Epilogue
Jayne stood at the edge of the crowd of single women and rolled her eyes. The women were pushing and shoving, jostling for position. She spotted Elias standing near the groom’s cake—doughnut in hand—with Gabriel, Casey, Jarod and Marc. They were clearly laughing about how seriously some of these women were taking the tradition of catching the bouquet.
Sophie and Jordan stepped next to her.
“Wow. I had to get out of there for fear of being trampled to death.” Jordan was double-fisting—carrying two glasses of champagne.
“Why are you holding those drinks?” Sophie asked.
Jordan shrugged. “A couple of the girls asked me if I would.”
Jayne laughed. “Talk about giving the competition a handicap. How are you supposed to catch the bouquet with no hands?”
Jordan raised her eyebrow. “I have no desire to catch that silly bouquet. Casey and Gabriel would enjoy that far too much. They’re already pressuring me to make a permanent commitment.”
Jayne and Jordan had spent countless hours discussing the trickiness of Jordan’s situation. While Casey and Gabriel insisted it would all be fine, that she could marry Gabriel legally on paper and Casey in a more intimate, non-legitimate way, Jordan wasn’t in any hurry to change the status quo. Jayne suspected it would take her friend a bit longer to realize that both men were sincere in their love and their desire to spend forever with her. Lately, that insecurity was lessening. Gabriel and Casey were wearing her down.
Jayne glanced at Sophie, who had pulled a compact out of her handbag and started re-pinning the strands that had escaped her updo during the dancing. Sophie caught her looking. “Don’t even look at me. Marc and I have only been together six months and that damn man still drives me insane. I need more time to break his spirit before I consider settling down.”
Jayne laughed. “Yeah right. I think the jury is out on who exactly is breaking whose spirit in your relationship.”
Jordan agreed. “They’re both stubborn as mules and the perfect match. There’s no one else on the planet who could live with either one of them. She’ll figure that out eventually.”
Jayne felt both of her friends turn their attention to her. “I’ve been with Elias less than a month. You don’t seriously think I’m going to make a play for that bouquet, do you?”
“That timeline is way off. Maybe you’ve only started doing the deed this month, but you two fell head over heels years ago. Truth is, you’re probably closer to tying the knot than me or Jordan.”
“Well, then I guess we’re all in trouble.” Jayne couldn’t deny the hope that her friends were right. She and Elias were still in the early days of their relationship, but the fact that their love had been born from a close friendship made it feel as if they’d been together much longer. Just this morning, Elias had mentioned how much he liked seeing her toothbrush in his bathroom.
She glanced across the room to find him looking at her. He winked then gestured at Stephanie.
She wasn’t sure, but she thought she saw him mouth the words “Catch it.”
Her suspicion was confirmed when Sophie glanced from Elias to her, laughing. “Told you so. Something tells me your boyfriend isn’t going to be content with just dating for long.”
Before Jayne could reply, Stephanie took her place in front of the crowd, tossing the bouquet over her shoulder.
Jayne had to hand it to her friend; Stephanie’s aim was spot-on. She’d managed to clear the herd of women elbowing each other out of the way with ease. The bouquet came straight at her, and Jayne raised her hands more in self-defense than to catch it.
Jordan and Sophie hugged her in congratulations, high-fiving Stephanie when she joined them.
“Let me know if you want the number of the lady who made the doughnut cake. I notice Elias is going in for a second,” Stephanie teased.
“You threw that right at me,” Jayne said, feigning annoyance.
“Of course I did. And I’ve threatened Jarod with no honeymoon sex tonight if he doesn’t manage to get the garter in Elias’s hands.”
Sophie blanched. “You wouldn’t really do that, would you?”
“Hell no. I’m not a masochist,” Stephanie said. “But I wanted to ensure he gave it his best effort.”
A waiter walked up with a tray of four cocktails.
“What’s this?” Jordan asked, when Stephanie handed a drink to each of them, then took one for herself.
“I want to give a special toast to my bridesmaids.”
They each lifted their glasses.
“Here’s to the Books and Brew babes. I’m not sure how we did it, but somehow we managed to make our business a success while landing the five hottest, set-the-sheets-on-fire guys in Portland.”
Jayne laughed. Stephanie always managed to take a nice gesture and make it twisted.
“Seriously though,” Stephanie added, “I love you girls. Now drink up.”