“Shop talk,” Casey shares, putting his hands in his pockets and smirking when he knows it bothers Matthew not being in control.
“Where is Dad?” I turn around, looking for him.
“He was with Quinn, Sofia’s uncle,” Matty says. “They are discussing bringing some of the dogs to his rehabilitation center.” My father used to play professional hockey but always had a side business of dog walkers. You would think it was a funny business but he not only opened them in big cities, but smaller ones, too; he was one of the first to start doggy daycares also. Now he has over two hundred and fifty stores all around the country. They cater to dog walking, dog daycares, dog
sitting, and newly, dog training.
“Nice,” I say, looking around. “I should go and get changed.”
I grab my bag and walk up to Matty. “Do you need me to do anything?”
“I’m good,” he replies and his eyes beam with happiness. “I’ll show you where to change.”
He leads me up the stairs to one of the bedrooms where there are three suits hanging. “You can change in here. One of those is yours.” He points at the three suits hanging and I see one of them has SD on it, so it must be mine.
I dump my bag on the bed. “I can’t believe you are getting married,” I state, unbuttoning my jeans and kicking them off.
“I can’t fucking wait.” His face goes into a smile right away. “I would have married her as soon as we got back together.” I nod at him.
“Shit,” he swears, his face going white. “I forgot the gift.” He rushes over to his bag on the chair in the corner. He grabs the light-blue box out of his bag with a white ribbon. “I had one job.”
“I think you had more than one job,” I tease, grabbing my tan linen pants and slipping them on.
“It’s no time to stress. I’m going to get dressed and I’ll go over and give it to her.”
He runs his hands through his hair. “Thank you. I would take it over myself, but I think my mother will shoot me in the foot.”
“I did hear shots when I got here,” I tell him, taking off my white T-shirt and grabbing the white linen shirt. “Vest or no vest?”
“Vest for the ceremony and no vest for the reception. I’m sorry I can’t have all of you standing up with me at the altar.” I shake my head and laugh.
“Can you imagine how many bridesmaids she would need?” I shake my head. There are a couple of things I love more than anything in this world, and my family is number one on that list. We may each have our own lives and everyone is scattered around the world, but once a year we all get together. It’s chaotic and we used to always bitch about it, but now it’s the one time of year I look forward to. Well, that and Christmas but that usually lasts a day or two. The vacation is always two weeks.
Matty walks over to me and hands me the box. “I can’t wait for her to be my wife.”
I look at him. “Do you want me to tell her that?” I grab the box. “I mean, I will but…”
“It’s in the note.” He glares and hisses all at the same time before turning and walking back to the bag. “I guess I’m more nervous than I thought I would be.” He grabs the white card and hands it to me.
“Hey,” I say to him, “you’ve got this.”
“Yeah.” He takes a huge inhale when someone calls his name from downstairs. “You good?”
“I’m good, go and do the groom things.” He nods at me, smirking.
“I’m getting married,” he states, his chest beaming with pride. “It feels good, you should try it.”
“Let’s calm down there.” I hold up my hand. “My longest relationship was five months, I think.
And that was only because I didn’t see her for like three and a half months of that.”
“Who knows? Maybe you’ll meet someone you can’t live without,” he says right before he walks out of the room.
I grab the box and card after putting on my shoes. “Who knows?” I repeat once I get downstairs and walk out the door. “Maybe I just might.”
addison
. . .
I park the golf cart right next to the barn and look around, seeing the ceremony space is as it should be. Making my way toward the wooden path that was just laid down as the aisle for Sofia, I walk down toward the trees and see the lights even from here.
Wisteria vine ratta white flowers are hanging all the way to the ground and are then pinned at the side, giving a curtain effect. The minute I saw this picture online, I knew it would look amazing here.
I pick up a strand of flowers and smell it while I continue to walk down the wooden path. White rose petals are along the pathway, the tall trees closing off the sun from coming in. The soft yellow tea lights add some extra light besides the sunlight that is trying to cut through the trees. “Hey,” I greet as I walk down and see Ace and Bennett putting the white and gold chairs on each side of the aisle. “How is it going?”
“It would be going a lot better if we could be in the barn drinking,” Ace complains, huffing as he puts the last chair down. “Do you know how many people we had at my surprise wedding?” His wedding to Shelby was after they found out their significant others were sleeping with each other.
Shelby found out the night before her wedding and then walked down the aisle and exposed him like the boss she is. Then the two of them went on her honeymoon, and from the way they act, they are still on their honeymoon. I shake my head.
“Maybe sixty people,” he fills me in and then looks over at Bennett.
“Mine doesn’t count; it was really a gender reveal and there were about two hundred people,”
Bennett says of his and Presley’s wedding.
“What was the head count?” Ace asks me, putting his hands on his hips.
“I think it was something close to three hundred, if not a touch more,” I reply, and Bennett whistles. “They both have huge families.” The sting of tears still shocks me, even after all this time.
“This looks amazing,” I praise, looking toward the end of the aisle where there is a canopy of flowers and lights. “I have to check the reception space. Why don’t you guys come and enjoy a cold one while you can?” I motion with my head toward the golf cart that is waiting for me.
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Ace says, the both of them following me to the golf cart. I drive them to the barn and they quickly get out and walk into the building.
I look around, making sure no one is trying to shoot off any more guns before I see Shelby and Presley walking toward me, holding up a glass of champagne. “What is that for?”
“That is for this,” Shelby declares, holding her hand up, and I look around at all the hard work I did the past two weeks to make this a reality. I can’t help but feel proud I actually pulled it off.
“It was easy with you guys helping me,” I tell her, and she just throws her head back and laughs.
“This was all you,” Presley compliments, “the little touches of detail are everything.” She turns and points at the empty wine barrels I found with rustic glass vases on top with candles. Instead of round tables, I put long tables so everyone can more or less be together. In the middle of the tables are little round pieces of wood that hold the flowers on them.
“That shake it like a Polaroid picture is amazing,” Shelby declares, pointing at the big board that has string hanging, waiting for pictures to be added. There will be a photographer snapping pictures of everyone when they arrive and then hanging the pictures up. “She’s going to love it.”
“I hope so,” I tell them. “Speaking of the bride, I need to make sure everything is going okay, and everyone is less sweet tea and more normal.” I smile at them as I turn and walk out of the barn.
The sound of birds chirping off in the distance fills me with a peace, of sorts. Until I hear shots again. This time I look up and see Billy and Cooper Sr. standing together, while he shows him how to hold the gun.