first, and Jordan lay in bed, single and fending off text messages from dates who’d decided their heart was still with their ex—the same date who had told her last night how crazy the ex was and how she was ruining his life.
I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST.
The words popped up on her screen, and Jordan snorted. Rex lifted his head to look at her, and she pushed his protesting body off the bed with her foot. “That’ll teach you to look at me like that. I dodged a bullet last night, Rexy.”
She had a date tonight, and she groaned when she thought about it. She was tempted to cancel, but this was the last one—the last stranger she’d agreed to meet in the hopes of a serious relationship coming from it. She could only imagine what new crazy person she was about to let into her life. Surely there was nothing else left to endure? Couldn’t she have one nice night out with a man who didn’t turn out to have a screw loose?
It wouldn’t matter after tonight, anyway. The wedding was on the twentieth, and she would be busy all month helping Shelly make sure all the details were perfect. The bridesmaid dresses would arrive this week, and they’d have their final fittings. Shelly was so excited about it every time they saw her that she could barely breathe.
Am I disappointed I won’t be planning my big day any time soon?
She smiled to herself as she realised she wasn’t disappointed, at all. Once she got over the heartache of Richard, she’d realised that she wasn’t compatible with any of the men she’d spent time with during the year. Trying hard to create a relationship didn’t make it magically happen. When the right man came along, she’d know.
Her phone vibrated, and she pressed the screen to answer. “Hi, Mum. How are you?”
“I’m perfect,” she said. “I’m picking out my outfit for the wedding today, and I wondered if you’d come help me. I don’t want to look like an old lady.”
Jordan smiled. Her mother had never asked her for help with shopping.
Nor has she ever started a conversation without asking you about your current boyfriend.
Maybe things were looking up for her.
***
Her date insisted he would pick her up and take her to a nearby pub for dinner. Her desire to cancel from the morning hadn’t subsided, and several times she’d nearly sent a text to get out of it. It was too late now, though: Xavier had sent a message to let her know that he was on his way and that he only had to make a quick fuel stop.
Ten minutes later, her phone beeped and she made her way downstairs. He kissed her on the cheek and showed her to his car, where they made small talk as he drove down the street and turned at the intersection. They were almost at the pub when he pulled into a petrol station and parked his car near a pump. Jordan had noticed that his fuel light was on, but she hadn’t mentioned it, assuming it was broken.
He faced her with a sheepish look on her face. “Err… Jordan, this is a bit embarrassing, but do you have a couple of dollars?”
“Uhh… sure.” She pulled out her wallet, “How much do you need?”
“Honestly, a two dollar coin will be fine. I have three, so I’ll chuck five dollars in and we’ll be on our way.”
“Didn’t you just fuel up?” She kept a pleasant look on her face as her heart sank.
Here we go again.
“I did, but I had to use a lot to get to you. Maybe next time you should drive yourself.”
“Really? You were minutes away when you filled up twenty minutes ago, and now you need fuel again?”
“Yeah. My car uses a lot of petrol, I guess.”
“I guess so. How about this?” She smiled at him, hoping he couldn’t see the scorn in her eyes. “I’ll give you ten bucks, so you have enough fuel to get home, and then you can drop me home and we’ll call it a night.”
“No, but I—”
She raised her hand to cut him off. “It’s not about the fact that you were going to add my two to your whopping three dollars. I know this isn’t going to work out, and I should have cancelled hours ago.” She held out the ten-dollar note. “Go on, put it in, and we can end this sooner.”
He looked sad as he took the money and went to the fuel pump. It was all she could do not to scream laughing as she watched him put six dollars of fuel in the car. He paid, got back in, and didn’t mention the price difference.
He must need those few bucks.
When he dropped her home, she skipped happily up the stairs, safe in the knowledge that she was done with dating.
***
and Boyd’s wedding went off without a hitch. The weather was perfect, the venue divine, and the happy couple beamed all day. Even Jordan’s mother making eyes at her up at the alter couldn’t dim the happiness she felt for her friends.
There’d been an awkward moment with George at the reception, but she’d glossed that over by asking if he’d jacked any cars lately. He soon decided to keep as far away from her as possible.
Emily, Andrea, and Jordan sat outside hours later, watching the bride and groom make their way around to each of their guests. A waiter bought them drinks and complimented them on their beautiful gowns. Lori slipped into the vacant seat beside Andrea and they held hands.
“You know, I thought I would feel a little sad for me today. It’s October, and I’m obviously not going to get married before we tick over into the New Year. This wedding had the potential to upset me, but I haven’t thought about it at all until now. Even then, I’m only bringing it up to tell you that I don’t think I need to get married to be happy.”
“What?” Andrea cried. “After we’ve tried to get you hitched all year?”
“I know!” She laughed, “It seems crazy to me, too, but I’m good with it. The world will go on, my mother will keep nagging, and I need to relax and stop trying so hard to press my will onto things that need to take their natural course.” She took a sip of her champagne.
“I’m happy, I’m healthy, I love my job, and I love all of you guys. I’m only twenty-eight years old—that’s nothing. I have a whole lifetime ahead of me to travel, have kids, and meet my perfect match, if that’s what’s in store for me.”
“You know,” Emily said when Jordan took a breath, “since you’ve stopped drinking as much, you’ve been a lot less worried about this kind of stuff.”
“Ha! You could be right. I wonder how this conversation would have gone if we’d gotten shit-faced. I’d probably be a blubbering mess.”
“Well, drunk people do speak the truth.” Andrea reminded them of her motto.
“Maybe it wouldn’t be a cry-fest, then. I can honestly say that I’m more at ease now than I have been at any other time. I even knocked back a date from the caterer earlier. My new-found peace around marriage could change at any moment, of course, should my mother wander past.”
“What’s that, dear?”
“Nothing, Mum. Come and sit down with us.”
“Give me a second—I’ll just tell Luke where I am. I don’t want him to think he’s been abandoned.” She waved her arm across the green lawn and then settled herself in the nearest chair.
“Tell me again how Luke came to this wedding with you.”
“I invited him, dear.”
“Obviously, but why him? Surely Dad wanted to come?”
“Nope, he was content at home. He’s planning our trip to Paris.”
“You agreed to go to Paris?” Jordan rolled her eyes, and the girls all laughed. “Finally!”
Patricia sniffed and smiled at Emily and Andrea. “I figured I’d ask for the best place first,” she confided, and they all laughed again. “Anyway, Luke was around mowing the lawn to help Dad out, so I thought it would be a nice reward for him.”
“What?”
“He sometimes does that, dear. It’s such a nice help. He and Dad did an oil change on the car a couple of weeks ago. Dad was so proud—it was his first one.”
Jordan did a double take at her mother. “Luke comes to your house often?” she asked, her face a picture of disbelief.
“Not often, but more than you do.” She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her mother. “It’s every few weeks, or so. Next week, he’s going to hang my new curtains in the sitting room. He’s bought all the hooks and the railing, and now they have to be installed. You should come over when he does it—maybe you could give him a lift him to help him out.”
Jordan barked out a laugh as her mother kept prattling on about Luke. She soon moved on to ask Andrea and Lori where they’d met, and Luke wandering across the grass in his suit caught Jordan’s attention. Two small boys were running along beside him and laughing as he blew bubbles for them from the wedding favours. It was like a scene straight out of a movie.
Trust Luke to look so perfect with children falling at his feet.