Marry Me: a Wedding Romance Duet

by Samantha Chase

  “Hmm…I never thought of it like that.”

  “And I think Mom knows more than she’s letting on.”

  She looked at him sympathetically. “I think you’re making more of this than you need to. Maybe Sean just thought he was being funny? Maybe Steph is dating or something and doesn’t want us hanging around? This could all be a bunch of nothing.”

  “If it is, then all we have to lose is a ferry ride back and forth to Fire Island. Come on. What do you say? We’ll make a day of it.”

  He saw the indecision on her face, the way she was gently biting her bottom lip. Sitting up, he kissed her and kept on kissing her until she melted against him and agreed to go with him.

  It was almost lunchtime when they finally boarded the ferry. Now, as they sat up on the top deck, they silently stared out at the water.

  Ryan was lost in his own thoughts, and they were going in a dozen different directions. For a while now, his weekends were all about his time with Tricia. Sure there were the weddings, but for the most part he saw the weekends as their time. Right now, he almost resented the fact that reality had interrupted. Even though this was about his mother – and his brother – it didn’t make it any easier.

  Then it was back to Tricia. When Sean had made that stupid comment last night about when it was going to be their wedding, at first Ryan was shocked, then a little bit angry that his brother was clearly being a troublemaker, and then…nothing. The thought of a future with Tricia – marrying Tricia – didn’t make him freak out. At thirty-two, he was fine with the idea of settling down; it was just that up until now, he hadn’t met anyone he wanted to settle down with.

  Until Tricia.

  He knew Sean’s comments bothered her. He wasn’t exactly sure why, and maybe he should have spent a little more time this morning talking to her about it. Unfortunately, he was a man of action and with so many things bothering him, he felt like his mother would be the easiest of them all. She was accessible and in all his life they’d never had a disagreement that ended badly.

  Sean was too far away to deal with.

  And Tricia may very well tell him she didn’t feel the same way he did.

  So, going to his mother’s place was also the safest place to start.

  They docked and made the twenty-minute walk to the small house Steph had on the island. She rented it out for most of the summer but Ryan was hoping he hadn’t misunderstood her during their last conversation.

  Beside him, Tricia walked along silently. He held her hand but she seemed perfectly content to keep things quiet. It was one of the things he really was becoming to love about her – she understood him. He could have easily carried on a conversation but right now it just seemed better for him to keep his thoughts straight so he’d know what to say when they got to the house.

  Sure enough, when the house came into view, Steph was out in the yard talking to someone. For a minute, Ryan hesitated. Then he realized it was one of her neighbors and put a smile on his face.

  “You ready for this?” Tricia asked quietly.

  “I hope so,” he replied honestly. “Believe me, I hope you’re right and I’m just making more out of all of this than there actually is. Unfortunately, I don’t think I am.”

  As they approached the small white picket fence, Steph turned. Her first reaction was a bit of wide-eyed shock, then her face eased into a smile. “Ryan! Tricia! What are you two doing here? Is there a wedding on the island today?”

  They both walked over and kissed her. “Nope, the wedding was last night,” Ryan said. “But I thought I remembered you saying something about being here and we decided to take a chance and surprise you so…surprise!”

  “How sweet of you! How about some lunch?” Steph asked and then started toward the house. “Just give me two minutes to grab my purse and we’ll go and grab something.”

  “We just had breakfast a little while ago,” Ryan said. “We really just came by to visit. Let’s go inside and get out of the sun.”

  “What?” Steph cried. “Um…no. I mean, why don’t we go down by the beach?”

  Ryan wasn’t going to be swayed. He hooked his arm smoothly through his mother’s and turned her back toward the house. “You know Tricia is fair-skinned. She burns easily. I’m sure she would love to be out of the sun for a little while.”

  Steph looked a bit uncomfortable but finally caved. She opened the front door and ushered them in. “Have a seat. I’ll just go and grab us some drinks.”

  When she was out of sight, Ryan sat down and motioned for Tricia to do the same. “I think that was all a little suspicious.”

  “I have to agree,” Tricia whispered. “You mother is one of the most hospitable people I know.” She looked around the room and then back at Ryan. “Why wouldn’t she want us here?”

  Nothing was obvious or out of the ordinary from where Ryan was sitting, and when Steph came back into the room with several glasses of iced tea, she looked cool as a cucumber. “So how was last night’s wedding? Anything exciting happen?”

  It was a perfectly normal question and yet…

  Ryan took a sip of his drink and smiled. “Why? What have you heard?”

  Steph chuckled. “Me? I haven’t heard anything. Why?”

  He shrugged. “Just wondering.”

  “I thought you would have been on your way back home by now. Don’t you have work tomorrow?”

  “I’ll be heading back tonight,” he said lightly. “Since I’m the boss, I’m allowed to go in late on Mondays if I want to. Besides, I wanted to take the opportunity to come and see you. You’re always telling me I don’t do it enough.”

  Steph smiled warmly at him and then looked over at Tricia. “Did you have a good time last night?”

  “Absolutely,” Tricia replied. “They had a great menu and the cake was to die for. You would have loved it.”

  “Well, if one of my kids ever gets married, maybe I’ll get the opportunity to try some wedding cake,” she said, grinning.

  “That’s an odd thing to comment on,” Ryan said, placing his glass down on the coffee table. “You’re not usually one of those moms who harps on when their children are going to get married.”

  She shrugged. “All this talk about weddings lately just got me thinking. You and your brother aren’t getting any younger. It wouldn’t kill either of you to get married and maybe give me some grandchildren. It might be nice to…”

  The sound of a glass crashing in one of the back rooms brought everyone to their feet.

  “I knew it,” Ryan said, rushing out of the room ahead of his mother.

  “Ryan!” she called out to him. “It’s not what you think…if you could just…”

  But he wasn’t listening. He opened the closed bedroom door and froze.

  “Hey, Ryan! What a surprise seeing you here.”

  It was Sean.

  Nine

  Without thinking, Tricia ran into the room and into Sean’s arms. He was sitting on the bed, his leg elevated on a pillow. “Ohmygod!” she cried. “I can’t believe you’re really here! Why didn’t you tell me you were coming home? When did you get here?” She was rambling and so relieved to see him that it took a minute for the reality of the situation to actually hit. When it did, she pulled back and straightened. “Wait,” she said slowly. “You’re here.”

  He nodded, smiling, but his expression turned wary after a minute.

  “But…”

  Ryan came to stand beside her, his expression one of barely-concealed rage. “How are you feeling?” he asked and Tricia could feel the tension radiating from him.

  “I’m uncomfortable,” Sean said. “Between the cast on my leg and wrist and my ribs healing, it’s hard to find a position that works.”

  “It must have been a real pain on such a long flight home,” Ryan said stiffly.

  “I was able to get a first-class seat so I had a little more room, but still…”

  “How long have you been here?” Tricia asked, no longer feeling the joy
of a few minutes ago. Confusion was the main emotion at the moment. Sean was home. He hadn’t called her and he had been pretending last night while they Skyped that he was still in Japan.

  Sean looked beyond Ryan and Trish to his mother. She stepped forward. “A couple of weeks,” she said quietly, sitting down at the foot of the bed.

  Tricia was just about to yell about the entire situation when Ryan spoke up. “So you’ve been here all this time, getting a kick out of making Tricia and I look like idiots.”

  “It wasn’t like that, Ryan,” Sean began.

  “Oh, really? Well then why don’t you tell me how it was because from where I’m standing, it seemed like you were having a lot of fun at our expense. Skyping and pretending you were still overseas, making us both keep up this farce at the weddings, I mean…what the hell, Sean?” he yelled.

  “Okay, look…in the beginning, I really didn’t think I’d be able to come home any time soon. But then I was able to talk with the doctors and got the clearance to travel. And believe me, it was a bitch. I was in pain for every minute of that flight.”

  “That doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell us,” Tricia snapped, beyond annoyed with her best friend.

  Sean sighed. “Look, if I had called and gone to your house, Trish, you would have hovered and skipped out on the weddings. I didn’t want you to do that. You and Ryan were having a good time and getting along great and I didn’t want to mess with that. Then Mom suggested bringing me here and…” He shrugged. “You know how much I love the beach. It’s not a bad way to recuperate.”

  “Seriously,” Ryan said loudly, “what is your damn obsession with these weddings? So what if Tricia didn’t go to them? Life would have gone on, Sean! You sat back and played puppet master with the two of us and I want to know why! You know, I have a life back in Jersey! I had better things to do than drive out here all the damn time playing Ken and Barbie at a bunch of parties!”

  Tricia gasped as if she had been slapped. She knew Ryan hadn’t been thrilled with the prospect of taking Sean’s place, but she didn’t realize he felt this strongly about it. She thought they’d moved on from that. And while it was completely understandable that he was upset with his brother, she couldn’t help but feel hurt by what he was saying.

  “Oh for crying out loud,” Sean said with frustration. “We all know you have a life, Ryan! Work is all you do! That’s your life! So I thought it would be a good thing to force you to get out a little! Sue me!”

  Rather than argue, Ryan stormed from the room, but Tricia’s eyes never left Sean.

  “Come on,” Sean said to her, “this isn’t that big of a deal, right? I thought it would be a good thing – for the both of you.”

  “You lied to me,” she finally said. “In all the years we’ve known each other, we never lied to one another.”

  “It wasn’t like that, Trish…”

  She felt tears welling in her eyes and then shook her head. “That’s exactly what it was. Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been about you? Do you know how awkward it was to go to the weddings with Ryan instead of you? Did it even occur once to you to talk to me about this crazy plan of yours?”

  Steph stood and took one of Tricia’s hands in hers. “It isn’t all Sean’s fault,” she said shyly. “I…I sort of had a hand in it too.”

  “What?” Tricia pulled her hand away, dismay written all over her face as she looked between mother and son. “Why?”

  Sighing, Steph seemed to sag with defeat. “The very first time I met you, I knew you were someone special. I saw the connection between you and Sean and it used to make me so happy to see the two of you together. But I knew after a while, the two of you would never be anything more than friends.” She looked up at Tricia. “Not that it’s a bad thing…”

  “I need to go…” Tricia said and turned to leave.

  “Don’t go, Trish,” Sean called out. “Just…just wait.”

  She sighed but kept looking over her shoulder for Ryan. For all she knew, he was on the ferry back to town without her.

  “You are the daughter I never had,” Steph finally said after a minute. “You’re already part of the family and for years I have been racking my brain to find a way to fix you and Ryan up. So when this opportunity presented itself,” she said with a shrug, “I kind of took advantage of it.”

  Anger and frustration warred within her. She glared at Sean. “Are you even really hurt or was this all part of your plan?”

  He looked hurt by her words. “I would never lie…” And then he stopped himself.

  “Exactly,” Tricia said with disgust and left the room. She didn’t stop until she was out in the front yard, and that’s where she found Ryan. She stopped beside him. “Are you all right?”

  He shook his head. “I want to go back in there and throttle him, but I can’t! I mean, what the hell was he thinking?”

  She shared with him what Steph had just told her and then watched as it just seemed to spur his anger on.

  “Are you kidding me? So…what…we were some sort of social experiment?” He looked beyond Tricia toward the house. “They came up with this stupid plan and were just sitting back, being entertained while watching us?” His gaze came back to hers. “Doesn’t it make you mad?”

  “It does!” she cried. “But…I can understand – sort of – why they did it. And…it didn’t turn out all that bad, right?” She placed a hand on his arm and gently squeezed. “I’ll admit I don’t like the idea of being the last to know but I’m really glad we got to know each other. This last month has been wonderful. I…I thought you felt the same way.”

  He raked a hand through his hair in frustration. “That’s not the point! They manipulated us and…and…is Sean even hurt?” Growling with frustration, he turned away from her and began to pace. “I was so damn worried about him. Was it all for nothing?”

  “I asked him the same thing and he claims that part is true. Everything else just sort of fell into place.”

  “This is unbelievable,” he muttered.

  For a minute, Tricia thought he was going to go back into the house and confront his family, but he didn’t. With one last look of disgust at the house, he began to walk away. “I’m heading back to the ferry.”

  She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do. Part of her wanted to go back inside and hash things out with Sean. In all their years of friendship, they’d never walked away from an argument, never stayed mad. But the need to go with Ryan and make sure they were okay was stronger. Helplessly, she looked back at the house before taking off after Ryan.

  They didn’t speak the entire way home. Tricia was even afraid that Ryan was simply going to drop her off and leave. Then she remembered he still had his luggage in the house and sighed with relief knowing she still had a few more minutes to figure out what to say.

  When he stormed into the house and up to the bedroom, she followed. At the sight of him throwing his things together, she finally snapped.

  “Hey!”

  Ryan looked up at her, his expression angry, but he didn’t speak.

  “What are you doing?”

  “What does it look like?” he asked, tossing item after item back into his bag.

  “Why are you mad at me over this? I was just as much in the dark as you were!”

  He straightened and looked at her with disbelief. “I’m finding that a little hard to believe.”

  “Excuse me?” she asked incredulously. “Where the hell did that even come from?”

  He sighed loudly with frustration. “You and my brother are closer than any people I know. You tell each other everything! You can’t honestly expect me to stand here and believe that he didn’t tell you any of this?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m telling you!”

  “And yet I still don’t believe it,” he said and went back to his packing.

  Reaching over, Tricia pulled the duffle bag away and tossed it across the room and for a minute, felt a bit of shock at her behavior. “Af
ter everything we’ve shared this last month, you can stand here and think I lied to you?” He didn’t say a word. He didn’t have to. His expression said it all. And then the devastation of that hit her. Tears welled in her eyes and she quickly turned away so he wouldn’t see them. “Yeah, so…if that’s what you believe, then you really should go.”

  She walked out of the room and down the stairs. By the time she was outside on the back deck, the tears flowed freely. How could he possibly believe that she’d lie to him? Adding to that misery was the fact that Sean had lied to her. How did it all go so wrong so fast? In a few hours she’d managed to lose all the people who mattered most to her.

  Looking at the fish in the pond, she sat down on the deck. In the back of her mind she really believed Ryan was going to realize he was wrong and come down to talk to her.

  But he didn’t.

  In the distance she heard his car door slam and then the engine start. It didn’t take a genius to know he was leaving.

  Without even saying goodbye.

  Bastard. That was it? After everything they had shared, he was able to simply pack up and leave without a word? She wasn’t sure if she should scream with rage or continue to cry with heartache.

  She did both.

  It took a while but when she finally pulled herself together, she was completely spent. It was hard to figure out what it was she was crying for most. Ryan leaving without saying goodbye? The fact he thought she’d lied to him? Or being lied to by Sean? The answer wasn’t clear and Tricia knew it would be a while before it actually was.

  “Mental health day,” she muttered as she walked back into the house. When she found her purse, she pulled out her phone, hit a couple of screens to turn off her voicemail and shut it off. She was one of the few people who still also had a house phone and she went and unplugged it too. Walking around, she closed the French doors and locked them before doing the same to the front door – and bolting it – before closing all the blinds.

  For now, she just wanted to make the world go away.

  ***

  Ryan drove as if he were trying to escape something.