Chapter 12
CHAPTER
TWELVE
Mira
“What can I do to help?” Markie asks, holding the door open to Piper’s Pizza. “I’m your maid of honor, after all.”
“I don’t remember asking you to take on that role.”
She looks at me over her shoulder. “It was implied.”
The pizza shop isn’t busy, but it has a steady stream of patrons coming in and out. A round table in the center of the room holds a table of old farmers who vaguely look familiar. I wave and return their hellos as we pass since Markie clearly knows them.
We make our way to a booth in the corner and get settled.
“I have to say,” Markie says. “You’re much calmer about this today than I expected.”
“I got you.”
Shifting in my seat, I press Hartley’s voice out of my mind and shrug. “What am I supposed to do? I’ve thought it over and, while I still think this whole thing is unnecessary and intrusive, I agreed to it. All I can do now is accept it and strap in for the ride. Right?”
“That’s one ride I’d love to imagine if he weren’t my sister’s fiancé.”
An unwelcome surge of excitement threads its way through my nerve endings slowly, yet meticulously. It’s as if it knows I’m trying to deliberately shut it down—turn off any awareness of Hartley from a sexual angle—and it’s fighting me every step of the way.
This will be a challenge. It might quite possibly be the biggest challenge of the marriage.
Everything about Hartley is attractive. From his rugged build to his sexy smile to the way he moves and handles himself—it’s the epitome of attractive.
And somehow, I have to be married to the man, live in the same house with him for a year, and manage not to want to screw his brains out.
I grab my phone from my bag and open my Notes.
Don’t forget to bring my vibrators!
“What are you going to do with your stuff in Kentucky?” Markie asks.
“I think we’re heading up there as our ‘honeymoon.’ I don’t have that much stuff, so I don’t know whether to try to bring it all down here or ask Jeff if I can store some of it in his garage.” I flinch as Lisa, our server, pops up beside us. “Sorry. I didn’t see you there.”
“Hey, Mira. How are you? I haven’t seen you in a while.”
“We were in here the other night,” Markie says. “Donna was working.”
Lisa smiles. “Figures. So how are you?”
I fiddle with a napkin, wishing this wasn’t so awkward. Usually, I’d chat Lisa up. I’ve known her forever. But the next time I see her, I’ll be Mrs. Hartley Adler, and things like marriages usually don’t just happen overnight.
They aren’t usually predicated on an inheritance, either, but here we are. Thanks, Lolly.
“She’s great,” Markie says, jumping in to save my ass. “She’s in town to handle some business, so she’s a little overstimulated tonight. Exhausterwhelmulated, if you will. You’ll have to excuse her weirdness.”
I laugh in relief. “It’s true. I’m a little overwhelmed at the moment.”
“Well, I won’t bother you,” Lisa says. “Do you know what you want to eat, or should I get a menu?”
“I could recite that menu from top to bottom,” Markie says, glancing at me. “I think we’ll take a large sausage and mushroom pizza and two Cokes. Does that sound good, Mira?”
“Love it,” I say.
Lisa nods. “Great. I’ll grab your drinks and put in your order.”
Markie waits until Lisa is out of earshot before she restarts our conversation.
“So what do you need from me?” my sister asks again. “How can I help you make this easier?”
I sit back and release a breath, sinking into the booth.
I’m usually on my own when stuff goes sideways.
Sure, I have friends like Jeff and Clint and always make friends wherever I move.
But none of them are like Markie. She knows my darkest secrets and has known me in every stage of life.
She’d walk through fire for me, just like I would for her.
Having her around while I sort this mess out is really, really nice.
“Honestly, I wish I knew how you could help,” I say. “But I don’t know what I need help with. We were going to go to the courthouse and have Judge Yanders marry us, but Lolly arranged for us to have the church on Thursday and said not to worry about anything.”
“Is Hartley getting a tux?”
I shrug.
“What are you wearing?” Markie asks, not impressed with my last answer.
I shrug again. “Clothes, of some sort.”
“Oh, my gosh.” She throws her head back and sighs as exasperatedly as she can muster. “It’s a wedding in a church, Mira,” she whisper-hisses. “You need a wedding dress. Hartley needs a tux. I think Lolly thought that went without saying.”
Apprehension gnaws away at the confidence I had gathered around the wedding.
Have I misunderstood the assignment? When Lolly said not to worry, I figured she meant that she’d take care of getting Pastor Reed and maybe Violet Crowder to show up.
I didn’t read through any lines and understand that I needed a wedding dress.
In three days.
“I can’t get a wedding dress before Thursday,” I say, my heartbeat quickening.
“We can go to Nashville and find something.”
I shake my head. Shopping for a wedding dress would put this on another level.
It’d make it feel a lot like I was actually getting married.
And although I’ve never had the dream wedding lots of little girls conjure up in their minds, if I ever did have a wedding, I’d want to do all those special things with my sister. For real.
“I don’t want to go to Nashville,” I say. “Don’t you have something I can borrow?”
She narrows her eyes, mulling over her words. “I might have an idea.”
“Does it involve spending money I don’t have or traveling out of town?”
“No.”
“Great. I love it.”
She pauses as Lisa places our drinks in front of us and then scurries away to meet someone at the cash register. “You don’t know what it is.”
“I trust you.” I take a sip of my drink. “I really don’t want to make this into a big thing.”
“What if you wore Mom’s wedding dress?” she says carefully.
I pull away from the table and swallow. “Mom’s?”
“Yeah. I have it. It’s in my closet. It had gotten a little musty in Lolly’s attic, so I had it cleaned a couple of years ago and never took it back.” She half smiles. “I think it’d fit. And I think Mom would like that a lot.”
“Markie …” Mom’s wedding dress is too special, too important to waste on this. “You’re the oldest daughter. You should keep it and wear it on your wedding day.”
She snorts. “The way my love life is going, I’m never getting married. I’m starting to hate men, actually. I even thought about making a Girls Only sign for my front door just in case anyone from the male species finds their way to my house.”
“You do not hate men.”
“No, I do. I definitely hate Jasper’s lying, cheating ass. But when I take a step back and look at my dating history as a picture, it’s a mess. Men suck—although they never suck the things I’d appreciate.”
I cover my mouth with my hand as I burst out laughing. A couple of the men from the round table look over at us and shake their heads. Whatever they think we’re talking about, I bet it’s not accurate.
“At least try the dress on,” Markie says. “If it fits, we’ll call it kismet. And, if it doesn’t, I probably have a white sundress you can borrow.”
I want to say no, but the emotion in her eyes stops me in my tracks.
“Fine,” I say. “I’ll try it on.”
Her face brightens. “Great. And I have this idea for your hair, too.”
“You’re doing too much.”
Lisa heads our way, but I see her this time. There’s a spring in her step that piques my interest. She just brought our drinks, and our pizza can’t be done yet. So, why is she making a beeline to our table like she’s on a mission?
She taps her fingertips on the edge of the table. “Mira St. James!”
“Yeah …”
“Congratulations!” she squeals. “Why didn’t you tell me you’re marrying Hartley?”
Oh. My. Markie’s jaw drops as her gaze sweeps to mine.
“Hartley didn’t say a word this morning when he was by for breakfast, either,” Lisa says, gushing. “I’m so excited for the two of you. I mean, it’s about damn time.”
It’s about damn time?
This wasn’t supposed to happen. I wasn’t supposed to be blindsided by people knowing about the wedding before I had time to get my head wrapped around it. How does she know? How could anyone have possibly found out about this already?
“Your grandmother just called in to see if Piper was available to make a few things for the reception on Thursday,” she says, answering my question before I have to ask it.
A reception? What is happening?
Blood races through my body as I try not to act surprised. This is supposed to be real, after all. I paste on a smile, hoping it covers my discombobulation, and laugh.
“I’m sorry it’s so last-minute,” I say, my words surprisingly even. “We just decided now is the time.”
“Love makes you do funny things,” Markie says, grinning.
I kick her under the table.
“I think Piper is going out of town, though,” Lisa says. “I told your grandmother that I’d have Piper call her back.”
“I’m sorry,” a low voice rumbles through the shop. All the farmers are looking our way, each with a slightly different expression. “Did you say Hartley’s getting married?”
Oh, fuck.
“Yeah,” Lisa says happily. “Mira is marrying him on Thursday.”
“Well, ain’t that something,” the man says. “I wondered why you looked so much like Markie when ya walked in. I ain’t seen you for years. Probably since you were a baby, Mira. It’s good to see you again. You’re the spittin’ image of your mama.”
My chest swells with a tender pride. “Thank you. That’s very nice of you to say.”
“You two had good parents. Both of ’em. And I reckon now you got yourself a good man of your own. That Adler boy is a good one.”
Please. Someone. Help me.
“You’re going to have gorgeous kids,” Lisa says.
Kids? My palms sweat as I fight the urge to run out the door.
“We’re excited to have him in the family,” Markie says, facing me again. Thankfully, the men go back to their conversation, and Lisa helps a customer in the drive-thru. “Are you good?”
I lean forward and lower my voice. “She’s talking about our kids. What the actual fuck?”
“People are just excited for you.” She makes sure we’re alone. “Remember, they don’t know it’s not real.”
I flop back in my seat. This is too much. They’re all doing way too much.
My phone buzzes, and I pick it up, thankful for the distraction.
Hartley: I still need to call my brother.
Me: Are you ashamed of me?
Hartley: Come on.
I smile.
Me: Well, you’d better hurry because I’m at Piper’s Pizza and everyone here knows.
Hartley: You’re kidding?
Me: I wish. I just got told that our kids are going to be gorgeous.
Hartley: Our pretend children will be gorgeous because you’re their mother. They don’t have a choice.
I grin, typing my response.
Me: I’ve already agreed to marry you. You don’t have to keep charming me.
Hartley: Unfortunately, my charm fails when it comes to you.
Me: I don’t think that’s true.
Hartley: I assure you that it is. I’m going to call Gray before Brooks finds out. He’s the biggest gossip in town.
Me: Let me know how Gray takes it.
Hartley: I’ll call you later.
I stare at the screen, feeling like I should say something more. But what’s there to say besides, okay? That’s lame. And it doesn’t feel right.
“I see,” Markie says, smirking at me.
“You see what?” I put my phone down. “Is this one of those I-spy games?”
She laughs. “No. I’m guessing you were texting with Hartley.”
“Yeah.”
A look of satisfaction crosses her expression as she takes a breath. “Okay, switching gears. Let’s talk about the Sugar Days pickleball contest. I need a new partner. A good one. I gotta maintain my reign and beat the crap out of Jasper and his new girlfriend.”
She gags, making me giggle. But it’s exactly what I need.
Everything’s going to be all right. I don’t know how I know it, but I do.