“Okay, are you ladies ready?” Jessie’s mom opened the curtain a sliver.
Jessie, Becca, and all of the rest of the girls in the bridal suite turned for the big reveal. Her mom pulled back the rest of the curtain and audible gasps filled the room.
Haley looked breathtaking. Seth’s wife Amber had designed her sister a one-of-a-kind gown that rivaled any of the top designers. It was a one-shoulder-strap satin gown with a lace overlay. Haley’s hair was half up and half down, falling in soft curls down her back. Crystals had been placed throughout her locks, making her look even more angelic.
“You look like a real princess,” Emily, who was Eddie’s daughter from a previous relationship, whispered in awe.
Haley smiled down at Em. “So do you, sweetie pie.”
Emily did look adorable. Haley had asked Emily to be her maiden of honor a few months back. Jessie remembered that Emily had jumped up and screamed then asked excitedly, “Does that mean I get to get a new dress?!” Haley had laughed and assured Em that, yes, she would get a new dress.
Jessie looked at her sister and saw that their mom was fixing something in Haley’s hair and Haley was adjusting something in Emily’s hair. It was a very precious moment.
Luckily, Chelle, who loved taking pictures, was ready for it and snapped about a hundred pics in under thirty seconds.
“Twenty minutes until showtime,” Katie’s aunt Wendy announced as she came through the door. When she saw Haley, she stopped and clutched her chest. “You look just like a wedding cake topper.”
All the ladies started laughing, but that was a high compliment coming from Wendy, who, although she thrived at being a wedding planner, had never actually walked down the aisle herself. It was one of her long-running jokes that the only thing that tempted her to get married was that she would get to pick out her own wedding cake topper. She even referred to the plastic figurines as the Rolls-Royce of Barbies.
Jessie watched as all the women cooed and awed over Haley. Her sister had been head over heels in love with Eddie Thomas since she was a preteen. Jessie was so happy that it had worked out for her, and she was sure that Eddie was going to take amazing care of her sister. He’d been a single dad for eight years now and done an incredible job. Plus, he’d practically raised his little sister Chelle, thanks to absentee parents. And she knew her sister would be an amazing wife and mom.
Still, she felt a little tug of something on her heart. Maybe it was sadness over the fact that the dynamic among all of her sisters was going to change. Or maybe, just maybe, it was because Jessie wanted what her sister had. Not Eddie of course. That’s gross. She thought of him like a brother or one of her cousins. But the husband, the kids… That was starting to look a lot more appealing than Jessie had ever thought it would.
Playing house with Zach over the past month, especially the past week that they’d spent every night together in his bed, had changed Jessie. She just wasn’t sure if it was for the better or not.
* * *
“You look beautiful, Mom.” Zach stood so his mom could scoot in beside him.
Today, she was having a good day. Actually, she was having a good week. She hadn’t needed her wheelchair for almost eight days. She still used a cane, but she was getting around with it with no problems at all.
He supported her arm as she slid in the pew. She really did look beautiful. She was wearing a long, flowing light-blue dress with a flowered scarf. The color made her eyes pop.
After it had been decided that Zach and Anna were going to be attending the wedding, thanks to a pair of sweet-but-meddling landlords, Jessie had had Amber send her dresses in his mom’s size. Then she’d taken them over to Avalon so his mom could try them all on and pick the one she liked best. He’d been at the gym training when Jessie had gone to see his mom, but they texted him pictures to get his opinion on which one he liked.
He’d gone to visit her the following day, and she hadn’t stopped talking about how much fun she had and how much she loved Jessie. Just like Maxi, his mom thought the world of his fake-girlfriend-slash-roommate-with-benefits.
Jessie had not simply given his mom the dress she was wearing today, she’d also left the three other dresses that fit. His mom had tried to tell her that she wouldn’t have anywhere to wear them, but Jessie countered with the fact that last month she wouldn’t have known she’d be in need of one now.
So his mom, Mabel, and Margie had all been in Jessie’s room getting ready since they arrived at the lake resort. Jessie was the only one who was staying after the wedding. He was taking his mom and the M&M sisters back to Chicago tonight since he had an early flight to Vegas.
“Where are Mabel and Margie?” Zach asked as he sat back down beside his mom.
His mom shrugged her shoulders. “On a manhunt, I think. They went off looking to track down poor Grandpa J and Chip.”
Zach had to laugh. He felt sorry for The Colonel and Chip, because when those two ladies set their minds on something, tenacious didn’t even begin to describe it. Case in point: Margie and Mabel being at the wedding in the first place—or Thanksgiving for that matter. They’d finagled invitations to both events. One in person and one online. Margie had friend-requested Haley on Facebook, and five messages later, she’d ended up with an invite. They were virtual finaglers.
“You look so handsome.” His mom got tears in her eyes as she reached out and touched his tie. “I am so happy for you.”
“Why?” Of course he loved to hear that his mom was happy for him, but he had no idea what she was talking about.
“Because you finally found your place.”
Okay, that so did not answer his question.
“Are you talking about the fight?” In his upcoming bout, he was the title holder, so he wasn’t sure if that’s what his mom was referring to.
“No, the family. The Sloans. All this.” She waved her hand around to illustrate her point.
“Mom.” He heard the warning tone in his voice.
The last thing Zach would ever want to be was disrespectful to his mom, but he absolutely did not want her getting her hopes up and then having them crushed when things didn’t work out how she’d imagined they would. His mom had been through enough heartache for three lifetimes. He wasn’t going to let his soap opera of a life be yet another in a long line of disappointments.
Lowering his voice, he leaned closer to her and whispered, “It’s not like that. We’re not really together.”
She just smiled happily at him as she patted his hand. “Yes, you are.”
He wanted to discuss this further with her, but music started playing just as Margie and Mabel appeared beside him. Again he stood, and this time, his mom stood as well so that they could slide into the bench.
Haley had given him strict instructions not to let the M&M sisters have the aisle seats. She didn’t want any bun pinching or other funny business going on when the groomsmen marched down the aisle. Chances were she was kidding, but just to be on the safe side, he retained his position.
As all the men took their places at the front of the church, Zach looked around and was really impressed with this chapel. It probably held close to five hundred people, but it felt cozy and intimate. Wood beams hung in the ceiling, and beautiful stained-glass windows lined the sides of the building. Haley and Eddie had added a few floral arrangements to accent the pews. The real focal point, though, was the entire back wall. It was floor-to-ceiling glass that looked out over Whisper Lake. Looking around, Zach felt like he was in a storybook fairytale.
When the music started, Chelle appeared in the doorway and walked with baby Mya, who was carrying a small basket of flowers. There was a chorus of ‘oohs’ and ‘awws’ as the baby and her mom made their way down the center of the chapel. Zach watched as Riley left his post as best man and walked halfway down the aisle to meet his wife and baby, picking the toddler up and kissing Chelle as they continued down the to the front.
“Hey, that’s my sister,” Eddie joked.
<
br /> “And who are you marrying?” Riley shot right back.
Laughter rippled through the rows of people as Riley, Chelle, and Mya took their places. Zach watched as the rest of the bridesmaids all passed by him and stood in their designated spots. Then he saw her. Jessie looked so stunningly beautiful that it felt like his heart stopped beating in his chest.
She wore the same dress all the other women did and her hair was done in the same style, but she stood out among the crowd. She had a quality about her that couldn’t be measured or described. It was just this energy that Zach knew for the rest of his life he would be drawn to.
As Jessie stood beside the girl he assumed was Becca, her eyes lifted to meet his as the bridal march started playing. He stood with the rest of the attendees, but instead of looking towards the back of the church as the bride made her entrance, Zach’s gaze remained locked on Jessie. He just couldn’t take his eyes off of her.
Feeling a tug on his jacket, he glanced over to see that his mom—and the rest of the wedding-goers—had once again taken their seats. He quickly sat as Jessie’s dad was giving away the bride. When he looked back at Jessie, she was looking directly at him with a smile that told him she’d caught the fact that he’d missed his cue to take a seat. He just smiled widely at her and lifted his shoulders in a small shrug.
The pastor began welcoming everyone, and Zach tried to focus his attention on the reason they were all here—Eddie and Haley. But he felt another tug on his jacket. When he looked to the side, his mom leaned close to his ear and repeated what she’d told him earlier.
“Yes, you are,” she whispered.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Oh. My. God,” Becca mouthed dramatically as she walked towards Jessie from across the room.
The reception was in full swing and everyone seemed to be having a great time. Large floral arrangements decorated the center of the tables, which were covered in white linens with navy-blue runners across them. Twinkle lights were hanging from the rafters, giving the space an ethereal glow. Since Haley and Eddie had decided to get married on Christmas Eve—because that was her sister’s favorite holiday—they’d opted to have their wedding cake in the shape of a Christmas tree and there was mistletoe hanging around the hall.
Dinner had already been served, and a lot of guests were tearing it up on the large dance floor. Jessie had danced with her dad, Joey, and her favorite dance partner ever—Zach. She couldn’t get over how happy she was that he was here. When he’d first broken the news to her that the M&M sisters would be attending, she’d gotten a little nervous about what it would be like to have a significant other (fake or not!) at a function of this size. Thanksgiving was one thing. That had just been her close family. But over half of Harper’s Crossing was in attendance, and she felt like the luckiest girl in the world to be here with Zach, even if she wasn’t really.
“What?” Jessie asked Becca, who was still mouthing, “OMG,” as she got closer.
Her sister looked at her like she was crazy to not know what she was OMGing about. Finally, she said slowly and deliberately, “Zach is ridiculously hot.”
Oh. That.
“I know,” Jessie agreed.
Becca tilted her head in disbelief. “Do you? Do you really?”
“Yes,” Jessie said flatly.
“Because I was just over there talking to him, and I’m not sure he’s aware of your opinion.”
“What?” Jessie couldn’t believe what her sister had just said.
Out of her entire family, Becca was the last person she’d thought would meddle in Jessie’s personal life.
Seeing Jessie’s not-so-happy reaction, Becca held up her hands in surrender and quickly clarified, meaning she spoke very quickly. “I just introduced myself and told him I thought that you two made a really nice-looking couple, and he looked across the room all forlorn at you, with sad puppy-dog eyes, and said you weren’t really a couple.”
Jessie stared at her sister for several seconds, waiting for her to finish her story. When she did not continue Jessie prompted, “Okay, how does that statement equate to him not knowing I think he’s hot, and why does it even matter?”
“Because,” Becca sighed dramatically, “he doesn’t know that you know that he’s your lobster.”
The one thing that Jessie and her sisters had in common growing up was that all four of them loved Friends. In the show, Phoebe tells Rachel that Ross is her lobster, meaning that the two characters were meant to be together because lobsters fall in love and mate for life.
Jessie noticed that Becca was swaying a little bit back and forth with a goofy grin on her face, which was not normal behavior for her little sister. “How much have you had to drink?” Jessie asked, reaching out to hold her sister in place so she stopped swaying.
“A. Lot.” Becca held her hands out wide, like how a little kid would demonstrate. “This much.”
“That’s what I thought.” Jessie nodded. “Looks like it is time to go find the coffee.”
“Hey, you,” Becca said loudly as Brian walked up and joined them. Grabbing his shirt, she pulled him into the small corner she and Jessie were standing in. “What are you doing?”
“I was coming to check on you.” He looked down at Becca with concern etched on his face.
Jessie could tell that he cared about her sister—really cared. But maybe she’d just read their relationship wrong and they really did think of each other as brother and sister. She was only human, so she guessed she could be wrong…sometimes.
“Oh, oh, oh! Do you want to dance?” Becca asked excitedly, like it was the best idea in the world, hopping up and down a little and clapping her hands.
Brian looked over at Jessie with a do-you-really-think-that’s-a-good-idea expression on his face.
Becca was young, and she worked so hard at school. If anyone deserved to have a night to let her hair down, it was her, and she knew that Brian would look out for her.
Jessie nodded in approval. “Just make sure she drinks water. Lots of water.”
Brian smiled and gave Jessie a little salute as he wrapped his arm around Becca’s waist to steady her. Then they walked towards the dance floor.
Before they made it very far, Becca looked over her shoulder, snapped her fingers, and declared, “I think you should marry Zach.”
Jessie froze. She had no idea what to say to that. She knew her sister was drunk and that nothing she said mattered, but for some reason, hearing the words come out of her mouth paralyzed her for a moment.
“Okay? Ooookaaaay!” Becca gave her two thumbs-up gestures as if Jessie had agreed to her outrageous suggestion. “I’m gonna go dance with my lobster now.” With that parting statement, she pulled Brian onto the dance floor.
Lobster, huh? Sooo, maybe not brother and sister.
“How’s my favorite third daughter?”
Their dad had always told Jessie and her sisters that they were his favorite first, second, third, or fourth daughter. When they were little, they used to laugh and say that they were his only first, second, third, or fourth daughter. Then he would reply, “That’s why you’re my favorite.”
“I’m good, Daddy,” Jessie said as she kissed him on the cheek.
“Doesn’t your mother look beautiful tonight?”
Jessie followed his stare and saw her mom talking to Anna and Grace about something that had all three of the women cracking up. She did look beautiful.
“Yes, she does,” Jessie agreed.
Seeing the way her dad still looked at her mom made her wonder if she would ever have anyone who looked at her like that. Then she remembered the way Zach hadn’t even noticed that the pastor had instructed everyone to take their seats because he’d been too busy staring at her.
But what they had was just physical, Jessie quickly reminded herself. It wasn’t real, like what Jessie’s parents, cousins, and sisters had. It was so hard to keep straight in her head because it was definitely starting to feel real.
Jes
sie’s dad interrupted her inner thoughts. “I talked to Zach about the fight he has coming up.”
“Yeah, it should be good.” Jessie tried to swiftly change mental gears.
“He says you’re not going out to see it?” His tone sounding fairly close to accusatory. Then he softened slightly as he asked, “Is it because of the blood?”
“What? No.” Jessie shook her head. “We’re not really together, Dad. You know that.”
“I know it started out like that.” Her dad’s voice was in full parental-lecture mode. “But I also know the way you two were together at Thanksgiving. The way you look at him like he knows you, the real you, the part of you that you’ve always kept locked up inside. He sees that. Somewhere along the line, you let him in, sweetheart. And he’s a good man.”
Her dad wiped his thumb and forefinger beneath his eyes, and Jessie realized that he was tearing up. “Dad?” She reached out and touched his arm.
“I’m a lucky dad.” He sniffed then cleared his throat and looked out onto the dance floor where Becca was dancing with Brian. “My girls all found good, stand-up men who I know will love them and take care of them when I’m not around anymore. I couldn’t ask for more for my baby girls.”
“Daddy.” Jessie reached out and hugged her father tight. She hated when either of her parents talked like that. In Jessie’s mind, her parents were going to live forever.
After patting her back twice, he pulled away and pointed to her mom. “I’m gonna go see if I can take that pretty lady for a spin on the dance floor. Love you, sweetie.”
He kissed her forehead, and Jessie watched as he walked up to her mom, whispered something in her ear that caused her mom to blush, whirl her head around, and give him the don’t-you-dare-I’m-dead-serious look. Laughter danced in her dad’s eyes, and she could tell that he thought her mom was the cutest thing he’d ever seen. Then he held out his hand and led her onto the dance floor as she shook her head at him with a huge smile across her face.
Jessie sighed. She did want that. In fact, right now, she couldn’t remember why she had ever not wanted that.
Actually Love - Jessie & Zach (The Crossroads Series) Page 23