by Lulu Pratt
Chapter 1
Callie
“How is there traffic in the middle of the day?” I cried out when I stopped behind a long line of cars at the intersection. It was Wednesday afternoon, past lunchtime, and the road should have been clear.
I was on my way to see Abigail at the Galaxy Café. I hadn’t known she was in town until this morning, and I was excited to see my best friend. It had been six months since I’d seen her, and I was dying to catch up. But this wasn’t a casual meeting. This was for work.
Abigail had phoned me from Austin-Bergstrom International announcing she just landed and was back in town, and she was getting married.
Married.
When I’d last spoken to her, she had been single. Or at least, she hadn’t told me anything about the mysterious Mr. Right she was dragging home to meet me now.
I was a little shell-shocked. Abigail had always been an impulsive person. She became attached very quickly, and she wore her heart on her sleeve. It had been the reason for many heartbreaks in her life, but as an air hostess, Abigail met so many heartthrobs, it was difficult to insist she leave them alone. But marriage? It was a big one.
It was bigger still, considering she hadn’t told me until now. I wondered why she had kept it a secret. Probably because I would have tried to talk her out of it. She couldn’t know she was ready to marry someone after knowing him only six months, although I wasn’t sure she hadn’t known him before I had seen her last. If she had kept the secret from me for six months, it was possible she could have kept it longer.
Abigail had asked me to be the wedding coordinator for her big day. I might not have been able to process the engagement or hide my shock that I hadn’t been informed until this morning, but I could plan a hell of a wedding. And if my best friend was getting married, I wanted to give her nothing less than the best.
“Come on, come on,” I said, honking my horn. The traffic was moving achingly slow, and my meeting was for three o’clock. I still had a couple of blocks to go and only five minutes to cover them. I wouldn’t usually care about being late, but I wasn’t meeting Abigail alone. Before she had ended our conversation, Abigail had casually dropped that she was bringing her husband-to-be, Carter, to meet me. I wouldn’t even be able to berate her for not talking to me about what was happening. Not in front of Carter.
I finally made it to the Galaxy Café and found a parking space close enough to the door to not complain again. I jumped out of the car, with its new black body and purple company name spray painted on the side and locked the door over my shoulder before I ran inside.
I was the owner of Somewhere Special Weddings, and I loved what I did. I specialized in Southern belle weddings, covering everything from perfect venues to perfect food and all the odds and ends every bride could wish for. I had never been married, but I had a knack for knowing what the brides were looking for. At twenty-six, I was more successful than most of my classmates back in high school.
I had known very early on that I wanted to become a wedding coordinator, and I didn’t look back once. I had worked as an event coordinator intern for another company for a year where I’d learned the ropes and, on someone else’s dime, figured out all the difficulties that came with owning my own company.
When I finally ready to start my own company, I had closed my eyes and taken the leap. The first year had been a little shaky, but whose first year as the owner of a new company wasn’t?
Somewhere Special Weddings had been going strong now for four years, and I was so popular, I was fully booked for the next year. But I would always make a space for Abigail. Somehow, I would fit her into my busy schedule and give her exactly what she wanted.
I walked into the Galaxy Café and spotted Abigail at a table in the back. She waved at me, jumping up when I came closer and grabbing me in a hug.
“Oh my God, it’s so good to see you!” Abigail said.
“I’ve missed you so much,” I said when we let go of each other. “And what’s this? Marriage?”
Abigail shrugged and blushed. “You must know what it’s like when people meet The One, right? You see it every day.”
It wasn’t quite accurate. What I saw usually every day was people who had dated a long time, who had been engaged for at least a year, and who planned a wedding a year in advance. What I saw was people putting money on the table for a fantasy that didn’t always last. I didn’t say that, though. Instead, I squeezed Abigail’s hands and nodded and smiled.
“I have so much to tell you, but I’ll update you when we see each other alone. Let me introduce you to the wedding party.”
She turned, and I realized she hadn’t only brought her fiancé. Two men sat at the table, both oozing confidence.
“This is Carter,” Abigail said with the most beautiful smile I had ever seen on her. This might have been fate, or it might not have, but Abigail was glowing next to Carter. He held out his hand, and I took it. I could see why she would have gone for him. He was exactly her type, dark hair and green eyes and a smile that would make any woman feel special.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Callie” he said. “I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Oh, the pleasure is all mine,” I said politely, but didn’t add that I hadn’t heard anything about him at all.
“And this is Grayson Anderson. He’s the best man.”
“You’re late,” Grayson said without standing up or offering his hand.
I was already irritated by him.
“There was traffic, and it’s a last-minute appointment. I had to shift my other appointments to make it happen.”
Grayson was drop-dead gorgeous, despite what a jerk he was being. He had dark brown hair and honey-colored eyes, a smoldering combination. He finally put down his iPhone and stood to shake my hand, and I noticed how tall he was, with broad shoulders and a charming smile. But arrogance laced his confidence, and when he sat down again, he didn’t look as happy as I would have imagined he should be.
We sat down. Abigail sat close to Carter, their hands intertwined. It was clear they were very in love with each other, but I wasn’t sure if being in love was enough. Infatuation wasn’t hard to come by and getting married so quickly didn’t leave space for true love to develop. Of course, there were exceptions, and I hoped to God this was one of them.
“So, tell me what you have in mind,” I said, pulling out my notepad. I was in full wedding planning mode.
“Oh, you know me, Cals. I want the fairy tale. It’s not going to be very big. We’re looking at only close friends and family, but I want the most beautiful wedding you’ve ever done.”
I smiled, scribbling on my notepad.
Abigail and I had been friends since high school. She was a hopeless romantic and getting married was something she had always spoken about. I was the wedding planner, but I didn’t believe in love at first sight for Prince Charming sweeping me off my feet. Abigail and I complemented each other — her romance and my cynicism balanced each other out.
“What about an open-air wedding with a floral arch and a water feature,” I suggested. “Let’s go in a fantasy direction with this.”
Abigail nodded enthusiastically and looked at Carter. He pulled up his shoulders and stroked Abigail’s hand.
“Whatever you want, sweetheart,” he said.
I wondered if Carter was this accepting in other areas. Usually, the groom let the bride run with the wedding ideas because it was her big day. He was being supportive and kind, exactly what I had expected of him in this meeting.
“This doesn’t seem like a fantasy to me,” Grayson said, and we all looked at him. “Maybe it would be better to be realistic about it.”
Well, who had spat in his coffee?
“They have their whole lives together to be realistic,” I said. “I’m sure their wedding day can be like a dream.”
“Fine, but the water feature sounds like a silly idea. Don’t you think, Carter?”
Carter looked like he was
stuck in the middle, fumbling for words. Either he had to agree with his best man or his new wife. He would have known his best man for much longer than he’d known Abigail, but she was going to be his wife.
“Mr. Anderson, I have been planning weddings for four years,” I said before Carter had a chance to make up his mind who he was going to side with. “The initial meeting is all about spitballing, throwing ideas around to get a feel for where we stand. I would appreciate if you could let me go through the process.”
Grayson shrugged. “Sure. Go ahead. You’re the professional. But Abigail and Carter asked me to be here to offer my input, so if I don’t like anything, I’m going to say so.”
God, he was infuriating. The moment I’d noticed his arrogance I should have known he was going to be trouble. I wanted to give him a piece of my mind, but I bit my tongue and turned my attention back to Abigail. This was all for her. Mr. Know-it-all didn’t matter.
“What did you have in mind for the day? Food and dance? A sit-down dinner alone?”
“Oh, we would love to add a little bit of dancing,” Abigail said. Carter nodded his agreement. “I want something comfortable but not too casual.”
I nodded and made more notes. Luckily for Abigail, she had gushed about weddings for so long, I knew exactly what she would want. Abigail and I had talked about our futures at countless sleepovers. Abigail had always wanted to settle down with a bunch of kids running around, complete with a white picket fence and the golden retriever. Everything about her fantasy was storybook material.
I, on the other hand, had figured it was better to be independent and have my own career before I started looking at settling down. When I looked at Abigail and Carter, I was happy she had found the happily ever after she’d always wanted. At least, I hoped it was what she would get with Carter. I didn’t know the man at all, and I had no idea if he was good enough for my best friend.
When I looked at Grayson, I realized how happy I was that I had started a career instead of looking for someone special. He was the kind of guy who could sweep me off my feet if I let him, but his arrogance and selfishness would have trumped anything I might have wanted in my life. It was beautiful to see the two different kinds of men side-by-side.
“I was thinking we could do something light for the meal, something almost like finger food but not as casual,” Abigail said.
“I have a stunning caterer in mind for just that,” I said. “She knows exactly what she’s doing, and she’ll put everything together for you according to what you want.”
Grayson cleared his throat, and I fought the urge to roll my eyes. He was going to offer his input again, and I was willing to bet I wouldn’t like it.
“If it’s an evening wedding, don’t you think we should have a proper dinner?” Grayson asked.
Abigail looked at me, her excitement slowly fading.
I shook my head. “This day is for the bride and the groom, and whatever they want goes. No matter what it is, no matter how unconventional. This isn’t your day.”
Grayson shrugged and folded his arms across his chest. “Whatever. You’re the professional.”
“I am,” I said flatly.
Grayson was really getting on my nerves. No matter what I suggested during the meeting, he shut it down. Near the end of the meeting, I only had a fraction of the ideas I usually had to work with. I had only met Grayson and Carter today, but it wasn’t difficult to know which of them would make my job difficult.
Chapter 2
Grayson
Carter and I were on the golf course with John, Carter’s dad. But John had been like a father to me too. For the longest time, I’d turned to him for advice when I hadn’t been able to ask my own dad. I looked up to him, and I owed a lot of who I was to him.
“It’s so great out here,” John said, breathing in deeply as if smelling the air. “I didn’t know I would enjoy Austin so much. It’s different than Dallas, but it works.”
John had moved to Austin to open another branch for his business here. Since Abigail, Carter’s new fling, was from Austin, the wedding would be here too. Carter hated it when I called her a fling. They were engaged, after all. But they hadn’t been together nearly long enough to count as a long-term relationship. I thought getting married was a stupid idea.
But Carter was thirty and allowed to make his own choices. Pity, because I would have loved for John to tell him what an idiot he was being.
“How are the wedding plans coming along?” John asked Carter. I groaned. I wasn’t in the mood to chat about the wedding. It was all I heard about these days.
“It’s coming along fine. Abigail is on top of it, and she has a friend who does it for a living. I don’t have to stress too much.”
John clapped Carter on the back. “That’s the way to do it.” He laughed. “Sit back and let the women take over. Why do what someone else is willing to do?”
I chuckled and shook my head. John was still married. He believed in the whole concept of commitment. My dad had left ages ago, but I had a feeling I was better off. He had been a dick.
“Where are you going to live?” I asked Carter. “You’re not planning on sticking around Austin once the wedding is over, do you?”
Carter pulled up his shoulder. “I was thinking about it, yeah. Abigail wants to be close to her parents.”
“And what about what you want?”
Carter didn’t answer me. He positioned himself in front of the tee and squinted his eyes to decide where to place his shot. I watched him swing back and hit the ball, taking a clump of grass with it.
“Dammit,” he swore, as dirt rained down on him. Carter had left ditches in the course from hole one.
“They pay people to fix this shit,” I said. “You didn’t answer me.”
“I don’t mind moving here for her,” Carter said. “I can work at Dad’s company. He already offered me a position.”
I looked at John, surprised. The man nodded, looking pleased with himself.
“We’ll all be a big, happy family,” he said.
Yeah, everyone except me. I would head back home to Dallas after the wedding, and with my best friend and my father figure gone, what would I have left? My parents were divorced, my mother was traveling the globe now that her kids were out of the house, and I didn’t have my sister anymore. Thinking about Jenna drove a sharp pain into my chest, and I pushed away the thoughts of my little sister, gone forever. I would go home empty-handed, and everyone else would stay behind, happy. This wedding idea was bullshit.
Carter’s phone rang, and he smiled when he looked at the screen. “I have to take this,” he said and walked away from us for privacy.
“With a face like that, I can guess who it is,” John said. “Have you met Abigail?”
I nodded. “Carter introduced me last week.”
“And? What do you think?”
“She seemed okay, I guess,” I said.
“But?” John prompted.
I glanced at Carter who was far enough that we couldn’t hear his conversation and he couldn’t hear ours.
“I think it’s a mistake,” I said frankly. “He barely knows this girl. She seems nice and all, but they’re all nice at first. How the hell can he be happy? How can he know he’ll be happy forever if he knows nothing about her?”
John nodded. “I’m sure more people feel that way. Do you know how her family feels about it? Did Carter say?”
I shook my head. “He didn’t tell me about her family, but I met her friend. The girl doing the wedding. She’s right on board with this, set on creating the perfect wedding for Abigail.”
I didn’t tell John what I thought about her, that she was fucking annoying and I had wished from the moment I’d met her, she would just shut up. She had been gorgeous with light hair and blue eyes, and when introduced to her, I had thought the cliché of the two best friends hooking up would be beautiful. But she had been all about romance and fantasy, and it had been irritating. She had condoned the whole
damn idea.
“I think Abigail is a nice girl. She might be good for Carter. We can’t know that she won’t,” John said.
I nodded. “You’re right. But Carter can’t know, either. Not this soon. They haven’t even been together for a year, and half the time they were dating, she was traveling all over the place. They met on the plane, you know. Does she give all the cute guys on her flights her number?”
John laughed as if I was trying to be funny. I wasn’t.
“Give Carter some credit. He’s always had good taste in women.”
I couldn’t argue with him on that, but I wasn’t happy. This wasn’t about Abigail taking him away from me, either. Sure, I was pissed off that he wanted to move here for her, leaving me behind alone. But it was about his happiness, and I was pretty damn sure he was throwing it away for pretty blue eyes and the Californian beach blonde hair.
John sighed, looking at Carter who was smiling, kicking at nothing on the grass. He was in a different world while talking to Abigail.
“I know it’s all a bit sudden,” John said. “And I wouldn’t have jumped into something so quickly. Hell, Deborah and I dated for four years before we got married, but we were high school sweethearts.” He sighed again. “If this is what Carter wants, we can’t do anything other than be happy for him. After everything he’s been through, he deserves that much.”
I agreed. Carter had been through hell and back, and he deserved a shot at forever. But I wasn’t sure he should have searched for it in Abigail.
“So, we should just let it slide?” I asked
John shook his head. “We can offer our concerns, but Carter’s old enough and mature enough to decide for himself. Maybe when you kids were young, I would have put a foot down. My role as a caregiver is over. I’m not here to tell him what to do. All I can be to my son now is a friend. You should be too.”
John’s words were wise, as always. But I didn’t share the same sentiment. John could believe he had no right to interfere with Carter’s decision to marry so soon, but I wasn’t going to let him make the mistake of his life. I was his best friend, and it was my job to look out for him.