Chapter Eight
“Where’s the bride?” Yawning, Amy pulled out the chair beside her friend Linda.
“She should be down any minute. I left her cooing on the phone with Bryce.”
By the time Amy had gotten home last night, her friends had already gone to sleep and left her a message to meet at the terrace for breakfast at seven.
Still being on California time, the early hour should have been easy.
Too bad she’d spent the better part of the night tossing and turning.
What she’d hoped for, once she and Ray had returned to the hotel, was a chance at an uninterrupted good-night kiss.
Instead she’d run smack into an overprotective brother, practically standing guard in the hall, until she and Ray were safely behind separate closed doors.
Curled up in bed, she’d relived that one little kiss over and over in her mind until sleep finally won out somewhere near the crack of dawn.
Amy’s phone buzzed with a text. Emily’s number. Meet us for breakfast?
Already on terrace, she texted back.
Great. On our way.
For a split second she considered adding she was having breakfast with her friends, and Doug would be outnumbered, but she figured, if the guy could survive the Persian Gulf, he could survive a table of women.
“Amy,” a familiar voice called out. Lisa scurried in her direction. “Is this the other bride?”
“Other?” Linda asked.
“Nope. The maid of honor, Linda.” Amy waved between the two ladies. “This is Lisa, the other maid of honor.”
“Hey.” Tish came up behind Lisa. A round of nice to meet yous were exchanged, and Tish extended her hand to Linda. “You must be the other bride.”
Linda shot Amy a what the heck is everyone talking about look just as Courtney stepped out of the elevator with Carrie at her side.
“That”—Amy pointed to Carrie—“is the other bride.” Amy turned her attention back to Linda. “On the tour yesterday we made friends with another group. Courtney, the redhead has the same idea for the perfect destination wedding as Carrie. Here.”
Another elevator opened and out came Doug, Emily, and Matt.
“Here?” Linda repeated.
“On Saturday too,” Lisa added.
“What’s on Saturday too?” Carrie was the first of the brides to reach the table.
“Your wedding.” Brows furrowed, Linda looked as though she’d sucked on a lemon. Shifting her gaze to the left, she waved an extended finger at Courtney. “And hers.”
“Oh.” Courtney’s face lit up. “You must be the other bride?”
Linda rolled her eyes. Emily, Doug, and Matt walked up to the table, and another round of introductions and explanations ensued as nearby tables and chairs were pulled over to accommodate the larger group.
Another couple with a baby arrived, and Amy glanced toward the elevators.
Still no Ray. During the earlier chair-shuffling on the terrace, the women had wound up at one end of the table and the men at the other.
The elevators had come and gone so many times since the entire group had arrived that Amy had finally stopped looking in that direction every time the ding sounded and got caught up in the telling of how Carrie wound up canceling her big, stressful wedding.
“I love my mom, really I do,” Carrie repeated. “But I swear, if I heard her complain one more time about inviting Uncle Herbie’s new wife under protest or how it would be easier to do a seating chart for the Hatfields and McCoys than for our family, I would have strangled her with my bare hands.”
“My mother is a bit … different,” Courtney said, glancing at her friend Lisa.
Amy figured there was a story there but Carrie was on a roll.
“Good morning.”
The raspy male voice coming from behind Amy startled her stiff. Pressing her hand to her chest, she willed her heart to slow. At first from the surprise and now from the sight of Ray smiling down at her.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.” Ray dragged a chair beside her, forcing Lisa to shift down the table to make room.
It shouldn’t have made her smile so wide, but having him sit by her instead of in the empty seat at the other end of the table with all the guys sent her heart racing again.
She hadn’t let herself think he was avoiding her this morning.
But deep down she had worried that maybe the vacation romance had run its course.
He leaned over and whispered in a low, soothing tone, “Sorry I was late. I finally gave up on a good night’s sleep, so I hit the beach for a jog.”
Her heart warmed at his words. “Yeah, I had a hard time sleeping too.”
“It’s all because of Amy.” A female voice interrupted their tête-à-tête.
At the sound of her name, Amy shifted her attention to the women’s side of the table.
“Getting married in Honolulu beats Vegas hands-down,” Carrie announced. “Neither place requires residency or waiting time, so why not Hawaii?”
“Absolutely,” Courtney added. “And Melissa, the in-house wedding planner, was a main selling point for me.”
“Me too.” Carrie bubbled with excitement.
The two bridal parties continued batting wedding details back and forth, and Amy did her best to keep up with the conversation, even though her mind was stuck on Ray not being able to sleep either.
“Oh, my gosh,” Carrie squealed. “My fiancé is arriving today too.”
Courtney glanced down at her phone. “At least your fiancé isn’t at the mercy of the United States Navy.”
The similarities in the two brides’ wedding plans were almost eerie.
“It’s like that old song—twin sisters of different mothers.” Carrie squealed again.
Shaking her head, Amy wondered when the heck did her calm and sensible roommate morph into a squealing teen?
She overheard the men talking of golf games and bachelor parties, and now she wondered if she would have any time to spend with Ray or if the multitude of prewedding plans the two groups had scheduled would eat up the whole day.
Almost dizzy from all the chatter, Amy stole a glance in Ray’s direction and caught him smiling at her. Their gazes lingered a little longer than they probably should have, but, when his hand brushed hers under the table and then linked fingers, she couldn’t bring herself to look away.
As the decibel of the conversation grew even louder at the table, Amy found herself actually relieved when the last bill was paid, and one by one the group of new friends pushed away from the table.
With all the different plans shot back and forth, she wasn’t sure where she was supposed to be or when, but once again Ray held her hand, and she decided wherever he went was good enough for her.
At least until Carrie told her otherwise.
“We’ve got free time until Bryce’s flight arrives this afternoon.” Carrie stopped midway to the elevators. “I’ll confirm with the front desk that all the rooms are ready for my folks and the other guests.”
“Yeah, better confirm they’re all on our floor,” Linda chimed in.
“Are you nuts?” Carrie laughed. “That’s the last thing I want. If the hotel had another building, I’d put all my relatives out there.”
Amy and Linda both laughed. Carrie was right. Mrs. Clarke was a really nice lady, but she was queen of the meddling mothers.
“I suppose I should follow up on my maid of honor duties and double-check that our reservations for the Wine and Cheese Board tonight are set.” Linda flipped her wrist and, tossing out an impish grin, looked at her bare arm. “Shall we synchronize our watches?”
Sensible Carrie had returned, rolling her eyes. “Hardy har har. I’ll catch you upstairs later.” She whirled around to Amy, glanced at the clasped hands between her and Ray, and smiled. “I guess I’ll see you whenever.”
Amy grinned at her friend. She’d just been officially let off the day’s schedule. “Later.”
Doug and Emily sidled up beside Amy. She noticed again the way Doug drilled Ray with an intense stare. She wasn’t sure what to make of this whole protective-big-brother routine, but the novelty was starting to lose its luster.
“Mister, mister.” Excited voices reached them seconds before two boys came barreling up to Ray from across the lobby.
The smaller of the two stopped short, only inches in front of him.
The other slightly taller boy held a football under one arm and tugged his sidekick back by his collar. “Sorry, mister.”
At the nudge of an elbow from the boy with the football, the younger one smiled brightly. “Thank you, mister.”
“You are very wel—”
Ray’s words were cut off by an army of Asian women and small children swarming the lobby, like bees on honey. A sea of smiling faces bobbed their heads and chatted in what Amy now realized was Japanese. The drowning boy.
“My mother says she’s pleased to see she did you no serious harm.”
Ray’s hand lifted to his head and then dropped again. “So am I.” He smiled and pointed to the ball tucked under the kid’s arm. “New football?”
The older kid nodded. “Our mother will not allow us to swim anymore.”
The battery of foreign women chattered simultaneously again, clearly expecting the young boy to translate for all of them.
The poor kid looked a bit overwhelmed. “It is my mother’s wish to do something to repay you for your bravery.”
Ray’s eyes widened, and Amy felt the tension take over his body. Scanning the extended family gathered around him, Ray took in a breath, then leaned down to the kid’s height and tapped the pigskin. “Would you do me the honor of letting me play football with you?”
“I do not think that would be much of a repayment. My brother and I do not know how to play.”
Ray smiled. “I do.”