17. Andy
ANDY
“Mischief, I’ve never had to fake loving you.”
This time, when Jedd’s lips find mine, I can feel the truth of his words. I squeeze my eyes shut and savor the feeling of his kiss. My heart soars in my chest before I can stop it, and I gasp lightly against him.
I want this to be real so bad that I’ve deluded myself into thinking that word means the same thing to him that it means to me.
But it can’t.
He’s made it more than clear over the years that all I’ll ever be to him is a friend.
Right?
Right?
When he pulls away, I keep my eyes closed for a beat, drowning myself in the brief moment as long as I can without looking like a weirdo sitting up here lying to our friends and family—those of them who aren’t in on the ruse.
“Look at me,” Jedd demands softly, and I comply. His gaze is on me, fiery and a little bit feral.
“I have never faked anything with you. I’ve loved you since before I knew what the word meant.”
“Wh—what?” I’m so confused. Of course he loves me … as a friend. I know that—I’m not completely stupid.
I open my mouth to tell him that I love him too—like I always do—when the music changes.
Duke’s set up behind the makeshift DJ table that holds a Bluetooth sound system and his phone.
“Okay, everyone. It’s time for Jedd and Andy’s first dance. Now they didn’t give us a preferred song, so we took the liberty of choosing for them.” He chuckles a little.
Oh no. “What the hell did your brothers do?”
Jedd comes out of the bubble that we were in at the same time. He swallows a long drag from his beer before setting the bottle down on the table with an audible thud.
“I have no idea, might as well go with it.” He stands up and holds his hand out to me.
I take it on autopilot, and we walk out to the center of the tables where the dancing is supposed to take place, his hand warm and dry in mine.
He pulls me to him, lightly wrapping his arms around my waist as the familiar sound of “Meet in the Middle” by Diamond Rio starts to play.
Relief has my shoulders dropping as I wrap my arms around Jedd. I should have known Duke wouldn’t do anything funny. Rhett and Finch? Absolutely, but Duke’s steady, and I know it was either him or Harlan that picked the song.
I listen as the band sings about meeting your other half in the middle and weathering life together as Jedd and I sway.
“We’re not done with that conversation,” Jedd says about halfway through the song.
Still confused, still coiled—waiting for the other shoe to drop—I only nod, unable to think of what to say. I need to understand what he meant.
Could it be possible?
No. That’s stupid. Why would he feel even a fraction for me what I feel for him? Why wouldn’t he have said anything before? I’m getting ahead of myself again.
I swore off men for more than a night of fun blowing off steam while I was still in cosmetology school. Between all the trouble men brought my mother and years of watching Alex make the same mistakes, I knew that long-term wasn’t for me. Not with the track record of the women in my family.
Instead of looking to a man for that stability, I made myself stable. Independence isn’t just a learned trait for me, it’s so deeply ingrained that it might as well be blood and bone in my body.
Jedd just means he loves me as a friend. Not the same type of love I feel for him.
Nothing more. Nothing less. We’ll get it cleared up and carry on with this plan until we both get our goals accomplished, and then I’ll go back to being his best friend—only.
“Hey. Give that back,” Duke barks.
I look over to find Rhett shoving Duke toward Finch, who grabs him and keeps him from the phone, which is no small feat.
Out of all the brothers, Duke is the tallest and the broadest. Suddenly, the song ends and the guitar riff and drums of Judas Priest “Breaking the Law” blasts through the speakers.
Oh god.
My internal groan is cut off when Rhett steals the microphone.
“We thought that this song might be a little more apt for the couple of the hour …” Rhett laughs.
Light chuckles sound from around me and are accompanied by Jedd’s deep rumble of a chuckle and the tension drops out of my shoulders.
I laugh with them and shake my head at Finch and Rhett. Most of the people here won’t get the reference—they’ll likely think that the song is a nod to the way Jedd and I have spent the last two decades pranking each other.
But I get it. My new brothers-in-law are poking fun at this scheme, and I feel lighter with the release of anxiety I’ve been holding onto all day.
I step back from Jedd and start dancing in wild arm waves and hip shakes as the song demands. He grins and joins me. Then Piper appears and steps between us so she’s dancing with Jedd. Harlan moves into my line of sight and grins before he does a really bad shopping cart move.
I let the hilarity of the moment banish the heavy and laugh with my family.
My feet feel like overcooked bratwurst by the time the night winds down.
Stars twinkle above the tree line, shining down on us as we wave off Dawn after packing her buffet gear into her car.
I changed into a more comfortable dress about halfway through the evening, but didn’t bring extra shoes, so I was stuck in my heels.
Har and Maisie are talking to Jedd in the living room, and they hand him an envelope as I dip into the bathroom to pee. Once I’m done and reemerge into the room, it’s empty except for Jedd.
“Ready to head out?” he asks, and I nod. He brushes his hand down my back.
“Where’s Piper?” I ask as we walk through the house.
“Staying with Har and Maisie tonight,” Jedd says as he reaches the front door. “They offered to keep her and …”
“And what?” I ask, turning to face him fully. His tie is gone, and the top button of his shirt is undone. He looks relaxed and light as he waves the envelope in his hands.
“They uh … they got us a suite up at the resort and some spa treatments for tomorrow. Said they’d drop Piper off after dinner with enough time to get her into bed for school.”
What? A suite? At the resort?
Oh boy.
We’re going to be alone together for the night. I assumed that Jedd would just go back to his apartment and me to my cottage until he moved in tomorrow.
I did not expect a suite up at the resort or to spend the night alone with my new husband.
Holy shit.
Jedd is my husband.
My blood rushes and my hands start to tremble at the influx of adrenaline from the thought.
Jedd Calhoun is my husband.
Before it was an abstract thought born from the logistics of us getting married.
But now? Here? At the end of the night after marrying him.
Shit is getting real.
And I don’t know what to do with the flush of emotions.
Giddiness that he’s mine—even if only on paper.
Anxiety that something is going to go wrong.
Nerves at the thought of spending the night alone.
“Come on, Mischief,” Jedd says and grabs my hand, pulling me toward the door.
If he caught my mini internal freak out just now, he doesn’t show it, and I don’t know what to think about that.
Jem picked me up this morning, so I don’t have my Jeep with me.
A shower of glittery confetti clouds us the second we step foot on the porch accompanied by hoots and shouting from the guys and Piper.
All of whom are holding hand canons of the stuff.
“Really guys?” I say as I brush thin strips of colorful paper out of my face.
“It was Uncle Jedd’s idea. He said now that glitter is back on the menu …” Piper trails off, pinching her lips shut, and I turn to cock a brow at the man in a whole lot of trouble.
“Oh he did, did he?” I say sweetly.
I will make him eat those words and his weight in fine grit sparkles before winter is done.
“I mean … You did glitter me first,” he says sheepishly.
“After you dyed me pink. But don’t you worry, I’ll remember that, Jedidiah.”
He laughs. “Do your worst.”
Oh. I will.
“Pip, come here for a minute.” I walk around the group to the other side of the porch, and Piper follows me.
I squat down to hit eye level with her.
“You going to be okay going to Uncle Har’s tonight?” I ask once we’re out of earshot from the group.
Piper’s updo has started to fall, her face framed in the same red curls I have, and I love the smile playing at the edges of her lips.
Today was all for her and it makes me so happy to see her happy.
“Yeah! Maisie said I can help with Audra’s bath,” she says, dancing on her toes, like she’s excited to get going.
“Okay. You’ll be good for them?”
Piper nods. “Yep. Can I go now? This dress is getting itchy.”
I tuck a curl behind her ear. “You can go. Uncle Har can call me or Jedd if you need us at all, okay?”
“Okay,” she says and hugs me hard before bounding off toward where Harlan and Maisie are waiting for her.
I walk back to Jedd, and we go through another round of hugs before making it to his truck.
“Can we swing by my place, so I can get some clothes?” I ask when we pull out of the driveway.
“The girls packed you a bag. It’s in the back.” He tosses a thumb over his shoulder, and I look back, seeing the duffle from the top of my closet.
“Goddamn. Are those two magic or what?” I say, and Jedd shrugs.
Comfortable silence fills the cab. The two of us coming down from the high of the day and the epic party his family threw for us at the drop of a hat.
I’m still nervous about the idea of us spending the night together because I doubt that it’s going to be like any of our other sleepovers.
No, neither of us fell asleep on the other’s couch.
It’s our wedding night, and somehow, someway, that feels new and different and strange and odd all at once.
Is he going to want to talk?
I don’t think I’m ready for the talk that I know we need to have. About this, us, Piper, the case, everything.
I take a deep breath, trying not to borrow trouble. I’m tired. Jedd’s tired. And after the heavy interrupted conversation earlier, we let the subject drop. We have plenty of time to talk, plenty of time to figure this out.
I danced with everyone twice—at least. Duke flipped me over his shoulder in an attempt at swing dancing that almost broke my neck, and I nearly wet myself. Finch crushed my toes, per usual. Hal twirled me around like a father dancing with his daughter as Dawn swayed with Jedd.
Jedd and I both had to wipe our eyes after that dance. I know that Jedd would have loved to have had his mom with us today, but I’m glad that Dawn, his mom’s best friend, could be here for him.
The day was perfect. Everything a real wedding should have. Good food, good friends, good emotions, and all the feels.
I am exhausted, but in a good way. The type of exhausted that leaves your heart full and your soul glowing from all the love of the people around you.
“Andy.” A soft touch brushes along my thigh, and I pry my eyes open. “We’re here.”
“Did I doze off?” I swear we just got into the truck, but Jedd’s parked in front of the entrance to the resort. Since it’s still technically the off season, there aren’t a lot of cars in the lot.
“Yeah. Pretty exhausting day, right?”
I nod and shove open my door. Jedd passes his keys to the valet before grabbing our bags out of the back. He starts through the sophisticated lobby and to the front desk, giving them his name. The attendant smiles at us knowingly before passing him a set of room keys.
In the elevator, it’s everything I can do to keep my eyes open. I am dead on my feet, and it’s still at least a half hour of washing my makeup off and taking my hair down before I can crash.
I shake my head lightly to hopefully knock some energy into myself as the elevator opens on our floor.
Jedd steps up to the door and swipes the key card before pushing open the door. I stifle a yawn and trail behind him.
When he said suite, I assumed it would be at least two rooms. I should have known better.
Those meddling meddlers.
There’s a giant bed in the middle of the room—already turned down. A low table holds a bouquet of bright red roses in a vase next to two flutes around a bucket of ice chilling the champagne and a tray of chocolate-covered strawberries.
“Oh fuck,” Jedd says as I come to the same realization he does.
This isn’t just any suite.
I grab the envelope he dropped on the table and examine the printed reservation Harlan and Maisie put in here.
The honeymoon suite. Of fucking course they did.
I shake my head. “Jokes on them. One bed doesn’t bother us.” I can’t count the number of times I’ve woken up in bed next to Jedd after nodding off on his couch.
Jedd laughs uncomfortably, and I glance at him.
“You okay?” I ask. Even though I know the answer. He’s probably as off-kilter as I am. The two of us trying our best to fit back into the “just friends” square peg, now faced with a much smaller round hole.
He nods and hands me my bag. “You can have the bathroom first.”
Too tired to argue, I take the bag and close myself away.
It’s not until my face has been scrubbed and my hair is in the loose braids I wear it to bed that I realize the honeymoon suite was just the beginning.
A sea of lace and silk greets me as I pull open the duffle bag of “clothes” that the girls packed for me. Every single thing in this bag is neither mine, nor used. Tags adorn every single lovingly stitched piece of lingerie Maisie and Jem could cram in here around my skin and hair care products.
I’m going to kill them.
Kill them dead and then somehow resurrect them and kill them dead again.
I pull piece after piece out of the bag, each one racier than the last. I almost give up on finding anything when I pull out a crotchless black lace body suit. Tucked just under it is a dark green floral slip of silk with a white piece of folded paper on it.
Andy. I’m sorry. I couldn’t stop her, but I hope this helps … at least a little.
-M
The spaghetti strapped cami and silk sleep shorts are the most modest thing in here. Maisie has earned a little bit of a reprieve from the majority of my wrath, but she’s definitely not safe.
Those sneaky little shits.