I'd already been working on a plan but it looks like my damn neighbor beat me to the punch.

Ever since I got the call from Raven a few hours ago, things have been a blur. I check for new messages as soon as the plane lands and the captain tells us it's safe to use our cell phones again.

Three missed calls from Tiffany but no voicemail.

My stomach lurches into my throat. Looks like Raven has her information right after all.

I hope.

I also have a text from Helen letting me know where she's waiting for me in short term parking. I can't believe I'm about to get into a rental car with an 82 year old woman at the wheel.

"What's wrong? You gettin' cold feet?" Helen jokes as I stop shy of actually getting in the car when I find her.

"Just thinking you should let me drive," I shoot back.

"You're not an authorized driver," she tells me, "Now do you wanna stand there all day or do you want to get the girl?"

That seems like an easy decision to make. Without further delay, I climb into the passenger seat and buckle up.

"What the hell made you come all the way out here?" I demand as Helen drives.

This morning I got a a call from Raven, who'd just gotten a call from Tiffany's assistant, Beth, who told her that Helen had shown up at the bookstore.

It took me long enough to wrap my head around what Raven was telling me, it didn't occur to me to ask what Helen was even doing out here until my plane was already in the air.

"Well somebody had to get to the bottom of the problem," Helen grumbles defensively.

I haven't decided how I feel about all this interference yet.

"You should have told me you were planning on this." I can grumble too.

"Well you should have told me you were planning a knight in shining armor move," Helen grumbles back.

It was hardly a knight in shining armor move, I think as Helen steers us into the parking lot of a little brick front building with a sign that says "Twice Told: Used Books."

Tiffany's store.

I've rehearsed this moment at least a hundred times in my head, but there hasn't been a single version where Helen drove me here like my mom driving me to pick up my junior prom date.

In my version, I show up, declare my undying love for the woman I can't live without, and drop to one knee. Tiffany sees me and falls into my arms, confessing that she just got scared and that she can't live without me either. Then we live happily ever after.

OK, in my version, there's also a lot of seriously hot fucking between the "of course I'll marry you" and well into the happily ever after.

Turns out, the real life version involves almost as much help from our friends as getting us together to begin with did.

Helen took it upon herself to fly out here and confront Tiff. Bethany overheard their conversation and took it upon herself to call Raven and tell Raven everything she overheard. Raven took it upon herself to call me and tell me to get my ass on a plane pronto and go get my woman.

Well, Raven didn't use quite those terms. Closer than I expected of her, but not quite.

Now here I am, nervously fingering the ring box in my pocket while I stare at the front door of the little book store like there's a dragon behind it.

Maybe this is a knight in armor move after all?

Thing is, I happen to know there are no dragons behind that door. Just one hopeless romantic 18 year old, a dozen nosy book club ladies, and the woman I hope to convince to marry me.

And the ghost of her late husband.

Apparently that's what's standing between me and my bride.

So maybe there is a dragon after all.

From what Raven understood of her call from Bethany, Tiffany's been feeling guilty about getting remarried.

Based on the calls I missed from Tiffany while I was in the air, I'm hoping that means that what I'm about to do isn't going to end in disaster.

Taking a deep breath, I square my shoulders and walk through the door.

Inside, there's a counter with a cash register on my right. An opening in the wall behind the counter leads to a hallway that I'm guessing is where the storage room and Tiffany's office is, based on her description of the place.

The main store is one big room filled with rows of free standing book shelves. All the walls are lined with floor to ceiling shelves. There are books everywhere.

Books on the shelves. Books stacked on top of the shelves. Stacks of books in the aisles between the shelves. Books on carts, books on the counter, books in boxes on the floor.

Directly ahead of me, at the far end of the building, are 2 doorways. Both open. One looks like it leads to a store room and probably to more parking behind the building. The door to the other room is about half way open. I can see that the room behind it has nice carpeting and a painting on the wall...and is filled with little table and chair sets with several women sitting at them.

The women don't seem to notice the sound of the bells that announce someone walking through the front door, their attention is turned toward a speaker that's hidden behind the semi-closed door.

I recognize her voice immediately. I hear the dullness in it and all the little "ums, and ahs" between her words that tell me she has her mind on something besides what ever she's talking about to the ladies in the book club.

The bells on the door break into another round of soft jingling as Helen comes in behind me.

A young girl peeks out from around the edge of the door way where all the women are seated. Her face breaks into an enthusiastic grin when she sees me standing here and before I can make my way any further into the store, the grinning young girl quickly says something to the speaker and then comes running toward me.