The Right Groom

by Jen Talty

  “He’ll show,” she said behind a smile as she waved to her brothers. “You found the runaway bride.”

  “It’s not like half the park can’t see the docks,” Troy said, pointing behind him. “You two have a lot of people talking.”

  Spencer chuckled. “Our paths were bound to cross at some point, and it was time we cleared the air.” He cocked his head and tipped his beer. “According to half of both our families, we had old business to deal with, so now you all can get off our backs.”

  “A ten-minute conversation isn’t going to fix you two,” Noah said, holding out his hand for his sister and helping her off the boat. “Mom has some wedding stuff she has to go over with you right now.”

  She steadied herself on the dock. “Thanks for the beer.”

  “My pleasure.” Spencer made his way to the center console and fired up the engines.

  “You’re not coming back to the party?” Noah asked.

  “It’s starting to wind down, and I have some things I need to do. Say goodbye to your folks for me.” He quickly untied the bow and stern before pushing the throttles into gear and maneuvering around the other boats. “I’ll see you later.” Without looking back, he picked up speed and headed north. He put in his AirPod and tapped on his cell, calling a state trooper buddy of his.

  “Yo, what’s up?” Tristan Reid asked.

  “I need to call in a favor.”

  “Name it.”

  “I need whatever information you can get me on a man by the name of Andrew Ludwig. He’s an attorney—”

  “I know exactly who he is,” Tristan said. “Are you fucking crazy? Why are you looking into your ex-girlfriend’s fiancé?”

  “If I tell you, you can’t tell a single soul.”

  “Well, you’re on speaker with my very pregnant wife who is motioning to me that if you’re on your way home, she needs ice cream. Any flavor, she doesn’t care.”

  “I’m on the lake, but I have some in my fridge. You’ve got the key. Help yourself if she can’t wait. I’m twenty minutes out. Now, Brooke, can you keep your mouth closed?”

  “I’m highly insulted,” she said with a laugh. “See, this is why we shouldn’t rent our modular home to our friends.” The woman had always been a ball of sarcasm, but pregnancy brought it to new levels. “Your secret is safe with us.”

  It wasn’t his secret to tell, so he would have to fib a bit. In the end, Brooke and Tristan would understand why, if he ever had to own up to the lie. In the meantime, it just made him look like he was still hung up on Echo.

  Not totally off the mark.

  “I have a bad vibe.”

  Tristan laughed. “I’m the one who gets vibes, not you.”

  “I’m serious,” Spencer said. “No one in her family has met him. And I was told he was going to be at the party tonight, but he didn’t make it. Something about some case he’s working on, but a quick Google search showed that it was wrapped up in an early session this morning.”

  “To play the devil’s advocate, just because the judge brought down his gavel, doesn’t mean there isn’t more for the lawyer to do. Do you think he’s cheating on her or something?”

  “He’s not here; that’s all I know,” Spencer said.

  “All right. I’ll look into it,” Tristan said.

  “Thanks, man. I really appreciate it.”

  “No. Thank you for giving my husband something to do,” Brooke said. “I don’t know what I was thinking when I said I thought it would be fun if he took off a few weeks before the baby came.”

  “You’ll be glad he’s there when you go into labor,” Spencer said. “I’ll see you both soon.” He tapped his earpiece.

  The sun had begun it’s decent behind the mountains. The hum of his twin engines cut through the still air. He glanced at his wrist and the single word tattooed on his skin.

  Echo.

  The script was in her handwriting. He’d gotten it the day he’d turned eighteen. His parents tried to ground him since he was still in high school, but his argument had been that in less than a month, they would be graduating and he’d be heading to the fire academy. He yanked up his sleeve and ran his finger over the Station 29 tatt he’d gotten only a few months after the one on his wrist.

  Then there was the tattoo on his back of the American flag infused with a fireman and etched in the ink the word: ECHO. It was subtle, and he never pointed it out, but eventually, his family had found it.

  It wouldn’t have been a big deal except the tattoo was only a year old.

  2

  Echo pumped her legs back and forth on the tire swing as she stared at the white stars shining bright in the night sky. When she’d taken off for Columbia University in pursuit of her nursing degree, she’d had every intention of returning to Lake George and hopefully working in the ER department. The plan had been to work in the hospital for five to ten years until they were ready to have a family, and then she’d dial it back and either work in an urgent care facility or maybe a doctor’s office.

  Hell, she could follow in her mother’s footsteps and work as a school nurse.

  However, living in the Big Apple and doing a semester abroad, Echo got a taste for more than small-town living, and she wanted to experience more. She’d begged Spencer to come with her, but he wouldn’t even consider it for a couple of years. His life was firmly planted in Lake George, and he couldn’t, or rather wouldn’t, leave.

  And she resented the idea of going back so soon, so she went off on an adventure that didn’t include the love of her life, and since he never chased after her, she assumed she’d never been that important to him to begin with.

  She never thought she’d get over Spencer until she met Andy, and the last six months had been the first time in years that she’d felt like she might be able to move forward. Only, Andy’s world was very different from hers, and he wanted her to make some changes.

  The first one had been to give up her traveling nurse gig, which made sense. But she hadn’t been prepared for him to not want her working in the ER. When they first decided to get married, Andy made the sideways comment about the wife of a partner in a law firm his size needed to make their husband their career.

  She’d ignored the statement the first time, but when she started planning ten days ago, the more she realized Andy was dead serious as he all but demanded she quit.

  Perhaps that was why he was being an asshole. However, why not just have the discussion like a grown up? He was almost ten years older than her, and he was constantly telling her she had a lot of maturing to do. Well, right now, he was the one who was behaving like a child.

  Her cell screen lit up.

  Andy.

  “Hey,” she said.

  “Listen, Echo. I realize I haven’t handled this very well.”

  “That’s putting it mildly,” she mumbled. “Is it because I won’t quit working at the hospital? Because I’ve reconsidered.”

  “No,” he said. “I don’t love you.”

  She inhaled sharply, clutching her chest. “How can you say that? Why would you go through all of this if you didn’t…” She glanced around, making sure no one was lurking in the darkness. “…love me.”

  “I kept telling you that I didn’t want a wedding. That if I were to actually tie the knot, it would be on a spontaneous trip, and even then, I don’t think I’d go through with it.”

  “Andy, I don’t understand. You said you were on board. You told me as long as all you had to do was show up, you were okay with getting married here with my family. Hell, you bought me a ring.”

  “No. You bought it. I just paid for it, and I never asked you to marry me. I just made a comment in the heat of a moment in front of friends because I didn’t want to embarrass you.”

  Echo pinched the bridge of her nose. She couldn’t believe she was hearing all this insanity, although he had a few valid points. “Why let me buy the ring? Why let me plan anything if you had no intention of going through with it?”

&nb
sp; “You don’t take cues very well,” he said. “And I played a game that backfired. I honestly figured you’d get tired of planning this by yourself, especially with me giving you a hard time about it, that you’d call it off long before it got started. And I didn’t think you’d be able to plan it so quickly.”

  She wiped a tear that had drizzled from the corner of her eye. She had learned to control her emotions at a young age, but this was too much. How could she have been such a fool?

  “The second I told you that my dad had secured the same venue my parents were married in, you should have said you had cold feet.”

  “Echo, this isn’t cold feet. I don’t want to marry you. I’m never going to want to marry anyone. I like the newness of relationships, and then I get bored. I’m bored.”

  “Fuck you,” she mumbled, ending the call. Her heart raced, and she found it difficult to breathe, but the garage door opened and out walked her father. She was going to have to suck it up because no way was she going to tell her father that her fiancé was a jerk. Not tonight, anyway.

  She’d find the courage tomorrow.

  Or maybe the next day.

  Hell, she had ten days to figure out how to tell her family.

  “What are you doing out here, kiddo?” her dad asked.

  “I was just talking with Andy.” She’d never been very good at lying, so she might as well keep things as close to the truth as possible.

  “I was hoping to get to know the man who was keeping my daughter a thousand miles away before I walked her down the aisle.”

  “He’ll be here Thursday before the wedding,” she said gagging on her own lie.

  “That really only gives us a day.” Her father leaned against the old seesaw. “I love you kiddo, and I’ve pulled out all the stops for this wedding, just like you asked, but I’ve got to tell you, this young man isn’t starting out on my good side.”

  And he wasn’t going to end on it either. A thought she’d keep to herself. “This family is overwhelming as it is. And then add in the small-town element, it’s enough to give anyone the jitters. He’s nervous. He has no family, so this is all new to him. Give him time.” Shit. She was digging herself into a huge hole, and her father was going to be more than disappointed in her.

  “I don’t have much of a choice when he’s not here,” her father said. “There’s something I need to say to you, and I need you to hear me out.” He held up his hand. “And don’t interrupt me. You can say your peace when I’m done.”

  “If this is about Spencer, I don’t want to hear it.”

  “I don’t give a shit. I’m going to say it anyway.” Her father widened his stance and folded his arms across his massive chest. Before he settled back in his hometown, he’d spent two years as a linebacker for the Buffalo Bills before a life-threatening injury changed his world. He came home, reconnected with his high school sweetheart, finished his master’s degree, and became the most favorite math teacher and football coach in the district.

  “All right,” she said. There was no point in arguing with the old man.

  “You and Spencer spent your entire youth together. Your mother and his had you married when you were two. When you were in high school, we were all petrified you were going to make us grandparents long before we were ready.”

  “Daddy, seriously. Why must you always bring that stuff up?”

  He chuckled. “We also worried that you were too young, and when you broke up, while we were all heartbroken, we all thought that after you got your travel bug out of your system, you’d be back and we’d be planning this day for you and Spencer.”

  Truth be told, that’s what she thought, and she and Spencer had even discussed it at first. But the longer she stayed away, the more distant they’d become.

  And then there was Dee Rice. Of course, Spencer had every right to date, but Dee of all people? To make matters worse, Echo had to find out about it on Facebook. When he’d gotten involved with her, that had been the end. Echo knew Spencer had all but forgotten about her and couldn’t care less if she returned.

  “Seeing you and Spencer on his boat the other day made all of us wonder if you might be making a mistake,” her father said.

  She narrowed her eyes and mentally tossed daggers at her father. Not because of the comment, but because he was right. “All of us? Dare I ask who that includes?”

  “Me, your mom, and Spencer’s folks.”

  She let out a dry laugh. “I doubt Spencer would appreciate you all discussing us any more than I do. Not to mention it’s been over years since we broke up.”

  “We all know that you and Spencer continued to see each other on and off until you graduated college when you had your final blowout.”

  “The key word in that statement was final. Spencer and I want different things.”

  Her father pushed from the wooden childhood apparatus and sauntered toward her. He palmed her face. “That is so far from the truth.” He fanned his thumb across her cheek. “I might have struggled to understand some girl things when you were growing up, but I know you, and I know you haven’t been truly happy in a couple of years. Whatever transpired during that phone call to Andy just now only made things worse. But being around Spencer brings a brightness back to your eyes that I’ve missed.”

  “What are you talking about? You haven’t even seen me around Spencer, and I’ve spent all of maybe an hour with him since I returned.”

  “Yeah, but two of your brothers saw you.” Her father bent over and kissed her forehead. “You’re my only daughter, and you know I’ll do anything for you, including throwing you this wedding to a man I’m not sure I want to know based on what I find disrespectful, especially toward your mother and me, but do me one favor.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Spend a little quality time with Spencer. I’m not asking for you to do anything that would be considered inappropriate, but you know he lives down the street. Take a walk together. Go fishing. If you’re still sure that you and him are totally over, I’ll never say another word.”

  “All right,” she said. “But only to prove to you that there is nothing between Spencer and me anymore.”

  He patted her on the head. “I find it interesting that you didn’t say to prove that you and Andy were madly in love with each other, but I think I’ll quit while I’m ahead.”

  She had to admit that was a nice dig, but she wasn’t going to give her father the rise he was looking for.

  “Are you coming in?”

  “I think I might go for a walk, maybe even stop in at the Mason Jug and see who’s around.”

  “Your mom and I were out on the sun dock having our glass of wine, and we can see Spencer’s place. He was sitting out on his boat, so if you were expecting to see—”

  “Dad. I agreed I would spend a little time with Spencer, but not tonight.” Right. As soon as her father disappeared into the house, she had every intention of seeking out Spencer.

  For what?

  She had no idea.

  Spencer didn’t think Echo meant for him to break out a bottle of what used to be her favorite wine and two plastic glasses along with a bag of cheese puffs, but what the hell. He uncorked the bottle and poured two glasses before dumping the treats into a bowl. He used to tease her about her fetish for every kind of cheese chip, but now he always had a bag in the house.

  Always.

  He glanced over his shoulder at the sound of feet shuffling along the pavement.

  “Hey, you,” she said. “Thanks for meeting me.”

  “I wasn’t doing anything but fishing off the dock and catching absolutely nothing. Though I don’t understand why you didn’t want to meet me down on the dock. Much better view.”

  “And my parents have a bird’s-eye view of you. That’s how I knew you were still up and about.”

  He offered her a seat at his patio table. He’d moved to the modular home a couple of months ago after his buddy Tristan and his wife Brooke finished the renovations on Brooke�
��s grandfather’s place. Spencer loved living near his parents, and he always thought he and Echo would buy a place either on Cleverdale or Assembly Point, but that was a lifetime ago.

  “That’s a little creepy,” he said, handing her a glass.

  “I can’t believe you have a bottle of this.” She made herself comfortable, adjusting the chair and putting her foot up on the ottoman. “It’s still my favorite, but Andy hates it.”

  “Why?”

  “He has a philosophy that any wine priced under thirty dollars is swill.”

  “I think any bottle over it is a waste of good money,” Spencer said. “I’m still not the biggest wine drinker, but when I do, it’s this Pinot Noir or a really good blend I found. You might like it.”

  “Look you all grown up and talking about wine,” she said. “You should know I made my father a promise tonight.”

  He dropped his head back on the cushion and stared at the sky. “I bet it’s the same one I made mine.”

  “And what might that be?”

  “To spend a little bit of time with you.”

  “Our parents shouldn’t be allowed to speak to one another,” she said.

  He brought the glass to his nose and took in a good sniff, enjoying the light aroma. He would still rather have a good hit of Crown Royal, but since he was spending a little time in the past, this would do the trick. “To be frank, I don’t think my folks would have suggested it if your fiancé had shown the other day. Unfortunately, a lot of people are talking about that.”

  “You better not be adding fuel to that fire.” She dipped her fingers into the bowl of cheese puffs.

  “I wouldn’t do that to you.”

  She let out a long breath. “My dad thinks I went to the Mason Jug.”

  “Same old crowd of cops and firefighters. But if you had told him you were coming down here, you could have gotten your time in with me and been done with it.”

  She laughed. “I don’t think it’s going to work like that. I have a feeling there will be a family dinner involving us.”

  “Probably,” he said. “So, why’d you text me and ask if I had some time to spare?”