Noah Carpenter looked across the room at his old college roommate. Although he was glad Charlie was obviously happy, he couldn’t think of anything worse than being tied down to one woman for the rest of his life. That sounded like a death sentence to Noah.
“So, Noah.” Mason Harrison, who’d been one of his and Charlie’s frat brothers, came up and slapped him on the back. “What have you been up to? Heard you were working your way through all the single ladies of San Francisco, just like college huh?”
Noah grinned. It was exactly like college. He never broke his two date rule as it had always served him so well back then. He’d found that the women he dated became too clingy after that. He wasn’t totally heartless, he always told them upfront about his rule and they all seemed fine with it … until date two ended. Why did women always think they could change him? Couldn’t they see it was better for everyone to break it off after that? He just wasn’t the relationship type.
“I don’t kiss and tell, y’know that Harrison,” he replied with a smirk. Just because Mason was now married with a few kids, living out his own suburban nightmare, there was no way he was sharing any details that would encourage him to ask for more. He’d made that mistake too many times before after speaking to friends in a relationship.
Mason didn’t look like he envied him at all, it was more like a look of pity he gave him and that confused Noah. “Ah Noah, just you wait ‘till you meet the right girl and you’ll wonder why you wasted all these years chasing tail.”
“No way, man. These years have definitely not been wasted. I’m having the time of my life. Why settle for one woman when you can have as many as you want. You’re the crazy one.”
Mason just smiled and replied, “I can guarantee you that when you meet her, you’ll know and I’ll expect an apology.”
“Don’t hold your breath,” Noah laughed. There was no way that would ever happen. Even although his parents had been happily married for nearly forty years, and his paternal grandparents for sixty-four, he’d given up hope he’d ever have the same. He believed that, being part of the Carpenter urban legend, he would have found ‘the one’ years ago. He’d spent all his free time working at the Lakeside House Hotel for years, right up until he’d got his degree in hotel management. He then told his parent’s he was setting up his own hotel consultancy business and leaving the family run business.
His parents had been rightfully been upset, but Noah couldn’t stand knowing that whatever had brought his grandparents and parents together had finally missed a generation. He couldn’t stand to see the disappointment in his mother’s eyes when every date he had, never lasted more than two. He’d often wondered if he’d set up the two date rule because he knew, if the legend was true, that he’d know whether his date was the one by the second date.
He never did.
It had also helped build a reputation he could live up to at college, being known for his two-date rule - and sticking to it, rather than for being part of the Carpenter urban legend. He knew one would give him the respect of his peers, the other ridicule. It had seemed so important way back then.
Noah walked over to the bar and ordered another Jack and coke. He looked around the bar at all his frat buddies and began to assess them individually. One after the other he noticed they were either married or had a fiancé or girlfriend with them. He was the only single guy left. Noah shuddered at the thought and hoped it wasn’t catching. He was a confirmed bachelor and happy about it, at least that was what he told himself.
He’d invited Diana to the wedding, a woman he usually invited as his plus-one. She wasn’t interested in a long-term relationship with him so she was perfect. Unfortunately, she was on a date tonight. He now wished he’d tried another few numbers in his little black book, but then again, he didn’t want to give anyone the wrong impression. Asking a single woman to be his date to a wedding could be very dangerous territory indeed, and one he didn’t want to enter.
Charlie stepped up beside him and ordered himself a drink. “Glad you could make it Noah, wasn’t sure a wedding was your kind of thing,” he smirked.
“Ha ha, couldn’t miss your big day now, could I? Freya’s great, and you seem really happy about this, so who am I to try and convince you otherwise? Besides my parent’s would have killed me if I’d not come back for this,” he said letting out a laugh. “You know they are the biggest romantics going and were so happy you decided to have your wedding here.”
“I met Freya here so it only seems appropriate we get married here. I am really happy with her. I never thought I’d settle down, but with Freya I always knew she’d end up being my wife from the first moment I saw her.” Charlie grinned at him. “Tomorrow is going to be the best day of my life, and yeah I get that scares you, but it will happen to you too. No matter what you think right now. This, after all, is the best place for it to happen, or so the Carpenter legend goes.”
“Yeah so they say, but I wouldn’t hold your breath, at least not for me. Nobody has ever come close to me wanting to lose my man card.”
Charlie let out a choked laugh as he spluttered whiskey everywhere. “You are going to fall so hard, and I am going to remind you of this moment. Lose your man card?” he scoffed. “You have no idea what being in a real relationship feels like. I can assure you I still have my man card, and Freya loves it. This is the best feeling in the world.”
“Yeah, yeah I’ll take your word for it. So where is your beautiful wife-to-be anyway?”
“She’s with her college girlfriends in the other bar. We thought as it was going to be such a hectic weekend, that we’d take this time to catch up with friends, then meet up just before the rehearsal dinner.”
“Just lead me to the single bridesmaids.”
Charlie shook his head. “All Freya’s bridesmaids are in relationships, apart from Daisy, and you have no chance with her. Please Noah, don’t pull your usual on her. She’s Freya’s best friend and doesn’t need it.”
Hmm what is so special about Daisy?