The No Regrets Groom

by Taylor Hart

  “The numbers for the fundraiser were better than expected,” she said, tamping down her nervousness and focusing on the file in her hand. “Much better than expected.”

  Mr. Henley put his hand up. “Wait, we’re actually not talking about the project from Denver. We’re talking about something bigger. Would you take a seat next to Mr. Brady?”

  Hesitating only briefly, she avoided looking at Ziggy’s face as she walked in front of him and took the seat. The energy in the room was charged, to the point that a simple touch from Ziggy would make her combust.

  Mr. Henley looked at Ziggy. “It seems the Brady family wants help doing something a bit … creative.”

  Her eyes turned to Ziggy, and he flashed her a grin.

  Mr. Henley cleared his throat. “I’m willing to give you time off for this and not have it be run through our organization.”

  Her interest piqued, she asked, “For what?”

  Mr. Henley pointed at Ziggy. “They want to do a bucket list for Ty and make YouTube videos to run as ad campaigns to create more awareness for ALS and generate money for research into finding a cure.”

  Sophia’s mouth fell open. There’s usually just one reason why people do bucket lists—because they’re dying.

  “Sounds kinda horrible, doesn’t it?” Ziggy asked. “Ty is calling it his No Regrets Tour, and believe me, I think we will regret it. He’s talking about renting an old RV.” Ziggy put up his finger, as if he was clarifying this for himself. “Not a new one—it has to be an old, used one. He wants retro.”

  She turned to face him, adrenaline spiking through her system. “What?”

  “With this retro RV, he wants to go through Wyoming up to Jackson, Wyoming, stop at the old Rawlins prison, and do the rapids down Snake River.” He blanched. “Wants me to hook us up by asking Cameron Cruz to have his tour company make an exception and do it now. Oh, and the best part is the graffiti art on Devil’s Tower.”

  Without meaning to, she laughed. The list fit Ty perfectly, and she thought of Ty’s stint with graffiti when he’d put it on her parents’ fence and his dad made him work off fixing it by helping with the horses for a couple of weeks.

  “He wants someone to film it and make a documentary.” Ziggy let out an exasperated breath. “We need your help, Soph. We need someone to help manage all of this.”

  Sophia took a moment to soak it all in before shaking her head. “Someone else would be more suitable.” She turned to Mr. Henley, still on edge from being so close to Ziggy. She cringed inside, knowing she had egg on her face after talking about her boyfriend proposing the other night. “Shane would be awesome,” she offered, thinking of her co-worker. He was the outdoorsy type that would love hanging out with the Brady brothers for a good cause.

  Mr. Henley looked to Ziggy. “Could we talk about someone else?”

  “Soph.” Ziggy sighed. “I don’t want to work with someone else. Who will protect me from the ghosts?”

  Unable to stop herself from meeting his eyes, she looked up and saw the grin on his face. A real one, not the media one. She sputtered out a laugh, remembering all the times he would freak himself out about ghosts. They always used to tease him about that.

  “Plus, Ty chokes easily, and you know how to do the Heimlich maneuver.” Ziggy put on a long-suffering look with Mr. Henley. “He does. It’s really disgusting.” He turned back to her. “Remember the hot dog in the backyard when he was eight?”

  She couldn’t not think about it now: all of them sitting in the Bradys’ backyard, cooking hot dogs and roasting s’mores. Ty had run around with the hot dog half in his mouth, trying to sing a song. Their dad yelled at him that he would choke to death. Of course, then Ty had started choking, and she had instinctively done the Heimlich. Everyone had called her a hero, and she’d been so proud.

  Gently, he touched her shoulder. “We’re kinda freaks. Who else understands these things?”

  Their eyes met, and excitement zinged up her spine. Yes, she’d been attracted to Ziggy Brady for what seemed like forever, and clearly, she still was.

  Still, humiliation burned through her as she thought about that breakup letter she’d found taped to her door on the day of graduation. She’d tried to reconnect four years later, and then he’d ditched her again. Those memories were still too raw. “No.”

  Ziggy continued as if she’d agreed already. “Can we get started? Ty’s renting the retro RV as we speak.” He pulled up his phone and turned it to show her a picture of a huge silver RV with Ty making a crazy face in front of it.

  “You’re still as cocky as ever. I said no.”

  “It’s too late for you to say no. Ty’s already been posting on social media about our trip, and it’s blowing up.”

  She digested everything he was saying, her mouth going dry.

  “Will you help us?” Ziggy asked, the deep pools of his beautiful green eyes suddenly melting her.

  Her mind went blank. “Uh …” Already, she was thinking of endless possibilities that she could put together with the star power Ty and Ziggy would generate. “I guess I could help you organize. Then you guys go do the excursions.”

  Ziggy shook his head emphatically. “No. No. You come with us. I need you. We need you.”

  She surged to her feet. “I can’t,” she said, rushing toward the door. The memories of the past still stung. All of her insecurities bubbled up. “I’m sorry. I just can’t.”

  Chapter 5

  Ziggy clenched and unclenched a fist. The woman could still evoke so many emotions in him.

  “I’m sorry.” Mr. Henley sat down, looking baffled. “She has never acted like that.”

  Ziggy was far ahead of him, sitting back down. “It’s fine. We have history.”

  “I knew she was family friends with you guys, and when we did the ALS fundraiser, she worked tirelessly.”

  “She didn’t work directly with me,” Ziggy said, sighing. “I need you to find someone to film for us.” He pulled up his phone. “My brothers and I have already been doing some silly short ads with Ty in them. But I need someone to film the trip. Well, Ty wants that.”

  “I’m impressed,” Mr. Henley said. “I think you can pull this off, Mr. Brady. Wait, you have a marketing background, don’t you?”

  Ziggy nodded. “I had to have a backup plan in case football didn’t work out. My mom and dad were big on backup plans.”

  Mr. Henley called down a guy named Paul, who had apparently done a couple of documentaries. Ziggy felt confident it would all come together.

  As Ziggy pulled into his mother’s driveway, gearing himself up to act excited about the silver monstrosity that sat there, he pulled his phone out and texted Sophia. We need to talk.

  He sat there in the car for another minute, wishing so many things were different. He and Sophia had lived in the same town this past year, yet he hadn’t seen her. When his mother had told him a year ago that she was back and she had a boyfriend, he hadn’t figured there was much of a chance he should try to talk to her. There was too much between them, things he didn’t understand at all. Since the other night at the ball, all kinds of feelings had been stirred up inside of him.

  Getting out of the car, he stared at the Charles’ place. Her father was an orthodontist, and her mother was a housewife. Their home had been quiet like a museum, so different from his own home. How many hours had they spent in their attic pulling out what they had thought were pirate maps? He grinned and went to her text thread again. She hadn’t responded, so he sent a follow-up text.

  Remember the pirate’s gold you had us digging tunnels for?

  He pressed send and laughed, memories flooding him.

  Ty burst out the front door, gesturing to the RV. “Dude! It’s perfect, right?”

  Chapter 6

  Sophia sat in her parents’ kitchen, chatting with her mother—complaining, really—about Ziggy. Her phone vibrated, interrupting her tirade, and she threw her hand up. “And now he’s texting about the pirate’s gold.
Can you believe that?”

  Her mother stood by the stove, pulling a pan of cookies out of her oven. “I remember you guys had just watched Goonies, and you created that map and sent all the Brady boys on a treasure hunt.”

  Sophia let slip a chuckle, thinking of how ticked off they were when she told them it wasn’t a real map, that she’d made it. She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I never should have come back to Denver.”

  “I’m insulted.” Her mother cocked an eyebrow. “What are me and your father, chopped liver?”

  “Liver?” her father asked, walking into the kitchen and swiping a cookie off the counter. He bent and easily kissed her mother on the forehead.

  The moment was so sweet. Sophia wanted the kind of easy love her parents had, a solid love she could trust.

  Her father walked around the counter, pulling her in for a hug. “You’ll be okay, sweetheart.”

  “Thanks, Dad.” She let herself relax into his strong arms.

  He let her go. “Gotta finish the golf game.” He winked at her and moved out of the kitchen.

  She and her mother laughed, and her mother rolled her eyes. “I can’t stand watching golf.”

  Sophia grunted. “You and Daddy are so perfect. You’ve always been so perfect for each other.”

  Her mother chuckled. “You didn’t see the early years, sweetie. Remember, we tried to have kids for a long time before you, and we had problems.”

  Sophia couldn’t imagine them ever having problems. They seemed perfectly suited for each other. Both loved horses. Both loved her. “I don’t believe it. You had the perfect man.”

  “There’s no such thing as perfect, but there is perfect for you.”

  Ziggy’s face flashed in her mind’s eye. She scowled.

  “Hush now.” Her mother picked up the kettle and poured her some tea. She’d chosen raspberry infusion, and it began to steep. She pressed the spoon down on the tea bag. “Everything’s working out for the best. I can feel it.”

  “Mom,” she whined.

  Her mother smiled and leaned over, putting her hand lightly over hers. “I know it’s been a rough couple of days with Marshall, but maybe—”

  “Do not say something like ‘maybe it’s all working out for a reason.’ Or ‘the Lord’s timing is always right.’” She pointed at her mother. “You said that to me when Ziggy left that stupid letter the night before graduation. Then you said that to me when he wanted to meet with me that summer at our spot when he ditched me again, remember that?”

  Her mother lifted and lowered a shoulder. “True. But think about all the things you got to experience in your life that you may not have if you would have settled down right after graduation. You ended up going to NYU, getting into Oxford for your master’s program. Me and Daddy are so proud of you.”

  Sophia sucked in a breath. “Thanks. But I met Marshall right after Oxford and ended up staying in London. I wasted so much time on him.”

  Her mother covered her hand with her own. “Nothing you experience in life is a waste of time. I think you learned a lot.”

  “What? That I’m an idiot?”

  “No …” Her mother sipped her tea and gave her a hooded smile. “I always knew that one day you and Ziggy could get back in sync.”

  She glared at her mom. “Mom, Ziggy and I had our chance, and he blew it.” She held up two fingers. “Twice.”

  “He had to mature.”

  “Why are you defending him?”

  “I’m not. I’m just saying that things end up working out.”

  Sophia didn’t like this conversation. She sighed. “I better go.”

  “Now you want to avoid me. That’s fine, but I do have to say … this thing with Ty isn’t about Ziggy, and you need to remember that. Doing the right thing is always right.”

  She got to her feet. If she had to listen to one more of her mother’s sayings … “Leaving, Mom.”

  “The Brady family needs you right now. Ty needs you.” Her mother winked at her. “He’s always had a crush on you. You’ve just never seen it because of Ziggy.”

  “What?” Sophia gaped at her.

  “I think he was heartbroken when you left for NYU after high school. He would come over and talk to me and ask about you.”

  She scoffed. “He was twelve.”

  Her mother sipped her tea. “Love knows no age.”

  Sophia hummed to herself. “Ya know, I still remember when Ty was a baby.” She laughed. “I remember taking him for rides in the stroller between the houses.”

  “I remember standing right here watching you kids run back and forth.” Her mother pointed out the window, smiling softly. “I don’t know how time goes by so fast.”

  Sophia stared out the big window by the kitchen, the one that showed a plain view of the Brady home. It was a nice home. They still had their pool and trampoline, and she thought about how many times she’d jumped from the trampoline into the pool and felt the thrill of doing something just a little dangerous.

  Her mother frowned. “I know you’re thinking about that trampoline and pool, and I knew you were doing it.” She wagged a finger at her. “I knew it even though you denied it.”

  Sophia laughed. “Why didn’t you ever do anything about it?”

  Her mother shook her head and picked up her tea. “Would it have stopped you?”

  She remembered how wild she and Ziggy and his brothers had been as kids. “No.”

  “Exactly.”

  The good memories were nice, but she couldn’t forget finding that stupid letter taped to her door. She couldn’t forget the disappointment four years after that when she had gone to that tree by the river to meet him. He’d stood her up, and it had been an indescribable blow. “Thanks, Mom. I’m going to head out.”

  Her mother grabbed her, hugging her tight. “Love you, baby. I’m sure you’ll make the right decision. You always do.”

  Sophia kissed her mother’s cheek, then turned to leave, chafing under the idea that she was on a huge guilt trip.

  Chapter 7

  Ty soaked in Ziggy’s hot tub with him. Ziggy’s home wasn’t far from his parents’. He’d wanted to be close to them, especially when his father had been fighting the cancer.

  “You gotta figure out a way to get Soph,” Ty said, “because we’re leaving the day after tomorrow.”

  Ziggy shrugged, irritated that she wouldn’t even return his texts. “Hey, I know we’re leaving. I’ve been working my butt off to get your little river raft trip okayed. It wasn’t easy to convince Cameron Cruz.”

  “I still can’t believe you convinced him to join us!” Ty grinned and put his fist up.

  Ziggy tapped it and felt satisfaction course through him. “It’s gonna be cold and crazy.”

  Ty laughed. “Yeah, it is.”

  Ziggy found he was kind of looking forward to doing this trip with Ty. “Maybe we’d be okay without Sophia. Paul, the guy coming to film, seems like he’d be helpful making sure all the excursions are on track. Plus, he could cut everything and upload.”

  Ty jolted. “No. No way. Sophia has to come. She was …” Ty exhaled a breath. “Things should have worked out for you guys when you graduated. You’ve got to figure it out.”

  “Why do you care so much?” Ziggy thought Ty’s fixation on him and Sophia was weird.

  There was a moment of quiet before Ty said, “Because—”

  “Don’t say because you’re dying, or I really will kill you.”

  Sheepishly, Ty gave him a sad smile. “I am.”

  Ziggy was so tired of him saying that so nonchalantly. “I mean it, dude. You’re being weird about all of this with Sophia.”

  Ty splashed him. “Everyone handles things differently. I just want to make things good with my family before I go.”

  This puzzled Ziggy. “I don’t see you setting up Ocean and Boston.”

  Ty cocked an eyebrow. “You haven’t watched footage from our No Regrets Tour with them yet.”

  Silence filled the
space between them, and Ziggy wondered what he would want to do if he knew he was dying. Sophia was front and center in his mind. “No regrets.”

  Ty grinned. “Exactly.”

  Ziggy was tired of it, but he would try one more time. He rubbed a hand over his face. “Okay, I’ll talk to her again.”

  Ty stood, pointing at him. “In the words of our father, ‘Bradys don’t quit!’” His tone was a perfect match.

  Ziggy laughed, surprised he could mimic him so well.

  Ty saluted. “Check you later.”

  Chapter 8

  Sophia sat on the couch in her high-rise apartment, staring out over the Denver skyline. She felt hollow. Marshall had texted her that he’d gotten to South Africa safely and that he was sorry. He said he hoped they could talk in six months when he got back.

  She texted him. I’m done, Marshall. We’re officially over. I’m blocking your number, so don’t waste your texts.

  She sent it and sucked in a breath, feeling better, but tears still fell down her cheeks. How stupid was she? She’d let Marshall convince her they would have a life together, but he always kept her at a distance. It stunk that he had been right; she’d been the one convinced that they would be together.

  She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue, hating herself for feeling this way. There were people out there like Ty Brady who had an incurable disease, and here she was, crying over a stupid guy. “The Bradys need help,” her mother had said.

  Dang it. She pulled up Ziggy’s text message and replied to the pirate’s gold text thread. I can’t believe you and your brothers dug that tunnel for four days.

  He texted back quickly, as if he’d been watching his phone for her reply. We were tough.

  She stared at the words.

  I’m sorry, Soph. For so many things. How can we get past this? I want you to come. Ty wants you to come really bad.