Chapter 32
32
Tracey exchanged a look with Halle before they both turned to look at Imani pacing back and forth in Tracey’s office. With so much going on Tracey couldn’t believe the time for Imani and Cyril’s wedding had finally arrived. Six weeks had passed since Tracey’s dad went to the hospital, but Tracey had only seen Brian related to work. She’d been consumed with working with her brother and the architect on the drawings for the cabins and the final details of helping Halle throw a small bridal shower for Imani. Whenever someone tried to give her any gossip on Brian, she’d cut them off. Until he was ready to tell her everything, she wasn’t going to listen to what the rumor mill had to say.
This weekend would be the most time they’d spent together since the hospital. He was not only supplying shrubs for the wedding but he was also a groomsman. Because Imani’s wed ding was small, things were going smoothly with the final preparations. Or they had been.
They were getting ready for the rehearsal at the bed and breakfast when Imani pulled Tracey and Halle aside. At first Tracey thought Imani only wanted to talk to them about the wedding, but the moment they’d gotten behind Tracey’s closed office door, Imani began to pace and wring her hands.
“Imani, girl, what’s going on?” Tracey asked.
“I can’t believe I’m getting married. Can you believe I’m getting married? Am I doing the right thing by getting married?” Imani tossed out the questions while she continued to pace back and forth.
Tracey took a deep breath. This wasn’t the first time she’d seen someone get cold feet before a wedding. But she hadn’t expected it from Imani.
Halle stepped forward first and spoke in her calm and reassuring principal’s voice. “Yes, I can believe you’re getting married. And yes, I do believe you’re doing the right thing by getting married.”
Imani stopped pacing and faced both of them. “I never thought that I would get married. What if it doesn’t work out? What if I’m making a huge mistake?” Imani looked dead at Tracey as she asked that question.
Tracey blinked, and her heart lurched. Of course the question was directed at her. Of the three of them, Tracey was the only one recently divorced. When Imani first came back to town she’d praised Tracey for making things work for so long with Bernard. She originally hadn’t believed Tracey was making the right decision when she married Bernard, but their long marriage had somehow convinced Imani that marriages could make it, something she hadn’t believed in after the disastrous end to her parents’ marriage.
Tracey wished she had the perfect answer to give her friend. But there was none. Some marriages ended, and others were successful. Many things could result in a marriage failure. Making a marriage successful took work. Work by all parties involved. If someone didn’t want to do the work by not communicating, cheating or being an asshole, then the marriage might not be successful.
“So what if you don’t make it?” Tracey said.
Imani placed her hands on her hips, and her eyes got wide. “What do you mean by that?”
“I mean exactly what I’m saying. So what if your marriage doesn’t make it? Do you love Cyril today? Right now, do you believe Cyril loves you? Do you believe that Cyril will hurt you, wants to take advantage of you or doesn’t have your best interests at heart? Because if you believe any of that today, then no, you shouldn’t marry him, and you need to walk away.”
“I don’t know if you’re helping,” Halle said skeptically.
Imani nodded, and her lips lifted in a small smile. “Yes, she is helping actually.”
Tracey raised her brow. “Well, do you believe any of that?”
“No, I don’t. He loves me. I never thought I would end up in a place like this with someone who loves me this much, but he does.”
“Then, don’t let your old fears and insecurities make you doubt your decision today.”
The tension making Imani’s shoulders rigid disappeared, and her friend visibly relaxed. “Do you have to do this for most of the brides who get married here?” Imani asked ruefully.
“Not every bride. If I see one of them getting cold feet, I usually walk away and go get their wedding planner. I can’t have any of them coming back and blaming me for them making a good or bad decision.”
Imani laughed. “So I’m the only one to get a pep talk from the innkeeper, huh?”
“Yes, because you’re my girl.” She looked at Halle then at Imani. “You’re both my best friends. And I will always be there for you no matter what. Just like you were both there for me when I married Bernard and when I divorced him.”
Halle walked over and took Tracey’s hand in hers then reached out and took Imani’s hand in her other. “Did you ask yourself these same questions the day that you married Bernard?”
Tracey grunted and rolled her eyes. “I wish that I had. Back then I just knew that I loved Bernard and that I felt lucky someone like him wanted to marry me. I never stopped to think about what his intentions were. If I had, I would have seen it then.” She kept hold of their hands so the three of them formed a circle. “No matter what happens in the future, we’ll always have each other’s backs.”
There was a knock on the door. Imani’s mom poked her head in. She gave the three of them a curious look. “Is everything good in here, girls?”
Tracey looked at Imani. “I think so. Everything good?”
Imani smiled and nodded. “Yeah, we’re all good. I just needed a second with my girls, that’s all.”
“Well then, come on, let’s get a move on,” Mrs. Kemp said. “The faster we get through with this rehearsal, the faster we can eat the rehearsal dinner. Because whatever Shirley is cooking sure smells good, and I am ready to eat.”
The three of them all laughed. They unclasped their hands and went to the door. “Well then, let’s go ahead and do this, because I know that Shirley has made some delicious oxtails for this rehearsal dinner.”
***
Although Tracey had hosted many weddings at her bed and breakfast, this was the first one she had also participated in. It was interesting and fun to have a wedding at her inn and view it as a member of the wedding party. She couldn’t be happier for her friend.
Debra handled everything from the business side. Tracey was so glad she’d hired her. She picked up so much of the slack while Tracey dealt with her dad then worked with her brother to finalize the plans for the cabins followed by helping Imani with the final wedding prep. Debra’s help allowed Tracey to enjoy everything about the wedding and not worry so much about the behind the scenes.
She cried as she watched Imani and Cyril make their vows. She laughed as she listened to Quinton and Brian give their toast during the dinner. She even drank some champagne and danced a little bit during the reception afterward. By the time Imani and Cyril were getting in their car to drive away for their honeymoon, Tracey’s heart was full. She went back to the rest of the guests who were enjoying the winding down reception and scanned the crowd. She finally spotted Brian sitting at a table talking to Imani’s doctor friend from Tampa.
The woman had spent most of the day chatting up Brian. Tracey didn’t even pretend she hadn’t noticed, and she wasn’t going to pretend she didn’t care. The woman was a doctor and gorgeous. She may not have had time to talk to or see Brian since he’d kissed her after her dad was released from the hospital, but that hadn’t stopped her from thinking about that kiss every day. Not just the kiss. She’d thought about him. The way he always seemed to be there when her life was falling apart, but he never once made fun of her, ridiculed her or made her feel less-than. In fact, he always offered to help or, in some cases, cheered her on. Even when they were younger and he’d seen her in the middle of something, he’d tried to help her. She’d viewed it as pity, but now she realized that was far from what he’d offered. Outside of her brother, Imani and Halle, Brian had been the most consistent and loyal person in her life.
She was tired of being afraid of what would happen in the future. How could she tell her friend not to be afraid of the future and just focus on the way she felt now if she wasn’t willing to do the same herself? She been afraid to tell Bernard when ever he’d hurt her feelings out of fear that he would realize she wasn’t worth it and would walk away. Her silence hadn’t stopped him from making her feel small nor had it stopped him from hurting her. Ever since she’d started speaking up for what she wanted, her life started getting better. She had gotten out of her bad marriage. She learned to tap into her sexuality and speak up for what she wanted. She learned to say how successful she wanted her business to be and found people willing to help her achieve that. So why was she afraid to say that she wanted Brian?
She had no clue what was going on with his ex-wife. But she did believe him when he said that he was not in love with the woman anymore. She believed his mom when she said she’d hope Brian would be with her and that she had never seen him that happy. So why was she stepping back when the truth was right in front of her?
As if sensing her gaze on him, Brian looked up. Their eyes met, and his lips tilted up in the smallest of smiles. Tracey lifted her hand and gestured to him to come over. Brian didn’t hesitate: he stood and immediately crossed the room coming her way. The doctor looked confused, and then when she noticed him coming to Tracey she just shook her head. Tracey did not care. She was not about to let anybody else move in on her man.
“Everything good?” Brian asked when he stood in front of her.
“It’s good now that you’re standing in front of me. I didn’t get to talk to you all day.”
“Yeah, we had to do a lot today. Let’s just say the ring bearer almost lost the ring down the toilet, and there was a lot of panicking involved, but luckily things worked out.”
Tracey gasped and placed her hand over her mouth. “Oh my God. Are you serious?”
“I am, but again, we got Cyril married. That was the goal.”
“And here I thought the big drama was when the makeup artists nearly botched Imani’s brows. I am so glad we did not hear the story about the ring.”
“Yes, let’s just be happy we got this wedding taken care of. What are you going to do now? Do you have something to do for the bed and breakfast?”
“No, Debra is handling everything. I’m just like any other guest tonight.”
“I told you that you needed good help at this inn.”
Tracey cocked a brow. “There you go minding my business again.”
Brian grinned then shrugged. He looked every bit the model he’d once been in the classic black tux Cyril had picked for the wedding attire. The doctor wasn’t the only person looking his way that night. “I can’t help it, Tracey. Minding your business and seeing you get that cute little line between your brows makes my day.”
“I bet it does,” she said teasing, even though the words made her heart flutter.
“Are you going back up to your room now?”
She shook her head. “I could, but honestly I’d prefer to go back to your place. If that’s cool with you?”
His eyes darkened and his voice lowered. “You know that’s good with me, Tracey. But what I said before and the way I feel hasn’t changed. I don’t want to just keep doing this as a casual thing between us. If it’s because of the wedding—”
“It’s not because of the wedding. Well, not completely. I was talking to Imani and trying to convince her to go ahead and get married—”
Brian did a double take. “Hold on. What do you mean convince her to get married ?”
Tracey waved a hand. “Again, that’s irrelevant. It’s a story for another day. They got married, so that’s the important thing. But when I was talking to her and telling her not to worry about what might happen in the future and focus on how you feel right now, it made me think about the way I feel about you right now. I know you’ve got some stuff you’re working through with your ex-wife, but I also know that you don’t want to be with her anymore. I’m tired of being afraid to trust that we’ll make this work between us. I do want you to be my man.”
“She’s gone,” he said quickly.
“What do you mean she’s gone?”
“I mean she’s gone. I reached out to her parents in Atlanta. They asked me to help her look for a place to stay. So that’s what me and my brother have been doing. We all finally got her settled in an apartment near them. She is no longer my problem.”
Tracey put a hand on her hip. “When were you gonna tell me that?”
“I was going to tell you tonight after the wedding. I didn’t want our relationship to be a distraction on Cyril and Imani’s big day.”
“She’s gone for good?”
“I think she got the picture that she wasn’t welcome when she caught my mom doing a little happy dance after she said she’d finally picked a place she liked.”
Tracey laughed. “No your mom didn’t.”
“She did. My mom is all about helping others, but I think even her Christian charity was running low. Renee is out of our lives.” He took a step forward. “Which means, Tracey, that I no longer have a situation that I need to deal with. So I’m asking my question again. Can I be your man?”
Tracey did not have to consider his words; she already knew her answer. She took his hand in hers and placed it against her heart. “That depends on one thing.”
“What one thing is that?” Brian’s voice dropped to a low tone that made her insides tremble.
“Take me back to your place and make love to me.”
His eyes widened slightly before his lips tilted upward. It was the first time she’d ever made that request so directly. She’d never wanted to refer to what they did as making love before, and it was a far cry from the way she’d referred to what she wanted when they’d started their friends-with-benefits situation. Despite what they’d said, making love was what he’d always done to her. If she’d had any foresight she would have known just sex wouldn’t have worked between her and Brian. There’d always been something between them. An underlying current that surrounded their awkward friendship over the years. If she’d had any sense before, she would have realized that they were already too connected to just have sex and not feel anything.
Brian pulled her closer and lightly placed his hand around her neck. His thumb caressed her pulse before he tilted her head and kissed her softly. Tracey forgot about everyone else at the reception. She didn’t care who saw them, she didn’t care what people would say, all she cared about was that she was in Brian’s arms and that he was kissing her as if she was the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted.
When he pulled back, he smiled at her and said, “Tracey, I’ll be more than happy to take you back to my place and make love to you all night long.”