Hometown Hope: A Small Town Romance Anthology

by Zoe York

  “I’m not nervous because I think I’m making a mistake, Tucker. I’m nervous because I’m in love with Myles.” If she expected the admission to quell the panic, she was sadly mistaken.

  “I’d think that’d be the preferred state you’d want to be in since you’re marrying the guy.”

  Piper wrapped both arms around her middle. “I wasn’t when we started this. Not completely. And I don’t know if he’s there yet or not. I know he cares about me. I know he’s attracted to me. But I don’t know if he feels what I feel, and I’m afraid that we’ll go through with this and something will go horribly wrong. All other things being equal, I think there’s a big chance we’d have ended up here anyway, and I’m terrified that this crazy plan of ours will screw that up somehow.”

  “Love’s a risk, even under more conventional circumstances. But I think you stand a great shot at making it. I’ve watched you two together all week. You’ve got each other’s back. If this doesn’t work out, I don’t think it’ll be because one of you feels less than the other.”

  “You really think so?”

  “The guy’s crazy about you. If he’s not in love with you yet, he’s only about half a step away.”

  Piper narrowed her eyes at him. “You say that like you know something I don’t know.”

  Tucker held up his hands. “I’m just calling it like I see it. I do have eyes, last I checked.”

  Was that what other people saw when they looked at her and Myles?

  “Do you know why absolutely nobody questioned the story you told when you announced the engagement?” he asked.

  She shook her head.

  “Because it was completely believable. And I’d have bought it myself if I hadn’t had inside information. The bigger surprise wasn’t the announcement. It’s that you actually weren’t together all those months. You two fit.”

  “I’m the only reason we weren’t. Together, I mean.”

  “Yeah, yeah. The rule. I always thought that rule was kinda dumb.”

  “You never fell for your co-star because of the role, instead of who they were.”

  “Did it ever occur to you that what happened with Brandon was just a relationship naturally fizzling out once the infatuation was finished?”

  “Yes. That’s why I had the rule. I figured if the infatuation lasted, if he waited for me, then there was something more substantial there. Myles waited. No question, no pressure, just respect for my decision, even though he knew perfectly well that it wouldn’t have taken much to make me change my mind.”

  “He’s a good guy,” Tucker conceded.

  “One of the best I’ve known. And he’s going to start worrying if I don’t get back in there.”

  Tucker stood and offered his hand. “Okay then. Let’s go sing your last single hours away.”

  Chapter 9

  “YOU’RE MARRYING ONE OF my best friends today.”

  Myles caught sight of Tucker’s grave expression in the mirror’s reflection. They were alone in the groom’s suite, the other groomsmen having gone off to do more of Gram’s bidding. The ceremony was scheduled to start in less than half an hour. Praying for patience, he turned toward his best man, bracing himself for a repeat of the scene they’d had at The Mudcat. They really didn’t have time for this.

  “I know.”

  “I’ve still got my reservations about the wisdom of this whole thing, but I do believe you legitimately care about her and that you’re not going to fuck it up on purpose.”

  Myles offered a wry smile. “Thanks. I think.”

  “I just wanted you to know that I’m with you, when I’m standing up there. As a friend, not a potential bouncer.”

  Something in Myles’ chest eased. “Thanks, Tuck. That means a lot.”

  Tucker swung an arm around his shoulders. “How’s your voice? Warmed up?”

  Myles sang a few scales. He was on key but his voice was shaking. Well, he figured he was entitled.

  “Nervous?”

  “About marrying Piper, not at all. About this bait and switch we’re pulling without having a true rehearsal…”

  “You just worry about you and your piece. We’ve got the rest. And remember, it’s just like being in a show.”

  “Except in a show I can’t actually see the audience for the stage lights.”

  “I’ve seen Piper. Trust me, once you see her, you won’t be able to see anything else.”

  “What if she hates the surprise?”

  “She won’t,” Tucker assured him. “She’s going to love every minute of it. The fact that you thought of it shows how well you understand her. And that you organized it and made it happen proves how much you care. Just breathe. In a little over thirty minutes, the hard part will be over.”

  Brody barged back into the suite. “They’re seating guests already. It’s gonna be a full house. Or roof, as it were. Probably standing room only. But don’t worry. All our people will be in place before the ceremony begins. Everybody’s warmed up and ready to go.” He narrowed his eyes at Myles. “Are you? You’re looking a little sweaty.”

  “I’m good. I’m just ready to get this over with and get to the party with my wife.”

  Brody slapped him on the back. “Look at you saying ‘wife’ like it ain’t no thing. You got this.”

  “Give it a few months. You’ll be right behind.”

  “Damn skippy. Can’t wait,” Brody said.

  Another knock came on the door. “Are you decent?” A moment later Myles’ mother stepped into the room.

  “What are you doing down here? Shouldn’t you be upstairs getting ready for the seating of the parents?” he asked.

  “Yes, and you need to be on the roof in ten minutes yourself. But it’s not like they can start without you.”

  Ten minutes. Jesus. That meant about fifteen minutes until he blew his grandmother’s mind in an effort to surprise his bride.

  Myles shoved both hands through his hair.

  “Can I have a minute alone with my son?”

  “Sure thing. See you up there, buddy.” Tucker headed out, followed by Brody.

  Augusta reached out and smoothed her hands along his shoulders and down his lapels. “You look so handsome in your tux.”

  “I suppose I clean up pretty well. Was there something you wanted to tell me, Mom?”

  “I just wanted to see my baby one last time before he got married.” She squeezed his hands. “I’m really proud of you, Myles. I’m proud of the fact that you fought for your dream. I know you haven’t heard that enough from us, and I’m sorry for that. The fact is, you’ve grown into such an amazing man. And I’m so pleased that you’ve found an equally amazing woman who believes in you so completely. Piper’s lovely and she’ll be a good partner for you. That’s so important in a marriage.”

  What would she say if she knew they’d been together only two weeks?

  “Piper is...one of a kind. She’s got the biggest heart of anyone I know, and I can only hope to one day really deserve her.”

  Augusta frowned. But before she could say anything else, Skye stuck her head in the door.

  “It’s time!”

  Myles exhaled a slow breath. Show time.

  He escorted his mom and sister to the elevator. “I need to move. I’m gonna take the stairs.”

  On his way down the hall, the door to the bride’s suite started to open. Miranda peered out. “Nope! Coast is not clear! Keep her back.”

  “I’m going, I’m going.” Breaking into a trot, he made for the stairwell, letting the door slap shut behind him. For a moment, he just stood in the cool concrete tower. Then he climbed the last flight to the roof.

  Holy shit.

  When Brody had said standing room only, he wasn’t kidding. The hanging gardens inspired by the hotel’s namesake were packed with guests. Myles felt his heart kick, his pulse a driving timpani beat in his ears. How was he even going to hear the music?

  Tucker broke from where he stood at the periphery, waiting to head
up to the altar.

  “Breathe,” he ordered. “None of these people are important. They’re just props.”

  “Props,” Myles repeated. He sucked in a few ragged breaths, then nodded. “Props.”

  They headed up front together. Brody and Grady were waiting.

  His brother offered a hand. “Congratulations, big brother. You’ve clearly got better taste in women than I do.”

  “Goes without saying.” But Myles softened the words with a smile. “Thanks.”

  Margot, the events coordinator for The Babylon, said something into a headset. She gave a hand signal and whatever music Gram had picked for the seating of the grandmothers and parents began to play. She’d had a bit of a fit that it was recorded rather than a live string quartet, but they’d needed the space for guest seating. Myles was too nervous to actually listen to it. This was the last part of Gram’s plan that would go entirely to script.

  Gram looked beautiful and stately in a pale blue suit, her snow-white hair catching the rays of the setting sun as she strolled, ruler-straight down the aisle. Piper’s grandmothers, whom he’d met very briefly at the rehearsal dinner, followed. Then came his mother. Then Twyla. Then the song ended.

  When another didn’t immediately begin, Myles saw Margot hiss something into the headset. Whatever answer came back absolutely flummoxed her, and he couldn’t help but smile. To his left, he heard the clear tone of Tucker’s pitch pipe.

  In the audience, Gram’s attention shot to Tucker with a murderous glare. All around her, audience members shifted and straightened, waiting for the prearranged signal.

  Oh man, she was gonna hate this.

  Myles grinned and the first clear voices rang out in acapella harmony. He added his own on the bass line and waited for the doors to open.

  “It’s time. They’re nearly finished with the seating of the mothers,” Norah reported. “Are you ready?”

  Piper pressed a hand to her belly, where a flock of seagulls was trying to beat its way out. This whole thing had been a lot less terrifying before she’d realized she was in love with Myles. The prospect of being great friends with spousal benefits had seemed like a fantastic idea. But they’d both been on an even playing field then.

  Loving him and not knowing if he’d ever feel the same made the risk she took so much greater.

  She tried to hold on to Tucker’s words from the night before. The guy’s crazy about you. If he’s not in love with you yet, he’s only about half a step away.

  She hoped and prayed that Tucker was right.

  You just have to believe he’ll get there.

  Blowing out a breath, she straightened and took her bouquet from Tyler. “Let’s do this.”

  She stepped into the elevator with her attendants. The ride to the roof was hardly long enough to take a breath. They spilled out of the elevator and into the vestibule to line up. Elliott held Preston to keep him from running out. Tucker and Tyler had the actual rings, just in case he flipped out and didn’t make it down the aisle. Everything was in place. A couple of hotel employees stood prepared to open the double doors to the outside.

  Piper crossed to Preston, running a hand down his little vest. “Aren’t you a handsome boy in your fancy duds.”

  He flashed a toothy grin.

  “You remember how we practiced last night? You’re going to wait until Norah, Miranda, and Tyler go. Then you’ll go from me to Uncle Myles, down front. Okay?”

  Preston clapped. “MyPie!”

  “That’s right. This is all about MyPie.” She kissed his little nose and made him giggle. Turning to her friends, she gave each of them a last hug in turn. “Thank y’all for being here. It means a lot to me.” More than she’d realized it would.

  “We wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” Tyler said.

  And suddenly, Piper was glad of the wedding, glad to have her friends and family here. Even if nothing else about this day had been designed with her in mind, she’d have this memory with them.

  She watched them line up, clutching their own bouquets.

  “Ready, ma’am?” one of the hotel staff asked.

  “As I’ll ever be.”

  The woman spoke into a headset. After a few moments’ hesitation, they opened the doors.

  Piper frowned, hearing…voices, not strings. “This isn’t Pachelbel.”

  From the rear of the line, Tyler looked over and grinned. “Yeah, about that. Myles arranged for us to hijack the music. You’re welcome.” Then she turned forward and began to belt out the introduction to “Seasons of Love” from the musical RENT as Norah started bopping her way down the aisle in all her rhythmically challenged glory.

  Piper peeked around the edge of the door. At least a quarter of the audience was on their feet, singing and swaying in place. She recognized almost everyone she’d ever performed with. Her chest clenched and she covered her mouth to hold in something between laughter and tears. From the front, Myles’ voice rang out in harmony with Tucker and Brody as they hit the chorus.

  He’d arranged for a flash mob at their wedding.

  Oh my God, I love this man.

  She could just barely see him as Miranda made her way down during the second verse, his shoulders twitching in time to the music. Beside him, Tucker and Brody grinned like a couple of court jesters as they continued to sing. At the far end, Grady stood stiff as a board, eyes wide, as if he’d just realized his brother had been body snatched. Piper sincerely hoped Myles’ grandmother didn’t have a heart condition.

  Tyler pivoted into place at the front, just in time for a solo, by which time most of the audience was swaying along with the performers. Piper didn’t even realize Preston was dancing his way to the front until he was halfway down the aisle. She repressed a laugh. At least he was headed in the right direction. He went straight to Myles and earned a fist bump for his trouble before Leah snagged him.

  When they finished, silence hung heavy over the crowd. She saw a few people pause with their hands hovering inches apart, uncertain whether to applaud. So she let out a two finger whistle and clapped herself to get them going.

  As the applause faded, her pulse kicked up, waiting to see what she was, in fact, walking down the aisle to. A murmur ran through the guests as Myles stepped out of the lineup and moved to the head of the aisle so he faced her directly. His face was a shade or two paler than normal, and sweat beaded his brow.

  Oh no. Was he going to bolt from the altar?

  Somebody blew a note on a pitch pipe. The performers set up a soft acapella accompaniment. Myles took a breath and began to sing.

  Oh. Oh God.

  She couldn’t move. Couldn’t do anything but stare at him with her heart cracked open wide as he serenaded her with “Take Me As I Am” from Jekyll and Hyde.

  His voice floated over the audience, twining around her heart as he sang to her and her alone. Everything in the music, in his eyes told her, You see me. The real me. Here I am. I’m yours. Of all the songs he could’ve chosen, none could have meant more from one black sheep to another. Wasn’t that his biggest appeal? That he saw her, the real her, and accepted her without reservation? Wasn’t that what they brought to each other?

  As he reached the end of his verse, her nerves melted away and she took her first measured step toward him, wishing like hell her dress wasn’t laced quite so tight as she launched into what might be the most important performance of her life. The guests faded away, and for the length of that aisle, there was nothing and no one but Myles. She poured out everything she felt. Making the promise that if he’d only look deep enough, he’d see that she loved him. The real him. Her voice gained strength with every step, until she joined voice and hands with him beneath the pergola as they sang vows of love and acceptance, no matter what.

  Sliding a hand around her waist, he drew her in, lowering his brow to hers as they softly sang the final line. “Take me as I am.”

  The minister’s voice broke the ensuing silence, reminding Piper that they weren’t
alone and the wedding wasn’t over. “Well, that almost makes the vows seem superfluous.”

  She grinned over at him. “We should probably do them anyway.”

  “And so we shall. If there are no further surprises?” Reverend Emmons looked to Myles, then over to Tucker, who made an innocent face. Hearing no other interruptions, he continued. “Dearly beloved—”

  Chapter 10

  “NOT A DRY EYE in the house!”

  Myles flinched as yet another camera flash went off in his periphery. “Zach, do you really have to keep doing that?”

  “According to your grandmother, yes. And she’s scarier than you.”

  “Of course she is,” he muttered.

  Piper chuckled. “You turned our wedding into a musical. This means there must be documentation and that it will be talked about for years to come.”

  He scowled. “I didn’t do it for them. I did it for you.”

  She lifted her hands to frame his cheeks, pulling him close. “And I love that you did. You took the circus and made it about us. About me. I didn’t really think that was possible. So thank you.”

  “You were getting little enough out of this whole deal.”

  Her expression as she smiled up at him made Myles’ heart squeeze. “I got you out of it. That’s all I wanted.” Rising to her toes, she closed the last of the distance, pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

  He heard the click of the camera again and lifted his head. “Zach, I swear to God... If you don’t let me kiss my wife in peace, I’m going to kick your ass.”

  “But this stuff is gold. I’ll have a seriously hard time picking the right shot for the front page of tomorrow’s edition.”

  “If there is one word about this wedding in tomorrow’s edition, heads are going to roll,” Myles snarled.

  “But people love love! This will boost circulation.”

  “I’m not exploiting my personal life in the name of the paper. Now go away before I lose my good mood.”