Tension in the bride’s suite was running high. Raised voices and tears seemed to be the theme for the day. So much for the happiest day of anyone’s life. Popular opinion seemed to be that it was her fault. Of course. After the ego bolstering greeting from her aunt, Annie had been treated to much the same from the bridesmaids. Crystal was stressed, making them stressed, which only upset Crys more. It was a vicious cycle. Companion pony to the rescue.
The wedding planner hurried into the room to give the latest update on what was going on downstairs. Crystal waved her away, wisely leaving her mom to deal with it. How that woman had survived in the wedding business was a mystery to Annie. Her high energy might be great for getting things done, but it sucked at helping to keep others calm.
Waving a hand at another cloud of hairspray, she wandered over to the window. It had stopped snowing. With a fresh blanket covering everything it looked like a Christmas card. She longed for a lungful of that crisp, cold air. ‘Who do I have to kill?’ CJ had asked. There were a few on her list today. Her aunt for starters. Of course she’d apologized for yelling, but that didn’t erase the words or the fact that she’d made Annie feel two feet tall in front of CJ.
She closed her eyes, forehead resting on the chilled glass. Today had stirred up a lot of memories. No matter what her dad had been doing, she had always wanted to help. She remembered struggling to load firewood while he ran the chainsaw. The old Chevy one-ton had earned a dent or two in her efforts to lift the pieces over the side at the end of a load. Being short sucked. As weird as it sounded, it had felt a little like that today. It wouldn’t have mattered how cold the barn was or what they were doing. She’d wanted to be there with CJ. The horses had been a bonus.
It had all been fun. Seeing him where he was most comfortable and at home had been so telling. She’d learned a lot about him, just watching and listening. He made her laugh. CJ’s sense of humor was as appealing as that unique sense of calm that seemed to radiate from him. He was steady. She smiled. Maybe some women equated that word with boring, but she liked how relaxed and safe she felt around him.
Of course, none of that was saying she didn’t think the man was hot. His eyes were insanely beautiful, those cheeks adorable, and she loved his close-trimmed beard. Not enough guys wore beards anymore and if they did, they looked like they were auditioning for Duck Dynasty. He was so solid when he pulled her against him. There was just the right amount of dark hair on that barrel chest too, trailing down his belly. She thumped her head against the window. She’d definitely wanted to cuddle up to him and not let go. And then there were his hands. The man had strong, capable hands that she wasn’t afraid to admit she fantasized about.
“You’re getting it all over my dress and my face feels like it’s going to crack!” Crystal snapped.
Annie turned in time to see her cousin bat at a can of hairspray in irritation and then let out a screech and grab her hand.
“No, no, noooooo,” she wailed.
Pushing through the gawking crowd, Annie took Crystal’s wrist.
“Let me see.”
“Oh my God, it’s my ring finger!”
“Crys, let me see,” she said, gently uncurling the long fingers.
“Why is this happening to me?”
“Crystal, I swear to God if you don’t stop with the drama,” she bit out between clenched teeth. “It’s a broken fingernail. Not the end of the world.”
“It’s my ring finger, Annie! It’s going to be in all the pictures!” she wailed, tears now flooding unchecked down her cheeks.
Annie let her head fall forward so her chin was resting on her chest and shook her head. It was a fingernail. She knew there were replacements in the queen’s beauty chest. Why was she freaking out?
“Are you even listening to yourself? Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound?”
“You don’t understand. It’s not your wedding.”
“So I’ve been told,” she said with a sigh. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?” Crystal asked as Annie grabbed a box of tissues and the makeup kit.
“We’re going to calm you down and fix this mess. Come on.”
Ignoring several protests, she led Crystal down the hall to her room and into the bathroom. Grabbing a chair, she plunked it down in front of the vanity where the light would be good.
“Sit.”
Smoothing her satin dress, Crystal sat. Tears were still rolling down her cheeks. Annie shook her head at the splotchy mess and squatted down in front of her. Taking her cousin’s hands, she squeezed them softly.
“Everything is going to be okay. Deep breaths. You’re letting them get you all worked up. This day is supposed to be about you. You and Tyler. No one else matters. So all the worries and bullshit details your mom and the planner twit are freaking out about, they don’t matter. I promise you that man downstairs doesn’t give a rat’s ass if the centerpieces are perfect or not. All he wants to do is marry you and take you away from this three-ring circus.”
“I’m sorry my mom yelled at you.”
Annie handed her a tissue. “I don’t care, Crys. Right now all I care about is you. And this,” she waved a hand at the crying mess. “This is not the cousin I know and love. Come on, Princess. Stop letting other people tell you what is important and start telling them.”
“You know she loves you.”
“I know. I do, but we’re not going to worry about that right now.”
“Next week she’s going to invite you to lunch or something and be all hurt when you don’t want to. She won’t even know why you’re pissed and dissing her.”
“What part of not worrying about other people are you missing out on?”
Crystal gave her a reproachful look and blew her nose. Annie growled out a breath and counted to twenty, then fifty. She wasn’t ready to forgive. If things went well, she wouldn’t be in Grand Rapids next week.
“Okay. I promise to get over it. Now can we focus on you?”
“Thank you. I know we’re cousins, but you’re the best friend I’ve ever had. Probably my only real friend.”
“You have tons of friends,” Annie protested.
“Not ones that will tell me to get over myself,” Crystal said with a half snort, half sob.
“I think that makes me more of a bitch than anything,” Annie said with a wry smile and pulled out the wipes. “Now, let’s get this war paint off you and do your makeup the way you like it.”
“I count on you to tell me the truth. You’ve never let me down.”
“I’ll always tell you the truth. Now, no more tears.”
“What about my nail?” she asked, drawing a shuddering breath.
“It’d be a lot more fun if it was your middle finger.”
“Annie.”
Hearing the tremor in her cousin’s voice, Annie reined in the teasing. Today was all about Crystal.
“We’ll fix it, Princess. The pictures will be perfect. I promise.”
It was considered taboo to outshine the bride on her big day, but obviously, someone had forgotten to tell Annie. The deep cut burgundy dress looked amazing with her dark coloring. He couldn’t tear his eyes off her as she walked down the aisle, head high, hand lightly fisted in the long skirt, and a soft sway to her hips. Their gaze met. He held his breath as hers flickered up and down before meeting his again. Her smile of approval made his chest swell with pride.
The bridal march started and CJ heard everyone turn to the French doors at the back of the hall. He didn’t bother. The woman of his dreams was already at the altar. Annie was watching the bride. Her smile was tender, and maybe a tad wistful. Was she thinking about the day when she’d be wearing white like he was? Crazy or not, CJ could picture spending the rest of his life with her. He’d been seeing flashes of it since the barn. It had been like finding the missing piece to a puzzle. The picture had finally been complete with Annie in it.
She must have felt him watching her. Her smile widened into a teasing grin a
nd she rolled her eyes pointedly toward the bride. He stole a glance. Crystal was picture perfect, but not the one for him. His Annie bit her lip against a laugh when he looked stubbornly back at her. Then the father of the bride was handing her off and it was time to get serious. It wasn’t their day. Yet.
Tyler beamed with pride as he took Crystal’s hand. CJ had never seen his cousin look happier. She was even better than the brand new Ford F250 Super Duty for his sixteenth birthday. CJ coughed into his fist at the sudden thought and hastily schooled his features. Annie shot him a sidelong glance, lips trembling. She couldn’t know what he was thinking, but it was obvious he wasn’t fooling her. He ached to share the joke. Maybe later. He focused on the pastor, hoping that would help.
The bride distracted him. The look of anticipation and adoration on her upturned face was beautiful. It had to be a humbling feeling to have a woman look at you like that. What had to be running through his cousin’s mind right now? Was he thinking about their future together or was he just picturing Bora Bora?
CJ ran his thumb over the diamond-encrusted platinum band that just fit on the end of his pinky. Tyler had warned him not to lose the damn thing. It’d cost ten thousand dollars. Between it and the Tiffany rock he’d put on her finger to pop the question, Tyler had spent as much as CJ had on the kit for his house. The thought made him queasy. Annie and Crystal were close. He couldn’t compete with that. Would Annie expect him to? Even the ten grand made him cringe. It was something to think about. His mortgage was the only debt he carried. He refocused on the pastor’s words. As much as he liked it that way, Annie would be worth it.
Snow fell in the background as the newlyweds glided around the dance floor. The ceremony had been just what Crystal wanted. They would have enough perfect pictures to wallpaper their new home. Tyler had known what he was doing when he’d insisted on prime rib for their wedding dinner. Divine. Now with the food cleared, the cake cut and the champagne flowing, everyone could relax.
Fighting the urge to find somewhere to hide, Annie instead settled in a vacant seating area over by the windows. Pulling her wrap around her bare shoulders, she found herself missing the bridal party onesies. Chiffon wasn’t going to keep her warm, even with sparkles.
“Cold?”
Annie looked up into a boyish smile and an offered tux jacket.
“My hero,” she said, standing to let CJ drape it over her shoulders. She hummed happily and snuggled her nose down into the body warmed material for a moment. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure.”
He sat down across from her, his intense eyes raking over her and his forehead lined in a frown. Annie glanced down self-consciously, trying to decipher what was bothering him.
“Are you okay?”
Her head jerked back up and tilted in question. “Um, yeah. Why?”
“After that bullshit with your aunt this morning—”
Annie waved him off before he could finish. “She was just stressed and freaking. I’m fine.”
“Stressed didn’t give her the right to talk to you like that.”
She started to wave it off again, but the look on CJ’s face gave her pause. He cared. Really cared. She fiddled with a jacket button and finally nodded.
“You’re right. It pissed me off and made me feel about two feet tall.” She shrugged. “She apologized for yelling at me. Crys apologized again for her later. I don’t think either one of them gets that it wasn’t the yelling. Maybe that’s why it’s hard to stay angry.”
“Ignorance isn’t an excuse.”
“You’re right again,” she agreed with a nod. “But sometimes it’s not worth the fight, and in this case, there’s only one thing that she said that is important. It’s Crystal’s day. I don’t want her to look back on this weekend and remember family squabbles. It’s not worth it to me. I want her happy.”
“She’s lucky to have you in her corner.”
“Thank you. I think so too.”
CJ laughed.
“I know, right? All this and modest too,” Annie said, waving a dramatic hand at herself.
“Nothing like a woman with a healthy, and accurate, sense of self-worth. That trait probably had a lot to do with you having the guts to follow your dreams.”
“I think a desire to hole up and hide from the world was right up there in the decision-making process.”
“Were you always an introvert?”
“I don’t know. I have my own way of thinking about things. It’s never bothered me to be alone. My dad described it as marching to my own drum. It seemed to get stronger as I got older. I always had friends in school. They just all sort of went their own way after we graduated, which I guess is normal. A lot of people didn’t know what to say to me after my parents died. I was suddenly in a different place in life than they were.”
“You had to grow up.”
“Pretty much.”
“What about now?”
“Now, my focus is on writing. If you think about it, most people our age make friends at work, the gym, or at a club. I work alone. My building has a gym I never use, and I’m not much of a party girl. I make a pitcher of margaritas every now and then when Crys comes over, and the rest of the time caffeine is my drug of choice.”
CJ nodded slowly like he was thinking about what she’d said. He leaned back in his chair.
“Damn. You’re right.”
Annie nodded with a little shrug.
“There are plenty of people I’m friendly with in the community that I know from school, or just from living here my whole life, but most of my guide clientele are from out of state. I don’t belong to a gym. When I do go out to the bar, it’s with the same guys. All three of them go back to elementary days. Other than you, I haven’t made a new friend since third grade,” he said.
His words wrapped around her heart. As attracted to CJ as she was, she liked him too. He was so easy to talk to.
“Thank you for letting me in. I’m honored. I hope the rest of the gang will like me.”
He looked surprised but nodded. “I think they will.”
Flustered, Annie fussed with the button. The rental shop was going to need to stitch it when CJ returned the tux. Maybe she’d overstepped there. She hadn’t even committed to staying past the wedding and she was wanting to meet his friends? Slow down girl. How could this be so easy and so hard at the same time? It had been four days. Why did it feel like so much longer and why was her traitorous heart thinking about forever?
The wedding planner hurried past, giving them both a disapproving frown. Annie flipped her off under the lapels of CJ’s jacket.
“I’m so glad I’m never getting married,” she muttered.
“What?”
Annie jumped at the sharpness of CJ’s voice. She hadn’t even meant for anyone to hear that. Blushing a little, she looked around.
“Sorry. It’s just after this weekend I think I’ve had my fill of the wedding experience.”
“I guess I can see that.”
“And that bitch was a big part of the problem.”
“Amen. If I’d been the groom, the wedding planner’s body wouldn’t have been found until spring,” CJ grumbled.
“Do you have wolves? Maybe we’d get lucky.”
“We get a few, but they don’t usually last long. They go after the sheep and ranchers or the DNR take them out.”
“Bears?”
“Black bears. Some of the males can get territorial.”
“There’s our plan. Pitch the bitch out in the snow and pray for over protective bears.”
CJ chuckled and shook his head, but he didn’t look opposed to the idea.
“Look at her. She’s checking her tablet again. I swear if she heads toward Crys with a weather update, I’m taking her out.”
“I heard her say everyone is getting to the airport tomorrow if she has to shovel a path. Think we could suggest she get started now?”
Annie looked back at the softly falling snow.
; “Do you think they’re going to make it?”
He nodded. “I think so. I talked to my buddy that works for the county and he said as long as the weather holds, they’ll have the roads out of here passable.”
“Did you bribe him to get us out of here?”
“Not all of you.”
Annie hid a shy smile at the not so subtle hint. He had no idea how much she wanted to stay. She hadn’t said anything to her family, but she had no intention of being on a plane with any of them. Not only was that thought repugnant right now, but she really did want to see where things could go with CJ. It might not be the easiest on the bank account, but it was the only shot she had. She couldn’t see trying to make a relationship work from thirteen hundred miles away on what little time they’d had.
“About that,” she said softly.
Digging through the battered backpack she used as a carry-on, Annie finally located her wallet in the bottom. Of course. She squeezed the leather clutch. Her body was practically vibrating with excitement and no small part nerves. The lodge crew had done an amazing job of clearing the snow out to the main road, and the county had done their part. So, after breakfast, they’d loaded up an eighteen-passenger van, two Suburbans, and after tucking the last guest and bit of luggage away in CJ’s jeep, the crazy train had headed for the airport. All joking aside, Annie thought the mass exodus was met with some sense of relief by the Barrett’s and their staff.
On the other hand, her announcement at breakfast that she was staying had been met with mixed reactions by her family. Though she knew they meant well, she’d had the childish urge to scream at the righteous naysayers ‘You’re not the boss of me!’ Out of a stronger desire not to look like an ass in front of CJ’s side of the family, she’d refrained from that or from reminding them that she was a ‘grown ass woman.’ In the end, her uncle had actually come to her rescue by pointing out that she was being fiscally responsible turning this into a vacation with the airfare already covered. She sighed. Right, because all decisions were based on the almighty dollar.
Why not Wyoming? (Wyoming Wilds Series Book 1) Page 6
