Chapter 1
Kelly Barrow stared down at the court papers, completely flabbergasted. Her company, Something Borrowed Wedding Solutions, and personal attorney, Christian Ryan, sat across from her, and she could tell he was fighting a grin.
“This is a joke, right?” she asked.
Chris shook his head. “No joke. I received them this morning.”
“Who in the hell sues someone for”—she read the amount again and scoffed—“thirty-two dollars and seventeen cents?”
“Apparently, someone who doesn’t appreciate you walking out on a date with them.”
“I didn’t walk out! I told him that I had a work emergency and had to go.”
Chris shrugged his broad shoulders. “Guess he didn’t believe you because he is suing you for the cost of your dinner and your ticket to…Pirates of the Caribbean.”
This is why she hadn’t dated in almost ten years. Men were absolute idiots.
“Can you just take care of this? Send him a check or whatever so he will go away.”
“Not that simple, Kel,” Chris said. “The man wants a formal apology and for you to be his date for his sister’s wedding.”
Kelly looked down at the papers again and sure enough, it was in bold print. “Why would he want me to be his date if I pissed him off so bad he had to file a lawsuit against me?”
“The guy must be hard-up. I can’t think of a single reason he’d want to take you…oh wait. There’s the fact that you’re beautiful, intelligent, and will no doubt make whatever ex-girlfriend he’s afraid of bumping into jealous.”
Kelly stuck her tongue out at him, but he just laughed at her childishness. She’d known Chris since eighth grade, when he’d walked up to her for his friend, Ray Jackson, and told her Ray liked her. Since that moment, it had been the three of them together; Ray and her as sweethearts and Chris as their dear friend.
Then high school had ended, and Chris had gone away to college while Ray had joined the military. And Kelly, well, she’d gotten a job at the local bridal boutique and stayed right here in Sweetheart, California. She’d missed them dreadfully, and when Ray came home on his first leave and asked her to marry him, she’d said yes. They started making plans for when his four years were up. She was already taking courses at Consumes River College, and when Ray got out, he would get his degree too. They’d get jobs, then get married and eventually, have four kids. The plan was to be happy and in love forever.
Only Ray had never come home. He’d been killed in action just before his twentieth birthday, and Kelly had been a mess. Her parents. Her friends. No one could bring her out of her misery.
Until Chris had come home and sat on the bed next to her prone form. At first he’d been patient and understanding. When she still wouldn’t acknowledge him, he lost his temper. He’d grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around to face him.
“You aren’t the only one who loved Ray, and he wouldn’t want you behaving like this. So wrapped up in your own grief that you don’t give a shit about anyone else who may be hurting.”
She’d come out of her depression enough to slap him, and the rush of emotions that followed had her pummeling his chest, screaming at him. Chris had just wrapped his arms around her until she stopped fighting and just wailed. Screaming and sobbing her heartbreak all while he cried into the crook of her neck. It had been Chris’s tears that had been the key to fully waking her up.
After Ray’s funeral, Chris had gone back to Stanford, but they’d stayed close. And when he’d finished law school, she’d begged him to come back and set up shop in Sweetheart.
And now, here they were. Poring over a frivolous lawsuit.
Kelly shot Chris a pleading look. “I don’t really have to go out with him again, do I?”
Chris laughed, throwing his head back, and Kelly studied him. At thirteen, Chris had been a towheaded kid, bean pole thin with glasses. As a man, his white blond hair had darkened to a mix of mahogany and rich gold, and he wore contacts over his light blue eyes. Kelly wasn’t oblivious to the fact that Chris had become a handsome guy; it just didn’t matter. He would always be Chris. Ray’s best friend, and then hers.
“No, Kelly. I’ll handle it.”
“Thanks, C. What would I do without you?”
“Continue to date losers?”
“Ha ha,” she said. “So funny.”
“What did prompt you to go out with this guy?” Chris asked.
Kelly shifted in her chair awkwardly, embarrassed to tell him that she had joined an online dating site, but she didn’t lie to Chris.
“I signed up on LastFirstKiss.com, and that guy was one of the top matches the website spit out.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. When he contacted me and I looked at his profile, it all looked good.”
“So what happened?”
She grimaced. “He lied on his profile.”
“Shocker. What did he say? That he was six two instead of five two?”
“Well, he lied about his job, what he likes to do for fun, and he was a complete douche nozzle to the waiter at the restaurant. Frankly, I was glad that Veronica called me and pulled me out of the movie because the way he chewed popcorn was just…disgusting.”
Chris chuckled. “Ah, Kel, I love you.”
“I know.”
They shared a smile over the desk. Since the first time they went to a Star Wars marathon in high school, Chris and she had done the Han Solo and Princess Leia bit. It used to drive Ray crazy, but that had never stopped them.
Kelly leaned her head back in the chair and groaned. “Ugh, I don’t know what to do. I haven’t been dating since LFO was cool and it was only ever with one guy. I don’t know how to do this.”
“So don’t. No one says you have to date.”
She met his gaze sadly. “It’s time. I used to think that my future died with Ray, but the truth is, watching all my friends find love and get married, start families… It made me realize I still want those things. I’m thirty-two years old; I need to move on.”
Chris didn’t say anything for several moments, and she sat forward. “Don’t you think?”
She couldn’t tell what he was really thinking, but when he nodded, she almost sighed aloud in relief. She couldn’t have Chris mad at her. He was the most important person in her life.
Chris reached across the desk, taking her hand in his.
“You deserve to be happy, Kel. I’ll support you in whatever you do. You know that.”