Chapter Fifteen
Life went on, except when it went backward.
—The Temptress of Pecan Lane, by Mae Daniels
By the time Kaci’s wedding rolled around, Anna was waffling between utter sexual frustration and the giddy feeling that came from being thoroughly courted.
She mostly got why things with Jackson hadn’t progressed much since she fell in his trash can.
He’d gone TDY and then hunting a couple of times.
The one night they’d met for coffee, she’d been so exhausted that if she’d taken him up on his offer of a place to crash, she wouldn’t have made it past his front door, much less all the way to his bedroom.
He’d seemed to understand when she insisted she’d stay at Kaci’s instead.
But he’d texted. And she’d texted back. And he’d arranged to have Kaci deliver a few more notes and another box of chocolates, so when she put Kaci and Lance’s wedding gift in her car, she put an overnight bag next to it.
She was wearing her favorite aubergine chiffon dress. The cut was borderline unfashionable, but no one would notice. Not with the bridesmaid dresses that Kaci’s mom had picked out. Besides, she loved the way the smooth fabric brushed over her legs.
And she already knew it went well with Air Force mess dress.
Kaci had not only refused her offers of last-minute assistance, she’d forbidden Anna from arriving at The Harrington any earlier than twenty minutes before the ceremony.
Something about her mother, Yankee interference, and everyone’s constitution.
After the fallout of the last wedding Anna had attended at The Harrington, she was more afraid of infecting Kaci’s wedding with bad juju.
She arrived thirteen minutes before the ceremony. The parking spot she found two places down from Jackson’s truck had to be a good omen. Some of the tension that had popped up at the sight of the grandiose hotel melted away.
More tension dissipated when Jackson swung out of his truck the same time she stepped out of her car.
But then she spied someone who wouldn’t have been included on the guest list even if the wedding was in hell.
“Oh, shit,” she whispered.
He leaned against the building, well out of sight of the entrance around the corner, fidgeting with his phone. His tie was crooked and despite the pleasant seventy-two-degree weather, he’d already mopped his brow three times with a handkerchief.
She left the gift in her car but snagged her small purse so she’d have somewhere to stash her keys and phone, then gave Jackson two seconds to catch up. “Anna Grace?”
She latched onto his arm, ignoring the flutter in her heart from touching him, and pulled him toward Dr. Kelly. “How are you with distracting retired colonels who are crashing their ex-wives’ wedding?” she murmured, looking anywhere but at him and the bronze oak leaves on his shoulders.
She hoped like hell after this wedding she’d be stripping a man out of uniform.
Especially since Neil had nothing on Jackson. The uniform had made Neil look good, but Jackson made the uniform look good.
“I, ah, he—what?”
She nodded toward Dr. Kelly. “Kaci’s ex,” she whispered.
Jackson’s face twisted into an expression that made her wonder if his momma knew he knew those ungentlemanly words. His lips settled into a resigned line. “Gonna owe me for this one, Anna Grace.”
“Got an overnight bag in my car.”
He didn’t twitch a single muscle, but his eyes turned to midnight. “Got a pie in it?”
She laughed. “Something better.”
Dr. Kelly looked at both of them, and his eyes narrowed.
Jackson nudged Anna forward. “Works for me.”
Kaci’s ex looked ready to bolt, and not toward the parking lot, so Anna stepped up her pace. “Hi, Dr. Kelly,” she called. “Beautiful day, isn’t it?”
Jackson gave a soft snort. “Smooth, Anna Grace.”
She elbowed him. Dr. Kelly angled closer to the corner.
“Whew, this place is crawling with military guys today,” she said. “Weren’t you—”
“Evening, sir,” Jackson interrupted, sticking his hand out. “Been a while.”
Dr. Kelly clasped Jackson’s hand. “Stuck it out this long, have you?” the older man said. He spared another eyeball toward Anna before focusing on Jackson again. “Thought after AFIT, you’d hook up with Boeing.”
She stifled a surprised squeak. Neil always said it was a small Air Force. Guess it was true.
“Not in it for the money.” Jackson nudged her.
“Nice to see you,” she murmured, and slunk around the side of the building to let Jackson handle it.
She thought Kaci probably owed him for that one, but she was willing to take one for the team and pay her friend’s debt.
She was a giver like that.
She pushed through the revolving door and into the reception area. Clumps of people in fancy attire milled about the room in a disorganized line to the ballroom.
The ballroom where her marriage had evaporated.
Hoo-boy.
“Anna?” A somewhat familiar, lanky, brunette captain approached. She flashed a smile at Anna, her brown eyes keenly observant. The wings on her mess dress flashed.
Anna didn’t know much about Lance’s sister beyond her call sign and that she flew fighters—and that Jackson had once asked her out—but if anyone fit the bill as a relative of Lance’s, this woman did. “Lightning?”
She tipped her head up when she laughed. “Cheri, please. Kaci’s asking for you.”
“Everything okay?”
“Mostly.” She leaned in and lowered her voice while they picked through the crowd. “Kaci’s momma insisted on doing everyone’s makeup. You see the bridesmaids yet? Her momma’s turning this wedding into Steel Magnolias meets That Seventies Show.”
Instead of heading toward the ballroom, Cheri led her up the back stairs to the second floor. She slid a key-card into the door slot, then pushed in. “Kaci? Found her.”
“Thanks, sugar.” Kaci poked her head out of the bathroom, looking like an albino raccoon with purple lips. She shooed Cheri away. “Go on and make sure our mommas aren’t fighting over that big flower to-do, will you?”
Cheri inclined her head, her brown eyes flashing in easy amusement. “Yes, ma’am.” The door clicked shut behind her.
Kaci yanked Anna into the bathroom. “Ol’ grandpappy’s here, isn’t he?
” Her pulse fluttered in her neck. She grabbed onto the yards of lace enveloping her, twitched it between her fingers, dropped it, then grabbed it again.
“I swear I saw his car drive up when I was looking to see if Lance was here yet.”
“Did you invite him?”
Kaci cocked her head and planted a fist on her hip. “Do I look like I need more wedding drama?”
She looked like she needed a tequila shot and a ticket to Vegas. “Kaci. Forget your mother. Forget your ex-husband. Forget the flowers. You’re here today to marry Lance, and that’s what matters, right?”
Kaci’s hands wobbled. Her lips crumpled.
“You’d tell me if I was making a mistake, right?
” She flitted her hand at the door. Her engagement ring caught the light and sparkled in the mirror.
“My momma, she says she ain’t doing this so I can ditch another one.
I didn’t ask her to do it at all, but what if I’m not really the marrying kind?
Or what if I am the marrying kind, but I’m not the being married kind? ”
Her eyes shone with unshed tears. Anna’s heart squeezed for her friend. “What’s the first thing you do every morning?”
Kaci visibly swallowed. She nodded. “Go on.”
“Who’s the first person you call with good or bad news?”
“Keep talking, sugar.”
“Who do you trust more than anyone to understand what you need, when you need it?”
A crocodile tear rolled down Kaci’s overly rouged cheek. “Ol’ grandpappy never got it.”
“If you saw them side-by-side, would you still take Lance, or would you walk away from both of them?”
Kaci smacked her. “Quit talking stupid. Of course I’d marry Lance.”
Anna smiled. “Then what’s the problem?”
“No problem.” Kaci yanked her skirt and adjusted the girls. “You go on and get lined up for your seat. I’ve got a man to get hitched to.”
She gestured to Kaci’s face. “You want some help with that first?”
“Lordy, yes.”
She pulled a small stash of makeup wipes from her purse, and the two of them went to work making Kaci look like Kaci again. “So, if ol’ grandpappy did show up,” Anna said nonchalantly, “it wouldn’t bother you?”
Kaci’s brow furrowed. “You know what? I don’t think it would.”
“Even if he made a scene?”
Kaci dropped her eyeliner. “Did that man make a scene at my wedding before it even started?”
“Not yet.” Anna glanced at her phone. “At least, not that I’m aware of.”
“Hmph.” Kaci grabbed the liner again and leaned into the mirror. “It’d be a story for the grandkids if he did.”
“You are one-hundred-percent certain you’re divorced from him, right?”
Kaci smacked her in the arm again. “Someday I’m gonna be asking you the same question. Won’t be so funny then.”
“Go ahead and keep telling yourself that.”
Kaci leaned back, blinked at her reflection, and then grinned so big the subtle lines that spoke her age popped out. The door to the room clicked, and stale air filtered in.
“Ready, Kaci?” Cheri asked. “Your momma’s having a conniption down there about the music going on too long. And Lance is starting to look nervous.”
“Go on and tell Lance he doesn’t have a thing to worry about,” Kaci said.
“He’s gonna be stuck with me soon enough.
He can wait another three minutes. And ignore my momma.
She’s hell-bent on not being happy enough with this since we wouldn’t take it back to Mississippi, so there’s no sense in even trying. ”
“Yes, ma’am.” She looked at Anna. “But can I borrow you for a minute?”
“Go on and take her,” Kaci said. “I got one last thing to do.” She blinked rapidly and gestured up to the ceiling. “Promised my daddy I’d give him a minute on my day.”