Chapter 8 Dreams Come True #3
She held her breath as she waited to hear what he thought.
“It was just kissing,” Brad said, pulling away from her—not enough for Jackie or Steve to notice, but Sophie felt it and her heart sank.
After all the wishy-washy, back-and-forth play between them, he’d landed on Sophie just being a convenient hookup.
Well, fine. At least she figured that out now and not the next morning when she might have already done something she regretted.
A few kisses—albeit damn good kisses—weren’t anything to get worked up over.
Brad glanced at her, shuffling his feet, and she tried to wipe the hurt from her face. “No offense,” he added.
“None taken.”
He was right. They were a little buzzed and sure, they were attracted to each other, but it was a wedding between his ex and his ex-best friend.
What did she expect? A proposal? She turned towards Jackie, desperate to shift the conversation away from her and Brad.
“So, talk. You owe me that much, roomie.”
“From best friend to roomie. Wow, you must be pissed.”
Sophie shook her head. “No, not pissed. Just concerned. Forgive me for saying this isn’t at all like you. You know you’d have some questions for me if I was acting this out-of-sorts.”
“It’s not my normal forte, I’ll give you that,” Jackie said, a loud, joy-filled laugh filling the room. “But that doesn’t mean it isn’t real.” Jackie smiled as Steve rubbed her shoulders, her hands reaching up to touch his.
“What do you mean, real?” Brad interrupted, his finger waving in Steve’s face.
“I mean, we’ve decided that this is it. We’ve been playing around for long enough, just long enough to bring us together, and there’s no more need for either of us to do that.”
Sophie’s breath threatened to stop all together. Brad tensed beside her.
“What is that supposed to mean, Steve?” Brad barely got the words out through clenched teeth.
“It means what I said. This is it. I’ve been waiting my whole life to meet a woman like Jackie, and I’m not going to let her get away.”
“No, I heard that part the first time. What does it mean though? Don’t be a vague prick, Steve. We’ve been through too much together.” Brad was up in Steve’s face now, arms out, and out of the corner of her eye Sophie watched Sam saunter over to their side of the bar, lingering there.
“Okay. I can do that. But you need to hear me when I tell you I am walking away if you get weird and paternal on me. Jackie and I have made up our minds about this, and as crazy as it might sound, we’re one hundred percent sure of each other.”
“Fine. I’ll be calm. Sophie?” he asked. She nodded, held her arms up in the air as if to say, “Duh,” knowing full well she wasn’t the one Steve was talking to.
“Sure. I’ll listen.”
Steve took a deep breath and cracked his knuckles. Jackie rose out of her seat and put her arm around his waist, pinched his side playfully and gazed up at him like he solved world peace himself. It would have made Sophie gag if she weren’t so jealous.
“Here goes.” There was a slight lilt in Jackie’s speech, as if she was nervous.
Not that Sophie would know if her friend really was—Jackie was the most confident woman she’d ever met.
Sophie didn’t think she’d ever given any of her ideas a second thought, let alone carefully thought out what she was going to say.
Steve cleared his throat and took over, much to Jackie’s delight it seemed.
She kissed his shoulder and exhaled a long slow breath.
“So, we hit it off, got to talking, and both of us sort of knew at different points in the night that this was it for us. I’m not sure when, but I told Jackie that she was the most amazing woman I’d ever met, she returned the sentiment and asked what I was doing the rest of the weekend.
I told her I was going to be spending it with her, obviously, and then I had a question for her. ”
At this, Steve looked down at Jackie, a sweet smile playing on the corners of his lips that still held all the happiness of his toothy grin, but Sophie could tell this one was meant only for Jackie.
Had she ever reserved a smile just for one person?
She didn’t think so, and the realization made her chest ache with remorse and longing.
There was no way she wanted Drew back, but she missed the promise of going home to someone, of knowing that her future was certain. But nothing was certain, was it?
“And?” Brad asked, gesturing for them to get a move on.
He’d jolted Sophie from her daydream; she was captivated by the story Steve was telling, her romance-obsessed side taking over the more recent cynical one.
She sipped her lemon drop shot like it was a martini and she was watching a Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan film.
“And, I asked Jackie if she had any plans after this weekend. More specifically, every day for the rest of her life.”
Sophie choked on her drink. Wow. That wasn’t at all what she saw coming next, even though her mind was in full romcom mode. Steve was even stealing lines from Mr. Hanks.
“I’m sorry, but what?!” she asked.
“I asked Jackie to marry me, and she said yes.”
Sophie’s jaw dropped as her watery eyes obscured her vision. This was the last thing she expected, and yet… she didn’t revolt against the idea like she might have before she’d run into Brad.
Still, it was crazy. Irresponsible.
“You two have got to be kidding,” Brad added, yanking his arm back from the bar when Sam put a hand on it, asked him to take it easy or he’d have to leave. “You’re engaged?” Brad’s voice calmed, but the fire spread from his cheeks to his clenched hands and steely, hard-set jaw.
“More or less.”
“There’s no such thing. That’s like being more or less pregnant. You either are or you aren’t.” Brad paced beside Sophie. With a growing sense of disappointment, she knew whatever had happened between them earlier was long gone. There wasn’t even the possibility of a hookup at this point.
“Well, then, I guess we are. What do you say, hun?” Steve asked Jackie.
“I’d have to agree. I did accept your expensive jewelry.
” Jackie leaned her chin up towards Steve, and he met her with a soft kiss, his muscled hand looking delicate under her jawline as he stroked it tenderly.
At the same time, she held out her hand, showing off a string tied where an engagement ring would be.
They were serious.
Nothing positive was going to come from her calling out all the reasons this was a horrible idea—and it was. But, with a few drinks in her and in a public place, Sophie couldn’t be as honest or as logical as Jackie needed her to be. Failing that, she would just be happy for her friend.
Truthfully—and she would never tell Jackie, Steve, or especially Brad this—the whole thing was incredibly romantic.
“Congratulations are in order, then,” she stated matter-of-factly. Jackie let go of Steve for only the second time that evening as far as Sophie knew, and wrapped Sophie in the kind of hug she usually reserved for when someone pointed out a sale at her favorite store.
“Thank you, Soph,” Jackie whispered in her ear. She pulled away and added, louder this time, “I know it’s crazy, that no one will believe that we really did fall in love with each other not quite at first sight, but close enough. But I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life.”
“Then I’m happy for you both,” Sophie said.
She meant it, too, she just wished she wasn’t so nervous for Jackie.
No matter how long she and Steve talked, or what feelings sprouted and blossomed, there was still so much they didn’t know about each other.
What happened if something big and scary came along in their world?
How would they tackle it? As a united front, or as the strong individuals they’d been before tonight?
There were too many unknowns for this to sit right with Sophie.
Then again, she’d known and dated Drew for five years, and that had ultimately led to uncertainty and failure, so who was she to judge?
Brad stopped pacing and wheeled towards Sophie. “You can’t possibly be serious?”
“Why not, Brad? Look at them.”
Sophie didn’t miss the icy glare Brad shot Steve as he slid in beside his new bride-to-be and sighed. She pulled at his arm.
“Come over here,” she commanded. “Now,” she hissed when Brad didn’t budge. Reluctantly, he followed, his shoulders hunched like she was hauling him to the principal’s office. “Excuse us for a sec, guys.”
When they were out of earshot of Jackie and Steve, Sophie wheeled around to face Brad.
“Well?” he asked, sounding very much like a petulant child. He resembled one too, looking frustratingly adorable with his pouty bottom lip and trembling chin.
“Hey. Don’t you dare take out your bad mood on me. This isn’t my fault.” His face softened, and she continued. “It’s also not our place to tell our grown-up friends what a colossal mistake this is.” She made sure to emphasize the grown-up part.
“Isn’t it, though? Isn’t that our only job here, Sophie?
I mean, they just met four hours ago, and you didn’t just help Steve through a divorce that all but killed him and his business.
I’m not sure he’ll make it through another heartache like that, so I damn well think it is my job to stop this train before it rides full-force into a concrete barrier and takes no survivors. ”
“I know that, and don’t think I haven’t thought about how damn ridiculous this all is, dangerous even.
But, here, tonight, is neither the time nor the place to talk them out of it.
We can work on it separately from home starting next week and keep each other apprised of what’s going on.
It takes months, more than that sometimes, to plan a wedding.
We’ll have plenty of time to make them come to their senses. Fair?”