That Wedding Read online

  This house is IT!

  Like Phillip was the ONE.

  How my dress was the ONE.

  This house is the ONE!

  Even the house knows he's the one for me. The house is pleading to me like a hopeful lover. You know I'm the one for you, baby, let's live together.

  The house has everything on Phillip's wish list. A big gorgeous kitchen with granite countertops and sparkling new appliances, a big island with six barstools, an open concept, and an incredible basement game room. If he wasn't already sold on the kitchen, the big master bedroom overlooking the lake with it's huge closets and a bathroom where I'd happily spend the rest of my life, the sweeping staircase, and the huge deck, he'd have to be sold the second he saw the walkout basement. It's like a boy's wet dream down here. Pool table, foosball, bar, poker table, three flatscreens, sound system, huge sectional couch, and a hot tub out on the patio.

  I'm so sold.

  I wanna run outside, cheer, do cartwheels, and stab a big SOLD sign in the front yard.

  The sign would say, SOLD TO ME, and it'd have a picture of me hugging the front door.

  Phillip and Danny are grinning like maniacs in the basement, which you'd think might be a good sign, but Phillip has said nothing to me to indicate this is any more than a dream tour.

  Shit.

  Speaking of shit, maybe I forgot to fertilize the plant, and that's why it's not growing! I try to think of all the bullshit things I could say to make Phillip fall in love with this house.

  But, I can't.

  Truth is, I want him to love it for all the reasons I do. And yes, I planted seeds and that sounds sort of manipulative, but I don't want him to get talked into doing something he doesn't want to do. I don't want him to be unhappy.

  Even if that means passing up this amazing house.

  You know, love kinda sucks sometimes.

  It makes you do stupid stuff, like care more about the person you love than you do about yourself.

  I watch him grin at Danny. I notice how sexily his forearm flexes when he runs his hand down the bar.

  I'm pretty sure I could live in a shack with him and be happy. As long as he's there, it would feel like home.

  I'm just so in love with that boy.

  After our tour, we meet with the couple that owns the home. Phillip tells them the house is beautiful, what a great job they did on the remodel, and how they must be sad to leave it.

  They agree as they grab us beers from the outdoor kitchen's frig.

  An outdoor beer frig?

  Seriously? Is there anything this house doesn't have?

  Phillip discusses pricing with them. What they are going to list it for. What they'd take for it now. When they'd like to close.

  I can see the corner of Phillip's jaw twitching slightly. Usually, he does that when he's trying to play it cool. When he doesn't want to smile. It's like his poker face.

  But what does that mean? Does it mean he's considering it?

  No.

  Not going to get my hopes up.

  Because I don't think so. I think he'd love it, but he's convinced we can't. I still don't even understand why he agreed to look at it.

  Nothing like setting yourself up for disappointment.

  Or well, setting me up for disappointment.

  Phillip says to everyone. "Do you guys mind if Jadyn and I take a quick walk and talk about it?"

  And I'm thinking, talk about what?

  Talk about how the house is great, but we can't afford it?

  Talk about which great ideas we should file away in our brains for someday?

  Phillip nods for me to get up.

  As we walk down toward the lake, he grabs my hand. "So what'd you think? You didn't say much in there. I thought you'd be oohing and aahing over everything. Didn't you like it?"

  "Well, Phillip, I think it's a gorgeous, perfect, amazing house. It has everything I could possibly want. The kitchen is a dream, the master bath is to die for, but I'd love it for the basement alone."

  His eyes light up. "The basement is totally tricked out. Can you imagine the parties we could throw down there?"

  "Well, yeah." I look really pathetic, I'm sure. I'm totally pouting and not because I'm trying to get my way, but because I feel sad about this. I knew looking at something I couldn't have was a bad idea. It's depressing. "Maybe someday we can have a house like that." I nod my head and put on my best fake smile.

  Phillip pulls me into his arms. He softly runs his hand across my cheek and into my hair. I look deeply into his adorable brown eyes and feel bolstered with confidence.

  It'll be okay.

  There will be other houses, but there's not another Phillip.

  I mentally stomp on the stupid seeds.

  I want Phillip, and nothing else matters.

  Phillip nuzzles his face into mine and says, "I was thinking maybe today should be someday."

  My eyes get big. I back away from him and barely whisper, "What do you mean?"

  "I think we should start someday today and buy it. I thought you'd be more excited about this."

  OMG. I might start hyperventilating.

  "Really? Are you serious? I didn't think you were interested. I didn't wanna get excited because I knew you were against spending that kind of money."

  "Well, that was before I had that kind of money sitting in the bank."

  I smile. BIG.

  "So Princess, is that a yes?"

  I fling myself on Phillip, jump into his arms, and wrap my legs around his waist. He twirls me around while I kiss him.

  "That's a yes," I finally say. "In case you couldn't tell."

  "I figured. Hell, I didn't get this much excitement out of the ring. Should we go tell them we'll take it?"

  "Not just yet," I say. I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him some more.

  Phillip was looking much like Cooper tonight after work. He was laying across the couch with the remote control glued to his hand.

  I laid across him and started doing some things he likes, usually a surefire way to get him into bed with me. All of a sudden, this annoyed him. "I'm trying to watch this," he told me and sort of pushed me aside.

  Now I'm sorry, but you could have a two-hour romp in bed, come back, and the golf game would be going pretty much the same. And excuse me, but isn't this why they created highlights and DVRs?

  I probably should have jumped up and down naked. I probably should have screamed, I need some attention here!

  Instead, I asked if he wanted to grab a drink with some friends.

  He said, "Naw, you go, I'm tired."

  So now, I'm headed to the bar. Talk about looking for attention in all the wrong places. I'm also wondering if Pastor John is prophetic.

  Is Phillip getting sick of me already?

  Is he going to stop wanting me?

  I'm sort of embarrassed to admit it, but this bar is like my second home. Not quite the home Keggers was down in Lincoln, but it's where we all hang out here in Omaha. It's rare that I don't see lots of people I know.

  But tonight is different. There are a lot of guys here that I don't recognize.

  It's like they dropped off a busload from the hot guy's home.

  I mean seriously, Phillip is hot.

  We know that.

  And most guys don't even come close in my opinion. A guy has to like have it all for me to even give him a second glance. I'm not into skinny guys, and if they wear skinny jeans or have a skater kind of look, they're not for me. The only time I've ever really strayed from that is with the guitar player I dated this summer. He did have great guitar playing arm muscles though, and at the time, I kinda felt like I needed to try something different. Evidently, I did not learn my lesson with the sex video guy.

  Normally, my typical guy is like a real man. He could be a mechanic, or a cowboy, or a linebacker, whatever, but he has to have good muscles and an adorable smile.

  Oh, and good teeth.

  Danny always used to tease me about how I
love teeth. Like I was shopping for a horse or something.

  But I do like a perfect smile.

  And tonight, it's like someone is holding a casting call for Jadyn's Perfect Type. Cuz as I'm scanning the crowd while walking back to our usual table, there are like four guys that literally turn my head.

  Later, when I walk back to use the restroom, four guys hit on me. Even after I said I was engaged, they kept trying.

  I swear, I didn't even flirt back. I was too shocked to flirt.

  When I get back from the bathroom and sit down next to Joey, Katie, Lisa, and Neil, I realize a cosmic shift has occurred.

  Is it because it's the first time I've been here alone since we got engaged?

  Does an engagement ring make a girl more attractive?

  Do all the boys realize I'm serious about settling down, and so now I'm a more attractive mate?

  Or am I more attractive to them because I'm committed, and it could just be a no strings attached fling?

  Or has the shift changed me and how I look at guys? Like you want what you can't have.

  Do I really wanna be stuck with the same guy for the rest of my life?

  Phillip is so structured, and there is security in that. But what if I want something different? Like, I love desserts. My very favorite is chocolate cheesecake, but if I had to eat it every night, wouldn't I get sick of it?

  What's so wrong with wanting to have like a piece of apple pie one night and maybe a nice poundcake with strawberries the next?

  I think Barbie may have been on to something.

  A really hot guy sits down next to me. He was one of the guys I turned down on the way to the bathroom.

  And he's hot.

  Not the Phillip, sweet dreamy kind of hot, but more the Danny Diamond, all blonde and attitude kind of hot.

  Like he's really hot. Did I say that already?

  But the more he talks, well, the more bored I get.

  I guess I do like a little brain behind the brawn. If a guy can't get my very witty and amazingly intelligent sarcasm, then he's a dud.

  I want this guy to leave, so I flash the engagement ring his way again, but I think he might be too dense to know what it means.

  Normally, Joey and Neil would be all over it. Like they'd just tell the guy to leave. That I'm taken. But Neil is busy fawning over Katie, and Joey is trying to pick up some chick. Lisa is drooling over the guy, but she's trying to act disinterested.

  I touch her arm and say, "I'm going to the bar." I said it in a way that let her know the guy was all hers, and I would take my time coming back.

  I grab the two empty pitchers off our table, say something vague about being back, and head to the bar for refills.

  The bar is super busy, so I squeeze between two guys sitting at the bar, swing the pitchers onto the bar, stick my boobs out, and flash a big grin in the bartender's direction.

  The guy sitting to my right spins his barstool around, and I find myself standing between Jason O'Connor's legs.

  Jason purrs, "Jadyn James, look at you all gorgeous and shiny."

  Jason has always called me Jadyn James because his name is Jason James O'Connor. He thought it was cool we liked matched. And shiny, from anyone else, I would think my makeup got greasy looking, and my face need to be powdered. But shiny is a Jason word. And shiny equals perfect to Jason. He loves shiny new toys of all kinds.

  "I hear you got engaged."

  "How did you hear that?"

  "My parents told me. They also told me I should've never let you get away. They always ask me about you, how your doing and stuff. They thought you were smart, funny, and down to earth."

  "Aw, that's so nice. I liked your parents too."

  "What about me?"

  "What do you mean, what about me?"

  "Did you like me?" He gives me an adorably sweet little curve of his textbook lips and a flash of expensive and perfect teeth. "Did you love me?"

  I think about how to answer that.

  "At the time, I thought I was in love with you."

  "I was in love with you," he says sweetly. "I think I'm still in love with you."

  I ignore the still in love with you part and say, "It felt like we were in love, but you never told me."

  "Remember your winter formal?"

  "How could I forget that? You ruined it!"

  "No, before that, before I got drunk. How did you feel about the night, about me?"

  "I felt great. Had a hot date, loved my dress, loved my hair. Honestly, before you got drunk, the night felt kinda special. I mean, it seemed like it was gonna be special, you know, until it wasn't."

  "Here's a little secret for you, Jadyn James. I was going to tell you I loved you that night. You would've been the first girl I ever said it to that I felt like I really meant it. Like I wasn't just saying it for sex. I was also going to give you my fraternity pin. Make it official."

  "You wanted to pin me? I would've passed my candle, got serenaded, and everything?"

  "Yeah, you would have."

  "So why didn't you ask?"

  "I was kinda nervous. I wasn't sure how you felt. It bothered me how tight you and Phillip were. Danny too. I'd heard rumors about you and Danny. Even asked you about them."

  "And I told you Danny and I were never together."

  "I know, but you lived with them both. You never once invited me to stay with you. You always stayed at the frat house, and I don't know, I was nervous, then I got drunk, then things got all fucked up. You know the rest."

  "The rest. As in I left."

  "I felt so bad the next day that I called my mom. She told me to send you the prettiest roses I could find and to send lots of them. I said I was really sorry on the card. I even signed it love Jason, but it didn't work."

  "The problem was, it seemed like it wasn't just that one time. Like you were always looking for a fight. I was used to being around guys that avoided fights. That didn't need to prove their worth by fighting. I realized that wasn't the kind of guy I wanted to be with."

  "I'm not like that anymore. I've grown up, graduated, got a good job, and I know what I want. I think it's fate I ran into you tonight."

  "I'm glad you got your life together, Jason. I'm happy for you. So what is it you want?"

  "You."

  "Me? I'm engaged!"

  "Yeah, but you're ONLY engaged. You aren't married yet. Officially, you're still single."

  "But I wanna marry Philip."

  "I think you should marry me."

  "Marry you?"

  "You have to admit, we had fun together. And this summer when we hooked up, it was amazing. We have amazing chemistry."

  "We were both drunk, and you never called. I wouldn't call that amazing chemistry."

  "I got the feeling you didn't want me to call. Like you were maybe sorta dating someone."

  "Oh, so my maybe sorta dating someone scared you away, but my being freaking engaged doesn't?"

  "Let me see the ring."

  I proudly show him all two gorgeous carats of it. Even in the dark bar, you can see how it catches the light. I love my ring.

  Jason holds my hand and studies it. "I could do way better than that."

  I know that's his way of slamming Phillip. Like the ring isn't big enough or something. What he doesn't realize is that it's the ring of my dreams, so he totally just slammed my taste too.

  He gets off the barstool and wraps his arm around my waist. "Marry me instead."

  I open my mouth to say something, but he's like, "I'm not done. Don't settle for marrying your friend. That's what people do when they can't find anyone else. Like if we're not married by the time we're thirty, we marry each other.

  "It's not like that with Phillip."

  "I think it is. I think if you and Phillip were that amazing together, you would've gotten together in college. I'm serious, marry me. We'll call Phillip afterwards and break it to him gently. Tell him the wedding's off, that we got married. We'll fly to Vegas tonight, get a suite at the Four
Seasons, and buy you a new ring. A ring that will put this one to shame. I'm talking massive. Five or six carats, all for you. Then we'll find you a sexy white dress and get married."

  "Your parents would kill you."

  "Not once I told them who I ran away with. You'd have anything your heart desires. Always. That's what I can give you, Jadyn James."

  With Phillip's coldness tonight and my total insaneness (even if it's happy insaneness) with the wedding planning right now, running away to Vegas does sound sorta freeing.

  I look at Jason.

  Jason is adorable and sexy, and I'm kinda flattered by this.

  I mean, now I have two guys who wanna marry me. I feel sort of unstoppable. This must be how Danny feels when he scores a game-winning touchdown.

  "Jadyn James, I do love you. Marry me, and I promise you a great life. What do you say?"

  "I say you should've told me you loved me and pinned me back then, instead of getting drunk. I'm also saying that after we hooked up this summer, you should've called. But you didn't."

  He looks embarrassed. "I tried to tell you, after."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I went to your house after I sent the flowers, but you weren't there. Phillip answered the door, told me it'd probably be best if I left you alone. Danny and two massive football players walked up behind him, all nodding, letting me know if I didn't leave you alone, I'd have to answer to them. Plus, you ignored my calls. I'm sorry. I should've tried harder. I promise, I'll make you happy."

  Well, shoot. Now I feel sorry for Jason. I feel bad I didn't thank him for the flowers, and that I didn't hear what he had to say. I got mad, and hurt, and I walked away. Someday, I'm gonna grow up and realize that people screw up, and you need to at least listen to what they have to say. Let them explain before you convict them of whatever you think they did. I didn't give Jason a chance to explain, and it could've maybe made a difference. If I would've listened back then, would I be with him now? Or would I have still ended up with Phillip?

  I remember after Phillip picked me up from the dance. I ate ice cream and whined on his shoulder. I really liked Jason, but Phillip told me I shouldn't be with a boy who didn't treat me with respect. He told me I deserved better. He sounded just like my dad did when he used to talk about Jake, and for the first time ever, I took Phillip's advice concerning a boy.

  "Jason, I'm sorry I didn't thank you for the flowers."

  "It's okay," he says, and seeing a flicker of hope, he wraps me in a hug. I don't mind the hug because it feels like one of those closing-a-chapter-of-your-life hugs.