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)
“Bride or groom?” he asked.
“Bride,” said Ari. “I’m her cousin.”
“Right this way. Family is up front.” We were led up the aisle and shown to a pew three rows back. Ari went in first, and I followed her, which put me on the end.
“Where’s Dash again?” I asked as we sat down.
“Film shoot in L.A. until next Thursday. It ran over.” Her expression was pained as she lowered herself onto the bench. Her stomach was big and round as a beach ball. “I hate when he’s gone so long. What if I go into labor early and he’s not here?”
“I’m here.” I patted her shoulder. “How many more weeks to go?”
“Four,” she said with a sigh. “And I hope they go quickly. I’m so uncomfortable. How ridiculous is it that I’m wearing flip-flops with this dress?”
“Not ridiculous at all, you look beautiful.” I smiled at her. “That color blue is stunning on you.”
“Thanks. You look good too.” Her eyes traveled over my strapless black skater dress and lingered on my high-heeled sandals. “Tell me I’ll have a waist again someday. And feet that aren’t swollen. And a face that isn’t puffy.”
I laughed, tucking my clutch between us. “You will. Now you tell me that someday I’ll meet the one—that guy who will fall as crazy in love with me as Dash did with you. And that we’ll get married and have kids as adorable as yours.” Dash and Ari already had a two-year-old daughter Wren, a darling, precocious little thing with her mom’s brown curls and the Buckley dimple in her cheek.
“You will meet the one,” she said confidently. Then she leaned over to whisper in my ear. “But first, you’re going to have good sex.”
“Shhhhh!” I glanced around to make sure no one had heard. “Ari, we’re in a chapel, for God’s sake.”
“Which is a perfect place to pray for something you want.”
I glanced at the cross behind the altar but didn’t feel quite right about asking God for a headboard-shaking orgasm. Instead, I said a quick prayer that the one existed somewhere out there and that I’d get to plan my own wedding someday. Then I glanced at the ivory card stock program in my hands.
Welcome to the wedding of Lisa and Daniel, it said at the top. I was scanning the order of events listed on the front when the organ music began. Like everyone else, I looked toward the back of the chapel, where ushers were waiting to seat the grandparents, then the groom’s parents, then the bride’s mother. Next came three bridesmaids and the maid of honor, all wearing a different dress in the same shade of dusty rose. They were followed by an adorable ring bearer and flower girl, who dropped pale pink rose petals from a little white basket. When the bride appeared at the back of the chapel on her dad’s arm, all the guests rose to watch their procession.
I love this moment at a wedding, where the groom gets to see the woman who will become his wife walking toward him. Maybe I’m just a sappy romantic, but it always gets to me, especially when the groom tears up. All four of my brothers had gotten weepy at their weddings, and I hoped someday my groom would, too. I wanted a husband who loved me that much.
As I rose to my feet, I glanced toward the altar, where the groom stood solemnly in a black suit, the four guys in his wedding party lined up behind him like dominoes. They were all tall, wide-shouldered, and somber-faced. My eyes traveled over them, cataloging their features. The groom was blond with a beard. The best man had longish, layered brown hair and scruff. Groomsmen two and three were clean-shaven and—
Wait a minute.
I blinked. It couldn’t be.
I leaned forward, my vision going a little fuzzy at the edges.
It had to be some trick of the light. Some figment of my imagination. Some crossed wires in my brain that conflated a memory from yesterday with what I was seeing now.
Joe Lupo was groomsman number four.
Was this God’s idea of a joke?
As if I’d summoned his attention, he suddenly looked straight at me. Our eyes locked. And there was no doubt about it—it was him.
His brow furrowed slightly, as if trying to place me. Then the corners of his mouth twitched.
“Oh no,” I whimpered. Pretending I had an issue with one of my contact lenses, I looked at my lap and fussed with my eye. Then I whispered frantically to Ari, “Change places with me. Hurry.” Taking her by the shoulders, I started squeezing behind her so she would be on the aisle and I could hide behind her girth.
“Mabel, what on earth?” Ari struggled to get around me.
“Don’t ask.” I ducked down behind her, although she was in flip-flops and I was in heels, making it awkward. “I’ll explain later.”