Chapter 27 #2
Beck watched her fumble through the dialing and wondered if he should be letting her do anything important when she was high as a kite.
She tipped the phone so Beck could hear, too. “Artie! Wake up! It’s Jessie! You aren’t going to believe it! I caught Spector! All by myself. I kicked him right in the balls!”
Beck laughed at Artie’s exclamations.
“I have good news and bad news.” She attempted a sober tone that failed miserably. “The good news is I’m getting married! The bad news is I’m quitting the business.”
“But you have commitments,” Artie sputtered. “Obligations.”
She directed a sly grin at Beck. “Tell ’em I’m knocked up. Thanks for everything, Artie. Mostly thanks for sending me to Peter. He took very good care of me.”
“Yes, apparently. Well, darling, I wish you all the best. If you ever change your mind, you know where I am.”
“I won’t change my mind. Bye, Artie.”
Beck slipped an arm around her waist and nuzzled the curve of her neck as she ended the call. “Are you?”
“What?” she asked.
“Knocked up?”
She shrugged. “Don’t know yet, but I figure if we get it on two or three times a day, I will be before anyone can sue me for breach of contract.”
“I can get onboard with that plan.”
Cracking up, she brought him in for a kiss. “Starting now?”
“No time like the present.”
Travis and Liana followed the sleepless night at the hospital with a Saturday full of wedding preparations and mini-crises.
Liana handled each one as it arose, and by late afternoon all she wanted was a nap.
Instead she went to the condo, took a long bath to calm her frayed nerves, and got dressed in the same gown she’d worn to Tom and Justine’s wedding the week before.
As she was putting on her earrings, Travis rushed in to get changed.
“I was just starting to wonder where you were,” she said.
“Sorry, sweetheart.” He kissed her. “I got hung up in a meeting. You look beautiful, as always.”
“Thank you.” She looked away from him when her eyes flooded.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
“I can’t believe it’s already been a week since I teased you about my friend Marco and this dress. I’m not ready for our fling to be over.”
He drew her into his arms. “It’s not over. It’s just getting started.”
“I don’t want to go, Travis. I don’t want to leave you.”
“I know.” He glanced over at her two suitcases in the corner. “You’re all packed, though, huh?”
“I didn’t want to waste the time we’d have together later packing. I left your Stanford shirt, the shorts you loaned me, and the North Point jacket on the bed.”
“Keep them—the shirt and the jacket, that is. The shorts were way too big for you, as I recall. I’d like to think of you sleeping in my shirt when you can’t sleep with me.”
She held him for another minute before she reluctantly released him so he could shower and change.
As they walked hand-in-hand from The Tower to the club, Liana was hit with a sense of déjà vu.
But this time, Travis didn’t stop and kiss her for the photographers.
This time they kept their heads down as they struggled with the storm of emotions her impending departure was stirring up in both of them.
A North Point staff member named Chloe waited for them in the club.
“We have a small problem,” she said, biting her thumbnail as her eyes darted from Travis to Liana.
“What kind of problem?” Travis asked.
“Um, the bride has cold feet. She’s saying she wants to cancel the whole thing.”
“Is she in the lounge?” Liana asked, referring to the room set aside for brides.
Chloe nodded.
“I’ll take care of it,” Liana said with a quick kiss for Travis. “Don’t worry.”
Travis watched her go, filled with pride at the way she had blossomed over the last two weeks into a confident, productive, sensual woman. Curious as to how she would handle the jittery bride, he followed her to the lounge and listened at the door.
Inside, Liana approached Lucy’s teary-eyed mother. “I don’t know what to do with her,” the frazzled mom said.
“Do you mind giving me a few minutes with her?” Liana asked.
“Be my guest.”
Travis ducked out of the way as the mother of the bride emerged from the room.
“You look lovely, Lucy,” Liana said.
Lucy fiddled with the lace on her veil. “Thank you.”
“What’s the matter?”
“Everything just feels wrong. I can’t explain it.”
“Are you maybe a little scared?”
Lucy shrugged.
“I know I’d be scared if I were you,” Liana said, tuning into Lucy’s shyness. “All those people looking at me and having to smile for hours.” Liana shuddered.
“Yes,” Lucy said, brightening. “That’s it exactly.”
“What about Ben?”
Lucy’s blue eyes filled with tears. “I love Ben.”
“And he loves you. That was so obvious to me the other day at our meeting. Did you notice that he never took his eyes off you?”
“He didn’t?”
“Not once.” Liana took a deep breath to calm the ache in her own heart. “If I had a man who looked at me like that, I’d want to marry him. And I’d just grit my teeth to get through the wedding so I could have the rest of my life with him.”
Lucy twisted her hands in her lap as she thought about that.
“It’s just a couple of hours, and then it’s you and Ben forever. You can do that for him, for your future, can’t you?”
“Yes,” Lucy said with a firm nod and a smile. “I can do that for him, for us. Do you know anything about the big surprise he has planned for me?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.” Liana clutched Lucy’s hand. “And it’s not something you’re going to want to miss, believe me. Your guests are gathered at the gazebo, the judge is ready, Ben’s here, and you got a beautiful, perfect summer evening. What do you say we go get you married?”
“Okay. Thank you, Liana.”
Liana led Lucy from the room and was startled to find Travis outside the door.
Their eyes met, and she knew in an instant that he had heard everything she’d said to Lucy—and misunderstood it. “Travis . . .” she said haltingly.
He forced a smile. “Let’s get this gorgeous bride to her wedding, shall we?”