by Ellie Hall
No way.
“She’s my maid of honor and she is in charge of a bunch of stuff over the next couple days. I didn't worry about it because her boyfriend was supposed to be here to help her.” Tess scratched right above her eyebrow in a manic fashion. “But if Brian cheated on her … ugh. Maybe I should just do everything. It’s too much for her.”
Oliver wouldn’t be a good brother if he couldn't read his sister's stress level. “Honestly, I don’t know the whole story, but I’m sure Izzy will want to help you.”
Tess threw her hands up. Her previous composure was gone. “You don't understand. Mom and Dad have been fighting. Something is going on. Something that I don't even know about.” She moved away from him and started pacing on the dock. “Mom and Dad are acting weird.”
“What do you mean, they are acting weird?”
“I don’t know.” She scowled. “And … my dress doesn't even fit right. The alterations are still being made. I have to run out tomorrow morning, again, for one last fitting. Mom is having a meltdown because one of the caterers canceled. And now there is all this pressure on Izzy…” She put her hand to her head. “I don't know what I'm doing. And you know that Chad is no help in this department.” She bit her nails.
Another telltale sign that his sister was stressing.
“I don't even know why I’m marrying him.”
Oh dear. The next step of the scenario was a full melt down.
Tears streamed down her face. “I'm just going to call the whole thing off. I am. This is too much. I can't take the stress.”
This was what his sister did. She would wind herself up and freak out. She would be okay. At least he hoped she would. He reflected that Chad probably wasn't any help. That was the Bear Grylls in him. If there was a zombie apocalypse, his sister would be well taken care of. But give the man wedding details? It just wasn‘t his style.
“Look, I'm the best man. I can help Izzy.” He regretted the words immediately.
“Oh my gosh.” Tess switched right back to complete composure. “That's a great idea. Wait. But, what about your girlfriend flying in? When is she coming? I know you're going to have to pick her up in Billings at some point.”
Oliver regretted ever telling his sister about Sasha. He’d thought it might last, but it hadn't. “It’s fine.”
“Oh no, don't tell me that you guys aren't together. She seemed so nice when I met her.”
“It's … over.” No. He would not discuss Sasha.
His sister crossed her arms. As quickly as she had broke into tears, she now turned to anger. “Oliver, tell me what happened.”
“It ended. End of story.”
“So, you don't have a date for my wedding?”
Crap. He hadn't thought that far ahead.
“Oli!”
Oliver turned and saw his friend rushing at him like a grizzly bear.
Oliver laughed and rushed toward his longtime friend. “Bear Grylls, himself!”
He had dodged the wedding date question, at least for the moment.
3
The next day, the wedding party greeted one another during brunch and caught up.
Izzy was the maid of honor and two other friends from high school, Wendy and Charlotte, were bridesmaids. They were both married now; Izzy wasn’t sure why they were still called bridesmaids, shouldn’t they be marrymaids?
Wendy and Charlotte both had their husbands with them, plus Tess’s parents were there. Chad also had other groomsmen, besides Oliver; Fred and Chase. Fred had his wife, Shelly with him and Chase had his wife, Autumn.
Izzy knew everyone from high school except Autumn. But Autumn was a local now and Izzy could tell she would fit into Chase’s family, the Moon family, well.
It was fun to chat with everyone. As they moved to the craft tables, Izzy’s stomach did a nervous flip. Tess liked things done a certain way, and she’d been pretty intense about the wedding activities. There was some pressure to make it all work out.
Yesterday, Tess had given Izzy a list of her responsibilities as maid of honor. Number one, she would oversee the soap carving and tiara-making today. Number two, she was in charge of putting together a wedding slideshow for the wedding day. Tess had casually handed her a zip drive and told her that there was a plethora of pictures from her and Chad’s dating life. Which would be a serious challenge for Izzy; she was not great at technical things. Number three, she was in charge of games for the baby name activity tomorrow. That was after horseback riding and a casual lunch.
For the baby name game, Tess said she wanted everyone to think of as many names as possible because she and Chad wanted lots of children.
“How is it going?”
Izzy jumped and then cursed under her breath. “Oliver, you just delight in sneaking up on me, don’t you?”
“Maybe so, maybe so.” He winked at her. “Nevertheless, how is it going?”
Izzy held up two baskets. One with soap and little knives for the men, and the other with supplies to make wedding tiaras for the women. “Great. We are all about to craft.”
Oliver nodded. “Sounds good.”
A nervous buzz filled the bottom of her stomach. “Listen up, I don't appreciate you telling Tess that my boyfriend cheated on me.”
Oliver looked bored. “You said he did.”
She glared at him. “That is the exact kind of attitude that gets you into trouble. That is the exact attitude that has always caused fights between us.”
“Has it? Do you even remember me? Do you even remember any of our fights?” He threw up a hand. “Kind of like you don’t remember our fake date.”
It took Izzy by surprise that Oliver was acting like this. “You’re being petty.”
“Petty?” His tone went up an octave.
She froze.
He looked around, then leaned into her. “I’m not the petty one and I know you remember what I was apologizing for.”
She tried to play it cool and part of her was touched that he actually cared so much. “We'll talk later. This wedding is about your sister, so we’re not going to make a scene.”
Oliver didn’t seem pleased. “Fine. We’ll talk later.” Oliver leaned into her. He lightly put his hand on her lower back, pulled her close, and whispered in her ear, “Tess informed me yesterday that you and your boyfriend were supposed to be in charge of the activities this week. Since your boyfriend is clearly not here, I offered to step in and help.” He took the soap basket out of her hand and turned away from her. “Let's carve soap, people!”
She was speechless.
Mr. Browne moved to her side and slipped an arm around her shoulders. “Soap carving?” He let out a light laugh. “My daughter’s idea, I presume?”
Izzy grinned at him. “Yep.”
He nodded. “I mean, what does a real man do, besides carve himself a good piece of soap.”
She chuckled.
Tess's fiancé, Chad, moved to her other side. “I was just thinking the same thing. Real men carve soap.”
All of them laughed.
Oliver took bars of soap and knives out of the basket and handed them to Chad and his father. “Here you go.”
Chase joined the group. “Sup, fellow soap carvers.”
“You’re just in time.” Oliver grabbed another set and handed them to Chase. “Take these.”
Chad pointed at Chase. “Dude, do you remember when we carved those pinewood derby cars and raced them at Pastor John's Pinewood Derby?”
Chase laughed. “Yeah, and if I recall, I beat you and Oliver.”
Oliver laughed. “You cheated.”
“No,” Chase argued.
Kenny joined them. “Oliver won most of the time.”
Chad pointed at Oliver. “Yeah, because he cheated.”
George moved to Kenny’s side. “Yes, he did.”
All of the men laughed.
Oliver gave all of them soap and knives.
“What do we carve?” Mr. Browne asked.
Oliver fro
wned. “Carve whatever you want. I'm thinking, cows? I mean, we are supposed to be staying on theme for Chad. A ranch boy can use the soaps and see the little cows dissolve as he cleans his hands.” Oliver pointed to a table. “Let’s settle in over there, gentleman.” Again, he winked at her.
She wasn’t sure she liked being in cahoots with Oliver, but she was grateful he was helping with the activity. She had expected the men to be more resistant to the soap carving activity.
She moved toward the women, who were seated at a separate table already decorated with little tiaras. She put the basket with the tiara supplies down. “Come get your little tiara materials,” she called. “Who can make the prettiest?”
Autumn, Wendy, and Charlotte moved toward her with Tess and her mother following. They all settled at the table and began using the glue guns to put beads and flowers on the tiaras.
As the activity progressed, Izzy relaxed. It was easy to be in charge because Tess had put all of it together. Guilt pricked her. Why had she stressed so much about doing this?
As they crafted, the women chatted about Tess’ dress and the wedding details while the men swapped stories of their youth. Izzy couldn’t help but randomly glance at Oliver and she would often find him glancing her way as well.
It was uncomfortable to be in such close proximity to Oliver. He seemed so different, older, and handsome. Yet, he was the same. The old attraction she had always felt was growing every second.
Laughter boomed out of the men.
Again, Izzy turned to stare at the group.
Chad was pointing at Oliver, saying, “I swear, the guy has women at every port.”
“Not true.” Oliver objected, grinning.
All the men laughed.
Jealousy washed over her. A girl in every port? She pushed the jealousy aside. Why did she care?
Chad laughed. “That first year we were in Miami, we were opening the main BC Beach Gear store and the spring break girls flocked around him.” He gestured to himself. “Obviously, I'm not the beach type, but Oliver is a magnet for chicks. The women have always loved him.”
Oliver waved a dismissive hand at his friend. “Not true. Stop.”
The other men in the circle began teasing Oliver about how he probably had a lot of beach girls. The ones who modeled his company’s beach wear.
Again, the thought of women around Oliver made Izzy jealous and irritated. Actually, it ticked her off. She pictured crazy, spring breakers all over him and it made her want to punch someone.
“This has been so amazing.” Tess wrapped her arms around Izzy’s shoulders.
Izzy jolted. “Hey.”
“Thank you for being the best maid of honor ever.”
She stood and hugged her friend. “You did all the work. All I did was show up and hand out stuff.” She sighed. “I wish you would've asked me to do more over the past few weeks. I would've gathered all these things. I could've been more help so you wouldn't be so stressed out.”
Tess let her go. “Izzy, you have kind of an important job at the hospital. I know it takes a lot out of you.”
Izzy shook her head. “Nope, you don't get to give me the oncology nurse excuse.”
Tess grinned. “I'm just glad that you're here. And I'm really glad that it's a beautiful day.” She gestured to the lake.
It was beautiful. There were so many memories of this lake from Izzy’s childhood, mostly with Tess and Oliver.
“Plus, remember you still have the Top Gun wedding slide show to finish.”
Izzy laughed, feeling a bit out of sorts about the whole project. “True.”
Tess pulled her in for another hug. “And, there is one other favor I have to ask.”
She wanted to help her friend. “Anything.”
Tess leaned into her and whispered, “I don't know what happened, but the girl Oli was dating, Sasha, isn't coming to the wedding.”
Izzy's heart raced. She hadn’t even thought to ask about who Oliver was bringing. “Really?”
Tess shrugged. “I was wondering if you would comb through the list of people coming to the wedding and see if you could find someone to match him with for walking down the aisle, pictures, and everything.”
“What? No.”
Tess took her hand. “Please. Listen, the spreadsheet I sent you has a section where it tells if each guest is single or dating or married.”
“Wow.” Tess was intense, this shouldn’t surprise her.
“Will you just go through the ‘single’ list and find him a date?”
“Absolutely not.”
Tess stuck her bottom lip out in a very, very pouty way. “Why?”
Izzy and Tess were best friends and they had remained best friends after high school. They told each other everything. Last night, when Tess had come to her room late and confessed the conversation between her and Oliver, Izzy had broken down and told Tess how hard it had been with Brian lately. They’d had a good cry together and felt a lot better about things afterwards. It felt like she was trying to set them up.
But, Izzy had never told Tess that Oliver had broken her heart all those years ago. “I am not setting your brother up on a date.”
Instant tears filled Tess's eyes. “I know this is stupid, but Mom and Dad worry about him. And something is going on with my parents. I don't know what.” She threw up her hands. “Something is going on and if they find out that my brother doesn't have a date, mom will be all over him. You know how Oliver and my father are already at odds. Well, my mom will suddenly be asking all kinds of questions. I was just thinking we could keep it quiet and he could have a date with one of the single girls that are already coming. I mean, all of them are his age or our age, so you can find someone. It won't be that hard to set him up. He knows them. It will be fine.”
Izzy wanted to tell her friend that she was smoking crack. Maybe it was double crack. The truth was, Izzy had never smoked crack. If she had, double crack would definitely be what it would take to get her to set Oliver up on a date. “No.” She wanted to rush away and get some space to breathe, think, and digest this. “I’m not matchmaking your brother.”
“Why?”
“Because I don't need a date,” Oliver said, moving to Tess’ side.
Izzy and Tess both froze.
He cocked an eyebrow and leaned into Izzy, brushing against her shoulder. “Quit talking about me behind my back.”
Instinctively, she pushed his chest. “Like you can talk, Mr. Eavesdropper in the library yesterday.”
He stuck his tongue out at her the same way he would have when they were kids.
She glared at him, but almost responded in kind. Almost.
“Stop it, Oli.” Tess glowered at him.
He laughed. “Fine, but I do have a date for the wedding.”
“Who?” Tess grilled him.
Oliver gave them a bored smile. “Let’s just say it’s a secret wedding date.”
Izzy was fairly sure the guy was lying.
He flashed a smile. “And I don’t want anyone to know about it.” His eyes grew serious. He looked behind him, then turned back, leaning into them, again. “I don’t want Mom and Dad to know who it is, but I do have a date, okay?”
Maybe he was telling the truth.
Tess cocked an eyebrow. “You’re really serious?”
“Of course. You think I would ruin your wedding, Tess? No way. I have a date.”
Another flare of jealousy hit Izzy, but she squashed it like a bug.
Oliver's mother rushed toward them, placing her arms around Tess and Oliver’s shoulders. “Such a beautiful day, isn’t it, kids? Should we get back to our guests?”
Tess and Oliver’s mother was an artist at heart. She had a painting studio in their huge lakeside mansion. She was also very aware of her social surroundings. Behaving properly was important to her. Not giving time to the guests would be rude to her.
Over the years, Izzy hadn’t agreed with the pressure she put on her kids to act a certain way. There was
also the other added layer from their father about being part of the family business. Their parent’s expectations had been a suffocating force in their lives. Of course, Izzy had been an onlooker and a friend of the family. Thus, she had never felt that it would help to point these things out, so she had remained quiet.
Tess and Oliver held each other's gaze.
“What's the ruckus about?” Their father joined the circle.
Oliver froze. He swung his gaze to his father, then pinched his lips into a straight line. “Nothing. Let’s get back to the party.”
“I don't think that's the truth, son, I think there’s something you want to say to me.”
Oliver passed by him. “I got nothing to say. Nothing at all.”
4
The next day, Izzy got up at six-thirty in the morning and rushed to the exercise room on the far side of the Browne’s house. The weather was beautiful for Snow Valley, but Izzy didn’t care for running in the early morning chill.
As she opened the door to the exercise room, she was surprised to see that the lights were on and that someone was hitting a boxing bag.
Dang it.
Oliver was there, shirtless, punching the bag with ear buds in. His back was to her, so she whirled around.
She would duck out before he saw her.
“Izzy?”
Shoot. She turned around, wishing that she could avoid this man, but it was impossible. She really needed to run. She hadn’t slept well after Brian called late last night and begged for forgiveness. He’d also promised to be at the wedding. He said he couldn’t come to the activities, but he would be there for the big day.
The problem was, the whole time Izzy’d been talking to Brian, all she could think about was Oliver and what he’d said to her in the library. Part of her realized Oli was right; Brian was a jerk to her and she’d put up with it for a long time.
“Hey,” she said, walking straight toward the treadmill. “Just here for a run.” She definitely wasn't here to stare at his abs or to think about how cut his arms looked. No. She wasn't here for that.
Oliver followed her to the treadmill. “Oh, right. That makes sense; you're a runner. Oh, by the way, Tess told me about the Top Gun slide show and I’d be happy to help you with that.”