes?”
“Yes,” I said.
“What do you think?” he asked Sienna.
She didn’t take her eyes off me when she answered. “He looks great, Nico.”
Nico nodded, humbled by her response.
I couldn’t help but smile either. Sienna didn’t compliment often, so when she did, it really meant something. And that felt really good to hear.
Chapter Six
Sienna
“So, how was the tux shopping yesterda
y?” Tony asked me just as he finished setting up the dining room.
“It was fine,” I said, slicing thick pieces of Texas toast for the french toast special of the day.
“Did he get felt up?” Tony asked.
I dropped the knife and turned to him. “What is that about? It seems almost barbaric. I felt violated watching it happen.”
Tony laughed and rinsed his rag in the sink. “It’s a rite of passage to dress like a penguin.”
I laughed and dropped the bread slices into the egg batter and placed them on a tray. “Well, I have a feeling I’ll feel just as violated when we go to find my dress tomorrow.”
“I highly doubt that. You might mess up your hair changing, but no one is going to be adjusting your manhood to do it.”
“Very true.”
“What color tie did you choose?”
“Black bow tie, typical for the tux.”
“Not for Parker, for you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You are the best man, after all. Doesn’t that include a tie?”
I grabbed the spatula next to me and smacked him with it. He jumped out of the way, narrowly missing my next shot.
The bell on the front door jingled and we both turned to see Parker and Rachel coming in the front door.
“What the hell?” I said and moved away from the pass-through.
“That’s her?” Tony said.
Tony rarely interacted with Parker outside of the diner, and Rachel never came into Sunny Daes, so they’d never had the opportunity to meet.
“Yeah,” I said, washing my hands. I normally didn’t care what I looked like around Parker, but I didn’t want to see Rachel’s condescending face when she saw how I dressed at the diner. I got food on my body all day long; who would dress nice?
“Damn,” Tony said.
I warned him again with the spatula. He left the kitchen to greet them. While they were all distracted, I looked into the dining room. Rachel was way overdressed for my establishment. She wore a white and yellow sun dress with tall cork heels, so she was just shy of Parker’s height. She walked with Tony and Parker over to the table. She made Tony move them a few times until she was settled by the window. She took Parker’s hand and dragged him down to sit on the same side of the booth as her. Did she think this was that bad of a neighborhood that she needed protection?
