Chapter 2
chapter
two
Liam
I hang up the phone and immediately get to work on booking plane tickets for both of us as well as a hotel room. I do some preliminary research on chapels and mark down a few to make inquiries about.
My phone pings on the desk next to me, and I see it’s the group chat from my buddies. At one point, we were all in the same unit for ARMY Rangers, but now we’re civilians running a dog sanctuary together.
EVAN: Did I miss it? I’m gonna be pissed if I missed it.
ME: Miss what?
EVAN: Beau’s ass kicking.
BEAU: Ass kicking?
BEAU: What are you talking about?
BEAU: Flynn is here with me now. He’s the big spoon to my little spoon.
FLYNN: For fuck’s sake.
These guys are fucking nuts. But I love them. I am glad to know that Flynn didn’t kill Beau for hooking up with Flynn’s younger sister.
Beau’s always been the wildest one in our group. He was the grenadier though, and that’s kind of what you need to have someone go into unknown situations and blow shit up. But seeing him with Daisy, watching him fall in love with a woman pregnant with another man’s baby, has been pretty fucking cool.
FLYNN: For the record, I am spooning my wife.
EVAN: So there was no ass kicking?
EVAN: Y’all suck.
ROMEO: I’ll kick your ass, Evan, if you really need me to.
ME: Now, that I would watch.
JACK: Why must we have these group chats at all hours of the day?
DANE: Because they don’t have warm, willing women to spend their time with.
FLYNN: Some of us do.
I suppose I should tell them about what I’m about to do. Especially since I’ll be away from work for a few days. Right now we all have unofficial jobs at the sanctuary. Mine is coordinating with shelters and other non-profits to bring in new dogs that are in danger of being euthanized. Or dogs that have been in abusive and neglectful situations. But I can do most of that from anywhere.
I’ll just make sure that Dane is looped into any of my communication so he can manage things on-site.
ME: While we’re all here, I’m leaving town for a few days.
ROMEO: Everything okay?
ME: I’m getting married.
EVAN: Say what, now?
BEAU: Have you been secretly dating someone?
FLYNN: Not everyone dates in secret.
BEAU: For the record, we haven’t even been on an official date. We were just cohabitating.
FLYNN: That does not make me feel better.
BEAU: I plan to remedy that very soon.
EVAN: There could still be a fight.
ROMEO: Kids! Be quiet and let the adults talk. Liam, details.
ME: An old friend. Widow of an even older friend.
ME: Custody issue.
ME: We’re meeting in Vegas.
ME: I’ll have more details when we get back.
ROMEO: Is this a good thing?
ME: It’s complicated.
ME: But it’s the right thing.
EVAN: Another one bites the dust.
EVAN: That just leaves me and you, Romeo.
ROMEO: I’m not marrying you, kid.
BEAU: Good luck.
ME: Thanks.
BEAU: Daisy and I are official.
DANE: I knew you were different.
FLYNN: It’s annoying that he loves her.
FLYNN: I really wanted to kick his ass.
BEAU: But I do love her. More than anything.
FLYNN: I can’t kick his ass when he’s being good to my sister. But if he steps out of line.
EVAN: I’ll hold him down.
ROMEO: Bloodthirsty much, kid?
JACK: Seriously. Evan, you’re our medic. What happened to do no harm?
EVAN: If I’m not the one harming someone, then it’s fair game.
ROMEO: You need to get out more.
DANE: Just be patient. Saddle Creek has a festival about every three weeks.
BEAU: Really?
DANE: Not quite, but it feels like that sometimes.
DANE: Small towns in Texas gotta celebrate everything.
ROMEO: I’m going back to bed. See you fuckers at work later.
I send a copy of my flight information to Dane and Romeo, then send Wren hers. I’m about to silence my phone when it pings with another text. This one is outside of the group chat, though.
ROMEO: Is this that bird girl?
ME: If by ‘bird girl’ you mean Wren, then yes.
ROMEO: So you’re finally getting what you want.
ME: That’s not what this is about. She needs my help.
ROMEO: And the fact that you get to marry the girl you’ve loved your entire life doesn’t matter?
ME: This isn’t about me.
ME: Colt’s parents are suing for custody of her son.
ME: Remarrying will protect her from that happening.
ROMEO: You bringing them back here to live with you?
ME: Of course. She’s gonna be my fucking wife. I’m not leaving her in Tennessee.
ROMEO: Well, I look forward to meeting the woman who has had you in knots the entire time I’ve known you.
ME: Fuck you. Wait until you meet someone, tough guy.
ROMEO: I meet someones all the time.
ME: Fucker.
But even after I silence my phone, I’m not able to silence Romeo’s voice in my head.
He’s not wrong about how I feel about Wren. How I’ve always felt about her.
In high school, she wasn’t just the girl I loved from afar. She was also one of my best friends. I would have made a play for her back then, but I didn’t have shit to offer her. I knew she deserved better than what I could give her.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I might have had a plan that involved getting my shit together and coming home a hero ready to sweep her off her feet.
Needless to say, that plan died a brutal death when I found out she was married to my other best friend, Colt.
Their marriage just about killed me, but I tried to make my peace with it. I knew he could give the kind of financial and personal stability I never could. I wanted a good life for her. And if he’d made her happy, I would have stayed away forever.
Hell, even when I got wind that he wasn’t making her happy, I stayed away. It wasn’t my place to interfere. Wren has always been strong and single-minded. I knew if she needed my help, she would ask for it. She never did.
Until now.
Now that she needs me, I’ll move heaven and earth to do right by her.