One
The room was covered in roses. Pale, dusty pink colored petals were strewn over everything, the lighting, the colors, all of it giving you that romantic, soft-filtered feeling of femininity.
It was stunning. The string quartet, the champagne, the servers in crisp white, it was all so elegant…
and completely lost on the rest of the men at the table.
They looked wrung out, and I understood why.
Three days of wedding plus events was an uphill slog, but finally, we were at the end, at the finish line. I was ready for it to be over.
Second day—rehearsal dinner, amazing. And yes, I ran a thousand errands, but that was my place as the brother of the groom. I was glad I had taken the time off from work for my brother’s wedding, since if I’d had to keep up my usual schedule of appointments, I would have turned instantly to ash.
When I was hounded to accompany them out carousing, I ducked out instead, pleading exhaustion, and went home to bed. It was the coward’s way, but I could never have kept up. They were all much better drinkers than me, which was saying a lot, as I could normally hold my own.
“Are you kidding me?” she asked into the silence.
The moaning and whimpering made me smile as I started pouring coffee and water. I had also brought a large bottle of Tylenol with me.
She began whipping back the drapes, flooding the room with light. Much protesting began instantly.
“Hey,” Rick Jenner said softly as he gestured me over to him. “What time is it?”
“It’s eleven.” I smiled down at him. “The wedding’s not for another seven hours.”
“Then why is she screaming?”
“She’s not, actually.”
“It sounds like it to me.”
“Yeah, but you can probably hear paint peeling.”
He just groaned.
“She’s concerned that you guys aren’t gonna look pretty for pictures.”
“Owww,” he whispered, grimacing, patting the couch beside him. “Sit.”
“Did you do shots off the navels of women with loose morals?” I teased him.
“Of course.” He tried to smile, putting his head on my thigh as soon as I sat down.
I smiled at him as I was bumped from the other side and hands gripped my shoulders.
Lance Simmons and Alex Greene, Aja’s little brother, had joined us.
“Hey, fellas,” I teased them, looking sideways at Lance’s profile, as he appeared particularly pasty. “Have you both been barfing, or just you, Lancelot?”
“Just me,” he whimpered, coming around the couch, taking a seat beside me and putting his head down on my shoulder.
“I do feel like an evacuation might be imminent,” Alex said, folding his arms on the back of the cordovan leather couch.
“You’ll be okay. You just need to hydrate and eat something.”
“Oh no,” he assured me. “Food is completely out of the question.”
“Do your eyelids hurt?”
“If I straighten my head, I think it’ll explode.”
I saw Aja striding back from the bathroom, having rousted whoever was sleeping in the bathtub. “Your sister’s coming.”
He whimpered before she yelled, “You guys need to get up!”
I could imagine, to the others, that the volume of her voice was like getting whiplash—fast and painful. I felt it run down my spine, but I wasn’t suffering from a hangover.
“Oh God,” Alex groaned from behind me, and we all laughed when we heard the thump as he hit the floor. “I think my eyes are bleeding.”
“Guys!” we heard Jude whine from the bedroom. “Will you shut the hell up!”
She whirled around to go see him, and at that moment I thanked God that I was not Jude Coughlin. There wasn’t enough money in the world.
“Do something, J,” Rick begged me. “You’re the only one she loves.”
“J, you gotta make her stop yelling,” Alex begged me from the floor on the other side of the couch. “I seriously think it could kill me.”
“I can’t barf anymore,” Lance moaned into the couch. “My throat hurts.”
We all heard Jude let out a high-pitched scream from the bedroom.
“I think I’m gonna puke,” Rick said from my lap, covering his face with one of the throw pillows.
“For the love of God!” Aja was shouting at Jude. “I will kill you if you do not get up!”
“J,” Lance almost cried, “make her stop.”
“I think I might need to go to the hospital,” Rick informed me.
“You do not.”
“How do you know? I think my head is ready to explode.”
“Please make her stop screeching,” Alex begged.
“I dare you to tell her she’s screeching.”
Rick tried to laugh but ended up whimpering.
“Jory,” Alex whined.
“Oh, come on. She’s your sister,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, but she loves you more than me.”
“Do you hear me?” she roared from the other room, obviously still torturing Jude.
“Ohmygod, just kill her,” Lance whispered, face down on the couch now. “Why did you guys let me sleep folded up like a pretzel? I think my spine is broken.”
We all heard Jude scream again before there was a crash and a bump.
“I bet she dumped him off the bed,” Alex said from where he was, still on the floor on the other side of the couch.
“I’m okay,” Jude called out to us.
“Asshole got the bed,” Rick whined. “He deserves what he gets.”
“There were two beds in there. Who got the other one?” I asked.
“Phillip Barnaby, get out from under that bed!” Aja ordered.
We all heard the howl of pain.
“Mystery solved,” Lance whispered.
“Where’s Rick?” she shouted as she came charging into the room.
He whimpered. “J, she’s gonna hurt me.”
“This is what comes of partying like rock stars.” I chuckled. “When you’re not.”
“Owww,” Alex whined.
“Where’s the ice bucket?” Aja yelled from across the room.
“J…” Rick trailed off.
I called to her gently, but loud enough that she could hear me.
Easily one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen in my life, Aja Greene came striding across the room to me. “What?” she snapped out.
“How’re you this morning, my soon-to-be sister?
” I smiled wide, looking up at the only other woman besides my work wife and best friend, Dylan Greer, that I could say I truly loved.
In my life there had been my grandmother, Dylan, and now my brother’s soon-to-be wife.
These were the women who meant the world to me. “You feel okay?”
Her sigh was deep as she passed Lance and slapped him as hard as she could on the ass. He cried like a baby.
“Yes, honey.” She stopped in front of me, shoving Rick up and moving him before she leaned down to give me a kiss. “I feel great.”
I lifted my head, and the kiss I received was featherlight on my forehead.
“Jory.” She smiled, hand sliding under my chin, over my jaw. “Come to my room really fast. I want you to meet my folks, and Dane’s people are there.”
Which meant that the Reid clan—Susan and Daniel Reid, Dane’s biological parents, and his siblings, two brothers and one sister—had arrived to attend the wedding.
“Okay,” I said, stifling a yawn and getting up.
“And you guys need to pull it together and get ready,” she snarled at the others. “Now!”
No one moved.
“I will come back here with a hose, don’t think I can’t!”
The muffled groans made me smile as she took my hand and tugged me after her toward the door. I heard them moving behind us, and then Rick asked if anyone knew where his sunglasses were. Funny to think that a partner at one of the major law firms in the city could so resemble a hungover frat boy.
“Look how beautiful,” she commented, raising our hands to show me her flawless, smooth sepia skin with warm orange-russet undertones against my permanent golden tan. We looked good together. People told us all the time.
“Hey.”
I looked at her.
“Did you ever think that your brother would get married?”
“I did,” I replied. “Once he met you.”
She smiled wide, and I saw the dimples I loved.
“Truly,” I said, sighing, “the minute I saw you, I knew you were the one.”
“You lie.”
“No.”
She stopped walking and looked at me. “Why?”
“You asked him to dance.”
Quick chuckle from her. “I’m not the only one who ever did.”
“No, but you’re the only one who ever made him nervous.”
She sighed deeply. “I did, didn’t I.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I think we both knew what we wanted.”
“Yep. And you’re perfect for him.”
“Am I?” She was fishing, but that was okay. It was her wedding day, after all.
“Yes. You’re smart—school principals must be—beautiful, wicked mean—”
“Mean?” She gasped in mock surprise as I got us moving again.
“You know you’re mean. You nearly killed those poor guys.”
“They’ll be lucky to live,” she growled, brows furrowing.
“You’re adorable,” I assured her, hand on her cheek. “And you are completely self-sufficient. You want Dane, but you don’t need him.”
Deep sigh. “Make no mistake, Jory, I need that man desperately.”
“You know what I mean. Your whole world doesn’t revolve around him.”
She thought a moment. “No, that’s true.”
“See? You love Dane, I know that, but you’re gonna be Aja Harcourt, not Mrs. Dane Harcourt.”
She nodded. “That’s true too.”
I shrugged. “That’s how I knew. All those other women just wanted to disappear inside him. You, we’re still gonna be able to see.”
She stopped suddenly and stared at me. “You have been amazing since the moment I laid eyes on you.”
“I wanted you for my brother,” I assured her.
“And I’m so glad you’re going to be mine.”
“But you gotta be sweet to the one you already have.”
She frowned again. “He better shape up, because if he ruins my wedding…so help me God, I will ruin him permanently.”
“Okay, now you’re gettin’ a little spooky.”
“Oh, Jory.” She sighed. “I just love you. Come with me.”
And I did.
Hours later, Aja’s eyes were huge and her mouth hung open. Her mother wore an identical expression, as did all Aja’s bridesmaids and her maid of honor—her sister, Candace. I was guessing it was the dancing.
Her father, Judge Kenneth Greene, and I were doing the twist to Fats Domino music and singing along as we did it. Currently, “My Girl Josephine” was pouring out of the speakers.
“Miss Aja.” I heard her friend Zora laugh out loud. “Look at your father, girl.”
“Jory,” she called over to me, and I heard the deep chuckle. “Baby, what—”
“Leave him alone.” The judge cut her off playfully. “We’re busy.”