Flirting With Forever

by Molly Cannon

  Theo wished they would all just drop the subject. He glanced at Ree, who seemed completely unmoved by the conversation. On the other hand, he felt as if he was teetering on the edge of a cliff, scrabbling to get his feet back on solid ground. “It just never came up, and, well, our paths haven’t crossed much since those days.”

  Marla Jean swatted Jake’s arm. “Quit being so nosy, Jake.”

  Theo smiled at Marla Jean gratefully. “Yeah, Jake, we all have a few secrets in our deep, dark past.” He was talking to Jake, but he looked directly at Irene while he spoke.

  Irene met his eyes and lifted her chin as if she was ready to challenge any version of things he might offer. Abruptly, she turned and marched back to the patio table. She grabbed the wedding folder and announced, “I hate to interrupt this walk down memory lane, folks, but we should head over to the pavilion and walk through the ceremony. We have a lot of ground to cover before it starts getting dark.” She started off down the backyard path without waiting to see if they would follow.

  “We’re coming.” Marla Jean grabbed Jake’s hand, and they bounded after her like puppies let off their leashes. Theo found their enthusiasm for the upcoming wedding to be downright heartwarming. He planned to concentrate on their happiness while he was here and, as much as possible, ignore the woman who had broken his heart without a backward glance all those years ago. That might have been easier to do if the recent picture of her wet, naked body hadn’t been seared permanently into his brain.

  Chapter Two

  And Jake didn’t want a bachelor party at all, but my big brother is insisting,” Marla Jean explained. “Linc said even though Theo was the best man, as Jake’s lifelong best friend he was taking charge of the party. And he wouldn’t listen to any arguments against it. So there will be a bachelor party, but I told him if Jake was a minute late for the ceremony he’d have to answer to me.”

  Irene nodded and smiled patiently while Marla Jean carried on about this newest wrinkle of possible trouble. The wedding was only five days away now, and all of their careful planning was practically finished. At this point Marla Jean just needed someone to listen while she tried to anticipate anything that could possibly throw a monkey wrench into things. Like her big brother Linc, for instance. He was happily married and a soon-to-be new father, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t miss a chance to show Jake a good time on the eve of the wedding.

  “Theo will be there. He’ll watch out for him, right?” Irene threw that out as reassurance, and it seemed to do the trick.

  “You’re right, and Linc has to answer to Dinah, too. She does a good job of keeping him in line. Especially now that she’s pregnant.”

  Irene laughed and looked over the checklist for Marla Jean’s wedding. It promised to be simple and tasteful—a chock-full-of-love affair. Not that most weddings didn’t start out chock-full of love, she supposed, but sometimes in the middle of haggling and hammering out all the details, harmony seemed to fly out the window. And in Irene’s opinion a lot of those marriages would be plagued by the same problems after the ceremony was said and done.

  Her very first adventure into the wonderful world of wedding planning had been the ceremony and reception she’d arranged for Beulah Cross and Noah Nelson. Theirs was a late-in-life marriage, but the utter sweetness of the couple and the obvious love they shared had brought tears to her eyes. It had spoiled her. The affair had gone off without a hitch. No fussing or fighting. No last-minute snafus. A real heartwarming success.

  So she’d been supremely confident when she’d tackled the Mullins-Pickering nuptials next. What a mistake. It had been nothing but squabbling and backbiting and carrying on about every little detail. Talk about a nightmare. Bridesmaids rebelling at the last minute, refusing to wear their pink and purple dresses, the groom’s father showing up drunk, and the band they’d booked veering from the agreed-upon playlist to show off their original math rock compositions. But in the end, she thought with some pride, she’d managed it. She’d learned she could be tough with people if she had to be. And when all was said and done, it had been a beautiful wedding. Most importantly Brenda and Eddie had never turned on each other throughout the turmoil, so she gave their probability of longtime happiness a better-than-average chance of success as well.

  But Marla Jean and Jake’s engagement had been the thing that originally inspired this new venture of hers in the first place. They’d been the first to agree to use her services, and their seal of approval had pointed more business her way. It was a fledgling venture, but it surprised her just how much she enjoyed it.

  Marla Jean and Jake’s ceremony and reception were going to be a piece of cake. The happy couple had decided on only one attendant each. Marla Jean’s hugely pregnant sister-in-law Dinah was her matron of honor. Jake’s brother Theo was his best man.

  Theo. She had to brace herself just thinking his name.

  She tried unsuccessfully to concentrate on what Marla Jean was saying. When she’d first corralled Marla Jean at the Inn’s Valentine’s Dinner and convinced her she would be the perfect person to plan her wedding, she hadn’t been thinking about Theo or how since he was Jake’s brother he would most likely and in all probability be a part of the wedding party. Or maybe subconsciously she’d been fulfilling a long-buried wish. A chance to not just see Theo again, but a reason to interact with him.

  Marla Jean regained Irene’s attention when she clapped her hands declaring, “I’m delighted to report that my mother has finally stopped giving me a hard time about wearing my cowboy boots under my wedding dress.”

  Irene shouldn’t have been letting her mind wander while Marla Jean had been babbling happily along, jumping from subject to subject without rhyme or reason. She refocused on what her client was saying. “Oh, really? What made her change her mind?”

  Marla Jean’s mom Bitsy had been a big help with everything during the planning process. The cowboy boots had been the one sticking point for her. She’d been absolutely appalled at the idea, and she hadn’t minded telling her daughter loudly and often that she thought Marla Jean should wear something more delicate and feminine under her beautiful white dress. These kinds of skirmishes popped up with every wedding Irene had planned so far. It amazed her how seemingly simple things could get blown way out of proportion. Helping negotiate these battles was part of the job, and she was good at it. But Marla Jean didn’t need her help.

  “I told her Jake really wanted me to wear them, and when I started to tell her the fantasy he had about taking them off, that stopped her in her tracks. She squealed and started shushing me. Then she threw her hands up and said, ‘Okay, Marla Jean, wear the silly boots, for Pete’s sake.’ ”

  Irene laughed. “Your poor mother. She’ll have that image in her head forever.”

  “Serves her right.” Marla Jean laughed, too, enjoying her small victory.

  They were sitting in Irene’s newly opened office of I Do, I Do. Her wedding planning business now had an official address, a storefront located right on the town square on Main Street in Everson, Texas. She was nestled in between the Three Sisters Bookstore on her right and the Everson Daily newspaper office on her left. Her space had been a dress shop in another life and now needed some shelves and display cases where she could feature some wedding-type froufrou decorations that would lend the impression that she knew what the heck she was doing.

  Because she didn’t. Not really. She’d been flying by the seat of her pants up until now. Brazenly faking her way through two weddings with the help of the Internet and every bridal book she could get her hands on. Marla Jean and Jake’s would be her third. Today they were finalizing the table placement around the dance floor. But for a few minor details it was all decided. White tablecloths with burlap runners. Centerpieces made from logs sliced into rough rounds would hold burlap-wrapped candles and pale green mason jars filled with white flowers. Instead of renting dishes, they purchased from thrift stores mismatched plates that would be stacked at the front of the bu
ffet. The reception would be fun and down-to-earth.

  From the start Marla Jean had been ever conscious about this being her second go-round at marriage. So now she bent over backward to approach this wedding in a mature, responsible way. Irene understood and appreciated her need to keep things low-key, but she’d finally told her that it was Jake’s first wedding, and if the fates were smiling, it would be Marla Jean’s last. She told her she should forget about what anyone else thought. If her choices made her happy, then everyone else could go screw themselves. Recently Marla Jean had confided that that was the minute she knew she’d made the right choice in wedding planners.

  The two women had been acquaintances but never particular friends before. But this experience had forged a strong bond that would last long after the ceremony was over and done with. Irene cherished the idea. After all these years she still didn’t have many women friends in town. For the most part everyone treated her with polite civility, but a few made no bones about what they thought of her.

  Those few still treated her like an outsider and considered her a greedy, gold-digging opportunist because of marrying a wealthy man three times her age. But they were wrong about her. Her marriage to Sven might not have been typical, but it was full of love, and she missed him every single day.

  Sometimes she wondered if that hadn’t played a part in her decision to take up wedding planning. She certainly didn’t need the money. But weddings in a small town like Everson were a big deal, and it was an innocuous way to insert herself into the middle of these social occasions that made up the heart and soul of small-town life.

  “I’m supposed to meet Jake and Theo for lunch. You should join us,” Marla Jean said as she gathered her purse and stood.

  Irene kept her expression neutral, though her pulse kicked up again at the mention of Theo’s name. “Thanks, but I have another appointment in just a bit. Margo Douglas says she’s sure Jim Murray is about to pop the question, and she wants to get a head start, even though I’m pretty sure she’s had her wedding planned to the last detail forever now.”

  “Good grief. Those two have been going together for over ten years, haven’t they?”

  “At least that long. And now she’s saying when he asks, she doesn’t plan to say yes right away, just to make him wonder. She wants him to grovel a bit.”

  “But she’s going ahead with the wedding plans, anyway?”

  “Oh, sure. Don’t ask me to explain the games of people in love.”

  “Okay, I won’t. I wish you could come to lunch. I still want to hear some old stories about you and Theo sometime. I didn’t even know Jake had a brother before last year, and it turns out you’ve known him forever.”

  “We haven’t kept up with each other, so I couldn’t add much. Besides he’s always been pretty private.” Even though Irene couldn’t stop thinking about Theo, that didn’t mean she was ready to talk about him. Especially not to Jake and Marla Jean.

  “Okay. I’ll mind my own business, then. But the rumor mill will go into full gear if anyone finds out you two knew each other way back when.”

  “Well, ever since I moved to this town married to a man three times my age, my whole life exists solely to keep the rumor mill churning. I think I can manage the few days Theo is in town for the wedding.”

  “Oh, but he’ll be here longer than that,” Marla Jean said slyly.

  Irene didn’t try to hide her surprise. She didn’t know if she was experiencing pure panic or some out-of-bounds feeling of joy. “What do you mean? You two will be gone on your honeymoon. Why would he hang around?”

  Marla Jean dug her keys from her purse. “That’s the reason he’s hanging around. Jake talked him into working on the unfinished jobs he already has lined up while we’re gone. He didn’t want all those projects to come to a screeching halt. And thank goodness Theo was willing to step in and help. I think that’s the only reason Jake agreed to a two-week honeymoon.”

  “Oh, I guess that makes sense,” Irene mumbled. Theo was staying in town for a while. Okay. She could handle it. She’d have to double reinforce the walls of her emotional armor, but she would manage.

  “It makes perfect sense, and we both plan to convince him to stay for good if we can.”

  That idea stunned Irene into silence, and she always had plenty to say. Theo Jacobson back in town for good. No, no, no. That was a completely different story. For years she’d wished for an opportunity to sort things out with him. And she hadn’t backed away from the idea that he would be part of Jake’s wedding. It seemed like the perfect opening to heal an old rift. But Theo’s life had always been about moving on. To the next place. To the next adventure. To the next woman, she assumed. Theo moving on had always been an essential element for her peace of mind.

  Finally Irene asked, “Do you think he’ll actually consider it? Staying here, I mean?”

  Marla Jean sighed. “Who knows? I just know it would make Jake happy. And whatever makes Jake happy? Well, these days that makes me happy, too.”

  “Ah. It must be the curse of true love.”

  Marla Jean smiled and didn’t deny it. “Must be, and I better get going. I wouldn’t want to be late.”

  “Okay. I think we have everything under control on my end, but I’ll check in with you again tomorrow.” Irene stood up and walked her to the door.

  “Sounds good, Irene. See you then.”

  Theo sat on a sofa in Mr. Smythe’s tailor shop. He and Jake were having a final fitting on the monkey suits they’d wear on the big day. He’d already gone through the process of being poked and prodded, and now Jake stood on a short stool while Mr. Smythe measured and pinned and fussed over the fit of his tuxedo.

  “So, I have plenty of work lined up to keep you busy while we’re gone, Theo.”

  “That’s great, but you better watch out. If your customers get too used to seeing what quality work looks like, they might hold a full-scale rebellion when you get home.”

  Jake’s laugh filled the small space. “Fat chance. I just hope I don’t have too many do-overs when I get back.”

  Mr. Smythe glared at him for moving around so much. “Please, Mr. Jacobson, you must resist the urge to wriggle.”

  Jake smirked at Theo and straightened up like a soldier. “Sorry, Mr. Smythe. I’m so eager to get married it’s made me downright giddy.”

  Theo laughed from his spot on the couch. “He’s in love, Mr. Smythe. You’ll have to forgive him.” It meant the world to Theo to see his big brother so happy. While in college Jake had discovered that his father had been living a double life for years and had another family in the neighboring town of Derbyville. That family had been Theo and his mother. Two families were destroyed by the revelation, but when their father died, Jake stepped up, making sure Theo got the emotional support he needed. Theo knew he’d never be able to completely repay Jake for all he’d done.

  “Humph. My experience with Mr. Jacobson tells me that he always has some excuse for making my job more difficult. But I’ll admit he has a good reason this time.” Mr. Smythe draped the measuring tape around his neck and got to his feet. Smoothing the fabric across Jake’s shoulders a final time, he said, “There now. We’re all done, young man. And I’d like to earnestly express my good wishes regarding your upcoming nuptials.”

  “Why, thank you, Mr. Smythe. But you’re coming to the wedding aren’t you?”

  Mr. Smythe adjusted his half-glasses further up his beaklike nose, looking curiously touched. “I was honored to be invited. Of course I’ll be there.” He scurried behind the counter and handed Jake a claim ticket. “The alterations on the tuxedos will be complete by tomorrow afternoon.”

  Jake handed the ticket to Theo. “Your first job as best man, Theo.”

  Theo put the ticket in his jeans pocket and put his hand over his heart. “I’ll make it my number one duty to make sure you are properly attired when Marla Jean walks down the aisle.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll be lucky if I can tie my shoes that day.�
�� Jake ducked into a dressing room and came out dressed again in his own clothes. “Thanks, Mr. Smythe. We’ll get out of your hair now. Come on, Theo. Let’s go meet Marla Jean for lunch.”

  Marla Jean was already sitting in a booth when Theo and Jake walked into the Rise-N-Shine Diner for lunch. She waved, and Theo slipped into the seat across from her while Jake slid in next to his fiancée and greeted her with a kiss that was a little too steamy for a middle-of-the-day, right-out-in-public kiss. Theo’s eyes widened, and he cleared his throat, but he was ignored while everyone in the diner watched the display and cheered.

  Jake ended the kiss and looked like a man satisfied with his lot in life. He made a gesture indicating that all the smiling, happy diners should return to eating their lunch now that the show was over. “If I don’t lay a big kiss on her the minute I see her, they’ll just goad me until I give in. My new strategy is to start beating them to the punch.”

  “That must be a real chore.” Theo was happy that they seemed so happy.

  Marla Jean nestled close to Jake’s side beaming like a woman in love. “It’s awful what we go through to keep folks in this town content.”

  Theo smiled at their antics. “When I left town you two were barely friends anymore. I thought I was going to have to come back and lock you both in a room until you came to your senses.”

  “Oh, I think I’d like that.” Marla Jean elbowed Jake. “Your brother is full of good ideas.”

  “Don’t encourage him, please.” Jake pulled out a list from his pocket. “Theo, I thought I’d run down the jobs I’ve got lined up for you to finish while I’m gone.”

  Theo took the list and scanned it quickly. “These don’t look like anything I can’t handle. Once I see you two safely off on your honeymoon, I’ll start contacting your customers and get to work.”

  “I’ve already warned most of them, so they shouldn’t be surprised,” Jake said.

  “Hello, folks. Can I get your drink orders?”