The Bridesmaid

by Julia London

  He glanced at Kate. “I slept great,” he said, and Kate almost laughed.

  “There’s coffee,” Kate’s mother said, pointing to the pot. “Anyway,” she continued in Kate’s direction, “I’m going to have it cleaned and boxed.”

  “Why, Mom?” Kate asked. “I’m never wearing it again.”

  “Never say ‘never.’ There may come some event where you need a fancy evening gown.”

  “You could get married in it,” Cassidy offered, wiggling her eyebrows at Kate.

  “Mom,” Kate said wearily.

  “Cassidy, leave your sister alone. She is very sensitive about peach dresses.”

  Kate rolled her eyes at her little sister.

  “Hey, did you hear the news this morning?” Colton asked. “They say the strike will be settled today, the blizzard is about done, and air traffic should be almost normal by Tuesday. Airports are finally opening back up.”

  “I guess that means no trains or cars to New York this time, Katie-Kate,” her father said with a chuckle. “So, Joe, when do you start work?”

  “Ah… tomorrow,” he said.

  “Joe, have some beef filet,” Kate’s mother said, steering him in the direction of the buffet where the food had been laid out. “Never accuse the Prestons of being predictable in their breakfast choices.”

  “Thank you,” Joe said uncertainly, and peered into the big aluminum pan.

  “He doesn’t have to eat that,” Kate tried, but her mother was already waving her away.

  “He doesn’t mind, do you, Joe? Live on the edge, I say.”

  “So life goes back to normal for you two, I guess,” Kate’s father said from behind the morning paper.

  “Oh, but Joe will come for dinner now and then, won’t you, Joe?” Kate’s mother chimed in.

  Joe smiled, but Kate could see he wasn’t feeling it. She wasn’t either. What would be the point? “I’ll sure try,” he said, and thank God, that seemed to satisfy Kate’s mom.

  “It’s such a shitty day,” Cassidy complained.

  “Language!” Kate’s mother said sternly.

  “Hey, Joe, do you play cards?” Colton asked. “We like to play Spades on days like this.”

  Kate expected him to say no, that he had to go, but Joe surprised her. With a plate laden with filet of beef and twice-baked potato, he said, “Sure!”

  They spent the day with Kate’s family playing cards, then working on an enormous puzzle her father had started in the dining room, and occasionally glanced at the big picture window and the rain rivulets racing down the glass.

  The air felt heavy. Kate had felt a weight pressing on her all day. She knew what it was—it was the sense of an impending loss.

  Late in the afternoon, as her family buzzed around the kitchen and the living area, Joe looked at Kate with sorrow in his eyes, and she knew the moment of loss had come. “I should go,” he said.

  Her heart sank. This was it, then, the end to the most wildly adventurous, sexy, fabulous few days she’d ever spent. “I don’t want to say good-bye,” she muttered helplessly.

  “Then don’t say it,” he said, and intertwined his fingers with hers. “It’s not good-bye, Kate. We’ll talk, right?”

  She nodded.

  “What’s going on?” Cassidy asked, her insanely accurate radar honing in on Joe and Kate. “Are you taking off, Joe?”

  “Yeah,” he said, coming to his feet. “I have an early day tomorrow.” He walked away from Kate to say his good-byes to her family.

  There was a lot of promising to get together, to include Joe in family gatherings in the weeks to come. But Kate didn’t believe it. Her family meant well, as did Joe. But people were busy, and she could picture her family gathered here on a Sunday afternoon, and someone would mention Joe, and someone else would say, “Oh yeah, I meant to give him a call,” and that would be followed by, “Let’s Skype with Kate later.”

  And as the days and weeks went on, they would forget about him entirely. But Kate would never forget him. Never.

  The rain had let up when she walked him outside. A cab was waiting at the bottom of the drive. Kate stood with her hands on her back, Joe with his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans.

  She looked at the cab, then at him. “Do you believe in fate, yet?”

  He smiled wryly.

  “Me either,” she said. “Because if this is fate, fate sucks.”

  “I couldn’t agree more.” He shifted forward, putting his arms around her.

  “Will you call me when you’re in New York?” she asked in almost a whisper.

  “Yes. And you’ll call me when you’re in Seattle, right?”

  “Yes.”

  Joe leaned back and cupped her face. He peered into her eyes, and it felt to Kate as if he was trying to commit her to memory somehow. She reached up and wrapped her fingers around his wrist. “How can I miss you so much already when I hardly know you?”

  He sighed, lowered his head, and kissed her. It was a tender, emotional kiss, and when he lifted his head, Kate dabbed at the lone tear that fell from the corner of one eye.

  “I’ll talk to you soon. Tomorrow, maybe.” He dropped his arms from her. “Kate… I’ve never met anyone like you before. Thanks for… this,” he said, gesturing to the two of them. “Seems so inadequate to say, but I mean it.”

  She knew exactly what he meant. She’d known him for all of four days now, and yet she felt like she was losing her very best friend. She shoved her hands into the back pockets of her pants to keep from grabbing on to him and holding him here. She willed herself not to get girly and teary. “Good-bye, Joe Firretti.”

  “Good-bye, Kate Preston.”

  She watched him walk down to the end of the drive. He opened the cab door and paused. He looked back at her before he got in.

  Kate lifted her hand and waved.

  She didn’t know if he waved back because she couldn’t see much through the tears that had filled her eyes.

  Chapter 12

  Kate had been back in New York for two weeks, and still the feeling of heaviness had not lifted from her. She’d thought that after she’d regaled the editorial staff with her wild tale of her trip to Seattle, she would fall into work and everything would fade into a warm, soft memory.

  Maybe it would have, had Kate and Joe not spoken regularly.

  She knew the head guy at his new company seemed impressed by Joe, and that he had a corner office. She knew he liked running in Discovery Park and he didn’t like that it rained so much. He knew she had finished editing the novel he’d read and had just closed a deal for another one. They were talking, but Kate could feel a distance developing there, the inevitable flow of life carrying them away from each other. The further they drifted, the heavier the weight felt to her.

  And yet, she couldn’t seem to shake him. She walked to work and envisioned the dangerously handsome man who had appeared at Lisa’s wedding in a dark suit, clean-shaven, and with that cute little pocket square. She walked home from work and looked at each man who passed her, trying to find one who would appeal to her the way Joe had. None of them did.

  Kate still didn’t know if she believed in fate, but if she did, she would want to know what exactly it was trying to do to her. Right now, she hated fate. She wanted to kick fate’s ass.

  One morning, seated in her cubbyhole between stacks of manuscripts and books, Kate was making herself especially crazy. Lisa was back from her two-week honeymoon and had bombarded Facebook with pictures of a tropical paradise. There was Kiefer looking toned and buff, Lisa tanned and slim.

  They looked so damn happy, and that made Kate even sadder. Before she’d gotten on that plane, she wouldn’t have said that marriage or commitment was at the top of her list. It hovered there somewhere, she supposed, but she’d been too focused on the move to New York, on her job, on settling in. Now, that idea was front and center. Now, she knew the void that existed in her life. It had taken the trip to show her just how much she did want love and ma
rriage and more.

  After work that day, Kate was coaxed into happy hour with a couple of people, and then to a sushi bar. She recognized the name of it—Joe had told her about it.

  She returned home to her tiny walk-up apartment and looked around. Why did she think this would be so great? It looked small and dingy and… and empty. So damn empty.

  The next morning, Kate more or less dragged herself to work and spent a day in meetings. By the time she was ready to go home, it had started to rain. Perfect, she thought morosely. Rain was perfect for her black mood.

  She found her battered umbrella at the bottom of her bag, said good night to the security guard, and walked outside. She stood under the awning for a long moment, debating. Which would be crazier? A very crowded subway? Or trying to hail a cab?

  She decided the subway was her only hope and started down the street, almost colliding with a man just standing there. Why was he standing there in the rain? Kate shot him a look—and then came to an abrupt halt.

  Joe.

  She was so surprised that her umbrella dropped. He caught it with his hand and propped it back up over her head. She couldn’t speak; her heart was in her throat. He looked as amazing as he did in her mind’s eye, every inch of him, every bit of blue in his eyes.

  “Hey,” he said, looking her up and down. “Don’t I know you from somewhere?”

  Kate stepped closer, her heart beating wildly. “Weren’t you the guy sitting next to me on the plane, totally hogging the armrest?”

  “Right, right,” he said, smiling down at her, his eyes dancing with delight. “I remember you now. You were clogging the aisles with a big pink raft.”

  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “I came to ask if you believe in fate.”

  Kate’s breath caught.

  “Because I do,” he said.

  “You do?”

  “Yeah, I do. I believe fate put me on that plane, and I think fate led me to the best few days of my life. I think fate knocked me over the head and showed me that maybe the greatest opportunity of my life was standing right in front of me in a hideous bridesmaid dress. And I couldn’t ignore her, because fate is one persistent bitch.”

  “Yes, yes, I know,” Kate said, nodding furiously. “She’s really awful.” Her heart was filling up with wild, crazy hope, filling up so fast that she could hardly breathe. “So you leaped across the country to tell me that?”

  Joe shook his head. He slipped his arm around her waist and drew her in to him. “I leaped to be with you, Kate.”

  Her heart was beating so wildly she feared she would sink to her knees. This was crazy, insane! “Wait… what about your job?”

  “You know, it was an amazing opportunity,” he said. “But it’s not so amazing without someone to share it with. So I called my old boss and asked him for my job back.”

  Kate gasped.

  “That call turned out pretty well. He was so thrilled to have me back that he gave me more money. Turns out, my position is pretty hard to fill.”

  “But what about your new job?”

  Joe winced. “They weren’t quite as thrilled. I think it’s safe to say they were pissed. Words like ‘lawsuit’ and ‘breach’ were tossed around.”

  “Joe!”

  “Not to worry,” he said. “I hadn’t signed the contract yet.”

  “You’re moving back to New York?” she asked, afraid to believe it.

  “Baby, I’m already back,” he said with a wink. “And I could use a place to stay for a couple of nights.”

  It was a dream come true, a private hope brought to life. Kate dropped her umbrella and threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. She kissed him hard, with all the weight she’d been feeling these last few weeks. She was oblivious to the rain, oblivious to the people sailing past them. If this were a movie, little stars would burst over her head and blue birds would flit about them.

  Joe was laughing when she lifted her head. “I guess that’s a yes,” he said.

  “I love you, Joe. I know I’m not supposed to say that because I just met you, but I do, Joe, I do. I love you.”

  “God, Kate, I love you, too,” he said, burying his face in her neck. “I should have told you two weeks ago. I should never have gotten in that cab. Come on, let’s get out of the rain.”

  He stooped down to pick up her umbrella. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her into his side. “What about ESP? Do you believe in that?” he asked.

  Kate laughed. “It depends.”

  She believed in love. That much, she knew, and here it was, delivered by fate to her, all six feet, two inches of it.

  Chapter 13

  One year later, on a wet spring weekend, Joe and Kate were married in Seattle. Lisa stood up with Kate, wearing a lovely off-the-shoulder lavender gown, which Lisa proclaimed too plain and too predictable. The reception was held at a new venue: an industrial building that had been transformed inside to look like an art museum. Or maybe it was an art museum. Joe had lost track of the details.

  He was happy. Happier than he thought he could be. He was frankly amazed at how damn happy he was.

  Kate was happy, too. She was still amused and awed that things had happened as they had, that she’d met the man of her dreams on a flight diverted to Dallas. She was awed that she and Joe had both known, in just a few days, just knew, that they belonged together. What would explain that other than fate? Kate hoped that fate also had a big family in mind for them, now that she knew Joe wasn’t particularly put off by people wandering in and out of the house without knocking and raiding the fridge, as her family tended to do.

  They stayed at the Edgewater the night of the wedding, and their lovemaking was spectacular. The next morning they made their way to Kate’s house, where the Firrettis and the Prestons had come together to dine on leftover wedding food for breakfast before the newlyweds headed off to Paris for their honeymoon. While they were dining, the clouds rolled in, swallowing up the sun.

  Later still, when Colton drove them to the airport, the clouds were hanging even heavier. Kate and Joe joked about late spring blizzards and air traffic controller strikes.

  The newly minted Mr. and Mrs. Firretti checked their bags. “Are you sure you want to carry that on?” Joe asked, looking at the enormous tote bag Kate was holding. “Yes,” she said. “It’s got everything we need. Books, iPad, toothbrushes, change of underwear—”

  “Okay, okay,” he said. “Just please don’t tell me it has a tuna-fish sandwich in it.”

  “No!” Kate said. “I’ll buy that at a kiosk or something.” She smiled at his look of horror.

  They made it through security and wandered up to their gate. They glanced up at the board. Delayed, it said.

  “Wait here,” Joe said, and walked up to the counter and spoke to the airline agent. He returned a moment later, a funny little smile on his face.

  “So what’s the delay?” Kate asked.

  “Indefinite. Seems there is an unexpected weather event in Europe and the plane coming in is being diverted.”

  Kate blinked. And Mr. and Mrs. Firretti burst into laughter.

  Thinking of You

  by Jill Mansell

  When Ginny Holland’s daughter heads off to university, Ginny is left with a severe case of empty nest syndrome. To make matters worse, the first gorgeous man she’s laid eyes on in years has just accused Ginny of shoplifting. So, in need of a bit of company, Ginny decides to advertise for a lodger, but what she gets is lovelorn Laurel. Yet with Laurel comes her dangerously charming brother, Perry, and the offer of a great new job, and things begin looking up…until Ginny realizes that her potential boss is all too familiar. Is it too late for Ginny to set things right after an anything but desirable first impression?

  Praise for An Offer You Can’t Refuse:

  “Realistic, flawed, and endearing, [the characters] make Ms. Mansell’s book shine.” —Romance Reader at Heart

  “A finely tuned romantic comedy.” �
��Kirkus

  For more Jill Mansell, visit:

  www.sourcebooks.com

  Don’t Want to Miss a Thing

  Jill Mansell

  He knows all about women, or so he thought…

  Dexter Yates leads a charmed existence in London, with money, looks, and girlfriends galore. Life’s fantastic until Dex’s sister dies and his world changes overnight. Astonishing everyone, including himself, Dex leaves the city behind, takes charge of his eight-month-old niece Delphi, moves to a beautiful Cotswolds village, and sets about working on his parenting skills. His neighbors, including cartoonist Molly Hayes, seem friendly enough—but Dex can’t shake the notion that he’s missing something important…

  Praise for Thinking of You:

  “Mansell is like a Michelin-rated chef: She may use common ingredients, but under her sure hand, the results are deliciously superior.” —Kirkus

  “Humorous, sometimes poignant… Her breezy style resembles that of Sophie Kinsella or Helen Fielding… readers will be delighted.” —Booklist

  “Jill Mansell has never let me down and she delivers once again… had me laughing and smiling from beginning to end.” —Life in the Thumb

  For more Jill Mansell, visit:

  www.sourcebooks.com

  A Royal Pain

  by Megan Mulry

  A life of royalty seems so attractive…until you’re invited to live it…

  Smart, ambitious, and career driven, Bronte Talbot started following British royalty in the gossip mags only to annoy her intellectual father. But her fascination has turned into a not-so-secret guilty pleasure. When she starts dating a charming British doctoral student, she teases him unmercifully about the latest scandals of his royal countrymen, only to find out—to her horror—that she’s been having a fling with the nineteenth Duke of Northrop, and now he wants to make her…a duchess?

  In spite of her frivolous passion for all things royal, Bronte isn’t at all sure she wants the reality. Is becoming royalty every American woman’s secret dream, or is it a nightmare of disapproving dowagers, paparazzi, stiff-upper-lip tea parties, and over-the-top hats?