Three Girls And A Wedding (26 page)

Josh laughed and I grinned at him.
“Okay, let’s get this show on the road. Head on down there.”

As Josh and the groomsmen began
their walk, I hurried back to the office for Ginny and Annie. “You ready?” I
asked.

Ginny nodded, looking a little
pale.

“You look great,” Annie told her.
“And you’ve been practicing your vows for weeks. You’ll be perfect.”

“Girls,” Ginny said suddenly. “I
know I said I wanted to walk down alone, but…” She trailed off. Ginny, not at
all close with her parents, had elected not to have her dad walk her down the
aisle. Now I wondered if she was changing her mind.

“Do you want me to go and get your
dad?” I asked. “There’s time.”

She shook her head. “No. No, I
actually wondered…would you guys walk me down the aisle?”

I felt tears fill my eyes again. I
looked at Annie to see that she, too, was looking a bit misty-eyed. “Of
course,” she said softly. “Of course we will.”

I grabbed Ginny’s hand and led her
to the patio door. Through the colored glass I could make out Josh at the end
of the aisle, Danny in his arms. I gestured to the guitarist and I heard the
music change to
Somewhere Over the
Rainbow
. “That’s our cue, girls,” I whispered, looking over at them both.

“I love you guys so much,” Ginny
said.

“Me, too,” Annie said. I just
nodded, my throat tight. Out on the patio, Ginny’s friend Beth opened the door
for us. Annie and I each took one of Ginny’s arms and we stepped outside.

The sun was just beginning to set,
filling the patio with soft golden light. The smell of flowers was strong in
the air. As Ginny stepped over the threshold and into sight, I heard a
collective intake of breath from the waiting guests. I couldn’t blame them. She
was lovely.

Ginny only had eyes for Josh. As we
slowly walked down the aisle, her gaze never left his face. I glanced at her
and saw that she was smiling hugely, even as tears filled her eyes. I squeezed
her hand.

As we approached the end of the
aisle, Danny held out his arms to Ginny. I let go of her arm and went to
retrieve him. Instead of bringing him over to Annie’s mom, I kept him in my
arms, holding him tight. He nestled into my shoulder and I squeezed him. Next
to me, Annie was kissing her oldest friend on the cheek before stepping into
place. I leaned into Ginny, allowing her to kiss the top of Danny’s head. “I
love you,” I whispered, kissing her cheek. Then I went to join Annie.

I don’t remember much of the
ceremony. I remember holding Danny in my arms, the way he nestled there and
fell asleep, never fussing or making a sound. I remember the look on Josh’s
face as he looked down at his bride. I remembered Ginny’s voice, clear and
steady, as she read her vows.

Mostly I remember feeling so happy
that she had this moment—that we all had this moment together. The love
between Josh and Ginny was clear to everyone on that patio, and I noticed
several people brushing aside tears. I looked out and found my mom in the
crowd, sitting next to Ginny’s parents. My mom smiled at me and I was shocked
to see Ginny’s mother crying. I hoped she’d allow some of that emotion to show
when Ginny was around.

The ceremony seemed to fly by.
Before I realized what was happening, the
officiant
was pronouncing Josh and Ginny man and wife and they were kissing, holding each
other tight. A cheer went up from the audience and, next to me, Annie was
whistling. Danny shifted in my arms, waking, and I patted his back, whispering
to him. “Your mommy and daddy are married now,” I said. “And the three of you
are going to be so happy.”

Ginny turned to us, her smile
radiant, and Annie and I blew her kisses. Then Josh was leading her back down
the aisle and the ceremony was over.

“I need to go check on the food,” I
said to Annie, and she held out her arms for Danny.

“Good luck,” she said as I dashed
through a side door to the kitchen.

I peeked into the ovens and was
happy to see that everything looked pretty good. I could hear the guests
drifting back into the main room outside the kitchen doors, the staff members
Kiki had sent over bringing in the chairs to be used for dinner. I crossed my
fingers that the party would go as smoothly as the ceremony. The sound of Ella
Fitzgerald’s voice began softly over the speakers and I could hear people
requesting drinks from the bartender directly outside of the kitchen.

When I was satisfied that the food
was coming along, I slipped back into the main room. People were milling about
with their drinks, talking and laughing. Over in the corner, Ginny and Josh
were standing in front of a long line of well-wishers as the photographer
wandered around taking pictures.

“It’s perfect,” Annie said, coming
up next to me.

I turned to her, smiling. “I can
hardly believe we got it done.” I noticed her arms were empty. “Where’s Danny?”

She pointed toward Beth, who was
holding Danny’s hand and letting him toddle around the room. “Ginny asked her
to be babysitter for the evening,” Annie said, and I nodded. “Seriously,
though, Jen,” Annie continued. “You did a wonderful job. It looks perfect in
here.”

“Thank you,” I told her. It was
quiet between us for a moment. “Thank you for forgiving me, Annie,” I said, my
voice quiet.

She merely reached over and took my
hand.

“What made you?” I asked. She
looked at me. “Forgive me,” I clarified. “What made you forgive me?”

She didn’t speak for a moment. “I
thought of another way this whole mess could have been avoided,” she said
finally. I raised my eyebrows at her. “I could have asked you, months ago, when
Kiki’s
wedding was.” She turned and
faced me fully. “It was the biggest professional event of your life. We should
have been more supportive of you. I watched you killing yourself for that job
and all I could do was complain about it. I should have asked you about it,
helped you more. If I would have just talked to you, we would have figured this
out ages ago.”

I had no response for this. Across
the room, I watched my mom and Lou greeting Ginny.

“Did you tell her about all of
this?” Annie asked me, obviously watching my mother too. I shook my head. I had
let my mom know we needed to change the venue, but I left the reasons vague.
“Good thinking.”

“She would be really pissed if she
knew I was skipping the rehearsal dinner,” I said. “That would disappoint her
much more than the fact that I screwed up Ginny’s whole wedding.”

“Your mom had a hard time,” Annie
said slowly. “I know that. And that’s given her a screwed-up view about work.
You don’t have to be like that, Jen.”

“I know,” I whispered, even though
I still felt my stomach clench slightly at the thought of her disappointment. I
figured it would be a long time before that went away.

“Ginny and I are so proud of you,”
Annie said, putting her arm around my waist. “Really, really proud. The only
thing that would make me prouder is if you would give yourself a break once in
a while.”

I squeezed her back. “I’m working
on it.”

“Girls!” Ginny called from across
the room, waving at us. “Let’s go outside and get some pictures!”

I gave Annie one last squeeze and
we headed over to the bride.

Chapter Twenty-eight

It was a great party. The food, to
my immense relief, was a big hit. Even my mother could find nothing disparaging
to say about it. After the plates had been cleared (I said a silent prayer of
thanks for Kiki when I saw the massive piles of dishes in the kitchen), Annie
cranked the volume on the sound system and switched it over to more upbeat
music. I went to the bar for provisions, then met Annie and Ginny on the dance
floor.

“I come bearing pinot,” I
announced, handing them each a glass of white.

“Cheers, girls!” Annie cried, and
the three of us clinked our glasses as we got busy dancing.

We had a fantastic time. The dance
floor was full and Annie had carefully picked music to keep everyone dancing.
Danny loved the music. Beth brought him out to the floor where he demanded to
be picked up. We took turns passing him around, bouncing him in our arms and
spinning him around. He was in heaven.

During one of the slow songs Annie
had scattered in the playlist, I picked Danny up and swayed with him gently. He
laughed and tried to pull on my earrings. Across the floor, I saw Ginny and
Josh wrapped in each other, barely moving, clearly oblivious to everyone around
them. Behind them, Annie had her arms wrapped around some guy I’d never seen
before—a friend of Josh’s probably. I smiled down at Danny. “Your auntie
Annie is a shameless hussy,” I told him.

“Could I have the next dance?” a
voice behind me asked.

I spun around to face Matt. I
gasped involuntarily. “What are you doing here?” I asked, shocked.

Matt smiled. “The rehearsal was
done so I figured I’d come see the fruits of all our hard work.”

“What about the dinner?” I
demanded. After the rehearsal, the wedding party, along with Kiki and Eric’s
families, were supposed to have a sit down dinner at the Barker’s house.

Matt shrugged. “I’ll be spending
plenty of time with them tomorrow,” he said. “Besides, Kiki and Eric are
sneaking out early, too. They want to stop by.”

“Can I take him, Jen?” Ginny asked,
appearing at my elbow and holding out her arms for Danny. “Nice to see you
again, Matt. Thanks again for all your help. This is perfect.”

“Congratulations,” Matt said,
smiling at her.

Ginny took Danny from me. She
raised her eyebrows at me slightly, smiling, then she was gone, leaving me
alone with Matt.

“So,” he said, holding out his
arms. “How about that dance?”

I stepped into his arms, still
feeling shaken that he was here. I’d been dancing for an hour and I was sure I
was looking sweaty and disheveled. “I can’t believe you’re here,” I blurted
out.

“To be honest, I wasn’t that
concerned with how the wedding turned out,” Matt said, looking down at me. “I
knew it would be perfect. The truth is, I wanted to talk to you.”

Something about his tone caused my
heart to speed up. “About what?” I asked, my voice shaking on the last
syllable.

“I was talking to Kiki after the
rehearsal,” he said. “And she asked me why on earth I hadn’t made a move on you
yet.” I blinked in surprise but he continued before I could respond. “You see,
it’s been pretty obvious to just about everyone that I’m head over heels for you,
Jen Campbell.”

I felt my stomach flip. Could he
actually be saying what I thought he was?

“So I explained to her that Jason
and I had a nice chat that night in New York. He saw me leaving your room and
told me to back off.”

“He did
what
?”

Matt nodded. “He told me you were
his girlfriend.”

My mouth dropped open and I
sputtered for words. I’m sure I looked very attractive, but Matt just smiled at
me. “But…that was a
lie
!” I cried.
“How dare—”

“I know,” Matt said, placing his
thumb gently on my lips. “Kiki told me tonight. She said you weren’t dating
him.”

I shook my head. “I did see him,” I
said quickly, feeling ashamed. “A few times. But not until after New York.
After you…” I trailed off.

“After I was such an ass?” he
finished for me. “Sorry about that. But put yourself in my shoes. I had just
had the most amazing night with the most beautiful girl I’d ever known. And I
let myself think that maybe she felt the same way about me. But then I ran into
that little weasel and he told me, ‘Nope, sorry, loser, she prefers me.’”

“What you must have thought about
me,” I said, shaking my head.

He shrugged. “I tried to convince
myself you were shallow and obsessed with getting ahead and I didn’t want to be
around someone like that anyhow. I’d been down that road before, you know.” He
shifted a little, uncomfortable. “That’s why I was always a little…standoffish
when we first met. After Emily, I promised myself I wouldn’t ever put myself in
that position again.”

I flushed. It was just what I had
always imagined he thought about me…but then he tightened his arms around my
back. “The problem was, I couldn’t get you out of my head. And the more time I
spent with you the harder it was to convince myself you were that kind of girl.
I felt like I knew you, Jen.”

It was getting hard to breathe.

“Finally,” he said, his voice low,
“I decided I couldn’t stay away. I kept hoping that maybe if we spent time
together, you might realize that I was better for you then that jerk. This last
week has been torture for me. Being so close to you but not being able to tell
you…”

“Tell me what?” I whispered.

“That I love you,” Matt said
simply.

I stared at him in amazement. Could
he really, possibly love me?

“You have to say something, Jen,”
he finally said, his voice pained. “If you don’t feel the same, that’s fine. We
can be friends. But I need to know—“

Before he could say another word I
grabbed his face, pressing my lips to his, kissing him hard.

It was every bit as good as our
first kiss—better even, because I felt free. I didn’t have to worry about
work, or being professional, or what anyone thought about me. Matt loved me!

He pulled me tighter, kissing me
back, pressing his lips against mine so firmly I could barely breathe.
Suddenly, I had to pull away—my smile was just too big. Matt looked down
at me, a somewhat dazed look on his face, and I started laughing.

“What?” he asked, smiling in a
confused sort of way.

“I’m so happy!” I cried, kissing
the corner of his mouth. “I can’t believe anyone could feel like this!”

He laughed, kissing my forehead, my
cheeks. “Does that mean you feel the same way?”