Timing (233 page)

82

Mary Calmes

RAND was gone when I woke up in the morning, but there was a note

t

under

r my cell phone te

t ll

l ing me why. The ra

r nch needed him, but he

would re

r turn

r that eve

v ning for the re

r hearsal dinner. Until then, I was to

miss him and not be

b too mad about my

m ne

n ck. The

h last part of the note

made no se

s nse

s until I

I passed the

h mirror in the bathr

h oom.

“Oh… shit,” I groaned, leaning forward, looking at all the deep

purple ma

m rks on my

m coll

l arbone and the side

d s of

f my

m ne

n ck. There

r was

one right at the ba

b se

s of my thro

r at, but it wa

w s sma

m ll, barely noticeable.

Betwe

w en my

m bruised eye and the

h hic

i keys,

, I

I looked like somebody

d beat

me up.

Aft

f er I

I showered and changed, I put on a dress shirt and left only

the top button undone. I

I looked like I was ready to go to a business

meeting instead of downstairs for bre

r akfa

f st.

“What’s with the shirt

r ?

t ”

” Charl

r otte

t asked as I

I took a seat beside

d

her.

“I’m

’ ru

r nning out of

f clothes,” I lie

i d, smi

m ling a

t her.

“You didn’t

’ pack enough clothes?” she asked sk

s eptic

i all

l y

l . “You

didn’t… you?”

“Yeah,” I snapped a

t he

h r.

r “I miscalculated.”

Her eyes, the sa

s me bright, beautiful blue ones her brother had,

narrowed in half.

If

I

f for any re

r ason I flinc

n hed, she had me

m . She knew me too well

l for

me to be

b able

l to hide thing

n s from her.

r

Timing

83

“What?”

“I dunno, something’s weird… different.”

“Just hurry up and eat,” I ordered her. “We’ve gotta go pick up

the dress, and I’ve gotta check the wedding programs, and––”

“The programs are here. Nick and Clarissa picked them up.”

“Where are they?”

She got up and brought me back the huge box, and the second I

removed the lid, I saw a problem. It turned out to be only one of many,

the least of which was that my name was not Stephanie.

“Who proofed these?” I asked her softly, slowly, my eyes lifting

from the program to her face. “It wasn’t you, was it?”

“No,” she answered warily. “Why?”

I turned it around so she could see that her wedding was still more

than a month away. I was surprised that all the glasses in the room held

up to the scream instead of shattering right there on the spot.

“What’s wrong?” Ben yelled as he came flying in from the

kitchen with Nick behind him. He looked like he was ready to kill

someone.

But it was impossible to understand Charlotte between the

sobbing and intermittent shrieking. The wedding was making her crazy.

“Jesus,” he yelled at her a few minutes later, finally understanding

what she was crying about. “Could you save that particular blood-

curdling scream for when you’re being murdered? Christ, Charlotte,

you scared the shit outta me!”

The wailing continued as she collapsed into my lap, wrapping her

arms around my neck, sobbing into my shoulder.

“Tell me where there’s a printing place around here,” I said to

Ben, standing up with his fiancée clinging to me like a vine.

“Sure,” he said, his eyes wild, concerned about the bride-to-be’s

state of mind.

“Now,” I said flatly.

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Mary Calmes

At which point he finally understood the magnitude of her

breakdown.

Calming Charlotte took time, but once I got my laptop, she and I

sat down and redesigned the program, and I e-mailed it over to the local

copy shop, she was once again able to breathe. The glasses of white

wine helped a lot; as did the amazing job the seamstress had done

updating the dress. It was not Vera Wang, but neither was it the horror

it had first been. The lace had been shortened to the bodice, and without

the scary beaded sleeves, it fit like a mermaid gown, and her silhouette

was stunning. My friend would be radiant, the train long enough to be

elegant but still short enough to dance in, and the veil was enchanting. I

was certain that there would never be a more beautiful bride.

In my room later in the day, I tossed her a small, black velvet box.

“What’s this?” The bright blue eyes looked over at me.

“It isn’t a ring,” I teased her.

“Well no,” she giggled. “I didn’t think it was.”

“Open it.”

“Stefan Joss, what did you… oh my God.” She caught her breath

when she opened it.

Between the bridesmaids and her mother and mother-in-law to be,

Charlotte had the old, borrowed, and blue all taken care of. They were

missing the new, but I had supplied that.

“Oh Stef.” Her bottom lip quivered as she stared down at the

diamond earrings. At a carat each, it was not a small gift. But she was

the only woman in my life, the only family I had, my touchstone and

my dearest friend. She deserved a medal for putting up with me.

“It’s you who deserves the hazard pay,” she said as she put the

earrings on, finally releasing me after long minutes to screw on the

backs.

“Happy?” I asked her.

“I’m never going to take them off.”

Timing

85

“Good.” I smiled at her, turning back to face the armoire, trying

to figure out what else I could wear to hide the purple blotches on my

neck. Rand Holloway was a dead man when I saw him.

THE rehearsal was crazy. One of the groomsmen was AWOL,

Reverend Ellis could not wrap his brain around Charlotte having a

Man-of-Honor, and everyone was stunned at the very revealing dress

that Ben’s mother showed up in. It plunged in the front, and it plunged

in the back, and I was simply speechless. The groom was mortified.

“Aw, c’mon, that’s probably why they’re still married,” Nick

consoled his best friend. “’Cause your Mom still fires up your Dad’s

engine, if you know what I mean.”

Ben’s stunned expression as he looked over at Charlotte and me

made me snort out the water I was drinking. The bride just sounded like

she was gagging.

“This is what I’ve been telling you.” She smacked her fiancé in

the back of the head. “The man’s a pig.”

“Stef,” he whimpered.

“Char,” I said, trying not to laugh.

She made the disgusted noise again.

“So, how are we all getting out to the ranch?” Tina asked as she

arrived at my side.

I wasn’t sure who she was talking to.

“Stef?”

I turned my head slowly to look at Charlotte.

“Hi.” She smiled widely, looking guilty as hell.

“What’s going on?”

“Well.” Her voice went way up high, squeaking like it did when

she was really nervous.

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Mary Calmes

“Aren’t we going out to Rand’s for the rehearsal dinner?” Nick

asked, confused.

Ben waggled his eyebrows at me. “Oh yeah, buddy––we’re both

in hell.”

I scowled at Charlotte.

“Your face is gonna freeze like that.”

“I’m not staying out there,” I said so she wouldn’t know it was all

I wanted.

“You have to,” she moaned. “I think it’s in the best friend

contract.”

Ben could not contain his cackling laughter.

We ended up in a ten-car caravan driving out to the Red Diamond

Ranch, and even though my stomach was full of butterflies, I made sure

that my tradition with my best friend was observed. The second we got

into the Mustang convertible that Ben had given Charlotte when they

got engaged, I plugged in my iPod, and we got “Cruisin’”
cranked up

as loud as it would go.

“Aww,” Tina gushed from the backseat. “How cute are they?”

“Adorable,” Ben groused from behind Charlotte.

“You’re just jealous because her boyfriend is so hot,” Kristin

taunted the groom.

“Not one person in this car is sane,” he assured us all.

But he ended up singing along with us under the hot Texas sun as

we went through an hour’s worth of oldies.

The closer I got to the ranch, the more nervous I got. What if

Rand ignored me when I got there? What if he had invited a woman to

be his date? What if he was kind and warm but wanted me to stay only

because of Charlotte? He would be engaging and charming, and then, at

the end of the night, retire alone to his bedroom, allowing Charlotte and

me our time together, our last night as
Will & Grace
.

“Oh, lighten up.” Charlotte cuffed my arm as I took the turn off

the highway, heading toward the road that would eventually lead to an

enormous ranch house.

Timing

87

“Oh, look at this.” Tina was in awe as she got out of the car.

“There’s a huge porch and a swing… is this where you grew up,

Char?”

“Yes, it is.” Charlotte inhaled the scent of wildflowers, grass, and

freshly cut wood, just like I did. For whatever reason, the ranch always

smelled good, everything mixed together on the breeze. “Don’t you just

love it?”

“I do,” Kristin chimed in. “I love it. The huge porch and the

swing and… oh….”

It was the long, drawn-out
oh
, said with such absolute, breathless

wonder, that caught my attention. As the other cars began to roll up

around us, parking wherever they stopped, I watched, along with

everyone else, as Rand rode toward us. He was doing it on purpose, and

I didn’t appreciate it.

“Wha… ha… oh,” Kristen gurgled out beside me, one long string

of vowels emanating from her mouth, which she seemed unable to

close.

“Oh my.” Tina caught her breath.

“Holy shit, I almost forgot,” Alison whispered fast.

“What?” Charlotte asked her.

“That your brother is a cowboy, and a damn fine sexy one at

that.”

“Are those chaps?”

“Dear God in heaven, the man is beautiful.”

There was no argument to be made; the man was absolute fantasy

material come to life. Up on his horse, riding in from the range, he was

as close to heaven as most of us were ever going to get. As he

dismounted, my eyes mapped every line of his massive frame. He

looked amazing in the boot-cut jeans that hugged his long, muscular

legs and ass, the brown leather chaps, and the weathered cowboy boots.

The belt buckle was huge and drew your eyes to his groin, and between

the flannel shirt, the white T-shirt peeking out from the open collar, and

88

Mary Calmes

the cowboy hat, he was mouth-watering. And it wasn’t just me

noticing.

The sly, sexy way he smiled, the dimple in his chin, the veins in

his hands, the way the shirt stretched across his wide chest, and his

bright, glittering eyes… I needed to be dumped into a pool of ice water.

When he reached us, leading the beautiful Appaloosa mare, I felt my

mouth go dry.

“Hey, you,” Charlotte greeted her brother, stepping forward to

touch the brim of the hat that shaded the upper part of his face. “Are

you ready for all of us?”

“I’ve got dinner covered,” he assured her, passing me the reins of

the horse, “but I’ve only got room for you and Stef out here tonight.”

“No, I know.” She smiled at him. “I appreciate you hosting this

for me. I know that traditionally the rehearsal dinner is for the groom’s

family to do, but since they’re paying for the wedding… I wanted us––

our family––to do this.”

“’Course,” he said, turning to me. “You okay to hold her?”

I nodded, looking at the horse, reaching out to stroke the side of

her neck. “Yeah. She’s so beautiful, Rand.”

“Yes, she is.”

“She’s not one of your brood mares, though?”

“No,” he said slowly, “she’s not.”

I felt myself scowl. “What?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. It’s just funny that you know

anything about brood mares.”

My face got hot. “No, I––”

“So tell me––how many brood mares do I have, Stef?”

“I dunno… fifteen?” I asked, looking up into his glittering eyes.

“That’s right,” he said, delight plain on his face. “And how many

other horses on the ranch?”

“Four stallions, and what’d you tell Char last time––thirty saddle

horses?”