Chapter 18
On Sunday afternoon, Levi was still nursing his wounds from his team’s second loss when he and Haddie showed up at the formal-wear shop, effectively named Posh. Since the weather was still warm, he and Haddie had decided to walk.
“We can talk strategy tonight if you want,” she told him. “I mean, I know I’m still new to the whole coaching gig, but we have won twice.”
“Ouch,” Levi replied. “But yeah…maybe we can practice together this week so my guys can see what your team is doing right?”
Haddie nodded absently, but she was looking past him and across the square.
“So that’s where the coffee shop is,” she mumbled. “Note…to…self.”
Levi paused outside the shop door. “I thought you liked to save money by brewing at home.”
“Huh?” she asked. “Right! I do. I was just thinking that it’s almost pumpkin-spice-latte season, so it’s always a good plan to know where to get one.”
Levi nodded. “I didn’t know you were a latte person.”
“I’m not!” Haddie blurted out, then laughed nervously. “But…you know. Sometimes I like to switch it up. Which reminds me… I think for this week, I’m going to drive myself to school. I’ve got some early-morning meetings, so you might as well sleep in.”
“Haddie, I don’t mind—”
“No, it’s cool!” she interrupted. “We don’t always need to ride together, right?”
Levi pulled open the glass door, brows furrowed. “Everything okay with you?”
“You’re here!” Emma exclaimed, popping out from behind a rack of ginormous white dresses that looked like they weighed as much as Levi did.
In a white T-shirt that read I’m the freaking bride! in plain black letters, Emma bounded toward Haddie and wrapped her in a giant hug.
Levi watched quizzically as, for a second, Haddie stood still as a statue, but then her shoulders relaxed and she reciprocated the display of affection for her friend.
He spun slowly, taking in his surroundings and realizing that—other than a corner of brightly colored garments he guessed were for bridesmaids—he was surrounded, wall to wall and rack to rack with varying shades of white and cream in varying levels of poofiness.
“Um…Emma?” Levi began. “I don’t see my brother or anything remotely resembling a tuxedo.
Should I be worried about what I’ve committed to wearing as far as best-man attire?
” Levi certainly didn’t fault anyone who felt comfortable wearing a dress.
He just wasn’t one of those people, especially when he was pretty sure the best man was not supposed to upstage the bride.
As if being summoned, Matteo appeared from behind a red velvet curtain on the opposite side of the shop, clearing his throat. They all turned to find him decked out in everything from a top hat to shiny leather wing tips.
Haddie made a choking sound.
Levi snorted. “I swear to god if there is a rabbit in that hat, I might piss myself laughing.”
Matteo’s jaw clenched. “Ems…” the younger Rourke said through gritted teeth. “I don’t think this is the one.”
Emma winced. “Next one, Layla!” she called to the person Levi guessed was responsible for his brother’s current look.
“A little less magician this time!” Then she directed her attention back to her fiancé.
“Remember how much you love me, okay?” she pleaded, but Levi could tell she was also trying not to laugh.
“Trust me,” Matteo replied. “That is the only reason you don’t see a Matteo-shaped cutout in the door.”
Emma blew him a kiss, and Matteo disappeared back behind the curtain.
“So…yeah.” She turned to face Haddie and Levi. “That was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“I think that makes three of us,” Haddie agreed.
“There’s a small rack in back with the tuxedo options,” Emma continued.
“Layla doesn’t really keep those on display since they don’t take up much space and the dresses need a lot more room to breathe.
Layla and I have already pulled the maid of honor and groomsman options and put them in fitting rooms for you.
So all you have to do is try them on, let me know what you think, and we’ll all make the final decision together.
” Her cheeks flushed. “I found my dress months ago, so no worries about Matteo seeing anything he shouldn’t before the big day. ”
Haddie pouted. “Do I get to see it before the big day?”
Emma beamed. “Of course! My mom is going to meet us here in about ten minutes so I can show you both. I just wanted to get the boys started first.” She backed up toward the curtain and pulled it part of the way open. “Right this way, bridal party of two. Your wardrobe awaits!”
Levi and Matteo, relegated to the shop side of the curtain while still in their tuxedos, stared at each other for several seconds.
“I might have snapped a stealth photo of you doing birthday-party magician cosplay,” Levi admitted.
“You’re an asshole,” Matteo replied.
Levi laughed. “I know.”
“Emma, honey,” they heard Layla say. “When you’re ready, I’m going to have you hop on the platform in front of the three-way mirror.”
“Out in a second!” Emma called.
Levi gave his brother a single nod. “You gonna peek?”
Matteo shook his head. “Are you kidding? Emma will kill me. Plus…I kind of want to be surprised on the big day.”
Levi backhanded his brother on the shoulder. “Look at you being all traditional and shit.”
Matteo shrugged. “If I’m lucky enough to get a second chance with her, I’m gonna do it right.”
Levi could hear in his brother’s voice that Matteo still didn’t believe he deserved that second chance. The thought filled his chest with a hollow ache for all that his brother went through to get to this day.
“You don’t look like a magician in this one,” he said, gently grabbing Matteo’s lapels.
Matteo huffed out a laugh. “Is that big brother speak for I clean up good?”
Levi took a step back and crossed his arms. “Something like that.”
“Oh my god,” they heard Emma’s mom say, followed by a choking sound.
“It’s perfect, right?” Layla replied. “Like it was made for her.”
“You look stunning, sweetheart,” Mrs. Woods continued, and Levi could tell the woman was crying.
“Thank you.” The sound of his fiancée’s voice made Matteo stand at attention. “I am a freaking smoke show in this thing, right?”
Haddie laughed, her voice thick, and Levi wondered if she was crying too, something he’d never witnessed her do, even the night of the storm when she’d been so scared he could see her body trembling beneath her blanket.
He watched a glassy sheen grow over Matteo’s eyes.
“What the hell is it like?” Levi asked, and Matteo turned to face him again.
“What is what like?”
“Being that happy,” Levi admitted.
Matteo shrugged. “When was the last time you were in love?”
“I wasn’t,” Levi blurted out. “I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever been.” So why was a name ping-ponging through his brain, making it hard to think straight?
“Then you can’t know,” his brother replied plainly. “Until you know.”
Levi was trying to let the notion sink in when the curtain flew open, and even though they hadn’t peeked, he felt like they were somehow busted.
“What are you doing?” Haddie asked, accusation in her tone.
Matteo held his hands up in defense. “We saw nothing,” he assured her. “But nobody said anything about us not eavesdropping.”
Levi wanted to back his brother up, but he was too busy staring at the strapless green dress Haddie was wearing, and the soft skin of her breasts threatening to spill out over the top of the fabric.
Attempting to look away, his eyes traveled the length of her slender torso.
The rest of the dress fit her like a glove all the way down to her knees where it finally flared out over her shins and feet.
“I know,” Haddie said, rolling her eyes. “It’s too tight. But Emma loves the cut and the color, so Layla’s going to take it a bit up here, which means having to move the zipper, but then I’ll at least be able to breathe.”
At least somebody was thinking about breathing, Levi thought. Because he was pretty sure he was holding his breath.
Emma popped out from behind a fitting room door, back in her T-shirt and shorts.
“That’s a wrap, everyone! Get your clothes back on. Layla’s closing up shop for the day, and we’re all going to have high tea at the inn to celebrate getting everyone outfitted for the wedding! We’ve got the dining room to ourselves until four when it opens to the public again.”
“I’m going to head out first!” Mrs. Woods said, pushing past Haddie and through the curtain.
“Want to make sure your father doesn’t need help with the finger sandwiches.
” She blew everyone kisses and basically floated through the door like the beaming mother of the bride she was apparently meant to be.
Layla gestured for the two men to join Haddie and Emma back behind the curtain.
“Just leave everything on the hangers in your fitting rooms,” she told them.
“I have to run home and take the puppy out for a quick walk before meeting you back at the inn, so I’m going to head out, lock the shop door, and you all can leave through the back if that works okay. The back door locks automatically.”
Emma pulled Layla into a hug and thanked her as the rest of them retreated to their respective fitting rooms.
Levi took his time untying his tie and unbuttoning his vest as his body—having…uh…physiologically reacted to Haddie in that dress—caught up to his brain.
Not long after they’d disappeared behind their doors, Levi heard one click open. Then he heard hushed whispers and what he was pretty sure sounded like kissing coming from beyond his door.
“Get a room, you two!” he called to his brother and Emma.
Emma laughed. “Busted!” she admitted. “You guys almost done?”
“Uh-huh!” Haddie replied. “Just need to shimmy out of this thing!”