Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 100661 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100661 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
“Thank you.” He smiled, tucking his hands in his pockets. “You know, I was thinking about you last night.”
“You were?”
“Yes. The wedding party went to a place called Buckley’s Pub.”
“Oh!” Now it made sense. “That’s my brother Xander’s bar.”
“Cool place.”
“I thought maybe you were wondering if the weirdo in seat 3A got back to her home planet okay,” I joked.
“I didn’t think you were weird. Just scared.”
“Again, I’m really sorry about unloading all that personal stuff on you. I honestly thought I wasn’t going to make it.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you did. Now you can start working on that list.”
“What list?”
“Of all the things you haven’t done.”
Our eyes met, and my belly flipped.
“Hey Joe!” someone yelled from behind him. “We need you for pictures before it starts raining!”
“Be there in a minute!” he called over his shoulder. Facing me again, he asked, “So will I see you at the reception?”
Somehow I found my voice. “Yes.”
“Good. Maybe we can have a drink while your life isn’t flashing in front of your eyes.”
I smiled, trying to sound breezy, like hot NHL players asked me to drinks all the time. “Okay, but you have to promise you won’t bring up anything I said last night.”
“Well, now you’re just taking all the fun out of it.” Grinning, he started walking backward, his eyes turning my insides molten. “See you there.”
“He was definitely flirting with you,” Ari said as we made the short drive over to The Pier Inn. I’d repeated my conversation with Joe for her, word for word.
“I don’t know.” I remembered how he’d flirted with the pretty blond flight attendant. “I think that’s just his personality.”
“Listen, I was standing right there. I saw the way he looked at you. I heard him say he was glad to see you. And he said you looked beautiful, right?”
“I think so. I might have dreamed it.”
“And he said he’d been thinking about you.”
“Only because he was at Buckley’s Pub last night and remembered my name.”
She thumped a hand on the steering wheel. “Mabel Buckley! Is it so impossible to believe that he’d be attracted to you?”
“Kind of.” I shrugged. “I’m not saying that to be down on myself—it’s just facts. This guy is some kind of NHL superstar, and hot jocks usually go for a different type of girl.”
“Stop it. You’re gorgeous and funny and smart.”
I smiled at her. “You’re my best friend. You are not a good judge of me.”
“I’d argue I’m the best judge. And I don’t think you should ignore this kind of sign from the universe.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Think about it. Less than twenty-four hours ago, you thought you were going to die without ever having a one-night stand with a hot stranger, and lo and behold, a hot stranger hath appeared before you—twice! This is fate taking the reins of your life, Mabel Buckley.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I said, laughing at her dramatic assessment. “It’s not fate, it’s geography. We both grew up in this area. His friend married your cousin. We happened to be on the same flight from Chicago.”
“You say tomato, I say to-mahto.” Ari turned into the parking lot of The Pier Inn and pulled up at the valet.
“Because I know a tomato when I see one. I’m not saying I won’t enjoy his company over a glass of bubbly, but don’t get your hopes up. Nothing is going to happen.”
However, inside the ladies’ room of The Pier Inn, I fussed with my hair, reapplied my lip gloss, and swiped my roll-on perfume oil behind my ears, across my throat, and inside my wrists. Then, after a furtive glance around to make sure I was alone, I stuck it down the front of my dress and rolled the scent between my breasts.
I was pretty sure this situation was a tomato.
But if it was a to-mahto, I wanted to be prepared.
FOUR
joe
Photos took for-fucking-ever.
The poses were stupid. My cheeks hurt from smiling. I was sweating beneath my suit. Lisa complained constantly about the humidity, the coming storm, the lack of good light. I kept my opinions to myself and my attitude positive for Footsie’s sake, but all I could think of was getting to the reception, ditching this jacket, and grabbing a cold beer.
But when we arrived at The Pier Inn, the wedding party was instructed to wait at the top of the stairs of the second-floor ballroom until we heard the DJ announce our names. Then we had to head straight for the dance floor with our assigned partner for an entire song. It was the last thing I wanted to do, but I smiled and swayed to the music with Jackie, the bridesmaid I’d been matched with. She giggled uncontrollably the entire time.
Over the top of her head, I spotted Mabel seated next to her pregnant sister-in-law at a table near the edge of the dance floor. Our eyes met, and she smiled at me. She was so fucking cute.