You have got to be kidding me,” Tricia grumbled as she sorted through the mail that was just delivered. She considered running down the block after her mailman and throwing it all back at him and shaking him until he promised to be more considerate, but then thought better of it. After all, it wasn’t his fault she was a single woman.

A single woman who was currently holding three wedding invitations in her hand.

Cursing under her breath, she made her way back up the driveway and into her house, slamming the door behind her. Tossing the pile on her little entryway table without opening it, she walked through to the kitchen to get a drink. The sound of her phone ringing stopped her.

Her foul mood was instantly forgotten when she saw Sean’s name on the screen. “Hey! It’s you!”

“Hey, beautiful,” Sean said with a small chuckle. “How are you doing?”

Walking into the living room, she collapsed on the couch. “Okay…and you?”

“By the sound of your voice, I’d say you are officially lying to me. So what’s going on, Patterson?”

She rolled her eyes, hating how he rarely called her by her first name. “Three more came today.”

“You’re kidding!”

“Do I sound like I’m kidding?”

Sean chuckled again. “How is this even possible? How could it be that almost everyone we know is getting married this summer? Didn’t they all get married last summer?”

“That’s what I thought,” she mumbled and threw her head back with a sigh. “I’m telling you, Sean, I’m nailing the mailbox shut as soon as we’re off the phone!” The two of them had been commiserating over the last week about the upcoming wedding season.

“Tampering with the mail is a federal offense,” he joked and Tricia couldn’t help but smile.

“I’m not tampering with the mail, per se. It’s my mailbox and if I want it nailed shut then…”

“Relax,” he said smoothly. “Besides, how many more invites could there possibly be? I don’t think we know any more people.”

“I don’t know. I have a feeling we’re still missing some.”

“Sure but…what are the odds of those people getting married this summer too? As it is, we’re up to what? Five weddings? Six?”

“Today’s mail brought us up to six.”

“Yikes.”

“Exactly.” It really was a little more than Tricia wanted to deal with. She was feeling like the proverbial “always a bridesmaid, never a bride” while Sean had complained about how he was tired of people trying to set him up with their “cute” sisters or cousins. “Seriously, we don’t have to go to all of them, do we?”

“I mean I guess we don’t have to,” Sean began, “but…they are all our friends. Whose would we skip?”

Standing, Tricia quickly went over and grabbed today’s invitations and then walked to the kitchen to grab the three that had arrived the previous week before sitting back down on the sofa. “Okay, let’s think about this. The first one is Tami and Eric on June third.” She paused. “Actually, I’d really like to go to that one. They’re a great couple and have always been good friends to me.”

“Ditto,” Sean said. “Next?”

“Linda and Jerry on the fifth. Wow. It’s going to be a very full weekend.”

“Yeah, but…if we do one, we kind of have to do the other. It will be all the same people and how would we explain going to one and not the other?”

“Good point,” Tricia conceded. “Give me a minute to open these new ones and see if any of the dates overlap.”

“Wishful thinking, Patterson. Our luck is never that good.”

“You know, I can’t help but notice how you keep talking about all these events in the plural sense. Does that mean you’re definitely going to be back home for the summer?”

“That’s the plan,” Sean said, and Tricia could hear the smile in his voice. For the last year, Sean had been working as a contractor over in the Middle East and Asia, helping to rebuild areas that were torn apart by war and a tsunami. It was hard work but she knew Sean loved it.

“And you want to spend your free time when you finally get home going to weddings? Seriously?” she asked with a laugh. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Well, although it will cost me a fortune, it’s a great opportunity to see everyone at one shot and get caught up.”

It made sense. “Okay, next up we have…Donna and Jason on…” She scanned the invitation, “the eleventh. That’s almost too much, right? Can we skip that one?”

“You can, but I can’t. Jason and I played soccer together since we were five. I have to be there.”

“Are you sure you’re even invited? How often do you check your mail?” She asked with as serious of a tone as she could manage, but Sean knew immediately she was teasing.

“Ha-ha, very funny. I get my mail on a regular basis and although I haven’t gotten today’s mail – and probably won’t until next week – I’m fairly certain I’m invited to all the same weddings as you.”

“Fine, whatever. Don’t get all defensive.” She shuffled through the mail and opened up the rest of the invites. “It looks like we get a break for a couple of weeks and the next batch doesn’t start up again until the second week of July.”

“So that means we don’t have to make any firm decisions right now then.”

“You don’t, but I do. The first one up in July is Kristen and Bobby. I told her I couldn’t commit to being in the bridal party but that I’d be there.”

“Okay, fine. Bobby was also on the soccer team so I should be there too.”

“You know high school was over ten years ago, right? It doesn’t matter that you played on a team together – it doesn’t obligate you to stuff for the rest of your life,” she said.

“You wouldn’t understand,” he replied. “We were all close and once I started traveling, I’ve missed out on a lot. My friends mean a lot to me – you should know that – and as much as it pains me to have to dress up and do the chicken dance, I want to be there for my friends.”

Suddenly, Tricia didn’t feel quite as antagonistic toward the invitations. “You’re right,” she sighed. “I guess there’s a part of me that just dreads all that goes with accepting the invites.”

“You mean the inevitable attempts to fix you up with someone?”

“That and the pity looks I get. And I get a lot of them. You know…the old ‘Poor Tricia. You’ll find someone soon. I’m sure of it.’ I hate those looks.”

“Yeah well, I’d take pity over pimps.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “Is that what we’re calling it now?”

“Might as well. It’s pretty much what they’re doing,” Sean said and then sighed loudly. “I don’t know maybe it’s not…” He stopped. “Wait a minute,” he began excitedly. “I’ve got it! I know exactly how to get us out of those situations!”

“I’m listening…” she said hopefully.

“We go together.”

All of the hope she was just feeling quickly deflated from her body. “That’s it? That’s your big plan? How is that going to get us out of anything? Everyone is used to seeing us together. And considering you’ve been out of the country for so damn long, they’ll just figure you didn’t have time to find a date and so you asked me. I’ll be the pity date!” She cursed. “Damn it! I can’t escape it!”

“No, no, no…listen. We go together as like, you know, a couple.”

She shook her head. “No one is going to believe it.”

“Sure they will. We’ll get all cozy and you’ll have to look at me as if you adore me – which shouldn’t be hard to do – and hang on my every word.”

“You’re crazy, you know that? I’m not going to hang on your every word and whatever else. It’s ridiculous and it won’t work.”

“Why not? You’re telling me you can’t pretend to be in love with me for a couple of hours? I’m crushed.”

“Don’t be such a drama queen, Sean,” she said wearily. “It’s not just a couple of hours. We’re looking at potentially six weddings at six-to-eight hours each with people who’ve known us for years. It’s going to take a lot more than batting my eyelashes at you while holding your hand.”

“What have we got to lose?” he asked. “Unless…unless you had someone else you planned on going with.”

Unfortunately, she didn’t. It had been months since she’d even been on a date. But there was no need to dwell on it right now. “No, that’s not it. I just don’t think…”

“C’mon, Tricia. It makes perfect sense. We’ll test out the theory at the first wedding and see how it goes. I’m sure no one’s going to expect us to be pawing at each other to prove we’re in a relationship. What do you say?”

“I still think you’re crazy but…”

“Look, it’s not that big of a deal and I guarantee you we’ll have a lot more fun this way. We’ll shock everyone and then field all kinds of questions and then we’ll get to enjoy ourselves. No ducking behind potted plants or running into the bathroom to avoid the feeding frenzy of well-meaning people who claim only to be thinking of our happiness.”

Tricia took a minute to think about it and as much as she believed they’d never be able to pull it off, it was certainly worth a try. “You’re right. Damn it.”

“Excellent!”

“So that leads me to our other order of business, where you’ll be staying while you’re home. I hope it’s here.” Tricia was actually renting Sean’s childhood home. From the first time she had walked through the front door, she had fallen in love with it. When Sean’s mom wanted to move away and travel a bit herself, she had offered it to Tricia. Someday she hoped to own it but wanted to wait until the time was right.

“I wouldn’t dream of staying anyplace else,” he said. “Where else could I go for free and sleep in my old room?” He paused. “You haven’t changed anything in there, have you?” he asked with exaggerated anxiety.

“No, precious,” she mocked. “Your Van Halen posters are still on the wall so you can relax. I’ll just have to unlock the shrine and air it out before you get here. Which reminds me, when exactly will you be getting home?”

“End of May. I’m thinking the twenty-eighth but figure you’ll have to give or take a day with that. Nothing ever goes as planned.”

“And what about your mom? Are you going to go and see her first and then come here or the other way around?”

“Honestly? I’m not sure. Probably after the first round of weddings I’ll track her down. Last I talked to her she was going on a cruise with some friends and was talking about yoga classes.” He sighed. “Why can’t she just be like other moms?”

That made Tricia laugh. Stephanie Peterson had never been like other moms – that was one of the things she’d always loved about her. “You have no idea how lucky you are. Steph gets out there and is enjoying her life. My mom prefers to live like a hermit.”

“That’s not true and you know it,” Sean said.

“Which part?”

“Your mom and John are very happy and they have plenty of friends. You need to stop picking on them.”

“Hey, same goes for you, buddy. Your mom is very happy and has a lot of friends. She just chooses to have them all over the world. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“I guess,” he grumbled. “It’s just hard to pin her down sometimes. It would be nice to have a home base to go and see her. I’m never sure where I’m going to find her.”

“It’s not like you’ve been home a whole lot, Sean,” she reminded him. “I don’t see why it should bother you so much.”

“Yeah, well, it doesn’t just bother me. Ryan complains about it too. Every time I talk to him he tells me how it’s easier to find Waldo than it is to find Steph.”

“Yeah, well…Ryan’s just grumpy. I swear, he’s always got something to complain about.” It was only partially true. Ryan was Sean’s older brother and while he and Sean had a great relationship, any time Tricia was around him he seemed to be irritated.

Sean chuckled. “I don’t know where you get it from. Ry’s not like that. He does his own fair share of traveling but even with that, Steph has him beat.”

“I think that’s great for her!”

“You women. Always sticking together.”

“And don’t you forget it.” There was a moment of companionable silence before Tricia spoke again. “So you really think you’ll be coming home this time?”

“I do. I know I said that six months ago but then the tsunami hit. I was already over here with a team. What was I supposed to do?”

“You don’t have to fix the entire world, Sean. You have people back here who love you and want to see you.”

“Aww…see? You love me. It’s going to be so easy for you to play the part of my girlfriend for these weddings!” he teased.

“You’re an idiot,” she laughed.

“Yes, yes, yes,” he agreed. “But you still love me.”

That just made her laugh harder. “Knock it off, doofus.”

“Come on. I’m not completely hideous to look at, am I?”

“Now you’re just fishing for compliments. And besides, you’ve been gone for like two years. For all I know you could look like some kind of yeti now.”

“I promise to shave,” he said with a laugh. “Admit it. This is going to be so much fun. We can watch all of their shocked faces and we can be as outrageous as we want.”

“I’m sure I’m going to regret this at some point, but okay. Fine. I guess it could be kind of fun. Plus, we’ll get to spend a whole lot of time together getting caught up.”

“So…it’s a plan?”

She nodded even though she knew he couldn’t see her. “Definitely. I’ll take care of all the RSVP’ing for us if you don’t mind.”

“Be my guest, sweetheart,” he gushed.

“Ugh…knock it off. Save it for the audience.”

“You’re no fun. How are we supposed to come off as being believable if we don’t practice?”

“Sean?”

“Yeah?”

“Let it go. We’ll be fine and I don’t think either of us is going to have to pull off an Oscar-worthy performance.”

“You never know…”

Tricia didn’t even want to think about it. All she knew was her best friend was coming home and they’d have a couple of weeks to hang out together. Weddings or no weddings, it was going to be fun.