The Right Moment

by Heatherly Bell

  So, at least her professional life was intact, even if it had to be weird for the brides who had heard about her wedding day fail. Still, she’d recover from all this. She had to.

  When Joanne opened the front door, Nora grabbed her in a hug. “Oh, Joanne.”

  Ugh. “I’m okay. Really.”

  “How can you be?”

  “It’s a break-up. I’ve been through them before.”

  “But this is different.” Eve said, walking inside. “I brought cookies. Your favorite.”

  “You shouldn’t have. I have a ton of food here, including desserts. Someone has to eat it.” There had to be twenty or more bottles of champagne, not to mention the wedding cake.

  The. Wedding. Cake.

  She’d almost forgotten.

  Her friends followed Joanne into the kitchen.

  Opening up the refrigerator, she found dozens of containers of food crowding every shelf. Hud’s doing. He was an organizer, a leader and someone who always took charge. The three-tier cake had been boxed, labeled “cake” and placed in the refrigerator, which was exploding with plastic-wrapped platters of food.

  “And Hud already gave a lot of this away.” Joanne reached for a box. “Cake, anyone?”

  Both Eve and Nora glanced at each other.

  Nora shrugged. “Well, it would be crazy to turn cake down.”

  “And I’m not crazy,” Eve said.

  “I have to agree. We’re very sane women here.” Joanne sliced into the top layer with joy, tossing aside the plastic couple where they landed on the clean floor. That was the end of the plastic faux Joanne and Chuck Ellis. “I wasn’t hungry earlier, but now I’m famished.”

  Two hours or so later, the cake was in pieces. Literally. Taking zero care to appearance, each one of them had used their own fork to cut into the cake any which way. Taking what they wanted in haphazard patterns. Leaving the rest.

  “Who knew a cake could look so ugly?” Nora said.

  “We went after it pretty hard.” Joanne licked her fork.

  Eve cleared her throat. “Joanne, we have to talk about it. You have to talk about it.”

  “She’s right,” Nora said. “Chuck left you. Aren’t you even going to find out why?”

  Joanne had considered it, to be fair. During all the hours today that she’d stared at the ceiling and worked on her lists of what to do next. She’d wondered. Should she ask him if she’d done anything wrong? Pushed too hard? Nagged too much about all his away baseball games?

  But, no. Far from it. She’d encouraged him to pursue his dreams. Admired him, even, for never giving up on someday reaching the majors. All the time Chuck spent traveling meant that her life hadn’t really changed all that much. The difference being that after marriage, he’d move in with her, and they’d start a family. He would give her more children. At thirty-two, some days it felt like she was running out of time.

  She’d done nothing wrong, unless you wanted to count the decision to agree to marry him in the first place. It might have been a little...misguided.

  “I don’t care why,” Joanne said. “No reason is good enough.”

  “Even I’m curious,” Eve said, touching her chest. “I mean, who even does that?”

  “Not a real man,” Joanne said.

  “A chicken shit,” Nora said and they all laughed.

  “I’ll drink to that!” Eve said and raised a fake glass in salute.

  Then Joanne remembered all of the champagne bottles in the fridge. “I can help with that!”

  They drank the bubbly wine from flutes and after a while, Nora got deep. She was clearly drunk.

  “You know whah I tink?”

  “What?” Joanne said. She was lying on her back in the living room. All three of them were, the tops of their heads touching in a semi-circle.

  “I think love is really, really...hard.”

  “Uh-huh,” Eve said. “Preach it.”

  “Sooooo hard,” Nora said.

  “That’s too bad,” Eve said. “I don’t think that’s fair. It shouldn’t be so hard.”

  “Guys are terrible, too. That’s no help,” Nora said.

  “Not all guys,” Joanne added.

  “Word,” Eve said, “Just...most. You know?”

  “There are good guys. Like...um...whosit? Whatshisname?” Nora groaned. “Oh yeah. Um, lieutenant Hudson Decker.”

  “Yeah, but he’s like...taken so you can’t have him,” Eve explained.

  “Right.” Nora nodded.

  Joanne knew Nora was nodding because she felt her head bob up and down against hers. “Wait. Who has him?”

  Two heads bobbed up and were right in Joanne’s line of vision. She actually blinked it was so sudden.

  “You,” Nora said.

  She shook her head. “Not me.”

  “Please don’t tell me you haven’t noticed how hot he is,” Eve said, coughing. “Oh, please.”

  “I try hard not to notice, okay?”

  It wasn’t that she didn’t realize Hud was the “classic” definition of handsome. That was part of the problem. Every woman noticed him, and he in turn, noticed them. Frequently.

  He had sandy blonde hair, shimmering and intelligent green eyes that noticed the smallest thing, a smirk of a smile that tipped to one side when he was tired, and...well, she could go on. But again, she tried not to notice.

  “That’s too bad,” Eve said with a deep sigh. “Because we can’t date him, either. He’s your ex.”

  “I wouldn’t advise it,” Joanne said. “Not unless you want to be tossed over for the latest model in a month or so.”

  It was one of the reasons Joanne had gravitated toward Chuck. He wasn’t classically attractive and the farthest thing from a player. Not at all. But he was a coward. A liar. Not much better.

  “Yeah, no thanks,” Nora said. “I’m going to be thirty next year.”

  “I would take him,” Eve said. “For one night.”

  “One night? That’s all you want out of a man?” Joanne asked, incredulous.

  “From Hud.” She winked.

  “Yeah,” Nora said. “I bet he’s good.”

  They both looked at her expectantly. Shocked, she sat up. “I don’t know. We were teenagers!”

  Eve stared, dumbfounded. “Never again, over the years, not even once? You know when you were both lonely and between relationships. A little something-something? Never?”

  “No!”

  Why did everyone always ask her that?

  Looks weren’t everything. She had a list of qualities she wanted in a man. First and foremost was the ability to be monogamous.

  And Hud had already proven himself incapable.

  Chapter Three

  The next day, Joanne woke up to something cold and wet on her toes. She lifted her head from the pillow to inspect.

  Coco.

  Oh, excuse her. Rachel. Which, by the way, was not a proper name for a dog, least of all a cockapoo who should clearly be named Coco. She closed her eyes again.

  She’d been dreaming of warm sandy beaches. Mojitos by the pool. She wore one of the many two-piece swimsuits she’d bought for the honeymoon. A black-and-white polka-dot number that made her feel like a blonde Audrey Hepburn. The sun was toasty on her legs and her eyes were shut against the brightness of the day. Suddenly someone was pulling on her leg. Playfully. She kicked, hoping whoever had her foot would let go. They didn’t.

  “Jo,” a deep and commanding male voice said.

  Man, that voice. It gave her pleasant sexy shivers. Desire poured through her. She opened her eyes to check out this cabana guy or whoever was making a pass at her while she slept on the beach and found Hud staring at her. Oh. Wow. Source of sexy deep voice. A sexy man. What were the odds?

  Joanne shook her head. Re-direct! Re-direct!
/>
  Hud’s forehead was creased in concern.

  She stretched. There were layers of cotton in her mouth. Strands of hair were stuck to her chin. She appeared to have drooled a little bit. “W-what?”

  Oh, for the love of God, she was on the floor. The living room floor. She vaguely remembered eating cake and drinking champagne. No wonder she felt like death. All that sugar.

  “Looks like you had some fun in here.”

  She followed his gaze to four empty champagne bottles and what looked like a massacred cake. It had three large knives stuck in what was left of the cake.

  “Where are...?”

  “I got Eve an Uber. Surprised you slept through all her moaning and apologizing.”

  “What about Nora?”

  Hud shrugged.

  “Oh yeah, she’s probably already at the shop.” She groaned. “What time is it?”

  “Two o’clock.” He gave her a hand, and she rose, swaying a little bit.

  When he caught her, his large warm hand touched bare skin and it was then that she noticed...she was wearing a short T-shirt that came to her waist and cotton panties. Nothing else.

  She stared at him, at her panties, then back at him. “I was hot!”

  “Clearly.” He bit back a smile.

  “Oh, no. Coco! Is she okay?”

  “I just let her outside and she peed for several minutes.”

  “Good girl.” Joanne bent to pick up the little ball of fluff she’d come to adore and gave her a snuggle. “I’m sorry I forgot about you.”

  Hud was still staring at Joanne. He was staring below the waist. “Stop staring.”

  “Sorry,” he said, raising his head to meet her gaze. “Nothing I haven’t seen before.”

  “I need a shower.” She handed Rachel back to him. “Do you mind waiting until I’m done?”

  “No problem.”

  In the shower, she allowed the hot water to pound her aching neck. She washed her hair. Then she rinsed and applied conditioner. Used her big-toothed comb to detangle. It was her ritual and required no thinking. She appreciated that. Right now she didn’t want to think about much of anything, other than maybe plan where she’d bury Chuck’s body. Method of death? Poison. Anything else would require more strength than she had at the moment. Or she could beat him into a coma with her words. Pointy sharp words which would tear into his flesh and punish him for taking so much of her time.

  Her money.

  Her pride.

  She toweled off and went for all her beauty products, neatly lined up. Moisturizing cream to hold off the wrinkles that were creeping up on her. Hair products that gave her a bouncy and glossy shine. For who? She didn’t care. How about for herself? She liked to look good. Her preparations were complete when she brushed and flossed her teeth like she did every morning and evening.

  Boy, it almost felt like she hadn’t had a bottle of champagne and half of a chocolate cake. She felt normal.

  Dressing in her yoga pants and another long T-shirt, she went downstairs to apologize to Hud for being in her underwear and on the floor when he arrived. That was embarrassing. It wasn’t even her best lingerie. They were the rabbits with pink bowties cotton panties. The ones she wore on laundry day. Ugh.

  From her kitchen, she saw Hud’s back as he faced the yard, head lowered, hands in his pockets. Watching Rachel as she sniffed around every bush. Crouched to pee. Then sniffed another bush. Repeat. When she finally came to him, her tail wiggling, he bent to pick her up and tenderly held her. The image of this big man holding such a tiny creature in his hands softened her heart. Hud was gentle when he wanted to be. Loving, kind and funny when he wasn’t being a pain in the butt.

  He stepped inside, quirking a brow when he saw her standing in front of him, arms crossed. His head bent low to allow Rachel to lick his face he looked at her from underneath his eyelashes. “What?”

  “You saw me in my panties.”

  “So?”

  “What do you mean ‘so’? I want to apologize for not being dressed.”

  “I barely noticed. But if it bothers you that much, you want to see me naked?” He undid the top button of his cargo pants.

  “Don’t do it.” The thought was so titillating that she covered her eyes with the heels of her hands.

  “Relax. I’m not that easy. Got to buy me dinner first. Or at least a beer.”

  When she brought her hands down, he was giving her his easy smile. The one that reminded her how many times he’d rescued her. Cheering her up after a bad date with a guy who seemed perfect until he announced he hated “snotty nosed” kids. All the other men who were shocked that she, who seemed like such a smart and educated woman, had a teenage son. Didn’t that mean she’d been a teenage mother? Why, yes. Yes, it did. Hud had always been there to confess that men sucked. All of them. He’d remind her that she had a wonderful son, a thriving business and great friends. At one time that had been enough. She wasn’t sure how all that had changed and when she got up on her high horse and thought she needed more.

  He set Rachel down. “Jo, I’ve got some bad news.”

  “Oh God, no. More?”

  “I saw your mom in town. She knows I’m not in the Bahamas with you.”

  She faced palmed.

  “It’s going to be okay.”

  “Hud,” she whispered. “I don’t know where to start fixing this mess.”

  He opened his arms wide. “C’mere.”

  She went into the arms of a man who, hands down, issued the greatest hugs. He was, at heart, a big teddy bear of a man though not many realized this fact. A long time ago she’d decided that if she ever found a man who gave out hugs like Hud’s, she’d marry him in a second. When that never happened, she’d settled for Chuck. But this time the hug was different, as if he was holding back. Not squeezing as tightly as normal. Probably because he felt guilty about checking her out when she was half naked. On the other hand, if that were true, why did he smell her hair?

  He pulled away abruptly. “Let me get you some lunch.”

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “It’s no bother. You’re having sliced meat and potatoes and vegetables. You’re having that forever.”

  “The food.” She sighed. “I don’t want to eat food from the devil wedding.”

  “Might as well eat what we can today and throw the rest away.”

  “What happened to all that food?” She plopped down on a stool near the counter.

  Hud informed her of how many friends, family members and local community services, like a homeless shelter and another for battered women had enjoyed the food for her reception. At least it hadn’t gone to waste. A few minutes later she was seated in front of a mini banquet with all the food from her almost wedding to the son of Satan. Before her were sliced meats—the best Fortune Valley Family Ranch had to offer. Marinated tri-tip, top sirloin and New York strip, freshly baked rolls from The Drip, and scalloped potatoes.

  “I was supposed to eat this food as a married woman. With my husband, the son of Satan.”

  “You could eat it now, with your best friend, the stud.” He served her a plate and plopped it in front of her. “Eat. It’s actually very good. Have the last laugh on him.”

  “I’m worried. What’s going to happen to my bridal boutique now?”

  “Why should anything happen?”

  She dropped her fork in emphasis. “I’m a jilted bride.”

  “What? It’s contagious?” He smirked.

  “Don’t laugh. Brides can be a funny bunch. I’ve seen all kinds over the years. Brides who will only marry on a double-digit day, brides who will only marry on months with a full moon. I’m getting back to work, now that my mother knows the truth. Not hiding out anymore.”

  “Good. That’s a plan.”

  But Joanne wondered why she still ha
dn’t cried. Shouldn’t she cry or at least want to cry?

  She was more upset over the humiliation of what Chuck had put her through. Of what her brides would think. Still, she’d loved him, right? Sure, it wasn’t passionate or lusty love, but it was the sort of love that grew with time. Or so she’d thought. In some countries, she and Chuck would have been matched together due to common interests and goals. They were well suited to each other.

  Hud bit into a roll with a bit of hostility. “Have you talked to him yet?”

  “I’ve had no time to talk to him.”

  He shrugged. “You could have texted. Emailed. Carrier pigeon. I don’t know.”

  “I don’t want to talk to him. What is there to say?”

  “How about ‘Hey, asswipe, you owe me money.’ Click, Send.” He made a motion with his fingers.

  “Do you think that’s all I care about? The money? He humiliated me.”

  “He humiliated himself. Too much of a coward to face you. Breaking up via text on your wedding day gives new meaning to low-down dirty coward.”

  She didn’t disagree. But not everyone could be Hudson Decker. Not everyone would run into a burning building. Some had a built-in sense of self-preservation. Then again, Hud had built his own defenses around his heart. That heart had never been fully open to anyone. It was the one risk he wouldn’t seem to take.

  That aversion to emotional risk had him breaking up with her after their only time together. Little explanation. It was over. Her sixteen-year-old self had raged in hurt and confusion. In classic teenage immaturity, she’d assumed Hud was “the one.” Forever. Gave him her virginity and her heart. And then he’d abandoned her.

  So he’d only wanted one thing, like most boys. She’d simply retaliated by going on a date with the most popular guy at school: Matt Conner. Her only motivation had been to make Hud jealous.

  She’d accomplished that, but in a much more epic way than she’d ever planned. Matt got her pregnant their first and only time. Still, she’d gotten Hunter out of it, so no regrets. Her son had been the one bright light in her life for years.

  Matt had offered to marry her, of course, but she’d turned him down. She would have a child by a boy she didn’t love but that didn’t mean she had to marry him. Not that she had thought Hud would want anything to do with her again, but she just couldn’t go through with a marriage of convenience. She still loved Hud. Loved him all through her pregnancy, and all the intervening years since. But eventually the crazy burning young love she’d had for him as a young woman had burned itself out. It had transformed into a wonderful deep friendship that it would simply kill her to lose.