Forever a Bridesmaid (Always a Bridesmaid Book 1)
Page 15
Before he could argue back, his phone trilled.
“Westie, how come your brother’s bride is sitting in my restaurant, looking like something the cat dragged in, instead of getting ready for her wedding?”
“She’s there?”
“You want to come get her before she breaks Alex’s heart and eats my last remaining peach pie?”
“On my way.” Matthew hung up and headed into the dining room, Millie at his heels, as Erin pounded down the stairs, pulling on a dark blue hoodie as she ran. “I know where she is. I’ll go get her.”
“Where is she?” Erin followed him out of the hotel, texting with her free hand. “I’ll let Dylan and Heather know. Millie, can you tell Shelby?”
“At Shortie’s,” Matthew tossed over his shoulder. She dashed along behind him and he slowed his stride to accommodate her shorter frame. “You ever had a runner before?”
“Couple times. Both sides,” Erin nodded. “It happens. Sometimes it’s just nerves. Once I had a groom go to the airport and leave town. That was awkward.”
“I can imagine,” Matthew said. As they approached the flapping blue awning at Shorties, he couldn’t help but remember the first time he and Erin came here, three days before, on what he thought of as their first date. His mouth twisted as he realized his mother had engineered one of his most treasured memories. When they walked into the crowded bakery, Shortie, manning the counter, pointed to a corner booth in the back. Erin weaved through the tables, Matthew at her heels. They stopped next to Ashley’s table but she didn’t look up. A half-eaten peach pie sat in front of her, a single fork resting on the pie plate.
Matthew slid into the opposite bench and Erin pressed in next to him. Matthew shifted away, though there was nowhere to go in the tiny booth. He’d have to endure having Erin pressed against his side for the duration of this conversation, a constant distraction for him. “Any reason you’re here, eatin’ peach pie, instead of marryin’ my little brother?”
Ashley raised her head, her eyes red-rimmed and bloodshot. She looked tired and sad. “I thought you’d be delighted.”
“You figured you breaking my brother’s heart would delight me?”
“Alex told me what you said about love and marriage. You’re right. We’re too young, it’s too fast…”
Matthew reached across the table and took her hand. “I said all that before I saw you two together, saw how made for each other you are. You and Alex belong together.”
“Really?”
“You love him, right?” Matthew asked and Ashley nodded. “And he loves you. What more do you need?”
“What about what you said about marriage?”
“I was wrong. I didn’t want Alex to get hurt, the way I did. Marriage is hard work, yes, but you and Alex…well, what you have is something special. I can see the way you look at each other. You all are going to make it.”
“How can you tell?”
Matthew’s mind went blank but Erin stepped in and said, “The way you look at him. The way he makes you laugh. He looks to you first, in any room. You glow when you’re with him. You’re made for each other.”
Ashley smiled. “I think so.”
“If you really love someone, it’s worth all the risks, all the aggravation, all of it,” Matthew said, forcing himself not to look at Erin. “So, what do you say? Do you want to get married today or not?”
Finally, Ashley smiled and nodded.
“Okay then. Let’s head over to my mama’s house…”
They rose from the booth and made their way out onto the sunny sidewalk, Matthew and Erin falling into step with Ashley between them. Erin wrapped her arm around Ashley’s shoulders and said, “Ashley…if you change your mind, if you decide today is not the day, then just let me know, I’ll get up and make the announcement for you. You won’t have to say anything or to face anyone.”
Matthew looked over Ashley’s bent head at her. What was she doing? If the wedding didn’t happen, she’d lose the money she needed so much. Erin didn’t look at him, instead focused on Ashley.
Ashley nodded. “No, I’m okay now. I just…”
“Lots of people get cold feet before the big ceremony. It’s no big deal,” Erin reassured her.
“Can I ask you one favor?” Ashley said. Matthew and Erin nodded. “Please don’t tell Alex. I’ll tell him eventually, myself, but…”
“Okay,” Matthew smiled, happy to agree to not being the bearer of that bad news, and Erin nodded. When they arrived at Shelby’s house, Marina opened the door and Ashley disappeared inside.
“I’ll be right in. Start getting ready,” Erin called before saying to Matthew, “That was quite a speech.”
“I still give them less than a year.”
“But...” Erin blinked at him.
“My brother is a big boy now. He’s going to have to make his own mistakes.” Matthew started up the steps. “He’ll have to learn that love sucks, just like I did—not once but twice now.”
He strode into the foyer, Erin on his heels. She dashed up the stairs toward his mother’s room. From the happy chatter spilling from upstairs, Ashley must be in the middle of dressing already. Beside the door, he rested his forehead against the wall; feeling like his insides had been scooped out with a melon baller, his chest hollow and aching. With a strength he didn’t know he possessed, he pushed off the wall and turned to find his mother standing there, looking not unlike a fire-breathing dragon in a mother-of-the groom dress.
“Stop being such a pig-headed ass.” His mother, wearing a pale lavender dress with matching jacket, handed him her rose corsage to pin on. He struggled with the tiny pin as she glowered at him.
“I know where I inherited that trait from.”
“Your father.” Matthew fastened her corsage to her dress and stepped back. “You look like ten kinds of hell and your brother’s wedding is in two hours—”
“What were you thinking, mama?”
“You were so determined to stop Alex, charge in and fix it, I didn’t want you to make things worse than they already were. You do have a terrible tendency to think you know best.”
“Wonder where I got that from?”
“Also from your father,” Shelby said, smiling at him. Matthew shook his head. “And his tendency to overreact and get upset over nothing. You owe Erin an apology.”
“An apology? Mama, you were paying her to be with me!”
“Nonsense! I asked her to run interference, to distract you. I didn’t ask her to fall in love with you.”
“Erin’s not in love with me.” Matthew shook his head and rubbed his tired eyes. “She did it for the money.”
“When I needed money, I scrubbed toilets to make the money to buy groceries and keep a roof over our heads.”
“Geez, mama, I wasn’t packed for that guilt trip.” Matthew rolled his eyes. “She’s—”
“Did you ask her how she actually feels? What she wants? Or did you decide you know best, yet again?”
“You decided you knew best, mama. You’re the one that meddled. How could you?”
“I don’t meddle. I might have indulged in some matchmaking.”
“Semantics, mama.”
“When I saw you two together, walking hand in hand down Jones Street…you smiled at her. I haven’t seen you look like that in years, carefree and so happy, like the boy I remember. And then, when I saw her face after she ran into the B&B, so love-struck…” Mama smiled at him. “Well, you two didn’t have much time. I thought you might need a nudge.”
“It was all an act.” Matthew raked his hands through his hair and rubbed at his pounding temples. What a day. And he still had to struggle into his tux and smile for the cameras.
“Erin’s in love with you, Matthew. Any fool could see it.”
He shook his head, afraid to hope. “And you wouldn’t be half so hurt, so angry, if you hadn’t fallen just as hard for her.”
“I didn’t.” He glared at her.
“You gonna stan
d there and lie to your mama? You are done for with that girl. Man up and admit it.”
Matthew crossed his arms over his chest and refused to answer.
“Now go get dressed before you ruin all my hard work.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Erin checked her watch, running through her mental wedding checklist as she dashed up the stairs into Shelby’s bedroom, now transformed into wedding prep central. With the wedding already running behind, Erin simply didn’t have time to argue with Matthew right now. She didn’t have time to think about it. Maybe she’d be able to talk to him at the reception.
A makeup artist worked on Ashley’s face as her mother stood behind her curling her hair. Dylan, dressed in a dark suit that fell too loosely on his shoulders, sat on the bed, chatting with Marina and Heather, both wearing silk bathrobes, already made up with their hair styled.
“Dylan, where’d you get that suit?”
“Borrowed from Alex. Ms. Rivera said someone called out sick and I should attend the wedding to even up the numbers.”
Erin said, “Okay then. I need to run back to my hotel to get my dress…”
Dylan pointed to her purple bridesmaid dress hanging on the closet door. “Already got it. And your bags are in the bathroom.”
“You are the best little brother in the world!” Erin dashed in to the bathroom. Dylan followed her, watching as she rinsed her face and started applying makeup. She’d done this so many times she could do it on autopilot.
“We still haven’t had our talk,” Dylan said.
“You’re welcome to yell at me while I finish my hair,” Erin said, but Dylan shook his head.
“Tomorrow, I’ll head back to Atlanta and see if I can graduate at the end of this semester. I think I’ve got enough credits.” Dylan rubbed the back of his neck before sitting on the edge of the tub. “And then maybe my big sister will give me a job so I can start paying her back. I’m pretty good at this wedding stuff. It’s fun.”
“A professional groomsman?” Erin said. considering. “It’s a thought. But you can’t seduce all the bridesmaids.”
“Just some?”
“And you don’t need to pay me back—” Erin started but Dylan held up a hand, his jaw tight.
“We’re not going to have that argument right now,” Dylan said. “Let’s get through this wedding and we’ll talk. I figure we’ll be dancing at your wedding next.”
Erin shut her eyes, fighting the tears burning behind them. “He won’t even talk to me.”
“Make him talk to you.”
“Even if I can get him to see reason, we’d agreed to be an only in Savannah thing,” Erin said, “I’m not sure he wants anything more.”
“What do you want?”
“I don’t know. We’d be long-distance at first and…”
“What do you want?” Dylan repeated, gently this time.
Erin whispered, “Matthew.”
“Well, then, Bug, what have you got to lose by telling him that?” He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. She put her head on his shoulder, resting there, gathering strength.
“Thanks for your help, Pickle.”
“Go get em, Bug.” Dylan hugged her. “And now, we’ve got a wedding to pull off.”
Usually, getting ready with the bridesmaids was one of her favorite parts of the day. Erin moved as though on autopilot, helping Marina with her dress, getting Tylenol for Ashley, and chatting with Heather. Finally, she took her place at the end of the aisle. Near the front, Matthew stood with his brother and his friends, handsome in his tux, making her chest ache. He didn’t meet her eyes as she strolled down the aisle. Dylan was right. She had nothing left to lose by admitting to him how she felt.
She just wondered if she had anything left to gain.
After Matthew dashed back to the hotel to shower and dress, Millie drove him out to Tybee and he filled her in on what happened with Ashley.
After a long silence, as the lighthouse came into view, Millie said, quietly, “You did the right thing, even though you think the wedding’s a mistake.”
Matthew nodded and popped open the car door to head into the lighthouse keeper’s hut, where the groomsman were set to gather. “Did you fix it with your Erin?”
“She’s not mine,” Matthew shook his head, still aching inside.
“But she could be, Matthew,” Millie said, as he climbed from the car. “Don’t let her go.”
Inside the tiny lighthouse keeper’s hut, his brother stood in front of a full-length mirror, struggling with his white rose boutonniere.
“Where are the other groomsman?” Matthew asked.
“Went to get drinks,” Alex answered, still fussing with the flower.
“I think that goes on the other lapel, over your heart.” Matthew walked over and took the delicate blossom from Alex. He fastened it on the other side. He met his brother’s gaze and said, “Congratulations, Alex. I’m happy for you.”
His brother smiled at him, the wide grin Matthew remembered from his youth, and for the first time that day, Matthew smiled back.
“You too, man. Erin is great.”
“Don’t think that’ll work out.”
“Why?” Alex demanded.
“Mama paid her to distract me.”
“She didn’t do a very good job. After all, you talked my bride into pulling a runner.”
“You know?”
“I heard about it already.” Alex nodded. “And I know you talked her into showing up so…you saved the day, even though you don’t think I should do this. So, thanks, man.”
Matthew slapped his shoulder and Alex pulled him in for a hug. When they pulled apart, Matthew’s eyes were wet. Thankfully, the arrival of the groomsman with champagne defused the moment.
But, through all the pre-wedding prep, one thought returned to Matthew. Alex was right. Erin hadn’t done a very good job distracting him.
Erin, the focused, hyper-organized, determined professional bridesmaid, hadn’t actually distracted him at all. Instead, he’d pursued her. From the moment he met her, he’d been drawn to her, irresistibly, time and again. Since they’d been in Savannah, he could only recall her seeking him out twice. She brought him upstairs at the B&B, on the night they became lovers, and then, the next night at the shower, when he’d been sulking on the balcony, she’d brought him a plate of food. Both times, he hadn’t been in any immediate danger of upsetting the wedding.
Instead, whenever they’d spent time together, he’d sought her out. He’d walked over to her as she struggled to take a selfie at Flannery O’Connor’s house. He’d offered her a tour and taken her to lunch. He’d kissed her. When they’d first met, they hadn’t even realized they were going to the same wedding until a full day after she’d offered him her phone charger. All their time together at the hotel and the airport hadn’t been to distract him. He asked her out to the park and the butterfly pavilion. He was the one that suggested they extend their agreement to only in Savannah…
Matthew didn’t meet Erin’s eyes as she walked down the aisle. But he still saw her. She looked gorgeous in her pretty purple dress, her blonde hair in loose curls that brushed her shoulders, flawless makeup, and a bright smile. She’d transformed from the mess she’d been in Millie’s dining room that morning. As they stood, flanking the bride and groom for the ceremony and the endless round of pictures, he went back over their time together, again and again.
One thought returned to him, over and over again, Erin hadn’t sought him out.
If she hadn’t been distracting him, what did that mean? Could his mother possibly be right? Could Erin be in love with him? As hopelessly in love with him as he was with her?
He needed to figure it out quickly because they were both leaving Savannah tomorrow. If he didn’t do something now, he’d never see her again. His chest constricted at the thought. The photographer arranged the entire wedding party in order. Erin stepped next to him and, as instructed, he placed an arm around her wai
st. She looked up into his eyes, for a second and Matthew knew then. He’d never let her go. He just needed to figure out how to fix it.
“You promised to save a dance for me.” Once the reception was in full swing, Matthew stood next to Erin’s chair, his hand extended. Surprised, Erin placed her hand in his and he tugged her onto the crowded dance floor. Nearby, Shelby and Victor danced, cuddled close. Ashley twirled around the floor with a white haired man Erin didn’t recognize while Alex and Dylan chatted by the bar. Matthew swept her close, his palm warm at the small of her back. She inhaled the familiar scent of him and remembered Dylan’s advice to her as the first few bars of her favorite wedding song came on, That’s All.
“I asked the band to play this so I could dance with you,” Matthew commented when the silence stretched too long between them. Erin remembered their lunch at the Olde Pink House. Touched, she swallowed hard against the tears burning at the back of her throat. At least she’d get to dance with someone she loved to this song once.
“You did the right thing, saving the wedding like that,” Erin said, her voice hoarse with unshed tears. “I told Dylan the truth.”
“About you paying his tuition? How’d he take it?”
“Fairly well, I think. All along, I insisted he stay in school, because I thought that’s what my parents would have wanted. I never stopped to consider what Dylan actually wanted.”
“It’s hard letting them make their own mistakes.”
“I still make plenty of my own.” She met his eyes, mossy green now in the candlelight. “Matthew, I owe you an apology. I should have told you about your mama’s offer.”
“It’s okay, sugar.”
Erin smiled at the nickname as the moment spooled out between them. Matthew smiled at her, “Are you free for lunch on Tuesday?”
“On Tuesday? I’ll be home in Boston.”
“Boston’s a great town. Lots of fun places to go for lunch.” Erin shook her head, mystified by this turn of events. “When we met, you said your only free time is noon on Tuesday…”