That Wedding Read online

Well, it does until Jason starts hugging my ass. "I'm serious, Jadyn. Vegas tonight? Happily ever after?"

  Happily ever after.

  I can't help it. Whenever those words cross my mind, I see Phillip's face. I know he's my happily ever after even if he did ignore me tonight. I sure hope I'm right about Phillip.

  "I can't. I love Phillip. I wouldn't want to hurt him."

  Jason gets his haughty look. "He'd get over it."

  "Maybe I'm not that easy to get over, Jason," I say in a smart ass tone. The thought of Phillip getting over me easily makes me mad.

  Jason snarls back. "Fine, but when you divorce your friend in six months because you were wrong, don't come looking for me. This is a one-time offer."

  "Then you don't really love me, and I definitely made the right decision. Good to see you, Jason."

  He's like, "Whatever."

  I grab the full pitchers off the bar, yell at the bartender to put it on my tab, and hurry back to the safety of my friends.

  Even though I know I did the right thing, my encounter with Jason has my mind spinning. I sipped on my beer like it was poison and finally went home.

  Phillip waited up for me. "So did ya have fun? Who all was there?"

  "Katie, Lisa, Joey, Neil, and, um, Jason O'Connor."

  "I hate that guy."

  "So I heard. He told me how he came to the house to apologize and what you said to him."

  "Oh." Phillip tilts his head and looks at me. "It was for your own good, you know."

  "Wanna know what else he told me?"

  "Not really."

  "The night of formal, he was going to tell me he loved me and ask me to wear his fraternity pin. That's what he came to tell me that day."

  "I didn't know that."

  "Yeah, I know. I liked him a lot. He came to apologize, and you had no right to interfere."

  "Danny and I were watching out for you. That guy was an ass."

  "That ass asked me to go to Vegas with him tonight and marry him."

  "He what?!!! Did he not see the rock? Did he not know that we're engaged?"

  "Yeah, he knew. Saw the ring. Told me I deserved better, at least five or six carats."

  Phillip slowly sits back down. He kinda looks like I just punched him in the gut. "It sounds like you actually considered it."

  "I'll be honest, there was a part of me that considered it. Before I left tonight, I tried to kiss you, and I did stuff you normally love. You practically pushed me off you. Do you even like me anymore? I don't wanna marry someone who's already sick of me."

  Phillip runs his hand through his hair and sighs. "Princess, I just needed a few minutes to relax and unwind. I had a busy day. I just wanted to sit, watch golf, and not think for a few minutes."

  "Well, I'm just saying, that's not the send off your girlfriend..."

  Phillip interrupts me. "Fiancee."

  ".......should get when she's headed off to a bar full of hot temptations."

  Phillip looks irritated at me for saying that, but I usually say what's on my mind. And my mind is a little pissed off at Phillip.

  "I'm serious, Phillip. You chose TV golf over a romp on the couch with me. And sent me to the bar all horny on top of it."

  He considers that. "Probably not a smart move on my part, huh?"

  "I'm thinking not so much."

  Phillip grabs my ass and kisses the spot just below my ear that gets me every time. He puts his lips on my ear and whispers, "So does that mean you're still horny?"

  I have to give him a little shit. "Actually, I already got that taken care of tonight." I'm probably not very convincing though since I'm running my hand under the waistband of his shorts. Phillip is just so hot. I can't help myself.

  "You're a very naughty girl for even thinking about marrying someone else. Young lady, go to your room," he says in a deep, you just got caught by the principal filling the school pool with goldfish, kind of way.

  And for a second, I think I might be in trouble, but then he flashes that sexy grin and herds me into the bedroom, and um, well, you can probably figure out the rest.

  I finished some last minute Christmas shopping this morning, now I'm sorting through my condo. I can't believe we get to move into our house right after the honeymoon. I'm so excited, and I'm really trying to get organized. I have piles to donate, piles of stuff to return to friends, piles of shower gifts, and trash piles. I swing open the patio door because I'm sweating from all this organization, grab a stack of magazines I need to go through, and sit on the couch.

  All of a sudden, I see something move out of the corner of my eye.

  AHHHHHHHHH!!!!

  OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!

  Like no, you don't understand.

  This is like, OH MY GOD!!

  I'm seeing THE biggest freaking spider I have ever seen in my life!!!

  The spider is standing just inside the patio door, staring at me. Not even moving. And he is big enough to really creep me out!

  Think, Jadyn.

  Raid!!

  I need Raid! Or bug spray of some kind.

  I run into the bathroom and realize I have no Raid, but I do find some mosquito repellent. I run back out to the living room, stand on the coffee table, and fire it down on him. The spider moves toward me, but he doesn't die. It doesn't really even seem to phase him.

  Damn!!!

  Now he knows I'm after him!

  I jump from the coffee table to the couch, and then I run back into the bathroom and look for something else.

  I come back out slowly, looking for him.

  The spider hasn't really moved much, but his little hairy legs are twitching like he's trying to figure out his next move.

  I'm armed with more things to try and kill him. First, I spray him with a great hair product that adds shine to my hair. The spider doesn't die, but now the living room smells like grapes. I throw the shining spray onto the couch and spray him with some Big Sexy hairspray.

  The spider literally looks into my eyes and sends me spider telepathy. He says, I'm going to have shiny, gorgeous hair when I kill you.

  Shit!

  What else do I have?

  I spy my tennis shoe by the front door.

  Oh. No way.

  Gross.

  I jump off the coffee table, leap toward the hall closet, and grab one of Phillip's big running shoes.

  I toss it at the spider.

  The spider, I swear to God, dodged the shoe, laughed, and threw it back at me.

  I decide it's time to call in reinforcements.

  I grab my cell and call Phillip.

  "Phillip, there's a huge spider in the house. You've GOT to come and KILL IT NOW!"

  "Princess," he says in a patronizing tone, "surely you can kill a little spider."

  "Didn't you hear me??? I said it's a HUGE ASS spider!"

  "Well, kill it with some bug spray or a shoe. I'm kinda busy here."

  "I tried that, Phillip. I tried mosquito spray because I didn't have any Raid. When that didn't work, I tried hair shiner and hairspray. And the spider just told me, Thanks, it hates mosquitos, and that its hair looks shiny and gorgey, and I swear to God, it threw your shoe back at me!!!! That's how big this spider is. You HAVE to come NOW!"

  "Calm down. Suck it up in the vacuum cleaner then."

  "And give him a new home in my vacuum? No way! He's not a genie, Phillip. He won't come back out and offer me three wishes. He'll come back out and be pissed at being all dirty and will AMBUSH us in our sleep!!!!"

  "AHHHHHH!!!!" I scream and jump back onto the coffee table.

  "What now?"

  "He's chasing me, Phillip!! Don't you understand!????! I'm under attack here!! Stop talking to me, hang up, run to your car, and get your ASS over here! NOW!!!!!"

  "Oh, who's bossy now?"

  "Phillip, when I said I'm under attack, I wasn't joking. I'm pretty sure I saw him call out a battle cry to all his spider friends. And he's strategically blocking my way to the patio door because that's where his tro
ops are gonna come in! And when you finally get home, there will be nothing left of me but a carcass covered in spider webs with a million huge spiders eating at me. Do you know what a horrible death that will be?"

  "You're being silly. Just kill the damn spider."

  "Fine. I'm done marrying you. I'm gonna go find a real man to marry. One that's willing to take care of me when I'm in a crisis and neeeeddd him!!!"

  "All right, jeeze. I'm coming."

  I hang up and see my neighbor, Wayne, out in his yard.

  "WAAAAAYNNNNNEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!" I scream my loudest, most horrifying scream toward my patio door.

  Wayne turns to look in my direction, but I don't think he can see me because the sun's in his eyes, so I yell, "HEEEEELLLLLLLPPPPPPPPP!!!! SOS! SOS!!!! CODE RED!!!!! Foxtrot, Unicorn, Charlie, KILO!!!!!!"

  Wayne is a retired military man, so I screamed all the military terms I could think of.

  Wayne was like special forces and all that shit. THAT is exactly what I need! Not some dumb boy who's going to argue on the phone with me as to whether or not I need help.

  I must've got Wayne's attention because he comes running over to my patio door. He's just about to cross my threshold into enemy territory when I scream, "Stop!!! Don't come any closer!"

  Wayne is rapidly assessing the area with his eyes. I think he thinks I was attacked, and there's a rapist running loose, and I'm standing on my coffee table trying to avoid him.

  "Jadyn, what's wrong? Why are you on the coffee table?"

  I put my finger up to my lips to tell him to shush, and then I slowly, secretly point down at the spider on the floor. The spider has been sitting halfway between the patio door and me. It's been staring at me, sizing me up, trying to figure out just how many webs it will take to catch me and make me a year's worth of meals. But when it heard Wayne's voice, it moved ninety degrees to face him. I'm feeling a little scared for Wayne, but he's ex-military, right?

  He can deal, I would think.

  Wayne looks down at the massive spider. And what does this ex-special forces guy do?

  He shudders and shakes his head at me. "HOLY SHIT!! That's a big fucking spider. Spiders give me the willies."

  "Me too. The spider has been staring at me, planning my demise."

  "I can see that."

  But Wayne's brave, so he says, "You got any big gloves?"

  About twenty minutes later, Phillip strolls leisurely through the front door.

  "Phillip, it's been TWENTY minutes. The office is only six minutes away DURING morning traffic! You didn't even hurry!"

  "I needed to get gas. So where is this HUGE spider?" He looks at me in that way. That way people do when they think you're a stupid idiot, and they're just humoring you.

  Which makes me really mad.

  "Phillip, you should've been so worried about me that you drove over here on fumes, and when the car ran out of gas, you should've ditched it, and ran as fast as you could to save me."

  He rolls his eyes at me. "I think maybe we're being a tad overdramatic?"

  "No! I AM NOT! And you missed out. Wayne was outside in his yard, and so I screamed like a maniac from the coffee table. He came over and saved me, and the spider was so big, it gave even him the willies. And he's an ex-RANGER! And I'm just little old me!!!"

  Phillip starts to protest, but I continue. "Yes, Phillip, the ex-ranger, special forces, top military guy told me he wished he brought his gun it was so big. And yes, he did kill it. Well, eventually."

  "Eventually?"

  "Yes, well, first, he put on oven mitts because I didn't have any kind of protective gloves. He also used a spatula, which is now in the trash. Then he took a paper bag and like herded the spider into the bag with the spatula. He has the spider in the bag on his deck if you'd like to go now and see its carcass."

  I watch Phillip go over to Wayne's deck. Wayne walks in his condo, comes back out with beers for the two of them, and shows him the bag.

  I go on a massive spider hunt. Checking everywhere I can think of, making sure he had no friends in my house.

  Phillip comes back over with a beer in his hand. "Wow. I'm sorry. That WAS a big freaking spider."

  "I know. I'm very traumatized," I pout.

  He sets his beer down, pulls me in close, and starts kissing down my neck. "Let's see if I can help you forget about the spider."

  "Phillip, you didn't save me. You don't get to have thank you sex. I should be having sex with Wayne."

  "Hmmmm, but I'm here now, and he's calling all his friends to come over and see the dead spider."

  He lets go of me, and for a second, I'm worried he doesn't want me after all. But he gives me a grin, locks the patio door, then picks me up and throws me over his shoulder like I'm a sack of something.

  I scream and giggle as Phillip carries me through the maze of boxes and into our bedroom. He tosses me on the spider free bed.

  "I think maybe I need to earn my own, uh, special forces badge."

  And, wow.

  Oh my.

  I really should find big spiders and have a neighbor kill them for me more often.

  Seriously.

  I don't know about special forces, but I'm pretty sure Phillip could medal in sexual olympics.

  Phillip and I are in the car heading to Kansas City. He's signed a lease on a temporary office space, and we're actually ordering the office furniture today. Once we're done, we're meeting Lori and Danny for dinner. Tomorrow, we have more meetings, and then we're hanging out with them this weekend. Lori wants to help me shop for our new house, and I wanna find a couple new bikinis for our honeymoon.

  Phillip excitedly says, "I got an email yesterday. The custom Nikes just shipped!"

  I'm about to reply when my phone buzzes. I look down and see a text from Danny.

  Danny :) I NEED YOU NOW!! WHERE ARE YOU?

  I'm about to type a smart ass remark about him needing me, but then I notice how the words are all in capitals, and there are no winky faces. A feeling of dread washes over me. Something's wrong.

  Me: Danny, what's wrong? Call me. We're still about two hours away.

  Danny :) Can't talk. Lori. Bleeding. Hospital. Miscarriage?

  Danny :) Pray.

  Me: Do you want us to come? I'll cancel our appointments.

  Danny :) Please. I'm freaking out. I'm afraid we're gonna lose the baby.

  Me: You won't. Like you can't. We'll be there as fast as we can. What happened?

  Danny :) Doctor is here. Gotta go.

  I told him we'd be there as fast as we can, but I can't say anything to Phillip.

  Not yet.

  I can barely breathe.

  I'm in the middle of a flashback.

  Phillip's talking on the phone with his dad.

  We're rushing to the hospital.

  Phillip's dad meets us at the door.

  He takes my hands and tells me my mom didn't make it.

  I'm rushing up to see my dad.

  It's been four years, but it feels like yesterday.

  I close my eyes.

  I see my dad.

  I hear him say, Angel.

  I lay my head on his chest.

  He stops breathing.

  Phillip says, "Princess, what's wrong? Why do you look like you just saw a ghost?"

  I close my eyes tight and take a deep breath. "Danny just sent me a text. They're at the hospital. Lori's bleeding. He thinks she might be having a miscarriage, and he wants us to pray. He also wanted to know how close we are, wants us to go there, says he's freaking out."

  Phillip grabs my hand tightly, looks worried, and drives faster. "We'd better hurry then."

  While Phillip drives, I say a very long prayer.

  I pray that they're okay. I plead with God not to take them away from me too.

  I'm surprised I still pray. I prayed hard for my dad, but it didn't work. I hope it works today. I've texted Danny a couple times, but he hasn't replied, which can't be good.

  After what seems like an eterni
ty, but is really only a couple hours later, we pull up to the hospital. We get out of the car, and Phillip grabs my hand, pulling me quickly toward the hospital entrance.

  The closer we get, the more I sweat. I don't know if I can do this.

  I hate hospitals. I really do. Only bad things happen in hospitals. I haven't been in a hospital since that night, except for when I had strep throat really bad.

  I've never visited anyone in the hospital because people die in hospitals.

  But then I think about Danny's message, how desperate he sounded, and I know I have to go. He needs us.

  Just like I needed Phillip that night.

  We get their room number from the information desk and ride up the elevator.

  As we walk down the fourth floor corridor, I'm bracing myself for the worst. For Danny to tell me that Lori and the baby are dead.

  I get super hot.

  And then feel lightheaded. Like I'm gonna maybe pass out.

  I stop, lean up against the wall, and close my eyes. Take a deep breath.

  Phillip realizes I'm not walking next to him anymore and turns around to look for me.

  He walks back toward me. "What are you doing? We need to hurry."

  "I have to get out of here, Phillip. I can't do this. I think I'm gonna throw up and then maybe pass out."

  He wraps me in a one armed hug and pulls me close, exactly the way he did when he walked off the elevator that night.

  My mind flashes back again.

  How he was mad at me.

  How we'd fought.

  How I was so afraid he'd hate me forever.

  How I couldn't believe my mom was dead.

  How dad had stopped breathing.

  How the alarms had gone off.

  How they rushed me out of the room and didn't tell me anything.

  My own breathing is ragged. I need to get out of here.

  Now.

  Phillip touches my face and says, "Princess, it's gonna be okay. I promise."

  "You can't promise that, Phillip. You don't know." I start to cry.

  I CANNOT DO THIS.

  "Danny said he needed you. If it's bad, he's going to need you even more."

  He's right. If it's bad, he's going to need me, and I love Danny. I won't let him go through whatever this is alone even if I feel like I'm gonna be sick.

  Shit.

  Phillip holds my hand and leads me down the hall in the same way he led me through most of their funeral.

  Tears are rolling down my face.

  I've been able to hold my tears back since my parents died, but I can't seem to push them back right now.