by Mandie Tepe
It wasn’t long before the red-haired SEAL—Charley—came scurrying through the door and over to the table. “Okay, everybody. They’re here. She just thinks some of us are meeting them for a drink. She has no idea it’s a party. Get ready!”
Savannah had joined the group, and most of the bar’s wait staff had gathered closer to the door. It opened. There she was . . . being escorted in by that guy. Everyone shouted “surprise!” and Gracie jumped back into Sonny, who wrapped his arms around her from behind, laughing. Then they were all shouting “happy birthday!” It was Gracie’s birthday? Why didn’t he know that? He felt ashamed that he hadn’t remembered, when obviously the new boyfriend did.
He watched as the two of them walked over to greet everyone. She looked gorgeous in a slinky cocktail dress, mile high heels and the happiest smile he may have ever seen on her. Except for maybe the day she’d found out she was pregnant.
One of the SEALs—the bleacher dad—yelled from the other end of the table, “Well? Mission accomplished?”
That cryptic question made Sonny laugh and Gracie held up her left hand, flashing . . . an engagement ring? No way. Rob heard a rushing sound in his head. No! It couldn’t be. He shook his head to clear it and watched the scene unfold. A chorus of hoo-yahs—from the SEALs—and ya-hoos—from everyone else—bounced around the room. Several of the women ran over to hug Gracie and gush over her ring as she laughed delightedly. Then she began to cry. She’d just noticed her family. They rushed over and had a joyous reunion. That was obviously one of her birthday surprises. She turned around and hugged Sonny, kissing him tenderly and thanking him for bringing them there. That was his doing? He actually had the blessing of her family? It couldn’t be true. Surely they could see right through him.
The wait staff swarmed the table with buckets of champagne and flutes, and the party kicked up a notch—corks popping all up and down the table. Next thing he knew, Savannah brought a huge cake over with a lit sparkler on top.
Sonny held up his hands in surrender. “Sorry, angel . . . I had no idea until tonight you had an aversion to sparklers,” he laughed.
Gracie laughed along with him, snuggling against him. “That wasn’t my objection, and you know it.” She kissed him again and they both seemed to forget there was anyone else in the room.
Rob’s head ached. He had to get out of there. She couldn’t marry him. She couldn’t! He wasn’t good enough for her . . . and even if, by some slight chance he was, she was meant to be with Rob. Yes, he had to get out of there—go back to his room and get his plan together. He couldn’t wait to talk to her any longer. He threw a few bills on the bar and stumbled toward the door, the sound of happy laughter ringing in his ears.
CHAPTER 17
Gracie woke early the next morning. She was surprised she’d gotten any sleep at all, as wired as she’d been from the happy night before. Of course, the champagne had probably helped. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been tipsy from drinking a little too much. She lay there feeling cozy in her tiny bedroom nook, letting herself relive all the high points of the night before. She stretched and the sunlight through the little window caught the diamond in her ring, shooting rainbow sparks against the opposite wall.
She studied the ring. It really was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. At the party, Kelli had told her all about the shopping expedition she’d gone on with Sonny and Meg to find it. She would have liked to have seen it for herself, not being able to imagine the self-assured, confident Sonny in such an uncertain state. Well . . . she might have gotten the tiniest glimpse of that last night before she accepted his proposal. He’d been so cute. Of course, she could never tell him that—but he had been.
When she rolled over and caught a glimpse of her phone lying on the dresser, she grabbed it and hit a couple of buttons with a smile.
“Yeah?” Sonny croaked.
“Hey! It’s me,” Gracie chirped.
She heard a soft sound, like covers rustling as he shifted in bed. “Hey! What’re you doing up?”
She smiled. “I’m too happy to sleep, I guess. I’m sorry. I should’ve waited to call you.”
“No, angel. I’m glad you called. Though you did interrupt some sweet dreams.” Sonny stifled a yawn, but Gracie heard it anyway.
“Look, babe . . . I’m not going to keep you, but I wanted to run something by you.”
“Shoot.”
“Thanksgiving weekend.”
“Thanksgiving weekend—what? You want to spend it with your parents? I’ll see if I can get leave to go, but it shouldn’t be a problem since I’m already on partial medical leave anyway.”
Gracie laughed. “No! Do you want to get married Thanksgiving weekend?”
“Thanksgiving?! This Thanksgiving. That’s like . . . what . . . three weeks away?” He sounded shocked.
“Is that too soon?” she asked uncertainly.
“Not for me! But, will that give us time to plan?”
“We don’t need anything big. Right? Unless . . . this is your first—only—wedding. Maybe you’d prefer something bigger.”
“No, I don’t need anything fancy. Just you.” He laughed. “I can’t believe you want to do it this soon. My biggest fear was that you’d make me wait.”
“Well . . . after our talk when you dropped me off last night, I got to thinking . . .”
“Oh, that. I didn’t say that so you would push the wedding up sooner than you want to,” he assured her.
“I know that, babe.”
When Sonny had driven her home, she’d invited him in. He’d refused, which shocked her. Gracie had assumed they would spend the night together, but he had other ideas. They had never made love, but now that they were engaged she thought that would change. Sonny was insisting on waiting until they were married. He didn’t want her to think he was rejecting her but treasuring her. He assured her he wanted to be with her more than anything, but it would be more special if they waited until their wedding night. What if they weren’t compatible physically, she’d asked. Shouldn’t they find that out now? He’d laughed. There was no way they wouldn’t be compatible, he’d said. And if they were, then he wasn’t doing something right and they’d fix it. He’d let her know that he’d had many relationships in the past, but this one was so different . . . so special . . . he wanted to keep it that way, and do it right. So they’d necked for a little in the cab of his truck like a couple of sixteen-year-olds, then he walked her to her door.
“Wow,” he said now. “Okay . . . we have to get busy. I have to meet with my CO—write an official letter to inform the Navy we’re getting married—and get the required paperwork started, of course, but none of that should be a problem . . .”
Gracie interrupted. “Luca, don’t worry. If we hit too many snags, we can always push it back.”
“No way. I can wait three weeks—probably. But to tell you the truth, I was worried my will power isn’t strong enough to wait too long,” he chuckled. “Not that that’s all our relationship’s about,” he added quickly.
She laughed. “But it is important.”
“Damn straight.” He yawned again.
“I’m gonna let you go back to sleep. I’m meeting my family for lunch and I’ll run it by them. See what they think. I’ll see you later, though. Right?”
“Definitely. In fact, where are you meeting for lunch? Can I crash it?”
“That would be great, but you don’t have to. You should go back to sleep.” She was feeling guilty about waking him up.
“Are you kidding? I’ll never get back to sleep now. Too excited,” he assured her.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
The Laurent family lunch went well. Everyone seemed fine with the wedding date, and Kitty pulled a small notebook from her handbag and started a list. When Gracie suggested having the wedding on the beach, she asked Sonny which of the beach side parks he thought would work best. He pulled out his phone, called Meg, and
asked her if they could use the beach behind her and Trace’s beach house. The entire family could hear her squealing over his phone.
Sonny handed the phone over to Gracie. Meg insisted that Gracie and Kelli—who had agreed to be Gracie’s maid of honor—come over the next day and have a real planning session. Kitty and Phil were flying home that evening, but Kitty promised to stay close to her phone the next afternoon so she could be part of the planning. Kelli quickly jumped on board when Gracie called her. They were off and running.
Sonny quickly realized he was not going to get to hang out with Gracie like he did most Sundays. He had a brilliant idea to take Trace—who would surely want to get out of the house and away from the planning session—and Mathias deep-sea fishing. Mathias decided that was worth changing his flight home from Sunday afternoon to Monday. Phil, of course, was invited too, but had obligations at his church the next morning, so had to decline. He was so disappointed, Sonny promised to take him at a later date. Sonny called Charley, and he was in too. They hadn’t had a good guys’ fishing trip in a long time. Luckily they had a connection and were able to book a charter at the last minute.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
It was another packed Saturday night at Savannah’s and Sonny, Mathias, and Charley were at their favorite spot at the bar. Phil and Kitty had been able to come in and listen to the band for the first half of the opening set before rushing to the airport for their late night flight back home. They’d arranged it that way specifically so they could see Gracie perform while they were in town.
Sugar Creek was in rare form, their spirits high. They’d even finally gotten Les to sing lead on a song they’d been working on for a few weeks—Jamey Johnson’s In Color. Les didn’t do a lot of singing with the band, but his voice had an honest, raw quality reminiscent of the old classic country singers. His voice wasn’t as versatile as Colby’s and Gracie’s—but wow. He could really nail that song—which had an honest, raw quality to match his voice.
Kelli dropped in around nine o’clock and the guys found an empty barstool and brought it over so she could crowd in with them. Charley teased and flirted with her a bit, bringing more than one blush to her cheeks. They had dated for a short time a couple of years before, and when the SEAL wives had kept her around, including her in all of their activities, it had made him a little uncomfortable. Of all the women he’d dated, they’d never adopted one before. But Kelli was special and they all adored her. And now Gracie and she were thick as thieves. Charley didn’t stay uncomfortable for long, though, because Kelli never gave him any reason to be. She wasn’t at all clingy like most of his other exes. They’d formed a kind of friendship themselves. Everyone—including him—realized that he and Kelli didn’t last long because she was too sweet for him. Whenever he brought his new women around, she’d just roll her eyes. He had a “type.” Looking back, she couldn’t understand why he’d asked her out in the first place, because she’d come to realize she’d been nowhere near “his type.”
Gracie hung out with them during her breaks, and she and Kelli chattered about wedding plans, and all of the things they needed to get settled when they met at Meg’s the next day. The guys just stayed out of it and talked football, tomorrow’s fishing trip, and other testosterone-based topics to counteract the girly-girl stuff flying through the air around them.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Rob came in and took a stool at his usual end of the bar. Gracie was over there with her friends and her brother. He’d tried to stake out her apartment that day, but her car hadn’t been there any of the times he’d driven past her apartment house. She’d been out all day. Maybe she was staying with him. He regretted never following Sonny home to scope out where he lived. Why hadn’t he thought of that before? Rob had to make his move fast.
On the other side of the bar, Rob’s usual waitress—Stevie—sidled up to one of the bartenders. “Hey, Jase . . . will you do me a favor?”
“Sure. Wait. Is it legal?” Jase studied her in mock-concern.
“Hah!” She swatted him with her bar towel, then neatly tucked it back through her apron strap, her white blonde hair taking on the changing colors of the neon beer sign behind her. She discreetly motioned to the far end of the bar where her station began. “See that guy over there? With the ball cap on?”
“Yeah.”
“Can you take care of him tonight? Please?”
“Why? He giving you trouble?” The bartenders were very protective of the waitresses, and it bothered him that he might have missed one of them being harassed by a customer.
“Not really—he just really skeeves me out. I don’t know what it is, but he just seems sketchy.”
“How so?” Jase was watching the guy, without appearing to do so.
“He’s been coming in pretty regularly the past couple of weeks—always alone—and he always wears that cap pulled over his eyes. But I get the feeling they’re always darting around. Know what I mean? Like he’s casing the joint or something. He always sits in my station too.” Stevie gave a little laugh. “Maybe I’m being paranoid.”
“No, honey . . . if you get a bad vibe, I don’t want you to second guess it. I’ll take him.” He winked at her. “As long as you swear it’s not really because he’s a crappy tipper.”
She laughed. “No, he tips okay—not great, but at least he’s never stiffed me.”
“Okay, then. I might take those first three stools too, so he doesn’t get suspicious and just thinks that’s my section. I’ll share those other tips with you, though.”
“No, that’s okay—keep ‘em. See that back table over there? Marines. Yesterday was payday. They’re taking good care of me. And they’re cute too.” She smiled.
Jase clutched his heart. “Ow! Stevie, you’re killing me. Flirting with a table full of Marines right in front of me that way . . . after I agreed to do you a favor and everything.”
“Thanks, Jase,” she laughed. She headed off to check on her tables, wishing Jase had been serious about being jealous. She’d had a crush on him since she started working there. And he treated her like a little sister—which they could have passed for, both being blonde, blue-eyed Nordic types. Oh well. At least he was a good friend.
She noticed as the night went on that Jase stayed pretty close to the ball cap guy, and he must have said something to the bouncer working the door, because she noticed he was watching him too. She was getting a little annoyed at Jase, though, because he kept making little teasing remarks whenever she was nearby about how some people should lay off reading all those true crime books—it messed with their minds and made them paranoid. She couldn’t help it. She had a weakness for them. And she was a criminal justice major at UCSD. At one point she stuck her tongue out at him like she was five years old. He clutched his heart again—and winked at her. The bottom dropped out of her stomach as she realized he was flirting with her. Maybe she shouldn’t give up hope just yet, she thought.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Towards the end of the evening, Sonny was on his way back from the men’s room, when he was accosted. By Colby and Savannah. They cornered him next to the pay phones.
Sonny raised his eyebrow. “Something I can do for you?” he asked.
Colby looked at Savannah, but she was staring Sonny down. “As a matter of fact, there is.”
“Okay . . .”
Savannah had obviously been put in charge of this little conversation. “So, Sonny . . . you’re marrying our Gracie.” She paused, but he just kept silent, wondering what she was getting at. “Would you say you’re an old-fashioned kind of guy?”
Okay . . . that question surprised him. Why was she beating around the bush? “Um . . . not really, I guess. Never thought about it. Why do you ask?”
“Well . . . an old-fashioned guy—newlywed—might not want his young, sexy wife singing in a bar fo
ur nights a week. Get my drift?”
“Ah! Now I see. You’re protecting your interests.” The light bulb had gone off in Sonny’s mind about the time she hit him between the eyes with her proverbial two by four. He hadn’t seen this conversation coming because it never occurred to him to object to Gracie staying with Sugar Creek and singing at Savannah’s after they were married.
He played along. “Well . . . an old-fashioned guy might not get such a kick out of hanging out in said bar, watching his young, sexy wife perform with her truly excellent band. So, I guess that makes me not so much of an old-fashioned man. What do you think?”
Colby seemed to breath a sigh of relief. “So you’re not going to be after her to quit, then?”
“No! I know how important this is to her. I’d never expect her to give it up. Not to mention the fact that you guys are like family to her.” His gaze swung to Savannah. “However, I hope I can count on everyone here to keep an eye out for her . . . whenever I can’t be around, I mean. Or if I get back on active duty status and have to deploy at some point. Can I count on you guys?”
“Of course, Sonny. You don’t even have to ask . . .” Savannah started, but was interrupted by a new voice entering the conversation.
“What’s going on here?” Gracie looked them over with suspicion. “Everything okay?”
Sonny pulled her into his side, wrapping his arm around her. “Everything’s great. Right?” The other two nodded. “Just getting better acquainted, that’s all.”
She looked at him skeptically. “Okay. If you say so.”
Colby and Savannah made up lame reasons to excuse themselves and high-tailed it out of there. Gracie looked up at Sonny. “Okay. Spill.”