The Right Groom

by Jen Talty

  “Why? Because I was never actually in love with Candy? Or because both Candy and I have moved on, and you’re still wallowing in self-pity.”

  “I’m not wallowing in anything,” Spencer said.

  “Then tell me why in the four years since you and my sister broke up that you’ve barely dated, much less had a long-term relationship?”

  There were a million reasons, but only one counted, and it was that one he would never admit to, especially to Echo’s family. “I haven’t found the right girl yet.”

  Noah laughed. “You let her get away.”

  “I did no such thing.” Spencer took another swig of his beverage. Echo sat at a picnic table across the park with her mom, Candy, and of all people, Spencer’s two sisters. While his family didn’t say it very often, he knew they all wished this wedding was for him and Echo, not Echo and some lug nut no one has met yet.

  That thought made Spencer crazy.

  What fiancé doesn’t make a concerted effort to meet the bride’s family before the big day? And when he’d heard he wasn’t coming now until a day before the wedding, well, that made him see red.

  Echo deserved better.

  The waters of Lake George danced in the background. Boats hummed up and down the shoreline while birds hovered in the sky. He couldn’t imagine living anywhere else in the world. Before Echo had gone off to college, the plan had always been for her to return to their hometown where she’d work in the ER at the Glens Falls hospital, and he’d continue moving up the ranks with the fire department.

  “Actually, that’s exactly what you did,” Noah said.

  When Echo had first told him she wanted something different and they broke up, he honestly thought she’d be back. He figured she’d finish out her last couple of years of college, then return home and realize this was where her life belonged.

  But that’s not what happened.

  Noah was right in the fact that Spencer had let her go.

  But Echo had asked him to leave his family, and his heritage, and that was something that just wasn’t in his DNA any more than choosing a different career.

  “You know what I don’t understand?” Spencer asked.

  “No. What’s that?”

  “After a couple of years in college, Echo didn’t want to come back. She thought life here was boring and wanted the excitement of a big city. So, why did it become so important for her to get married here?”

  “Do you want my honest opinion? Or what she tells everyone?”

  “I’ll take both,” Spencer said.

  “She says she’s doing this for my dad. She’s his only little girl, and she thinks it would break his heart if she didn’t get married in the same church that Mom and Dad did. That and the fact that Lake George is still one of the most beautiful places in the world.”

  “She’s got a point there.” Spencer raised his beer.

  “But I think the real reason is because of you.”

  Spencer spit out all the liquid in his mouth. “Why would you think that?”

  “There is so much unfinished business between the two of you, and I think she believes this is the only way to prove to herself she’s over you, but she’s not.”

  “She’s marrying someone else. I think that right there is proof enough.” Spencer was a bit surprised by the vile that was laced to each syllable that dribbled out of his mouth. Echo had been his first crush when he’d been all of maybe six years old. He held her hand for the first time when they’d been ten. He’d had all his firsts with her, including his first heartbreak.

  It was still broken, and he wasn’t sure it would ever be fixed, and watching her show off her big fat engagement ring that probably cost more than he earned in a year reminded him that she’d become someone else. She wasn’t the same Echo that he used to take fishing every weekend and who had no problems hooking a worm.

  Sure, Echo could dress up nice, but she was at her best when she let her hair down.

  “A someone we haven’t met yet, which is a real bone of contention with my dad.”

  “I can understand that.” Spencer eyed Echo as she got up from the bench and made her way across the park. It looked like she might be heading inside the community room by the waterfront, but instead she ducked around the back. “I need another beer.” He pushed from the fence. “I’ll talk to you later.” He shoved his free hand in his pocket and took long strides, trying to act casual, as if he weren’t sprinting. He tossed his empty can in the recycle bin and snagged two cold ones before scanning the open park, making sure no one saw him dip out behind the building.

  Echo paced by the edge of the dock with one arm folded over her middle. She held her cell to her ear.

  “Pick up the fucking phone.” She looked at the electronic device and tapped the screen. “I will just keep calling until you answer.”

  He inched closer, feeling like a bit of an interloper, but he didn’t like her tone. Echo didn’t allow her emotions to get the better of her often. She’d always wanted to be an ER nurse, and that meant keeping a lot of things close to the cuff, but that also meant that occasionally, she’d unravel.

  Which it looked like she was about to do right now.

  She turned to her side, standing just at the edge of the dock. The water lapped gently against the breakwall. Her long dark hair cascaded down her back while her sundress ruffled in the breeze.

  “Finally, you decided to pick up,” she said.

  Spencer felt like a horrible person for wishing she’d put the damn thing on speakerphone. He desperately wanted to hear the other side of this conversation, considering how heated she sounded.

  And he knew when her voice rose more than two octaves, she was beyond pissed off.

  “What the hell is going on?” she asked. “What the fuck kind of text was that?”

  Oh boy. Echo rarely dropped the f-bomb. Spencer used to tease her because it never quite sounded like a bad word coming from her sweet lips.

  Well, it did right then.

  “I read it, but it doesn’t make sense,” she said with a quivering lower lip. She’d always been really good at holding back a sea of tears when she needed to, but he could tell, the floodgates were about to be turned on, and no one was going to be able to stop it.

  “You can’t be serious. Please, get on a plane so we can discuss this face-to-face,” she said.

  Oh, shit. That didn’t sound good. He should turn and leave, but he was like a deer in the headlights.

  “Just like that? You’re calling off the wedding in a fucking text message? No. I won’t let you do this. I deserve an explanation—you didn’t just hang up on me?” She held the phone up and viciously tapped at the screen. “I’m not going to stop calling.” She ran her hand through her long, thick hair. “I’m going to hang up and call back and leave another message. So be a man and call me back or answer the damned phone.”

  He really needed to either turn and leave, giving her some privacy, or let her know he was standing five feet away.

  “Thank you,” she said, letting out a long breath. “Now, would you please talk to me?” She planted her hand on her hip, and it appeared she stared at the couple of personal watercrafts zipping across the lake.

  “Andy, are you saying you don’t love me?” She dropped one arm to the side.

  Spencer wasn’t sure what was worse. Having someone tell you they loved you but couldn’t stay with you, or what this man was putting her through.

  They both equally sucked.

  “What am I supposed to tell my family? My friends? Our friends.”

  Spencer took a few small steps backward. It was time to make like a bird and fly away.

  “I can’t do that,” she said. “Can we talk about this again in a day or two? I’m sure you just need a little time. You’ve been really stressed with work.” She lowered her head and rubbed her temple. “I know that, Andy. Just promise me you’ll think about all this.” She nodded. “Okay. Bye.” She glanced over her shoulder and jumped, dropping
the phone to the ground. “Jesus, Spencer. You scared me.” She quickly snagged it before it bounced off the grass, onto the wood planks, and into the water.

  “Sorry.” He outstretched his arm, handing her a beer. “I thought you might want one.”

  After she shoved her cell into her back pocket, she snagged the cold beverage and downed half of it.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I’m fine,” she said with a long breath. “Just a problem with—”

  “The groom?”

  She turned away and fixed her hair. “You misunderstood. That’s what you get for listening into other people’s conversations.”

  “I wish for your sake I had wax in my ears and hadn’t heard your half. I’m so sorry, Echo.” He inched closer.

  “I don’t know what you think you heard, but Andy is under a lot of pressure, and he’s in the middle of a big case. He’s just struggling to get here this week,” she said with little to no conviction.

  “Are you sure? Because it sounded like it might be bigger, like he’s having second thoughts.” When he curled his fingers around her biceps and rotated her body, his heart squeezed. It killed him to see her with a quivering lower lip and tears taking a river of mascara down her cheeks. He reached out and wiped them away.

  “He’ll be here next week. He has to be,” she whispered, burying her face in Spencer’s chest.

  Without really thinking about it, he wrapped his arms around her body and kissed her forehead. He rested his chin on the top of her head and inhaled sharply. She always smelled like peaches.

  He couldn’t eat a peach and not think of her, which is why he didn’t buy them very often.

  She pressed her free hand on his shoulder and pushed. “I’m just tired. It’s been a long couple of days and nothing worse than a groom feeling the pressure.”

  “You can lie to your family. You can even lie to me. But don’t lie to yourself.” He tilted her chin up.

  “You don’t have a flipping clue as to what you’re talking about. You don’t know anything about my life anymore, much less my future husband.” She swatted his hand away. “And don’t you dare go saying anything to anyone in my family about this.”

  He dropped his hand to his side. “I wouldn’t dream of it. But you don’t have to go through this alone.”

  She tossed her head back and laughed. “Oh, and you want to lend an ear? You want to hold my hand and help me through this little rough patch?” She shook her head. “I have friends for that.”

  “So, Candy knows about this text message your fiancé sent?”

  “How long were you standing there listening?”

  “Long enough to know that your fiancé called off the wedding and didn’t even have the decency to do it in person.”

  She poked him dead center in his chest with her long fingernail. “Stay out of my business, and if you breathe a word of this to anyone, I will deny it.” She swiped at her cheeks, the tears still flowing with no end in sight.

  He knew when she got like this it would take a good cleanse before she’d be back to her normal self. “Come on.” He took her by the hand and led her down to the docks.

  “I’m not going anywhere with you,” she protested with her words, but her body followed him toward his Boston Whaler. “I just need a few minutes and another beer.”

  “I can provide both.” His phone rang. He pulled it out and groaned but decided to take the call. “What’s up?”

  “Where the fuck are you going with your ex-girlfriend?” Cade Nash, his captain and his cousin, said. “And should I be worried?”

  “It’s a long story, but if anyone asks, we’re just clearing the air, and make sure you drive that point home. Got it?”

  “Sure do,” Cade said. “Call me if you need me.”

  “Who was that?” Echo asked as she took Spencer’s hand and kicked off her heels before stepping onto his boat.

  “Cade,” he admitted. He pulled out another beer from his cooler, twisted off the cap, and handed it to her. “How many is this?”

  “Will be number three.” She tipped it before taking another sip. Her tears were already drying up. “You look good.”

  “So do you,” he said, making himself comfortable on the front bench while she sprawled out on the cushions in the bow.

  The boat rocked back and forth with the waves.

  “When did you get this sweet ride?” she asked.

  “Two years ago.”

  “And her name?”

  Well, he could lie, but then she could look on the side of the boat and he’d be busted, so what was the point?

  “The Repeat.”

  She covered her mouth and chuckled. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t laugh.”

  “No. It’s funny, and everyone picks on me for it, but since my first boat was named The Echo, it seemed fitting.” He glanced out over the southern end of the lake. A few months ago, he’d moved from the village back to Cleverdale Point about eight miles up the road from the park. He lived on Mason Road around the corner from both the house he grew up in as well as the Farren residence.

  “She’s perfect for you.”

  “I’m happy with her,” he said. “So, do you want to tell me what’s going on?”

  “Not really.” She ran a finger under her eye, getting rid of the black mascara goop. “But I can’t really talk to anyone else, so do I have your word you won’t break my confidence?”

  “Have I ever?” There were still things he knew about her that he’d never told a single soul, and he never would. She’d been his best friend before his girlfriend, and to this day, he loved her.

  He would always love her. A fact he would never be able to hide from. He could only hope to someday be able to move past it and find love somewhere else.

  Like she had.

  Or had she?

  “No. You’ve always been really good about stuff like that.” She leaned back and tilted her head toward the sun, taking a long sip of her beverage. “I can’t have my family know that Andy has cold feet.”

  “Is that all he has because you’re pretty upset, and you’re not one to blow things out of proportion.”

  “Well, he did send me a text message after I got on a plane, telling me he didn’t want to marry me.”

  “Fuck. That’s horrible. I’m so sorry.”

  She waved her beer. “He also told me he didn’t love me and that this was all moving too fast and he just couldn’t find a way to tell me he wanted to call it off.”

  Spencer wanted to tell her what a fucking coward her fiancé was, but that’s not what she needed right now. She didn’t need judgment. All she needed was someone to listen and just be there for her, and he could do that.

  “And you didn’t see this coming at all?” he asked. “I’m not asking to be mean or anything; I’m just trying to help you walk through it.”

  “No. I didn’t see it. We had a bit of a whirlwind romance. He has a point. It happened quickly, and when he mentioned getting married, I ran with it.”

  Spencer swallowed. This next comment might not go over so well. “Mentioned? Not proposed?”

  She nodded. “We were at dinner with some of his friends, and it was almost more of a dare. Next thing I knew he told me to go pick out my ring and book a flight to Hawaii to elope. If I had done that, I wonder if I would be married or not.”

  “Can I ask why the push to be married here?”

  She nodded. “In part for my dad and in part because I didn’t feel right about eloping, and Andy said I could have whatever I wanted, so I went with it.”

  “Can I ask when this elopement would have taken place?”

  “Whenever I planned it.”

  “So, it was always left up to you to figure out a plan and execute it.”

  She wagged her finger. “I know where you are going with this, and no, I don’t think he was always planning on backing out. Being in love is new to him. He was married to his career, and until he met me, he never made time for a relations
hip.”

  Having cold feet was one thing. A kiss-off text something entirely different. He understood why she didn’t want to tell anyone right away, but she was going to have to break the news to her family sooner rather than later. Besides, she was going to need all the support she could get if this asshole broke her heart.

  And pissed off her father. He might be a math teacher at the local high school, but he was about as terrifying as some of Spencer’s gun-toting policer officer relatives.

  However, the other thing that concerned him was that if this man actually changed his mind and showed up, he’d still eventually cause her pain. When a man loved a woman, no matter how much it hurt, he stood up and was honest about whatever was going on.

  Spencer knew better than anyone that love sometimes wasn’t enough to make a relationship last forever. A couple had to be on the same page and want the same things, fundamentally. Family had always been his deal-breaker, and deep down, he knew it was hers, just in a different way.

  “What makes you think he’s simply going to change his mind?” he asked.

  “Because we were planning a future together.”

  “We did that once, and it didn’t work out.”

  She opened her mouth, but he held up his hand.

  “I know this isn’t the same, but I knew for months before we broke up that things weren’t good between us. That things were changing. We both did,” Spencer said. “I’m just suggesting that if you dig deep, you’ll be able to see the problem.”

  “I’ve done that. He has cold feet. He’ll come around.”

  And this conversation was going to go in circles. The sound of multiple footsteps caught his attention. “We’ve got company.” He nodded his head toward her two brothers, Noah and Troy.

  “Promise me you won’t say anything.”

  It would be hard since he worked with Noah and Troy and they would hound him about what this conversation consisted of. Even harder when it came to her brother Hugh. At least with her oldest brother Morgan, he wasn’t around all that much, but still, her family had been and still was like family to him, and it would be hard to lie to them, even by omission.

  “If Andy doesn’t show, you’re going to have to tell them eventually.”