Devotion - Chapter 8
Friday
James was talking to two men in the foyer as I made my way down the stairs. He turned his head when he heard me and a smile broke over his face. It was easy to live in the moment when he looked at me like that. My heels clicked on the marble as I made my way over to him.
"May I formally introduce you to Penny," James said to the two gentleman. "Penny, this is Porter and Briggs. Our security team."
"Are those your first names or last names?" I asked.
"Last names. I'm Porter, ma'am," the one on the left said and stuck out his hand for me to shake. His grip was like iron. He was the taller of the two and had a shaved head and steely gray eyes.
"Briggs," said the other. If possible, his grip was even stronger. He had a buzz cut and blue eyes. They were both impossibly intimidating.
"It's nice to meet both of you. So, what are your first names?"
"That's classified, ma'am," Briggs said.
"Oh. Well, you can just call me Penny, if that's alright."
"We prefer last names, Miss Taylor," Porter said.
These guys were so serious. And, now that I was looking at them, they seemed familiar. "Actually, I do recognize both of you."
Briggs gave Porter a nervous glance. James had said he paid them to not be noticed. I wasn't trying to get them in trouble.
"I mean, only because I walk past you every day.
Porter, you're always sitting on a bench outside Central Park drinking.
..tea not coffee. Because there's a little tea tab sticking out of your cup.
And Briggs, I always see you sitting outside James' office building after work.
Eating a hot dog and reading the newspaper. "
"I thought you were laying off the hot dogs," Porter said. "You know that's incredibly unhealthy."
"I'm not always eating a hot dog," Briggs said defensively.
Porter cleared his throat. "Sorry, ma'am. We'll try to be more discreet in the future."
I pressed my lips together. I certainly hadn't meant to get them in trouble. "I never would have guessed you were security. And, hot dogs are delicious, I totally get it."
Briggs gave me a small smile.
"Mr. Hunter, we'll work on it," Porter said with a very serious nod.
I was surprised to see James smiling. "No, that's fine. I'm glad to know that she's being perceptive. I debriefed them on the Isabella situation. They'll be looking for her. If you don't notice her first."
I sighed with relief. "Great."
James put his arm around my shoulders. "We should probably get going."
"Did everybody else already head over?"
"Mhm."
"What about your detective friend?"
"Already taken care of."
"And Officer Kemp?"
"It's all taken care of. Let's go enjoy our night." He let go of my shoulder and slipped his hand into mine as he led me to the door.
"So everything went smoothly?" I asked as we stepped onto the elevator. I was surprised that Porter and Briggs didn't follow us on.
"Yes. You can stop worrying about it. It's going to be fine."
I nodded. If he thought it was fine, then I believed him. "Aren't Porter and Briggs supposed to be watching us?"
"They'll get the next elevator. It's not very discreet if they stay a foot away from us all the time. Besides, Isabella can't get into our apartment building, the front desk knows about the situation."
"So...what are their first names?"
James laughed.
"No, really, I'm dying to know."
"I think I should let you wheedle that out of them."
"You're seriously not going to tell me?"
"I don't want them to be mad at me," James said. He held my hand as we walked out onto the busy street and stopped on the crosswalk.
"Is this one of those things you'll tell me as soon as we're married? Like when Mason's going to propose to Bee?"
"Did I say I would tell you that? I don't remember saying that."
"James," I said and squeezed his hand. "You promised you'd tell me."
"Hmm. I promised?"
I laughed. "You know I'll get the information out of you."
"Oh, I have no doubt that you're capable of that." He smiled down at me. "You look beautiful, Penny."
"And you look very handsome." I ran my fingers down his tie. "Are you nervous at all?"
"About what? Tonight or tomorrow?"
"Both. Isn't it like a bad omen or something if the rehearsal goes poorly?"
"I don't think I've ever heard that before. But no, I'm not nervous. Are you?"
"Of course I am."
He turned his head away from me and stared at the Tavern on the Green in the distance.
"Not anything about you, James. I'm so sure about what we have. I just want everything to go perfectly, though. And our parents...James," I said and stopped in the middle of the path, almost making him trip. "We didn't tell your parents the wedding was back on! Did you call them?"
"Um...no. I didn't."
"We have to call them."
He lowered both his eyebrows. "No."
"You didn't hear your father last night. They care about you so much. They just..."
"They care about me?" James laughed. "If they cared about me at all, they would have called me last night to see if I was okay. They clearly didn't care that we broke up. So, fuck them. Both of them."
"My parents are expecting to meet them at the dinner tonight."
"I think they'll understand after the way they behaved at the engagement party they threw us."
"Well, I didn't tell them about that."
"Why not?"
"Because I didn't want my parents to dislike your parents before they even met them."
An exasperated laugh came out of James' mouth. "They should dislike them. I dislike them. Everyone dislikes them!"
"I just wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt."
James shook his head.
"If you think they knew about what Isabella was planning, they didn't. Your mom looked so shocked that her perfect daughter in law would do something like that.
And your father stuck up for me in front of her.
He wanted to hear what I had to say. It was the best conversation we had ever had, and I don't think it was just because they knew they had gotten rid of me.
Your mom even asked if I loved you. They care. "
"I'm sure Jen told them that the wedding was still on. If they want to be there tonight, they'll be there."
"It's different if they hear it from you, James. That you want them to come."
"But I don't want them to come. Penny. Hey.
" He put his hand on my cheek. "Tonight is about us.
Not about anyone else. There could be no one at the dinner tonight or the wedding tomorrow, and I wouldn't care.
I'm only going to focus on you either way.
This is about us agreeing to spend the rest of our lives together. "
"I know. But James, it's also about our families coming together."
"And our family is going to be there. Rob, Mason, Bee, Matt, Jen, Melissa...that's our family. You're my family."
"You know what I mean."
His fingers slid down my neck. "And your parents. And Mason and Matt's parents."
"Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell aren't your parents, though."
"I know. They're better than my parents. They were always nice to me growing up. Their house was like a safe haven."
"I just don't want you to regret your parents not being there."
"Like I said, it's their choice."
I took a deep breath. "Okay."
He leaned down and placed a soft kiss against my lips. "We're going to be late," he said and kissed me again.
"You know, I never understood the point of a rehearsal. Isn't it just walking down an aisle and standing there?"
He laughed. "Come on, Penny." He grabbed my hand and we quickened our pace toward the restaurant.
As we approached, I could see the big tree with the lights strung through it.
To me, that tree exuded all things romance.
And tomorrow night, James and I would be getting married underneath it.
Chairs were already set up on either side of an aisle.
My mom and dad were sitting in the front row to the left.
Mr. & Mrs. Caldwell were sitting in the front row on the right.
James' parents hadn't come. It hurt my heart, but James didn't seem to have any reaction.
"James!" Jen was the first one rushing toward us. She threw her arms around James' neck and he lifted her off her feet. "How's California treating you?" he said as he set her back down.
"Really, that's the intro you're going with? I heard you almost blew it with the best thing that's ever happened to you and you want to talk about California? Priorities, James," she said as she straightened his tie.
She threw her arms around me. "You look stunning. I never would have let this wedding not happen." She kissed my cheek and released me from her embrace.
I laughed and looked up at James. He was straightening his tie back to the way it had been before Jen had touched it. He met my gaze and smiled.
"Okay, so all they've said so far is that the bride's parents will sit on the left and the groom's on the right. Penny, is your dad walking you down the aisle?"
"Yes."
"Okay, I'll go grab him." She rushed off as quickly as she had come.
"So, what are we supposed to be doing?" James whispered in my ear.
I laughed. "I have no idea." I caught sight of Melissa standing off to the side, completely engrossed by her phone.
"Melissa?"
She immediately looked up from her phone and gave me a huge smile. "Penny, you look amazing in that dress," she said.
That had not been the reaction I was expecting at all. More like, tears and shoe throwing.
"Thanks, Melissa. Did you get my message? I know you probably..."
"It's okay. You know, sometimes I hate being right, but, it's really okay. I kind of knew it wasn't going to be a long term thing. Even though I was hoping it could be more. But I'm seriously okay."
She was saying 'okay' way too many times for someone who was actually okay. "Do you want to talk about what happened?"