Teasing in Texas (At the Altar Book 10) (2 page)

Kaya nodded emphatically at her sister. “Listen to Jenni for a change. Listen to someone other than the creepy voices in your head!”

“Like
I’m
the one with voices in my head!” Bridget made a face. “I don't know why you guys bother. I'm going to eat what I want to eat. If you don't like it, eat with random strangers.”

Jenni frowned. “You don't
always
have to be rude, Bridget.”

“She's just doing what she does best!” Kaya said. “You know Bridget. Can't take her out around people.”

Jenni ignored the sisters as they bickered on, well aware that they were always at their worst when they were together, and watched the different people around her. She wondered which man there would end up being her husband in two days. Then a thought occurred to her that had her worried. What if he didn't show? She wasn't allowed to talk to Lachele! How would she know if he was there?

She saw Dr. Lachele who moved over to a table beside her. Jenni's eyes met the doctor’s. She mouthed the words, “Did he make it onto the ship?”

Dr. Lachele nodded, and Jenni immediately felt better. At least she wasn't being stood up at the altar. Or would it be correct to say being stood up on a cruise ship? She'd asked Kaya, but Kaya was being annoying because Bridget was there. Kaya had always had a way with words, which was why she was a writer.

After lunch, they went back to the room, and Bridget read the schedule out loud to everybody. She told them what they should do, and when they should do it. “I want to karaoke tonight! I think Kaya and I should sing
I Got You Babe
!”

Jenni looked at Kaya. “And what does Kaya think of this idea?”

“Kaya thinks it's a stupid idea, and she thinks Bridget should get a life.” She collapsed backward onto the bed. “I need a nap. Vacations are about sleeping and eating. Not about singing stupid songs at karaoke with your sister.”

Bridget sighed heavily. “Jenni, you'll sing with me, won't you?”

“You've got to be kidding me! My future husband could be in the audience, not knowing me, and you want me to sing
I Got You Babe
?” Jenni shook her head. “It's not happening.”

Bridget made a face. “We are on vacation, people! How are we going to have any fun if you two are acting like sticks in the mud?”

Kaya put a pillow over her head. “Just be quiet for a little while, Bridget! Why don't you go up on deck and see if there are any men for you? You can wander around picking up men and drinking Shirley Temples or something!”

“I prefer Coke!” Bridget got up, grabbed her key card for the room, and left. She slammed the door behind her.

Jenni sighed. “Now we've made her mad. She's going to be a pain for the rest of the trip.”

Kaya removed the pillow from her head and looked at Jenni. “She'll be fine. She'll come back and will have met the most gorgeous guy on the whole ship and he'll be waiting to meet her in a bar later. Who cares what Bridget thinks anyway?”

“Well, she
is
our friend.”

Kaya ground. “Speak for yourself!
You
may have chosen her, but she's my sister. I'm stuck with her!” Kaya rolled to her side. “I think you should nap too. We both need naps. Naps are made of awesome and fairy dust.”

Jenni looked over at her bed. It
did
look inviting. She grabbed her iPad and settled down on some pillows, finding a book to read on her Kindle app. She had half a dozen books saved up for the trip. She was going to enjoy herself despite her annoying friends.

When Bridget came back to the room three hours later, she was in a much better mood. Kaya and Jenni were playing cards, and Jenni looked up. “Looks like you had fun!”

“I did! I went up to the spa and entered a raffle and I won a free massage on a port day, which means I might have to not get off the ship, but I can live with that. And then I played ping pong with some cute guy from Oklahoma, who told me we should meet up for another match tomorrow on our sea day. It was a good day! Glad I ditched you two. Did you nap?”

Kaya nodded. “I feel much better now.”

Jenni shrugged. “Me too. We have dinner in an hour, so we probably need to dress for it. You guys mind if I shower first?”

Bridget shook her head. “Nope. You go for it. I’m going to nap, so do it quietly.”

Kaya sighed. “I’ll take my laptop out on deck and see if I can get a few words written. I’ve got my internet package so I’ll check in with May and Liz, my writer friends. They’ll keep me company while I stare contentedly at the ocean.”

Jenni smiled. “Do I get to read what you’ve written while you’re showering?”

“You know better. I don’t share what I’ve written until it’s done. And then I only share with my editor.”

“You’re so boring.” Jenni wrinkled her nose before getting her clothes for dinner that night. She was a nurse, and used to handling the human body, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t modest with her own.

The shower was almost comical. The space inside the bathroom was so small, she bumped her shoulder on the wall, banged her hip on the counter, and tripped trying to get out of the shower. Getting dressed in the small space was ridiculous, but she managed, walking out to the main room to blow dry her hair. Usually, she’d just throw it up in a ponytail, but she could see her future husband at any moment, and she couldn’t get that fact off her mind.

Kaya hurried into the shower after her, taking half as long as she did, and coming out to spend three minutes blow drying. “It’s nice to have short hair,” she said with a grin.

When they had about thirty minutes before dinner, and had played two more hands of gin as quietly as they could, Jenni woke Bridget. “Time to shower for dinner.”

Bridget blinked a few times and scrubbed her hand over her face. “Dinner. Right.”

They were put at a table for three, and Jenni was glad they wouldn’t have to share the meal with strangers. At least not yet. She knew she’d be sharing a meal with a stranger soon enough.

She was so tired from the months of endless hours that she wasn’t sure she was up to everything the sisters had planned. She listened to them talk about checking out the karaoke.  “You have to come!” Bridget told her.

Jenni sighed. “I might, but I might just go back to the room. I’m tired.”

Kaya waved her hand at her. “You can sleep when you’re married. You have to have fun tonight. We only have two evenings together with all three of us, and then you’ll be a Sadie.”

Jenni blinked, confused. “A Sadie?”

Kaya stared at her with shock. “You know, from
Funny Girl?
‘Sadie, Sadie, married lady’!”

Jenni shrugged. “I guess I need to catch up on my musical-watching, so I can be as literate as you are.”

Kaya got a shrimp cocktail for her appetizer, while Bridget got nothing. When the waiter frowned, she said, “Don’t worry. I’ll get three desserts to make up for it.”

Jenni shook her head. There was no doubt in her mind Bridget was serious. It wasn’t long after the appetizers had been delivered that Kaya got annoyed with something Bridget had said. Jenni hadn’t heard it because she’d been staring at the waves out the window. What was so calming about the ocean?

Jenni did notice when Kaya stabbed Bridget with her shrimp fork, her eyes widening. “Don’t stab your sister with a fork! What’s wrong with you?”

Bridget didn’t hesitate before reaching over and grabbing Jenni’s shrimp fork and stabbing her sister back. When they were done, both sisters dissolved into giggles as if the whole thing had been planned for their entertainment.

Kaya held her fist out for a fist bump, and when Bridget responded, they said together, “Wonder Twin powers...activate!”

“Form of a monkey!” Kaya said.

“Shape of a shrimp fork!” Bridget responded, and they both giggled some more.

Jenni looked at the two of them with more than a little horror reflected in her expression. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you were both drunk!”

Bridget shook her head solemnly. “Can you imagine what we’d be like with alcohol? Coke and root beer are almost more than we can handle!”

Kaya nodded emphatically, agreeing with her sister for a change. “It would
not
be a pretty sight.”

Jenni could see a man from the next table over staring at them, and she tried not to get embarrassed. Her friends were happy. That’s what mattered, right?

Chapter Two

Jenni watched throughout the meal as her friends giggled over the most ridiculous things. When it was time for dessert, Bridget really did order three different things, only one of which was to share with her sister, who had already ordered a dessert of her own.

Kaya smiled at the waiter. “We’re going to need shrimp forks with that.”

Jenni stifled a groan. Those girls did
not
need more shrimp forks.

The waiter blinked. “You want more shrimp?”

“Of course not. But dessert will taste so much better off shrimp forks,” Bridget said.

The waiter brought the five desserts for the three of them, and three shrimp forks as well as three spoons. Jenni picked up a spoon, while Bridget and Kaya pushed their desserts in front of her and then snapped a picture. “Hey! I only got one dessert, unlike you two!”

“That’s not what this picture says!” Bridget said, showing her phone to Jenni.

“Why couldn’t I have brought normal friends?” Jenni asked no one in particular.

Kaya frowned at Jenni. “Aren’t you going to eat your dessert with a shrimp fork?”

“Don’t try to drag me into your shrimp fork shenanigans! I’ll eat with a spoon like a normal person.”

Kaya’s eyes grew wide and she looked at Bridget. “What a fabulous name for a book! Shrimp Fork Shenanigans! You don’t mind if I use that do you, Jenni?” Her voice was full of excitement as she looked back at her friend.

“I don’t see me writing a book any time soon, so be my guest.”

Kaya picked up her phone and tapped a few things before putting it back down. “I’m happy now.”

After dinner, they were stopped by a photographer wanting them to pose, and all Jenni wanted to do was get away, but the twins each grabbed one of her arms and forced her to pose with them. They were giggling so hard for the pictures, their faces had turned red. Jenni knew she must have looked boring in between them, but she was still trying to figure out what the joke was.

Finally, Bridget said she needed a picture with just her twin, and Jenni was relieved to watch from the sidelines. As she stood there, the two sisters put their backs together with their arms folded for a picture, grabbed a random man who was cleaning near them to pose with them, and even got a selfie with the photographer. She wasn’t sure the ship’s photographers were really supposed to do that, but it sure seemed to make her friends happy.

“I’m going to tag them
all
as Matt!” Kaya said as they walked away.

“Going to tag all of who as Matt?” Jenni asked falling into step with the others.

“We decided to take selfies with every single photographer and tag them all as Matt. And we’ll get as many random other men as we can as well, and tag
them
as Matt.”

Jenni blinked a few times. “Why Matt and not Bob or something?”

Kaya shrugged. “I’m not sure really. It’s just a game I play with my fans. I put a Matt into every book as my way of sending them a hug. They love it and so do I, so now I’m on a quest for Matts, real or imaginary.”

“You know you’re border-line psycho, right?”

“That’s what you love about me!” Kaya said with a grin as she led the way into the lounge where the karaoke was happening.

They took a table in the back, and Jenni said a quick prayer that meant the other two weren’t planning on singing. Of course she was wrong and realized it when Bridget quickly ran to get a slip of paper to write their names and song preference on.

“What are you singing?” Jenni asked Kaya over the obnoxious version of Journey’s
Separate Ways
that an obviously drunk man was singing to an equally inebriated woman.

“We’re singing
Going to the Chapel
.”

Bridget sat back down, grinning happily. “Yup.”

Jenni shook her head. “You two know there’s no way I’m singing with you, right?”

“Your name is on the slip,” Bridget said, sipping at the Coke that had just been delivered.

Jenni closed her eyes and counted to ten. “You two are nuts. Why can’t you be normal?”

Kaya shrugged. “You wanted us to have fun and not fight. We’re not fighting.”

Jenni said nothing. She enjoyed singing, and she would have enjoyed getting up on stage with them at any other time, but worrying her future husband could be any man on the ship had her more nervous than usual. She wished she’d asked for the wedding to be the first sea day, but she’d messed up there. She had almost forty-eight more hours of torture with the Wonder Twins before her wedding.

*****

Tony sat in the lounge on the cruise ship nursing a Sprite. Everywhere he’d gone on the ship, he’d seen the pretty girl from the line and her two obnoxious friends. They’d been stabbing each other during dinner and eating dessert with ridiculously small forks, and then they’d spent twenty minutes getting pictures taken with a photographer, making a line form that was blocking everyone who wanted to walk through.

They were all very obviously drunk. He shook his head, a little bit disgusted. She’d seemed so pretty at first, and now he wanted nothing to do with her, which was probably a good thing, because he was getting married in two days.

The three women he’d been watching were called to the front and the two, who were obviously sisters, stood together, while the pretty girl stood in the back. Together they sang
Going to the Chapel
, and he sighed, getting up to go back to his room. He’d had enough ridiculousness for one night. He was ready to meet his bride and enjoy the rest of his cruise.

*****

On the morning of her wedding, Jenni slipped out of bed early, knowing that Bridget and Kaya would both sleep in. She wanted a massage and facial that day, and she’d made a hair appointment as well. She was sorry to miss their first port day, but it was more important to her she look good for her wedding.

In the elevator on the way to the spa, she saw a man she’d run into over and over, first seeing him in line to get on the ship. “Hi,” she said softly.

He smiled a bit. “Hi. Heading to breakfast?”

She shook her head. “Nope, I’m having a spa day.” She didn’t mention she was getting married that night, but she wasn’t sure why.

“Where are your friends?”

“Sleeping in.”

“I’m sure they need to sleep half the day away after their drunken time last night,” he said, his voice biting.

Jenni wrinkled her nose. He was good-looking in a nerdish sort of way with dark hair and big brown eyes. She would have been attracted to him if he hadn’t been so judgmental. “My friends don’t drink.” She got off the elevator as it opened, not willing to spend another minute with him, even if it meant taking the stairs up the final two floors.

Her massage was first, and she was able to relax as the tiny little woman from Thailand worked her sore muscles. She’d never in her life been so in need of a little tender loving care. The nervousness that was part of marrying—especially a stranger—was really getting to her.

As she went from one spa service to the next, taking only a short break to get some lunch, she felt more and more relaxed. She was still nervous, but having people work on her made her feel better. When her hair and make-up were finally done, only an hour before the designated time for her wedding, she got back on the elevator going down to the suite she shared with her friends.

The Wonder Twins had promised to pack her things for her move to the room she’d share with her husband, and when she got back, she found they’d done exactly as promised. Bridget was sitting on her bed painting her toe nails while Kaya stood at a mirror fixing her make-up.

“I hope you know how much I love you!” Kaya said, her mascara brush poised. “I don’t paint my face for just anyone.”

Jenni grinned. “I love you guys too. I’m glad you’ll be here for my wedding.” As nervous as she was, she wasn’t certain she could go through with it without her friends.

“Thanks for bringing us,” Bridget said with a grin. “And thanks for putting up with us. I know we’re a handful when we’re together.”

Jenni nodded emphatically. “I don’t think I’d ever have become friends with you together. I had to get to know you each separately for me to be willing to spend five minutes with you.” They seemed almost normal when they weren’t together.

Kaya shrugged. “Even our mom doesn’t like us together. We either fight or laugh at ridiculous things. We’re choosing to laugh and not be mad at each other, and trust me, that’s the best thing for us.” She put down her make-up and turned to look at Jenni. “Wow. They did a great job. You look beautiful.”

Jenni put her hand over her stomach, trying to still the fluttering there. “I’m so nervous.” She hoped the man she was going to marry was a good one. What if he was a closet serial killer? Surely Dr. Lachele had made sure he wasn’t, but how could anyone really know?

“As a romance writer, and an expert on romance—.”

“Only in your own mind!” Bridget called.

Kaya ignored her sister and finished her sentence. “I can say, without a doubt, that if you weren’t nervous there would be something very wrong with you. Almost as wrong as there is with Bridget.”

“I heard that!”

“You were meant to!” Kaya called back. “I’m going to put my dress on, and then I’ll come help you.”

Jenni nodded, even more nervous now.
Please don’t let them fight as they walk down the aisle!

Because there wasn’t a large wedding party, Jenni had decided to have her two best friends walk down the aisle arm in arm, which she was already regretting. Hopefully they hadn’t sneaked any shrimp forks out of the restaurant. She could only imagine how bad that would be. One of them lying on the floor bleeding because the other had stabbed a little too hard
in fun
would ruin the wedding.

Lachele’s husband, Sam, had offered to walk Jenni down the aisle, but she didn’t want that. If her father couldn’t be there for her wedding day, then she wasn’t going to thumb her nose at him by having a stranger walk with her.

Thirty minutes later, the three of them left the room and went to the third floor, where she’d be married by the captain in front of a huge stairway. Jenni wasn’t sure her legs would support her as she stood for a moment, looking around for her favorite purple-haired matchmaker.

When she spotted Dr. Lachele, she saw her talking to two men with their backs to her. By the shape of him, she immediately knew one was Sam, so the other must be her future husband—the man of her dreams.

There were photographers everywhere, ready to snap pictures, and Jenni wasn’t surprised to realize she already knew most of them by name. With as much time as Kaya and Bridget spent getting their pictures taken, it seemed natural to know them all.

She sucked in a breath as she nodded to Dr. Lachele, who hurried over to have the piano start playing. It wasn’t until Kaya and Bridget were out of the way that she saw her husband—the man from the elevator. She all but groaned out loud, trying to keep her face serene. There were too many cameras going off for her to frown at him like she wanted to do.

Finally, she reached his side, seeing her shock mirrored in his eyes. They both stood for a moment staring at each other before he held his hand up for her to take. She felt like the hand was an olive branch, so she grabbed on, clinging to it tightly.

He couldn’t believe it was the girl he’d been attracted to from the get-go, with her two obnoxious non-drinking friends. He knew he’d been a jerk in the elevator, and he wanted to apologize, but how could he with everyone watching them? Taking her hand was the only thing he knew to do.

The taller of her friends was carefully blotting at her face with a tissue, trying to dry her tears, while the younger was poking the taller in the back.
Was that one of those tiny forks in her hand?
If this was how the two women acted when they were sober, he didn’t want to imagine what they’d be like drunk. Dancing on tables, no doubt.

As the captain went through the marriage ceremony, his voice filled with a strong Italian accent, Jenni watched him through her eyelashes. Taking deep breaths, she told herself he was just having a bad day when he’d said those things earlier. Surely they’d get along, no matter what he thought of her friends. After all, even she’d been a tad bit annoyed with how obnoxiously Kaya and Bridget were acting.

When the captain invited him to kiss his bride, he looked down into her beautiful eyes for a moment, before lowering his head and gently brushing her lips with his.

Dr. Lachele stood watching them, boo-hooing loudly into a handkerchief. Kaya was crying softly, but her eyes were huge and red, her face blotchy. Bridget watched Jenni with interest, as if she was trying to determine what she thought of her new groom.

“You’re eating with me tonight, of course,” the captain said. “And you.” He nodded at Dr. Lachele.

Jenni nodded, not sure how she was supposed to react. She was standing next to a stranger she was married to. It was something she’d never done before, so of course she didn’t know quite how to react.

As the whole group of them followed the captain to a small private room where they were supposed to eat, Jenni studied the man beside her. He didn’t seem like the same man who had criticized her friends earlier. He was much more ..laid-back now. Maybe he’d just been nervous about the wedding as well.