Team Bride (2 page)

Pastor Davis cleared his throat. “Corbin?”

He blinked to attention and saluted. “Yes, sir?”

“The ring.”

Oh, man. Daydreaming again. As he reached into the pocket of his cargo shorts, movement at the back of the dimly lit sanctuary caught his attention. A sprite of a woman with long blond hair paused in the doorway, licking her fingers. Sarah? She must have nabbed a slice of pizza on her way in.

“There she is!” He pointed. Too bad he hadn’t gotten a firm grip on that ring first. It flew to the platform steps and bounced on down. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

Oops. Not the presentation he’d meant to make at all. He sprang after it and scooped it into his hand.

“Hey, Sarah! Come on up,” called Lindsey. “Or should we start over, Pastor Davis?”

But the man was staring at Corbin. He hadn’t managed to hide that literal rock taped to a metal washer quickly enough, apparently. Corbin grinned and waggled his eyebrows at the pastor, who shook his head. But there was a glimmer of a smile, so that counted for something.

“Sure, let’s start again at the beginning.” Pastor Davis shut his Bible and waved them away. “I doubt either of you needs any practice with the
you may now kiss the bride
part. That seems to come more naturally than the correct tempo for the bridal march.”

Nick snagged Lindsey and gave her a noisy smooch as he slung his arm around her and steered her toward the back. “That was my practice,” he tossed over his shoulder.

Corbin would gladly give up his position in the last four Team Grooms — or was that Teams Groom? — to have found the woman of his dreams and be the guy getting married himself. His gaze lingered on the maid of honor as he made his way toward her.

Sarah Jamieson. Hair streaked in several shades of blond swung past her shoulders, curling slightly at the ends. A cute pixie face, tanned as though she’d been on the farm all summer, became animated while she chatted with Lindsey. Her hands did a tumbling motion, perhaps to demonstrate the accident that had made her late.

How did they both live in the Sandon Valley yet hadn’t met before? He’d remember that pretty face anywhere. He bumped Lindsey’s shoulder with his arm, keeping his gaze fixed on her friend. “Introduce me?”

* * *

Tall, dark, and handsome. Whoa.

He’d annoyed Sarah so much on the phone there was no way she planned to like him. Teams Groom and Bride, indeed. The entire wedding party was here to make Lindsey and Nick’s wedding day into everything the couple had dreamed of, not to create a competition between girls and guys.

But hey, those killer blue eyes didn’t belong with such dark brown hair, and Corbin Morrissey was awfully cute right down to his sport sandals. Smile lines crinkled around his eyes as a grin poked at his cheeks. A bold one, looking straight at her with a wink.

Sarah blinked and clenched her hands together lest she accidentally fan her face to dissipate the heat she felt rising.

His grin widened. “Sarah Jamieson? I’m Corbin Morrissey, at your service.” He swept a bow.

“Oh, you.” Lindsey jabbed her elbow in the guy’s ribs. “Must everything be a dramatic affair with you?”

Corbin straightened but kept his eyes on Sarah. “Have you seen your best friend, fair lady? She is beautiful and definitely deserving of having a knight in shining armor at her beck and call.”

Shining armor? Sarah couldn’t help the smile that had begun playing with her lips. Shorts with a dozen pockets ended just above his knees, and a bright yellow T-shirt proclaiming
If You Ate Today, Thank a Farmer
clung to his upper body. No shining armor anywhere in sight.

“Okay, let’s get rolling again or we’ll be here until midnight,” called Pastor Davis.

About that. “I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault, young lady. You girls—”

“Team Bride,” supplied Corbin.

“—take your place in the ready room at the back. Men, please join me in the office. Musicians, are you ready?”

Corbin was wasted on a farm, unless the chickens thought he was funny. Sarah’s first grade class would totally lap him up.

The guy grinned at her. “See you at the front.”

What a flirt. Sarah tried to wipe the smile off her face, but failed.

Chapter 2

Corbin rocked on his heels. “Team Groom is all over it. Right guys?”

Heath high-fived him. “I’ll get a ladder.”

Yeah, Corbin attended church over in Castlebrook. It wasn’t much farther to drive than Riverbend. At any rate, he had no clue where River of Life kept mundane equipment like ladders. He jogged over to Sarah where she stood on a chair holding a bundle of autumn leaves against the wall. “Your knight in shining armor,” he quipped as he stretched up. “How high do you want this?”

She glanced down at him, closer than she’d been since he’d escorted her out of the sanctuary after rehearsal. What kind of perfume was she wearing? Not that he knew one from the other, but this was a pleasant kind of tickle. Or maybe not so pleasant.

He dropped the leaves and averted his face just in time to aim his sneeze at his shoulder instead of on her. Oh man. Way to make an impression. He buried his nose in the crook of his arm before two more sneezes erupted in rapid succession.

“Excuse me,” he gasped. This could not be happening. Cutest girl in forever, and he was allergic to her? Well, her perfume. How did a guy politely ask her to leave that at home? And what about when he married her and her home was his? Could she forego scents forever?

Corbin pinched the bridge of his nose and backed away. His thoughts might be as recalcitrant as pigs escaped from the pen, but hey, it never hurt to daydream a little. One day, surely, he’d meet the right woman. Why not today?

Achoo
.

“You okay?” Sarah’s pretty face puckered into a frown.

“Fine.” He backed up another step.

“Are you coming down with something? If you were one of my kids, I’d make you stay home for a day or two.”

One of her
kids?
No. Couldn’t be. She was the maid of honor, not the matron. She was too young to have kids that would be going anywhere.

She burst out laughing, the sound as pleasant a burble as a hen who’d just laid an egg. “I’m a teacher, Corbin. If you could only see your face.”

He never could hide anything he was thinking. “A teacher, eh? That explains it. You had me wondering for a minute there.” His nose twitched, and he took another step back. Not good. So not good.

“Dude. You all right?” Heath stood there with a stepladder and a concerned expression.

“Sort of.”

“You allergic to something?” Heath glanced around. “Autumn leaves? Pretty girls?”

Sarah grinned.

Corbin had to say it. “Perfume.”

The smirk wiped off her face. “Mine?”

“I think so. Sometimes I can handle scents okay, but some really seem to irritate more than others.”

“So you’re saying common sense is fine...”

Corbin blinked and stared up at her. Was she punning?

Heath slapped his hand to his leg. “Good one, Sarah.”

“Thanks.” She smirked at him, eyes twinkling. “I try.”

Hey, she was supposed to be looking at Corbin that way, not the guy with the ladder. Unless maybe they were already an item? But then Nick and Lindsey would have paired them together in the wedding party, wouldn’t they? He shook his head. Enough speculating.

“Hey, I’m sorry. I’ll leave it off for the wedding tomorrow. The school is a no-perfume zone, so I’m used to not smelling nice.” Sarah eyed him uncertainly. “Maybe I get carried away when I get the chance to spritz some on.”

Corbin couldn’t help it. “And here I thought teachers had to have sense.”

Heath high-fived him.

“Can we get those leaves up, guys?” called Lindsey. “Some of us would like to get some sleep yet tonight.”

“Yeah, ’cause you sure won’t get any tomorrow.” Corbin laughed then looked around at the shaking heads. “Well, it’s true. Er, I imagine it must be true. I’ve never had a wedding night—” Time to shut his mouth. It had a habit of running on without him. He glanced at Lindsey’s red face. “Never mind.”

Heath climbed up and secured the autumn leaves while the women stacked the rest of the decorations on a few tables.

“Thanks for getting the stuff that needed a ladder,” Nick said. “The church women will be in first thing in the morning to set up the rest. They couldn’t do it earlier because of the Golden Agers luncheon here this afternoon.”

“There’s still some pizza and pop in the ready room, if anyone’s still hungry.” Lindsey grinned at Corbin. “Or is hungry again.”

“That’d be me.” Corbin looked at Sarah. “I think you promised to have pizza with me out on the fire escape.”

She planted both hands on her slender hips. “I said nothing of the sort. Besides, being near me makes you sneeze.”

“I can live with it if you can.”

Sarah tilted her head to one side. “Trying to enjoy pizza while sitting next to someone who sneezes every thirty seconds? Excuse me if that doesn’t sound like my idea of a fun time.”

Ouch. And he tried so hard to be the life of the party, too.

“You can wash off enough of it that he can handle it, Sarah.” Lindsey hip-checked her friend. “Seriously. Who wouldn’t want to hang out with Corbin? Especially on the fire escape. Sounds like a hot date.”

“Only if there’s a fire.” Heath managed to keep a straight face.

“Thanks, dude,” Corbin muttered.

“Any time. And besides, Sarah, there’s a good breeze out there. Sit upwind of Corbin, and you should be fine.”

“And exactly why would I want to do that, anyway?”

Lindsey laughed. “Isn’t there some kind of tradition about the best man and maid of honor getting together?”

One of the bridesmaids giggled. “I thought that was the ring bearer and the flower girl. Did you see that darling video on YouTube about how they met years later and got married?”

“I’ve been a ring bearer a time or two. Some of those flower girls were pretty cute.”

“Bet you made a move on them, too, Corbin.” Lindsey laughed. “I doubt you’ve changed all that much since you were five.”

“Hey now. I resemble that remark. But it’s hard dating when your parents have to drive you, and you’re too short to get on the good rides at the fair.”

Too bad that joke didn’t make Sarah smile. He leaned closer. “Were you ever a flower girl?”

She stepped aside. “Once. Not so fun.”

“Bridesmaid?”

“Corbin...” Lindsey gave him a look meant to quell.
 

But why? He looked back at Sarah. “A gorgeous woman like you must’ve been on Team Bride a dozen times.”

She narrowed her gaze. “I don’t know where you get that name from.”

“Does it matter? I think it’s fun. One for all and all for one and all that.”

“You’re crazy.”

“Thank you. I’ll take that as a compliment.” Wait. Had she diverted the conversation away from past weddings? A mystery. “What do you say, pizza on the fire escape?”

“And you don’t give up.”

He quirked his eyebrows. “Also true.” If she ditched her perfume, he’d be happy to focus his attention right here for the rest of his life.

He took a step back.
Whoa, Morrissey. Really?
But why not? He was ready, too. Ready to take his spot at the head of Team Groom and then never join another one.

* * *

The River of Life Church actually had a fire escape. Sarah guessed she’d never been around the entire building. Sure, there was a four-story wing back there with offices and meeting rooms and all. She’d never looked out the windows or wondered about where that door led. The wide interior staircase worked just fine.

She glanced at the tall guy sitting beside her. She’d agreed to this
why
? Because he wouldn’t take no for an answer. She’d even tried to remove some of the perfume so he wouldn’t sneeze. Seemed to have worked.

Corbin held out a napkin with a slice of pizza on it. “I know you didn’t have time to get much earlier.”

“Thanks.” Sarah accepted it. “True. And I skipped lunch.”
 

“You’re not fat.”

She pulled back and stared at him. “What?”

“Isn’t that why women skip meals?”

“I was on playground duty and had a bully to keep an eye on.”

“Oh. Sorry. I guess I jumped to conclusions.”

Yeah, she guessed he did. Good grief. “Healthy appetite here, no worries. I’m not a health freak. I ride my bike a lot because I enjoy it. Plus I like real food.” She held up the slice. “I can’t believe Lindsey let Nick do pizza.”

Corbin laughed. “I don’t think the bride is supposed to cater rehearsal dinner even if she’s a chef, so she had to give Nick some freedom. I’m pretty fond of real food myself. I can even cook. Maybe I should swing by the school and bring you lunch when you’re on playground duty.”

Did the guy’s mouth never stop? “I usually take a lunch, but the teacher who was scheduled for playground had a migraine, so I took her place. On the one day I’d planned to sneak over to Loco-To-Go for a sandwich.” She took a big bite of the pizza and closed her eyes with a sigh.

“Here. Let me.”

She felt something wipe at her chin, and her eyes sprang open. Seriously, the guy was mopping up a drip of tomato sauce? She couldn’t even eat neatly. “Um, thanks.”

“You’re welcome. You get something at Loco-To-Go often? I’m one of their suppliers.”

“Really? That’s cool. What do you sell them?”

“Chicken. Eggs. We can never decide which comes first.” He tipped his head to one side.

“I’m always looking for places to take my class on field trips.”

His grin remained stable. “I’m sure there are more interesting places. Want me to think of some?”

She reached for the bottle of pop. “Do you never give up?”

Corbin leaned a bit closer. “Not very easily.”

“Well, I’m a happy single, okay?” She took a swig of pop. “Not looking for a relationship at the moment, either permanent or temporary. Sorry to disappoint.”

“You’re not looking at the moment? I can wait. You might change your mind by tomorrow.”

Seriously? Sarah wadded up her napkin and slammed the lid of the pizza box. She surged to her feet on the narrow fire escape. “Thanks for keeping me company while I ate.”