Chapter Fifteen
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
NATALIE
O n occasion, there is a slight part of me that likes to make a statement. Tonight was one of those nights. It had become especially necessary since I hadn’t gotten to have that moment as a bride; the one where I would have been rocking my !utter sleeve faux wrap satin dress with ruffle hem. My stylist had planned to loosely wave my hair and tuck a few strands back with glittery bobby pins. To give my feet a break from heels, I had purchased a pair of white Chacos, intending to dance the night away under the canopy of trees at the Leach Botanical Gardens. As I initially made my way down the dirt aisle during the ceremony, everybody would have turned to catch a glimpse of me, and I would have heard the whispers of how perfect I looked. Every woman deserves that moment once in her life. And mine had passed me by. For now. But with Kate’s help, I had found two killer dresses, and I hoped to get Joel to look me up and down with that twinkle in his eye that stole my soul bit by bit.
I checked over my appearance one last time in my beveled full length mirror in the bedroom. The dark blue tea length lace dress swayed slightly at the hem when I moved. The fat vintage brown leather sandals with scalloped ankle and toe straps were comfortable and my hair was twisted into an off-center bun at the nape of my neck. I accessorized with my simple pearl stud earrings. It looked effortless, but elegant. I spritzed on some perfume, grabbed my clutch, and floated down the path to the main building, my sandals clacking along the flagstone. Joel knew to pick me up at the front of the resort. Something about him meeting me there, instead of at my bungalow, made it feel like an official date.
All but skipping through the lobby, I stepped outside the heavy entrance doors and faced the long palm tree-lined driveway o! the highway. With a deep breath in to calm my nerves, I raised onto my toes and clicked my heels together, coyly put my arms behind my back, swaying side to side. When I looked up, I saw Joel’s SUV pull up under the columned porte cochere.
He climbed out and paused behind his door, watching me over the top of it. His eyes were hidden by sunglasses, but I could feel them take me in. A slow smile broke across his face, lighting up as it stretched from ear to ear. He closed the door and met me steps from the passenger side.
“Wow, Red.” He leaned in, placing his hand on my elbow and gave a tentative kiss on my temple. “You look . . . wow.”
I let out a small chuckle. “You’ve already made my night.”
“Are you ready?” He led me to the car, opening the door and helping me in.
I watched him walk around to the driver’s side and took in his muscular body. The cut of his navy chinos showed o! his runner’s legs, and the gray linen button up, with sleeves rolled to his elbows, accentuated his hours of paddling each weekend. He traded his flip flops for black and white slip on Vans, and I secretly appreciated we both owned a pair.
“Hi,” he said simply, turning his full body my way and grinning.
I leaned in toward him. “Hi, nice hair.” I gave him a soft and lingering kiss. He tasted like cinnamon. “Mmmm. ”
When he pulled away, he had a quizzical brow. “What about my hair?”
“I like it. It’s got that look of I-used-product-to-make-it-looklike-I-just-woke-up.” I turned my attention to buckling my seatbelt, using all my restraint to not run my fingers through it.
He started up the car and pulled out of the resort. “You have me all figured out. Let’s talk about you. Where did you get that dress? I’m assuming you didn’t pack it.”
“No, no.” I pointed to the playlist on his phone while it played in the background of our conversation. “We need to talk about this. You listen to ska.”
“And?”
“I am surprised. Wouldn’t have pegged you for that. Seems a little . . . outgoing for you. That immediately shoots down me having you all figured out.”
“Guess so,” he pulled his lips up on one side and then nodded at my dress. “Your turn.”
“I listen to ska, too, but not as much as I did as a teenager. I did see the Aquabats during college when they played in Denver.”
His whole being lit up at this little detail of my life: something we shared in common that wasn’t par for the course. “And did you wear that dress when you saw them?”
“Oh this old thing?” I teased. “No, I did not wear it to the concert. I bought it yesterday and it cost an arm and a leg in a shop at the resort, but it’s pretty great. Consider yourself wing-manned.”
He kept his eyes on the road as we hit the open highway, and his knuckles tensed ever so briefly. “I thought you were going as my date.”
I quickly caught my mistake. “I am your date, Joel. I am so happy to be your date. Please trust me. I meant wingman in a playful, flirty way.” His body relaxed, and I reached over, touching his arm. “So tell me about Ben and Lea. How was it seeing them last night? ”
We rode across the North Shore to the other end of the island while Joel told me how nice it was to break the ice and see everybody in a casual way before tonight. We talked about his day at work, the traffic he got stuck in all over the island, his plan to go shark cage diving with the groomsmen in the morning before the wedding. He spoke much like that first day when I met him, open and unfiltered. I sensed there were some nerves behind it, so I just listened and grabbed his free hand, giving it a squeeze.
He broke mid-sentence, noticing my fingernails as I laced my fingers through his. “They’re black. Did you have a really hard day again today?” He gave me a playful pout.
“Yes, in fact I did.” I straightened up in my seat. “I had planned a day of pampering and preparing to win over your friends. Then after yesterday, it really felt necessary.”
“I want to come back to the second part, but I need to pause and ask, what treatments exhausted you today?” He was full-on jesting now.
I pulled my hand away, feigning offense. “I will have you know, I did a master yoga session that had me smelling twice as bad as the other day. Then I did an aromatherapy massage and a mani-pedi. Between the dresses and the sandals and the spa day, I have funded a small country. Totally worth it.”
“Dresses, plural?” he cocked an eyebrow.
“I can’t wear the same thing two days in a row.” I acted appalled at the thought. “Tomorrow, I. Will. Stun.”
“Hm. I don’t know how you can top tonight,” he vocalized, and my heart thumped as hard as the Japanese taiko drum. “Okay, unpause. What happened yesterday?”
I launched into the whole tale, starting with the boutique visit and ending with Kate’s confirmation this morning of the Booze Truck’s attendance. Luca was still working on the food carts, but the first few he had spoken to seemed interested. I leaned back into the seat, my stomach growling.
“Speaking of food, is this going to be one of those dinners that starts at seven but not really until eight and we eat weird little foods that are supposed to impress but leave us hungry ten minutes later?” I narrowed my eyes at Joel.
He laughed a melodic, full laugh that filled every inch of his car. “I like you.”
“That didn’t answer my very important question,” I pointed out, turning up the song and belting out the chorus alongside Save Ferris.
He slowed down as we entered the town of the rehearsal dinner and wedding. A local hamburger shop, Mad Cow, sat on the outskirts like a watering hole in the desert, beckoning me like a moth to a flame, and Joel pulled into the parking lot. “I’m pretty sure after meeting Lea, that is exactly what we are walking into. We have time before we have to be there. How about we grab first dinner?”
“You really should just ditch this day job pushing drugs on the good people of Hawaii and become a travel food blogger,” I said, sinking my teeth into a bacon cheeseburger. We got our meal to go and sat at a picnic table under a banyan tree in a park down the street. I’d strategically tucked napkins around my collar and was taking the utmost care not to spill anywhere.
Joel eyed his double patties with pulled pork. “I’m glad you like it.”
I let out a small groan before reaching for my Pepsi. “Seriously. You know all the best places. I don’t think in all my times here, I’ve eaten as well as I have with you.”
He reached across the table and gave me a bite of his sweet potato waffle fry, holding it up to my mouth. “I told you, I had to find things to do to kill the time on weekends, especially Sundays, so I have tried a lot of places. A lot. I’ve likewise probably funded a small country.” He said it matter-of-factly, but it still held a touch of sorrow .
“I’m sorry, but I’m also appreciative of your efforts,” I replied sincerely, then pivoted the conversation. “Okay, give me the scoop. What am I walking into? Anybody I need to automatically despise? Anything I shouldn’t talk about? Do they even know I’m coming?”
He stole one of my onion rings and chuckled. “You’re a good date if you’re willing to walk into a rehearsal dinner with preconceived notions of people, ready to dislike them immediately. Yes, they know you’re coming. No, you don’t have anything to worry about. They’re all good guys. We worked together a few years and some of them are with different companies now, even in different states, but we all started our careers together, so I think that’s why we are still in touch. We were together as we found wives . . . and as I buried mine. A few guys have a kid now . . . Ben’s the last of us to get married, and I hadn’t met Lea until last night?—”
“But you think she’s a fussy bride who will make us eat small, weird food,” I clarified.
“Yes, based solely on the fact that when they got in my car, she asked where we could find a wheatgrass shot.”
I scrunched my face together in disgust. “For you, I will be nice to her, but I will not be sharing deep, dark secrets with her anytime soon.”
Joel gave me his delightful half-smirk that made my heart skip a beat. “Fair enough.” And then he glanced away shyly, adding a barely audible, “I’m really glad you’re here with me.”