Working Back

by BJ Harvey

  “Considering I never would’ve met my wife if I was, which means you wouldn’t have met your wife, I think you know my answer to that,” Jamie muses.

  “Well, not all of us meet their soul mate at eight,” Jax says, nodding at Bry.

  My husband locks eyes with me across the room, and like many times before, it’s like everyone else fades away. “Yep. I’m one lucky son-of-a-bitch.”

  “Does that make me a lucky daughter-of-a-bitch? Because I’m not sure Mom would appreciate that,” I say with a giggle.

  “God!” Ezra says, breaking through the haze. “Sickly sweet loved-up newlyweds. Y’all make me sick.”

  “You’ll get your turn, Ez,” April rubs my brother’s shoulder.

  “Again,” Ronnie says, unable to hold back a snicker. That sets the rest of us off—including Ez.

  Bry comes up beside me and curves an arm around my shoulders, moving me to face him. “You happy?”

  “I’m with you. How could I not be?”

  “Fuck. Now we have to kick everyone out so I can take you on the couch.”

  “Again?”

  He dips his head and brings his mouth to my ear. “When it comes to you, it’s going to be a lifetime of again… more… yes, please…”

  Pulling back, I lock eyes with his and lick my lips. “Bring it on.”

  Bryant

  Four weeks later

  We’re getting ready for dinner with all of my family to celebrate Jax and I turning thirty-five today. Mom gave us strict instructions to dress up, so I’m in a grey dress shirt and black slacks and waiting to see whatever my beautiful wife has chosen to wear.

  Faith walks into the entryway, all hair and eyes, looking so fucking hot. “What do you think?’ One look and I’m ready to walk her right back into our room to show her exactly how much I like her dress.

  “Uh-uh, Bry. We don’t have time to explore what you’re thinking of doing to me.”

  “I’m way past thinking,” I step closer. “I’m planning for later,” I murmur, my eyes dipping down to admire her deep V neckline.

  She licks her lips, and I know we need to leave before we don’t make dinner at all.

  “We’ll resume this conversation when we get home,” I say, gruffly, my hard-on pulsing against my zipper and making my dick’s intentions clear.

  Faith melts into me. “I hope there won’t be a lot of talking.”

  I press a kiss to the soft skin of her neck, then move my lips to her ear. “My mouth will be otherwise engaged.”

  Her breath hitches and she turns her head, leaning in so we’re half an inch apart. “Stop turning me on.”

  “Never,” I rasp, grabbing hold of her shoulders and giving her a hard, meaningful kiss before pulling back. “We really better go.”

  “Yeah…” she breathes, her cheeks gratifyingly flushed.

  I give her a quick head-to-toe scan, a smirk curving my lips. “Worked up looks good on you.”

  “I also look good on you,” she retorts before walking out the front door.

  Damn, she’s good. In fact, she’s fucking perfect.

  Twenty minutes later, I’m turning into my parents’ street, since Mom called and said they were having car trouble and needed a ride. Except their street is lined with very familiar cars—Jamie’s truck, Ronnie’s Prius, Cohen’s SUV, Ezra’s Audi, and other vehicles I recognize. I glance at Faith, who’s looking out the window. She’s wringing her hands in her lap, her body held tight.

  “Everything okay, babycakes? We could’ve taken the edge off at home, you know…”

  Her head snaps my way. “Huh?”

  I pull into Mom and Dad’s driveway and bring Betsy to a stop in front of their garage.

  Turning toward Faith, I reach out and smooth my hand down her leg. “You’re tense as hell. What’s wrong?”

  I spot Jax coming out of the front door, Faith’s eyes drifting out the windshield at the same time. As if a switch has been flicked, a slow-growing smile transforms her expression.

  She leans in and frames my face with her hands. I bunch my brows, wondering what the hell is going on. It’s like I’m in the twilight zone. Closing the distance between us, she presses a soft kiss to my lips before moving back ever so slightly. “I’m gonna go inside. I’ll see you soon.”

  “Okay…” I mutter, completely lost. Jax opens the car door and grins down at us.

  “Making out in the parents’ driveway. Kids these days,” he says, shaking his head, his grin huge.

  Faith kisses me one more time. “I love you.”

  “I love you more.”

  “Not possible. But you’ll realize that soon enough,” she says. Then I’m watching, dumbfounded, as she jumps out of Betsy and runs up the steps into my family home.

  Jax is still standing in my open door, grinning at me. “Happy birthday, brother.”

  “Right back atcha.” I narrow my eyes on him. “Now, are you gonna tell me what’s really going on?”

  He shrugs, still looking like the cat that got the cream. “How about you just do everything I say and you’ll find out?”

  “Do I at least get a hint?”

  “Operation Wrecking Ball,” he says.

  That confirms it. Everybody has lost their freaking mind.

  Jax moves back so I can hop out of the car.

  After shutting the door behind me, I lean back against it. “Now what? You’ve officially confused the hell out of me, so lead the way, crazy twin.”

  “I prefer the term creative genius, but crazy works,” he muses. “C’mon, Romeo. We’ve gotta get you ready for your Juliet.”

  “You know Romeo and Juliet didn’t exactly get a happy ending or did you sleep through that particular class?”

  “Or I was macking on a cheerleader, hoping to get in her pants.”

  I snicker. “Probably.”

  He chuckles and walks ahead of me, leading me down the path along the side of Mom and Dad’s house. I hear voices and remember the last time we were invited to a dinner here, and how Faith had a panic attack.

  I reach out my hand and grab Jax’s arm to stop him. “Hey, if this is a surprise party, that’s cool. Just tell me.”

  “It is a surprise, but I know what you’re thinking, and no, Faith isn’t going to get overwhelmed. Well, at least not from this. She organized it all.”

  “What is this?” I ask, getting frustrated. I hate not knowing what’s going on.

  He tilts his head towards the backyard. “Go find out for yourself. But just know there’s a bottle of Jack with our name on it afterwards, okay?”

  I frown. “After what?”

  He shakes his head, his sly grin really starting to irk me, and Jax never pisses me off. “Just get your ass through that gate already.”

  “Fine. I will.”

  “Good. You do that.” He smirks.

  I reach for the gate, expecting a roar of ‘surprise’ but instead I stop dead, frozen in place as I take in everything I’m seeing; friends and family members mulling around as far as my eye can see, five rows of chairs separated by an aisle in the middle, red ribbons and white roses marking the way down to a small stage and a large arch of roses at the back, facing the festivities.

  This is not the surprise birthday party I’d expected.

  It’s a surprise wedding.

  A hand claps my shoulder from behind. “You all right there, Bry?” Jax asks, peering around to look at my face.

  “She did this?”

  “Yep,” He says, accentuating the P. “To renew your vows in front of your family and friends.”

  I drop my head and snicker. Soon, I’m out and out laughing, earning me a puzzled grin from my twin.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “I’m laughing because I was planning on doing the exact same thing once we got settled.”

  My brother shakes his head. “We may have some weird twin sense, but you two have something more than that. I swear you were made for each other,” he says, all humor now gone.
This is Jax, just stating facts.

  “I never stopped loving her, and now I can’t imagine going back to a life without her.”

  “She wanted me to give you this. All of our brothers have something each to give you too. The girls are upstairs helping Faith get ready, and I’ve been told my only job is to get you to the end of the aisle on time. So you better not disappear, because I’m also under strict instruction to tackle you if you run away.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Good.” He nods to the small box in my hand. “Have a look.”

  I grab the lid and lift it open, trailing my finger over the faded, worn, seen-better-days beaded friendship bracelet I made Faith as a starry-eyed eleven-year-old boy who had his first-ever crush on the girl next door. I smile, remembering Abi losing her ever-loving mind when she found out I’d stolen her jewelry-making set.

  Jax leans over to take a peek. “Oh shit, that thing? She kept that?”

  Twenty-four years and here it is, something seemingly simple yet so damn meaningful. My heart is racing. It’s so damn full. It’s fit to bursting. I knew fate wasn’t fucking around when it brought Faith into my life not once, but twice.

  Jax shakes his head, but his grin says it all. “Man, you’re totally fucked now. There’s no way you’re getting out of this. She’s got mementos.”

  My head snaps up. “Why would I go anywhere when everything I want and need is inside that house, getting ready to marry me again?”

  His smirk widens. “Just checking your feet are still toasty warm.”

  “So hot they’re scorching.”

  “Good. Now, I’m going to find everyone. You’ve got about twenty minutes before go time.”

  I draw my brows together. “Since when do you use phrases like ‘go time’?”

  A coy smile appears. “I’m practicing to be the cool dad.”

  I catch Mom and Dad heading towards us. “Just be like ours, and you’ll ace it. Then again, I already know you’ll be an awesome dad. You won’t let yourself be anything less.”

  “Shit. When did we get so gushy?”

  “Love, man. It changes everything.”

  “Amen to that,” he says, holding up his fist to mine. “I’ll round everyone up.” He goes to leave, but I stop him with a hand on his arm. His eyes snap to mine.

  “You better be standing up there with me,” I say, gruffly.

  “Wouldn’t be anywhere else than by your side,” he says, shooting me a grin and moving away.

  Mom stops Jax for a hug before releasing him and turning to me.

  “Happy birthday, baby,” Mom says, wrapping her arms around me and burrowing into my chest.

  “Thank you. Definitely didn’t expect this kind of surprise.”

  “I did. There’s never been a doubt in my mind. I knew that when she came back, she wasn’t going to leave again.”

  “I know,” I reply. And I do, without a shadow of a doubt.

  Almost four months ago, I gambled and laid my heart on the line and not once during this entire marriage has she given me a reason to question my decision. My doubts were my own, and when I finally admitted them out loud to her, she not only understood them, she empathized. Our marriage was never about her proving herself to me—it was just needing her to be with me, and her letting me be everything she needed too.

  What neither of us realized is you can’t win something back when it’s already yours.

  “She wanted to do it right this time and leave you with absolutely no doubt that she’s not going anywhere,” Mom says with tear-filled eyes.

  “Nothing Faith has ever done has been wrong.” I shake Dad’s hand, which he then uses to pull me in for a bear hug.

  “I’m proud of the man you are and the husband you’ve become. She makes you whole.”

  I step back and meet my father’s eyes. “She makes me better.”

  “You keep remembering that, and you’ll never spend a night on the couch in your life.”

  Mom turns to Dad and quirks her brow. “Oh, really? Is that how it is?”

  He hooks an arm around Mom’s shoulders and tugs her into his side. “Woman, you know why you’ve never kicked me out of your bed, and it’s got nothing to do with you making me a better man.” He shoots me a wink, and I can’t help but laugh as Mom huffs out a breath but doesn’t move out of his hold.

  “Now go get ready for your wife to blow your mind,” she says.

  Dad opens his mouth but snaps it shut when Mom glares at him. “Not a word, Rick or else sleeping on the couch will be the least of your worries.” She wriggles free and walks off. Dad rolls his eyes at me then leans close, gently chucks my shoulder, and spins around to follow Mom.

  “Uncle Bry,” Axel calls out, running right at me. I have barely a second to brace myself before he crashes into me and wraps his arms around my waist.

  Jamie stops beside us. “Ax…” He warns in a very impressive dad voice. Axel steps back and grins up at me, excitement radiating off his body.

  “I get to give you away to Aunty Faith. But she told me to give you this,” he says, near-on bouncing on the spot as he hands over another small cardboard box, this one with a red bow on top.

  “I missed out with Uncle Jax and Aunty Ronnie, but Dad says I can be your best boy, if it’s okay with you,” he continues as I reach down into the bag, pulling out the used ticket from our first official—not supervised by Jamie or Ezra—date when we were supposed to go to the zoo but went to Buckingham Fountain for a picnic instead. I can’t believe she still has it.

  I put the ticket back in the box and close the lid.

  Axel scrunches up his face. I smooth my hand over his stiff gelled-down hair. “Hmm.” I glance up at Jamie, whose shoulders are shaking. “What did you say, Ax?”

  Axel rolls his eyes as if I’m exasperating him. “Can I be your best boy?”

  “What do you think, Jamie? Is Ax up to the job of being my right-hand man?”

  “I’m not a man yet. Mommy says I’m not a man until I have hair on my—bmph lmgh dmphh,” he says, Jamie having covered Axel’s mouth with his hand, muffling his words. When the hand is removed, Axel narrows his eyes at his father. “Like Dad.”

  My eyes bug out, and I bark out a laugh. “Okay. Then you can be my best boy, but I’ve got one favor to ask,” I say, bending down to whisper in his ear.

  “Aha… yep… okay… hmmm…” Ax says, listening to my instructions.

  I straighten and find him tilting his head, studying me.

  “Are you sure I won’t get in trouble?”

  I cross my heart over my shirt. “I promise.”

  He shrugs, apparently not needing much persuasion to keep Jax in line during the wedding.

  Jamie just shakes his head at us. “I don’t wanna know.” He looks down at Ax. “Hey, buddy. Why don’t you go see what Gran and Nana Marcy are doing?”

  “Okay,” he says, holding his hand in the air to me. I give him a high five, and both Jamie and I watch as he runs towards the grandparents.

  “You wanna tell me how long she’s been planning all of this?” I ask, looking over at my parents’ transformed backyard.

  “Let’s just say your wife met with the other wives and Abi and put it all in motion a while ago.”

  “Months? Weeks?” The idea that Faith has been working, helping with the house, and organizing a surprise wedding just astounds me. She’s hell-bent on proving to me she’s even more amazing than I thought possible, and I already thought she couldn’t get any better because, to me, she’s always been perfect.

  “Just you wait, Bry. Your wife has a few cards up her sleeve.”

  My brows go sky-high. “More than this?”

  “Oh yeah,” he says with a smirk.

  Jax and Cohen walk up to join us.

  “Are you ladies gonna sit here and psychoanalyze all of this or are you gonna come stand at the end of the aisle and get ready for your wife to walk down it?” Cohen asks, his eyes dancing with amusement. “Appar
ently, this is for you.” He hands me another box. Thankfully, Jax takes the other two off me.

  This time there are two things—a receipt from the pizza we ordered the first night in our Davis apartment at college, and a snow globe of the Golden Gate Bridge. I bought it for her at a hidden-away souvenir shop on Pier 39 in San Francisco at the start of our senior year.

  “Faith recruited all of us,” Cohen says.

  “She’s definitely a force to be reckoned with, but it was all hands on deck to pull this one off,” Jax says with a smile. He moves beside me and wraps an arm around my neck. “C’mon, twin brother. It’s time to get you married… again.”

  I shake my head in disbelief. Faith has put so much thought into this, so much love. And to think she’s kept all these mementos of our time together.

  “You guys deserve this. You deserve this. It’s been a long time coming, but I can’t think of anybody else who has ever fit you like she does.” Jax leans his head into mine. “It’s definitely a birthday neither one of us is gonna forget.”

  “Anyone got a drink?” I say, half-joking, half-serious. My nerves are shot, my mind is scattered, and I’m basically just holding on for what I’m sure is about to be the ride of my life. It started twenty-three years ago when I first saw that green-eyed, pigtail-wearing little girl wearing a purple dress with matching purple flip-flops. Today, I get to profess my love to her in front of our nearest and dearest for the second time.

  “You ready?” Ezra says, locking eyes with mine as he joins our brother huddle. “Because I’ve just been given the five-minute warning by Mom and Delilah, and I’ve been instructed in no uncertain terms that we need to get into position.”

  I stare straight at him. “I’ll never not be ready for my wife.”

  “Good answer.” Ez nods. “Oh and this is for you,” he says, handing me an envelope. I frown. This could be anything.

  I open it and look inside, slowly pulling out a boarding pass. On closer inspection, I realize it’s from her flight from Sydney back to the United States. On the back, there’s a note.

  Bry,

  This ticket is almost the most important thing I’ve kept because it brought me back to you. When we were thirteen, I told you I’d only get married once—like swans when they find their mate—but I never said I wouldn’t renew my vows with my husband every chance I got.