Chapter 5
Days flew by as Charli focused on the last-minute preparations she hadn’t been able to take care of from San Francisco. She’d taken Ellie to the last dress fitting, and all the bridesmaids had tried on their gowns to make sure nobody had any last-minute sewing emergencies. She’d thought she’d need a bigger size for her dress, considering she’d eaten her weight in chocolate the days after discovering Donnie and Pen together, but apparently keeping herself busy with her friend’s wedding had helped her lose the pounds she was sure she’d gained after she’d ordered the dress.
When Ellie came out of the dressing room wearing the simple, yet elegant gown with a lace bodice and sleeves, and flowing silk skirt, streams of tears inundated the room. Charli had picked the small boutique as the delivery address for the dresses she’d ordered in a bridal boutique in San Francisco because, in all honesty, she didn’t trust this town to have anything close to a decent wedding dress or bridesmaids’ gowns. And she’d been right, seeing as the shop sold an array of clothes, from casual style to gowns, but nothing that could possibly serve for a wedding. And since she was in charge, she couldn’t let these small-town folks ruin her reputation.
She had to give the nice shop lady credit though—she’d made sure flutes of some kind of sweet white wine and a tray of mini red velvet cupcakes were available for the wedding party, she’d closed the shop to give them some privacy, and had hung around to offer assistance and give suggestions. She’d even produced some cute furry shawls the bridesmaids were welcome to borrow if they thought the gowns Charli had ordered wouldn’t keep them warm enough.
Charli had met Adam’s family the day after she arrived. Ellie had taken her to the bakery owned by Adam’s mother, Enya, and his first mother-in-law, Jenna, and Charli had immediately taken a liking to Enya Cavanagh. Enya had invited them all for dinner that same night, and Charli had been tempted to find an excuse to avoid having to meet Adam’s brother again after their disastrous first encounter. But once Enya told Ellie her eldest wouldn’t be around that night, Charli had been more than happy to accept the invitation and meet the other members of Adam’s family: his father, his grandfather, and his cousins who, from what Ellie had told her, were like siblings to him.
When Charli woke up on a cold, misty morning the day before the wedding, her mood plummeted to the soles of her feet. She stared out of the window at the gray sky and sent up a little prayer to the wedding planner gods, hoping they’d look down and shove away the clouds in time for the big day. And that they would make Ethan be there for his twin sister’s wedding.
Ellie and Ethan’s father had died nearly seven years ago during a mission with the Army, and their mother had killed herself three years later. Ethan was the only member of her family left, and it was obvious he’d be the one giving her away to Adam. Until last week they weren’t even sure he’d manage to leave the desert—but some fateful coincidence made a special training in Texas start just two days after the wedding, so he’d been allowed to come home a couple of days early to attend the celebrations. But they all knew wars didn’t exactly make it easy to stick to plans, so Ellie had worried herself sick every single day, afraid something would prevent her twin from coming home, and Charli couldn’t deny she’d been worried herself. Ethan should have called once he’d gotten back to the States, but Ellie hadn’t heard from him, so Charli had had to come up with last-minute solutions for possible stand-ins, in case Ethan wouldn’t make it. Deep down in her heart, she hoped she wouldn’t have to resort to them, though. Ellie would be devastated if he missed her special day.
Movement on the front lawn caught her attention, and she brought a hand to her heart, whispering a “Thank you” as her eyes followed the burly man who was now approaching the cottage.
“Anyone home?” The loud, male voice reached all the way up the stairs. The squeal that followed told Charli her friend had heard her brother’s voice, as did the sound of heavy footsteps rushing down the wooden staircase. Charli opened the door and reached the edge of the stairs, from where she planned to watch the scene while she gave the twins a minute to reconnect, before she went down and said hi.
The burly Army medic she’d last seen at their grandmother’s funeral a year ago stood near the console at the entrance with a duffel bag at his feet. He opened his arms and caught his sister just as she launched herself at him, lifting her off the ground and laughing as she squealed with delight.
“You made it!” Ellie screamed when he finally put her down, and wrapped her arms around him again.
“Of course I did. You think I’d let a stupid war keep me from giving my sister away on her wedding day?”
Ellie laughed and pulled back, stared at him for a moment, then hugged him again. “I’m so happy you’re here.”
Ethan looked up and smiled brightly when his eyes met Charli’s. “Hey, you.”
Although they hadn’t seen each other in person often, she used to say hi through Ellie’s computer screen during their Skype chats in all the years she’d lived with her friend. When he’d come home for their mother’s funeral, he’d stuck around a few days longer, and they’d spent some more time together. It wasn’t as if they were close, but they were definitely more than mere strangers. Besides, Ethan was the funniest, most easy-going man she’d ever met, so it hadn’t taken her long to warm up to him.
“Hi, soldier.”
She walked down toward them and, when Ellie took a step back, a pair of strong arms wrapped around Charli and lifted her off the floor, just like he’d done with his sister. He’d gotten even burlier than she remembered.
“I hear we’re going to be housemates for a couple of days. Hope you don’t mind.” He put her down and smiled. Lines crinkled the corners of his green eyes, so similar to Ellie’s, although his held a faint veil of distress. It was no wonder, given the amount of horrible things he must’ve seen during his nearly seven years as an Army medic.
“I’d be crazy to complain about sharing a cottage with a handsome man in uniform.”
He laughed, and Ellie clucked her tongue the way she no doubt did with her preschoolers when they didn’t behave. “I may repeat myself here from a previous conversation we’ve had recently, but I’m not sure Donnie would be very happy to hear you talk like that about another man.”
Charli bit her tongue. Lying to her best friend made her feel sick, but she’d only have to keep up the lie for a day or two, and then she’d sit Ellie down and tell her the truth. She could do it.
She shrugged. “Ethan is way bigger than Donnie. He’d be too scared to even utter a word.”
Ethan flexed his biceps in a playful way. “Don’t you worry, babe. If that Donnie guy doesn’t treat you right, you call me and I’ll teach him a lesson.”
“Enough, macho man,” Ellie said, handing him his duffel. “Take your stuff upstairs into my room and get changed. Adam and the guys are waiting for you to start the stag day celebrations.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He kissed Ellie’s cheek and ran upstairs, taking the steps two at a time.
Charli watched him until he disappeared, then looked at Ellie, who was still smiling brightly.
“Well, well. He’s even more handsome than the last time I saw him. He shouldn’t waste the best years of his life in the desert, when he could make some lucky woman happy and give you nieces and nephews.” She’d meant it as a joke, but Ellie’s face darkened and her eyes lost their gleam. Charli backpedaled. “I mean, he’s great for risking his life to help others instead of thinking about having fun…” Oh, gosh. She was making things even worse. “I mean…”
The door opening abruptly saved her from doing even more damage.
“Hi, Miss Ellie! Are you weady?” Sophie stormed into the cottage, and Ellie’s face softened into a smile. A second later, Adam walked in with Meatball on a leash. He’d learned quickly that Charli wasn’t exactly fond of the dog, and he’d always made sure the pet was either locked outside or on a leash whenever Charli was around. Sophie seemed to be the only one who couldn’t understand why Charli was so scared of her puppy—which didn’t exactly look like a puppy anymore.
“Ethan’s upstairs, he’ll be down in a few minutes,” Ellie said to Adam, who just nodded. Sophie left Ellie’s side to skip to her father, and when she launched herself at him, he opened his arms to catch her and the leash fell out of his hand. Meatball started an excited dance around Adam and her little friend, then she turned her attention on Charli and let out a bark at the same time as Charli let out a yelp.
Ellie reached for Meatball’s leash and pulled on it just as the back of Charli’s legs hit the armchair. She plopped backward onto the cushion and was glad that at least she’d landed on the soft cushions and not on the floor.
“I’m fine. No need to call the EMS.” She waved her hands in the air, making Ellie and Adam chuckle. Heavy footsteps descended the staircase and a deep laugh followed.
“What are you doing there? Are you drunk this early in the day?” Ethan offered his hand and she took it, letting him pull her up. She was grateful she’d opted for a pair of tight pants instead of a mini-skirt like she’d initially planned. Flashing her panties at the groom-to-be would have sent her running to Texas.
After greetings were exchanged, and Ethan had sent Sophie flying in the air a couple of times, even though she would have probably gone on all day, the two men left, taking the dog with them but leaving Sophie with the two women. Today’s plans included a shopping trip to the mall outside town with a group of girls, which included Adam’s cousins Kacey and Erin, and Lauren, his former sister-in-law, who was also a good friend of Ellie’s. Then they’d all have dinner at the Italian restaurant with Enya Cavanagh and Lauren’s mom Jenna. Afterward, Enya would take Sophie back home with her, and the young women would find a fun way to end the day.
“Are you ready for one last wild day, before the handsome deputy shackles you for life?” Charli said, taking her coat from the hook near the door. Ellie laughed and shook her head as she put on her own coat and took Sophie’s hand.
“I just hope you’re not thinking what I bet you’re thinking, in that dirty mind of yours.”
Charli batted her eyelashes in an innocent I-don’t-know-what-you’re-talking-about expression even though, to be honest, she had been thinking exactly that. Come on, with a cop fiancé it was next to impossible that her friend didn’t have at least one tiny handcuff fantasy.
“And I don’t care that you’re my best friend—what happens in our bedroom, stays in our bedroom.” She picked up her purse from the console in the entrance, and when she turned back to Charli, she wore a cheeky grin as she whispered, “Whether handcuffs are involved or not.”
Charli laughed out loud as they walked to her car and was glad to know that maybe not all hope was lost for her friend, after all.
* * *
“You’re kidding me. A pub?” Charli passed a hand over her eyes and let out a sigh as the small group of girls walked into a sea-themed, dimly lit pub with fishing nets hanging from the ceiling and a fake, slightly disturbing, shark’s head on the wall just above the toilet doors. The place had probably been open since the eighties and nobody had informed the owner that the world had stepped into a new century. The rock music coming from the speakers proved her point.
Lauren linked her arm through hers and chuckled. “Why, this is the hangout in Spring. Everyone loves The Shark’s Tail.”
Yeah, probably because they’ve never been to a city pub.
It had been a nice day. The mall just twenty minutes out of town had exceeded Charli’s expectations, and she’d even shopped for herself. They’d had a nice lunch in one of the cafés, then shopped some more, before coming back to Spring and heading out to dinner at Mamma Maria a bit later. Ellie had been right—the food at the family-operated restaurant beat that of the best Italian ones in San Francisco. Now that Sophie was with Adam’s mother, Charli had thought they’d go out and do something wild for Ellie’s last night of freedom, but since she didn’t know the town, she’d let Lauren and Adam’s cousins pick the place. And they’d ended up here. Great.
“I can’t let my best friend have her hen party in a pub. I have my reputation to think about.” And this wedding was turning out to be the biggest challenge of her career. If she pulled it off, she should be named president of her own company.
Ellie came up on her other side and linked an arm through hers. “Aw, come on. Don’t be snobby now. We’re gonna have a great time!”
“Are you trying to make things hard for me?” Charli glowered. “First you ask me to organize a wedding in a little more than a month, then for your hen party you drag me to a place that smells of fries and where I can barely hear my thoughts. Next you’re going to tell me you want to get married on the beach in the pouring rain.”
“It would be romantic, though a bit chilly. Perhaps if we’d gotten married in the summer…”
“Hey, ladies!”
Charli cringed at the familiar voice coming from her left. She didn’t need to turn to know Adam’s brother was standing next to her, which could only mean the stag party was being held here, too. It was official—this wedding was going to send her to an asylum. Sooner rather than later.
“Guys, I thought you were going to spend the night in Gold Beach?” Lauren’s tone didn’t seem annoyed, the way Charli’s would have been if she’d said the words herself. She actually sounded happy. These town folks were weird.
Charli turned her head toward the group of eight and smiled at Ethan, who waved at her.
“We were. But then Spoilsport here,” Kean nodded at Adam, who rolled his eyes, “didn’t want to be away from his girls too long and thought we should make it an early night.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Adam said. “Besides, I’m getting married tomorrow and I didn’t exactly ask for a stag night.”
A chorus of “Spoilsport” over fake coughs followed Adam’s comment. Ellie chuckled and left Charli’s arm to reach for her soon-to-be husband’s.
“You didn’t have to worry about us. Sophie’s happy to stay at your parents’ and I have my bodyguards looking after me.”
“But now we’re here, so why don’t we all hang out?” Kean said, hip-checking his brother so that he was standing in front of Charli. He waggled his eyebrows and grinned. “Unless the wedding planner has something against it.”
“I do, actually.” She crossed her arms and lifted her chin defiantly. “The bride and the groom shouldn’t spend the night before the wedding together—everybody knows it’s bad luck. And most importantly, having a joint stag and hen party is unheard of.”
“You’re a bit stuck up for a wedding planner. You’ve gotta chill, lady. You aren’t organizing a royal wedding, so nobody’s going to blame you if things don’t go as you planned them in your notebook.” Kean smirked and poked her in the shoulder. “This is how we like to celebrate our folks. It’s the small-town charm—we all come together for big events. And just so you know, we’ve never had a wedding planner before, and all the weddings have gone smoothly. But since you’re the bride’s friend and you’re already in the wedding party…”
She honestly couldn’t wait for this wedding to be through so she could leave this stupid town and never have to be around this annoying guy ever again. She didn’t know why, but he struck a nerve with every comment, stare or grin—and not in a good way.
“You know what? I don’t care.” She looked at Ellie and raised her hands in defeat. There was no point trying to be professional when everyone around her seemed to enjoy doing the opposite of what she suggested. “I’m taking a step back from the organization of tonight’s party, seeing as you’ve already decided you aren’t going to follow my recommendations. I’m not taking the blame if your marriage falls apart because you wanted to break the rules and defy luck.”
Ellie chuckled and wrapped her arms around her. “You’ve already done an incredible job, in such a short time. I’m sure having fun with the guys tonight isn’t going to lead to an unlucky marriage.” She turned to stare at Adam, and Charli could swear her friend’s eyes glowed with love. “We’re going to be very happy. And we won’t be spending the night together when we go home, so that counts for tradition and luck being on our side, I guess.”
Charli shrugged. “Whatever.”
“Great. So now we’ve got the wedding planner’s stamp of approval, let’s get a table and order some drinks.” Kean high-fived his cousin, then wrapped an arm around his brother and pulled him in for a guy hug. “We’re gonna get you smashed, little brother.”
Charli rolled her eyes and shook her head. A chorus of laughter and good-natured teasing erupted around her as they took their seats at the tables Kean and his cousin had moved side by side.
“Why don’t you guys play something? Myles’ choice of soundtrack tonight is making my eyelids droop,” Lauren said ten minutes later, elbowing the geek-looking blond-haired guy sitting next to her. He’d introduced himself to Charli earlier as Jared, the town journalist and creative writing teacher. Lauren’s firefighter boyfriend had a night shift, so Jared had appointed himself as her guardian as soon as they’d decided to mix the two parties and spend the evening together. Not that she would need one anyway. Charli was pretty sure that, with the everyone-knows-everyone rule in town, nobody would dare make a move on Lauren, knowing her boyfriend would hear about it before the night was through.
“Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve heard you play, bro. Come on, go up and woo us all.” Kyle, the youngest Cavanagh brother, raised his bottle in a toast before bringing it to his lips. A fleeting cloud of what looked like sadness—or maybe regret?—washed over his face. Then his gaze slid briefly over Lauren and turned even more lost. Charli couldn’t help wondering about the reason behind that look.
“Myles, cut off the music—the guys want to play!” Lauren stood up and waved her hand in the air to catch the bartender, and owner’s, attention. Myles nodded and smiled, as if he’d been waiting for this moment all night.
Kean, his firefighter cousin Cayden, Jared, and the other two guys sitting at the table, Scott and Shane, all pushed their chairs back and stood up.
“They’re in a band?”
Kean nodded, even though her comment had been meant for Lauren. “Yep. We’re The Rocking Springs.”
Huh?
“Who came up with such a cheesy name?”
Jared patted Kean’s back. “He did. After a couple of beers too many.”
“Why am I not surprised,” she mumbled under her breath as she rolled her eyes.
“It was that or The Rocking Stones,” Jared continued, oblivious to Charli’s reaction. “We all thought Springs would make more sense.”
“Yeah, ’cause we totally rock Spring,” Cayden said, raising his hands in a rock on gesture. Everybody laughed, and the five guys walked away. Charli watched them go to a small stage where different instruments were sitting on their stands.
“Good thing they have their instruments at hand all the time. It makes for a great impromptu jamming session whenever the crowd asks for it,” Lauren said, staring at the stage.
“You mean they leave the instruments unattended on the stage at all times?” Charli’s eyebrows shot up. She’d thought they’d planned the show and brought their guitars, bass, keyboard, and drum set in earlier that day. Well, they had to really trust their fellow townsfolk.
Ellie chuckled. “In case you didn’t notice, this isn’t San Francisco, Charli. Nobody would dare touch those instruments, let alone steal them. And not just because Myles is worse than a cop when it comes to his pub, but because this is what small-town life is all about. You don’t lock your car, you don’t lock your doors, and if you need help, half the town will be there before you even dial 911.”
Well, wow. Perhaps there were some tiny perks of small-town life, after all—but not enough to bring her to the dark side, so to speak. She was a city girl and nobody would ever convince her that amenities weren’t what life was all about, because… Her brain went blank as she raised her eyes to the stage and they settled on Kean, who was currently busy tuning his mahogany and black electric guitar. She’d always found something extremely sexy in men who played the guitar. Whether it was the way their big fingers seemed to be so agile as they expertly plucked the strings and slid back and forth on the fretboard, or the way their bodies seemed to melt and become one with their guitar, handsome guitarists had never failed to make her drool. She’d had a not-so-secret crush on Bon Jovi’s guitarist when she was a teenager, which had made her the favorite target of her brothers’ teasing back then.
Yes, Kean was annoying, and he made her want to kick him in the shins whenever they interacted, but she couldn’t deny he was handsome. A rugged kind of beauty, with the ever-present five o’clock shadow, those unruly dark curls, and his apparent love for jeans and sweatshirts—all things that she was sure had women falling at his feet more often than not. And maybe he took advantage of it, too. She’d bet he had women sneaking out of his room at the crack of dawn every other day.
“Hi, guys,” Scott spoke into the microphone, and the buzz of chat and laughter died down. Charli forced her stare away from Kean, before he caught her ogling, and focused on the blond-haired guy with the friendly smile and deep voice. “I know it’s not Saturday, so we shouldn’t hog the stage, but as you know, our deputy is getting married to our lovely teacher tomorrow, and we wanted to celebrate with some good music. What do you say?”
A chorus of yes, hell yeah, and hollers erupted in the room. Ellie chuckled, and Adam pulled her in for a quick kiss, earning some more woot-woots from the people closest to their table. Okay, so it wasn’t a fancy nightclub, but Charli was starting to enjoy the camaraderie and the laid-back vibe that permeated the air.
Kean played a powerful downstroke that reverberated through the pub, and Cayden followed with a sequence of fast drum rolls. Then he beat the drumsticks one against the other with a “Two, three, four” and Kean opened the song with another downstroke. As the notes of ‘Born To Be My Baby’ by Bon Jovi echoed in the room, she stared slightly transfixed at the handsome guitarist on stage, his fingers moving on the fretboard, his sneakered foot tapping the rhythm, and his body swaying.
Charli reached for a napkin and wiped her lips, pretty sure she’d been drooling just a moment ago. He was annoying but, holy guacamole, was he sexy with a guitar hanging off his neck.
Maybe the night hadn’t been such a disaster, after all.