20. Oakley
CHAPTER TWENTY
oakley
“Is this really happening?” I choke out, not because I’m unhappy. For the first time in a long time, I’m enjoying life and it’s all due to the man in the swim trunks and his bare chest holding a ring that cost more than my car.
“It is. I know it’s sudden, so if you need time…”
“I don’t need time. Just you. Yes, I’ll marry you. Now Dixie will have a daddy, and I’ll have a husband.” Her words trail off like our arrangement is just hitting her.
“And I’ll have a wife and a dog to go on runs with. To eat dinner with. To make love to.” He slides the ring on my finger and pulls me down on his lap to a chorus of cheers. God, how I want that last one to be true. It doesn’t go unnoticed by me that he doesn’t utter the words I love you. Damn, he’s a good actor.
Corbin gives me a panty-melting kiss, and I push him onto his back on the pool deck. His hands swarm my back, and I feel him getting hard against my stomach. Knocking us out of our moment, a voice I haven’t heard before says, “Get a room.”
Gently, Corbin lifts us to standing, and he doesn’t look happy.
“Dousier, go home,” Corbin demands.
“This isn’t your house. You’re not the captain of the party.” He slurs his words. Corbin comes chest to chest with him and whispers something in his ear with his jaw tight.
Dousier says, “I’ll leave this time, but why are you asking this girl to marry you when you’re busy with Gloria?”
A hush falls. “Out. If you don’t leave now, I’m talking to management.”
Dousier leaves but on his way out, he throws out a bombshell. “Have fun with the owner’s daughter. I’m sure he’ll be pleased you asked his daughter to marry you in a pool.”
“What?”
“You’re the owner's daughter?”
And many more questions come from his friends and their girlfriends or wives.
“Mr. Beech is my father, but I just recently found out. I don’t know him—at all,” I explain.
“Is this to fix your reputation, Shearer?” Baker asks.
“Of course not. I met Oakley before she knew he was her father. He has no say in this,” Corbin says in a defensive tone.
For a moment, everyone quiets but then Winnie yells, “Champagne. We need champagne.” And just like that, we’re drinking champagne and celebrating our engagement.
We tell the story of our truck stop meet cute. He gives them the play by play of the wedding we attended. Then he says, “But when she stole my truck, she stole my heart.”
Through buzzed glasses, I can’t tell if he’s being honest or just playing the part.
Soon, everyone is slurring words when Winnie says, “Can I marry you two?”
Corbin’s eyes drift to me, and he says, “I’m game. But we need to be married officially.”
Winnie jumps up and down. “I’m a licensed officiant. I married my best friend and her husband last week in the Bahamas.”
My eyes open wider. “When?”
“Now!” Winnie shouts in excitement.
Within seconds, everyone chants. “Now. Now.”
The guys and the girls get caught up in the excitement and before I know it, Corbin is kissing me. “Marry me tonight.”
“Yes.”
The girls take me to Winnie’s room. She cuts some white material and bobby pins it to my head, then grabs plants from a vase and hands them to me.
When we return to the patio, Corbin is wearing a white linen shirt along with his swim trunks.
Winnie moves by his side, and Adam interlaces his arm with mine. I guess we’re buddies since we won the pool volleyball game. “Are you ready to marry your prince charming?” he asks.
Smiling from ear to ear, I nod and say, “Are you walking me down the patio?”
I Can Love You Like That , by John Michael Montgomery plays over the outside speakers, and that’s our cue. The guests are sitting in mismatched chairs from the different patio sets. And my man is rocking back and forth on his feet. It’s mystifying how this all came to be. When Adam walks me to him, he blows out a breath. “You’re breathtaking.”
“I’m in a bathing suit.”
“Even better,” he says as he takes my hand from Adam’s arm. “Are you sure you want to do this? Now?”
“Sure, we’ll have one fantastic fairy tale to tell our kids,” I scratch out. My emotions have culminated in this moment, and the margaritas are making it worse. I’m getting married to a man so generous and caring, he’s willing to do this even though he doesn’t love me. Hell. He barely tolerates me on most days, but tonight—he likes me. He wants me. Unless this is all part of his plan.
Whatever dreams I had about my wedding day, the only one that mattered was my mom being present.
Winnie begins the ceremony. “We’re gathered poolside to bring together two extraordinary people in marriage. I mean, they have to be right? Who gets married on the same night they get engaged? Corbin and Oakley, that’s who. Corbin, do you take Oakley to be your lawfully wedded wife?”
“Yes, lawfully is the key.”
His friends chuckle, but they have no idea how serious he is and that it has to be lawful.
“Do you promise to love and cherish her until death do you part?”
Our eyes lock in place, and he doesn’t hesitate, “I do.”
With tears threatening to start a waterfall, I drop my head, not wanting him to see how much I want him to believe his words. He brings his thumb to my chin and tilts it up, seeing the waterworks. He whispers, “I do.”
Tucking my lips between my teeth, I nod.
I whisper back, “I wish my mom was here.”
“Me too, baby. Because she raised one hell of a funny and intelligent woman.”
It’s becoming harder to hold my tears back, so I say, “Hurry up, Winnie.”
After answering the same way as Corbin, she says, “You may kiss your bride.”
Corbin takes his big, warm, calloused hands and cups my jaw, just staring at me like I’m a beautiful piece of art that he finds alluring. Taking me in, he inches closer, and his lips slowly latch onto mine, lulling me into a dream state.
When we break the kiss, his friends clap and raise their glasses. Winnie pronounces us man and wife, and Corbin says, “Mrs. Shearer, may I have this dance?”
My stomach flutters when he laces his fingers through mine, and the stereo system plays, She’s My Everything , by Brad Paisley, and I suck in a deep breath as he twirls me into his chest. I’m so overwhelmed with emotion but somehow, I ask, “Did you pick the music?”
“I did. Do you like it?”
“Thank you for making this feel…”
“Real. It is real. We’re married. Come here,” he says, holding me close, moving me around the edge of the pool.
When the song is over, the crew passes out more champagne. “Do you have a liquor store in your basement?” I question Stinson before Corbin hands me a stem. They insist that we lace our arms through each other before we take a drink. We both down the golden bubbles. Now that we’ve done this, we may need some liquid courage.
Everyone joins us for dancing. We change partners like we’re square dancing in elementary school. I watch him dance with other women, and I don’t feel jealous. Why? Because every time I glance over at him—he’s focused on me. I feel a blush creep up and over my skin.
Corbin steps back from Chloe when the last song plays. “Since we only get the weekend for our honeymoon, we’re going to head out.”
“We can’t drive. No one can.”
“Don’t worry, I ordered a driver from the car service.”
As Corbin and I make our way through the sparkling path, from what must be leftover sparklers from July 4 th , I can't help but feel like a celebrity. It's like something out of a movie, walking hand in hand with my new husband as people I barely know cheer and wave sparklers in celebration and possibly drunkenness. However, amidst all the momentary excitement, I must remember that is all for show.
None of it is for us.