Modern Fairy Tale: Twelve Books of Breathtaking Romance

by Kristen Proby

  That was, if she survived her wedding shower.

  Chapter Eleven

  Garrett hit his hotel bar as soon as he left the hospital. It was probably the least productive thing he could do, but he needed courage—not to mention inspiration—to go through with his nonexistent plan.

  He was on his second beer when he heard a familiar voice behind him. “Do all you lawyers waste your money on fancy beer?”

  He turned and a grin spread across his face. An older woman leaned on a four-legged steel cane, the feet covered with neon orange tennis balls. She wore a pair of jeans with a white knit shirt. Her face was covered with the deep wrinkles and brown spots of someone who’d spent most of her life under the sun. He knew for a fact that a few scars on her face were from skin cancer removals. Late seventies or not, she was stronger than anyone he knew. Yet she’d aged quite a bit since he’d seen her last. She looked thinner and more fragile. The cane she was leaning on didn’t help. “It’s not a fancy beer, Nana. It’s Coors. Just like you taught me to drink.” He’d give her a hug, but she’d never been big on displays of affection.

  A grudging grimace tightened her mouth before she said, “I bet it came with a fancy price.”

  He couldn’t argue with that. “I’m surprised to see you here. I expected you to stay at a Motel 6.” Garrett’s mother had told him the wedding guests were staying at this hotel, which was why he was here, but he’d never expected his nana to stay somewhere so upscale.

  “Neil insisted I stay here, and the fool paid for it,” she grumbled. “He’s trying to show me how much money he has now. I suppose you’re trying to flaunt it too.”

  He laughed. “You think anything that costs more than fifty dollars a night is too much.”

  “I don’t need my bathroom covered in marble. It’s a damn hotel room, not a church.”

  He chuckled and lifted his bottle in a salute. “How about I get you a fancy beer to drink? I’ll waste my money.”

  She pondered it for a moment and moved to the stool next to him. “Why the hell not? I’m going to a damn wedding shower for Neil’s bride-to-be. I’ve never met her, but if she’s anything like my pompous grandson, she’s bound to be a doozy. I’ll need all the help I can get.”

  Garrett’s eyes widened, and several questions ran through his head at once. He latched onto the one that seemed the most important. “Wait? You’re going to a wedding shower? Tonight?”

  “Ain’t that what I just said?” She climbed up on the stool and looked around. “Where’s my beer?”

  Garrett flagged down the bartender and ordered her beverage.

  “You and I need to have a chat.” Her tone was hard, which prepared him for what she had to say next. He was lucky she hadn’t led with it. “What the Sam Hill you been doin’, boy?”

  He steeled his shoulders. “Exactly what you asked me to do, Nana.” He held out his hands. “I went to the dinner last night. I’m here like a dutiful grandson.”

  “Bullshit,” she barked. “I gave you one assignment, and you blew it to kingdom come.”

  “Nana, I can explain.”

  “Save it.” She gave him a stern look. “Why do you want the ring?”

  What should he tell her? He suspected she’d understand if he told her the truth, but then she’d try and take matters into her own hands. Nana Ruby wasn’t known for her subtlety. “I guess Mom’s rubbed off on me.”

  “So how do you plan to get it?”

  “I told Aunt Debra and Neil that we’d let you decide.”

  She stared at him like he’d lost his mind, then started to chuckle. “I want you to take me to the shower tonight.”

  “A wedding shower?” Part of him was horrified, but he also knew Blair would be there, of course. “Okay.”

  Her eyebrows lifted in suspicion. “No argument?”

  Garrett gave her a lazy smile. “I’ve learned it’s pointless to argue with you, Nana Ruby. Besides, I’m already in enough hot water.”

  “Your mother’s gonna be there.”

  His smile fell. “She said she was coming tomorrow.”

  Nana shrugged. “She changed her mind.”

  Well, that changed things. World War III was liable to break out at the party. He really didn’t want to be part of it, but he could only imagine how Blair would handle it. It could quickly degenerate into Armageddon, with all three Lowry women pitted against one another. “Are they serving dinner at this thing?”

  She pulled an envelope out of her brown purse. “Here. This will tell you everything you need to know.”

  He pulled the cream invitation out of the envelope and a rose scent hit his nose. The heavy paper was embossed with gold script and covered with flowers.

  Nicole Vandemeer cordially invites you to attend a garden party wedding shower for Blair Myers Hansen on August 21 at 7:00 p.m. Light sandwiches and tea provided. Wear pastel colored clothing to fit in with the theme.

  The bartender brought Nana her beer, and she took a sip. “You think it would taste better at this fancy price.”

  He grinned. “It doesn’t cost that much more, Nana.” He waved the invitation. “A garden party? Light sandwiches and tea? That doesn’t seem like your kind of party.”

  “I tried to get out of it, but your aunt had a conniption.”

  “Why am I going?”

  “Because I said so.”

  Maybe this was his punishment for claiming the ring, but if so, he would take it—any excuse to spend more time around Blair. Then another thought hit him. “Wait. Are other men going to be there?”

  It would be incredibly awkward if he was the only man around, but he’d live with it if he could somehow get Blair alone.

  She shrugged. “Hell if I know. Your aunt and your mother are meeting us there.”

  “So why didn’t you go with them?”

  “You back-talkin’ me, boy?”

  He shook his head. “No, ma’am. How did you know where to find me, anyway?”

  “Your momma told me you were staying at this hotel along with the rest of the people from out of town, and where the hell else would I find you except at the bar?”

  She was covering something up. Part of his job was to discern when someone was lying, and he’d studied his family to the nth degree. His nana rarely lied or dissembled, but whenever she did, her left hand clenched slightly. And right now she was making a loose fist. “I’m not one to typically hang out in bars, Nana, so that seems unlikely. Try again.”

  Her eyes narrowed to slits. “Don’t you worry about the whys of it. Just do what I tell you.”

  He grinned. “Yes, ma’am. Do you want to get something to eat before we go? Light sandwiches don’t sound too filling.”

  “Hell, no. Why would you want to throw your money away when we’re about to get free food?”

  He laughed. Nana Ruby was notorious for her penny-pinching. She was a practical woman who lived on several thousand acres of rolling hills and farmland in the Ozarks. She’d been widowed young and raised two girls on her own at a time when farming hadn’t been profitable. The land had been in her family for over a hundred fifty years, and as she always said, there it would stay. The only way she’d made ends meet was to become a spendthrift. And although she had more money now, and the land itself was worth a bundle, she still held her coin purse with a tight grasp.

  “Do you mind if I change clothes before I go?” He was still wearing his suit and tie, although he’d lost the coat, and his loosened tie still hung around his neck. “I’m sure you don’t want to be seen with a fancy lawyer, and my suit doesn’t exactly fit with the theme.” He released a chuckle. That didn’t sound like Blair at all. He bet she was bristling at the very idea of it.

  Nana Ruby frowned, but he could see the hint of a smile on her lips. “Make it quick. I want to get this thing over with.”

  He hurried up to his room and changed into a pair of jeans and a light blue short-sleeved button-down shirt. Nana Ruby was bound to make some comment about how much t
ime he’d taken with his appearance, but he was in for the fight of his life, and he needed to be prepared.

  It was time to pour on the charm.

  Chapter Twelve

  Blair was sure she’d been dropped into the middle of hell. “Tell me—why did I agree to this again?” she whisper-hissed.

  “Because you’re a nice person?” Megan teased.

  Libby laughed. “More like you couldn’t figure a way out of it.”

  Blair should have known better. Nicole Vandemeer was known for taking everything to the extreme, and this wedding shower was no different. She’d decided on a garden theme, which for most hostesses might have meant purchasing a couple of pots of flowers, but Megan’s mother never did anything half-assed. And while Blair appreciated that character trait more than most people, she was currently caught up in a floral explosion.

  The Vandemeers’ backyard was a magazine-worthy showcase even without the garden-themed decorations. It consisted of a two-tiered deck that led to an outdoor pool surrounded by a paver stone patio, but Knickers—as Megan and her friends called Nicole Vandemeer behind her back—had gone all out. Tall wooden poles were spaced about six feet apart around the perimeter of the patio. Organza was draped from pole to pole, and mason glass jars full of fresh-cut flowers covered tables draped with white linen. A large serving table set off to one side was covered with an assortment of small sandwiches, fresh vegetables, and crackers, with wheelbarrows on either side stuffed full of flowers. Mason jars with flickering votive candles hung from the trees around the patio, and hundreds of white and yellow daisies floated in the pool.

  “I’m pretty sure those flowers are going to screw up the filter system,” Josh McMillan said from behind them as he walked out the back door and onto the deck.

  Megan’s face lit up, and she turned toward him. “That’s what Dad said.”

  Blair scowled as he put an arm around Megan’s waist and pulled her close.

  “You weren’t supposed to come to this, Josh. It’s a girls’ shower.” Blair’s relationship with Megan’s husband had been rocky from the start. Blair had assumed that Megan, who was too trusting of people, was being taken advantage of by a predator. No one normal would volunteer to be someone’s fake fiancé, after all. The fact that Josh had turned out to be the real deal was suddenly irritating as hell. She couldn’t care less about who came to her shower, but she didn’t feel like seeing Megan and Josh together right now.

  “Funny, that’s what Knickers said.” He laughed, then gave his wife a long kiss.

  Without intending to, Blair found herself staring at them. “Yet you came anyway.”

  He lifted his face, keeping his gaze on his beaming wife. “Megan and I have been apart for two nights and three days. If she’s going to be here, so am I.”

  “But the real reason he’s here is because of Dad,” Megan added. “Dad was worried about being outnumbered, so he wanted Josh to keep him company.”

  “Funny,” Blair said dryly. “I’m sure Noah’s in there too. How much company does your dad need?”

  “Neither of them are staying for the shower, Blair,” Libby said, giving Megan a quick glance. “They’ll be in the house with Megan’s dad. If you want Neil to come over, why don’t you give him a call? It’s not too late.”

  “I don’t want Neil to come.” It came out a bit too harsh, but the thought of Neil showing up sounded suffocating.

  Megan’s eyes widened slightly, and she gave Josh a quick glance.

  They must have come up with some secret eye contact language in the few months they’d been together, because Josh nodded and headed for the back door. “I’m going to check on your dad.”

  That pissed off Blair even more. “For the love of God, can’t you two stop the goo-goo eyes for more than two seconds?”

  “Blair,” Megan said quietly. “What’s going on?”

  Her heart pounded an uneven dance in her chest as she looked into the earnest faces of her best friends. Could she tell them how Garrett’s sudden re-arrival into her life had incited her conflicting feelings? They thought she was cold, calculating, and heartless, and honestly, how could she blame them? She’d spent the better part of ten years convincing them and everyone else around her that she encompassed all of those traits. The only person she’d allowed to see her truly vulnerable was Garrett.

  The thought of him made her eyes burn and her chest constrict. Oh, God. Why did she have to feel this way? Her relationship with Neil was fine; it was steady, and it was reliable. Sure, the energy between them was lukewarm at best, and they didn’t have sex very often, but she was fine with their arrangement. Besides, if Neil wasn’t interested in sex, he was less likely to stray. The problem was that an increasingly vocal part of her craved a hot, physical relationship like the one she’d shared with Garrett. Did she really want to live the rest of her life with nothing but mediocre sex?

  “Blair, darling,” Knickers called out the back door. “Your mother-in-law’s here.”

  Oh, shit. People were starting to arrive. She had to pull herself together. “Future mother-in-law,” Blair muttered under the breath, then started to panic even more. She wasn’t sure she could play nice with Debra Fredrick two nights in a row, let alone for the three more days she had left. Even worse, her mother hadn’t been able to get off work, and now Neil’s mother was likely to make a big deal of it. “I need a drink.”

  Something in her tone must have alarmed her friends. They exchanged a quick glance before Libby said, “I’ll go get it.”

  “You better not bring me back some damn girly drink,” Blair said, eyeing the punch bowl with radioactive pink liquid on the food table.

  Of course, Debra had already slipped out the back door. Without any preliminaries, she reached into her monstrous purse and pulled out the Curse Kitty. “That will be a dollar, Blair.”

  Libby started laughing as soon as she saw the plastic cat bank. The top corner of the mailing tape had pulled away and was covered in black lint. “What in the hell is that?”

  “It’s the Curse Kitty, of course,” Blair said dryly. “See? It’s printed as plain as day on the label.”

  Debra’s eyebrows arched as she turned her gaze on Libby. “And you owe me a dollar, too.”

  Blair sucked in a breath. “Debra, when most people meet someone for the first time, they start off with introductions—they don’t extort them for money.”

  Debra’s face flushed, but her mouth was pinched tight with determination.

  Blair waved her hand toward Neil’s mother. “Debra Fredrick, these are my best friends, Megan McMillan and Libby St. Clair. This is Neil’s mother.”

  Megan held out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Fredrick.”

  Debra took her hand, beaming. “What a sweet girl you are.” She looked down at the wedding ring on her hand. “You’re married? That must be why you’re so much more civilized than your friends. I keep hoping marriage will make Blair more domestic.”

  Libby coughed and shot Blair a grin. Thank God she’d thought to warn them about her future monster-in-law.

  “How long have you been married?” Debra asked.

  Megan smiled, but even a blind man could see it was forced. “Two months.”

  “Isn’t that precious,” Debra cooed, oblivious to the tension she was creating. “And when are you having babies? Soon, I hope? Maybe you’ll be a positive influence on Blair.”

  “Debra,” Blair scolded. “Megan just got married. She’s not in any hurry.”

  “We’re going to wait,” Megan said, looking uncomfortable. “We’d like to spend more time together first.”

  Debra looked over all three women, her mouth pinched into a disapproving frown. “Aren’t you girls worried about your biological clocks? You’re not getting any younger, you know.”

  Libby struggled to keep a straight face. “Maybe I should get Blair her drink before we start planning a joint baby shower.”

  Debra shook the cat jar, the coins rattling against the
sides. “Pay your dollar first. You too, Blair.”

  Libby grinned, trying not to laugh. “I don’t have any money on me, so I’ll just run inside and get some from Noah. I’m sure he’ll appreciate this story.” She snickered. “And I’ll get you a drink you’re guaranteed to like, Blair.”

  “Oh!” Debra’s eyes lit up. “Will you get one for me too? Do you have hard water? I’d love a hard lemonade.” She nodded her head with approval. “I had a few last night, and they were so relaxing.”

  Libby burst out laughing. After hearing Blair rant about Debra being a teetotaler, she knew the older woman would never knowingly ask for an alcoholic drink. “One hard lemonade coming right up.”

  Debra held out her cat. “Blair.”

  Groaning, Blair pulled a dollar from the wad of cash in her skirt pocket and stuffed it into the slot. Everything in her screamed in protest, but she’d promised Neil to try her best to keep his mother happy. If she refused to go along with this damn kitty scheme, she was liable to create family drama. And with the partners watching, it was more important than ever to keep the peace. Thank God she’d asked Melissa to get her more dollar bills. She had a feeling the nine dollars she had left in her pockets wouldn’t be enough.

  The back door opened again, and a woman who looked remarkably like Garrett walked onto the deck. Debra turned to face the woman, and her face instantly scrunched with irritation. “Hello, Barb. Nice to see you dressed up, but I specifically told you to wear something other than blue and white.” The sarcasm was heavy in her voice.

  Barb glanced down at her white eyelet shirt and blue capris, then scanned her sister’s plain blue and white dress. “Some of us choose quality, Debbie Sue. I’m sure that dress came from the Dollar General, while mine came from Target.”

  “It’s Debra now,” Neil’s mother snarled. “How many times do I have to tell you that?” Her jaw tightened as she lifted her chin and gave her sister a haughty look. “And besides, I got this dress at Sears.”