Ty was married and he and Cassie were raising her niece. AJ was engaged. But the biggest shock had hit Zane when he arrived at Cooper’s place last week. What he’d expected to find was Coop climbing the wall from small-town boredom. Instead, he’d walked in on a party with his best friend down on one knee proposing.
“Maybe managing Ginny’s business while she’s recovering isn’t the smartest thing I’ve ever done, but what else could I do? I couldn’t let her trust an assistant she’s only known three months.”
Not only hadn’t he wanted to take over Ginny’s business while she recovered from hip replacement surgery, he’d had a helluva time convincing her to let him. But he should’ve expected unsolicited advice. Since he, Coop, and AJ had kept their apprehension about Lauren, Ty’s first fiancée, to themselves and she left him at the altar, they’d promised to share future concerns, no matter what the subject, how sensitive or painful. Still, Coop could’ve used a little tact.
“Why isn’t your old man helping out?”
“He’s in Europe trying to patch up marriage number three. Good thing, too, because he’d be a worse choice than her assistant.” How could folks as wonderful as his grandparents have raised such a shit for a son? Someone who would lead two completely separate lives with two families?
“I’m thinking a man who breaks out in hives when he hears the word wedding has no business managing a wedding planning company,” Cooper said. “If you ask me, that’s looking for trouble.”
Zane wouldn’t let Grandma Ginny, the one person who’d been there for him his entire life, loving him unconditionally and acting as a guiding force, put her future at risk. He’d do anything this side of legal for her.
Even run Lucky Stars Weddings.
As Zane scanned the barn built after his grandfather died, regret swept over him. The Lucky Stars Ranch had been his escape from his parents’ fighting long before he moved here in middle school. He preferred the original barn with its rough walls rather than this one’s sanded and sealed boards. His grandfather’s barn had smelled of hay and horses rather than fresh flowers. Horses nickering and Grandpa Paul’s cheerful whistling had filled that space rather than polite conversation, background music, and the ding of crystal clinking together during toasts. But when his grandfather died, running a cattle ranch had been too much for his grandma. Needing a way to provide for herself and being known for giving fabulous parties, she’d turned that love into a wedding planning business.
Zane smiled at his best friend. “I was at Ty’s wedding and didn’t need allergy meds.”
“Does that mean you’ll be at my wedding?” Coop asked.
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else, but I’ll bring Benadryl in case.”
“Good thing, because I expect you to be my best man.”
Despite Zane’s quick he’d-be-honored response, concerns for Cooper churned in his gut. How could Coop know Cheyenne well enough to marry her after a couple months, especially when he was a lightweight in the experience department? He’d had only had one serious relationship before Cheyenne, and if Olivia hadn’t died, they’d be married now. While Cooper had dated a time or two since, calling them disasters would be an understatement. Now here he was engaged to the first female he’d dated more than twice.
Zane hoped his friend remembered their promise to be honest went both ways. “You sure about this, Coop? It’s awful sudden. You didn’t tell me you were dating Cheyenne.”
The fact stung. But what really tore him up was learning Ty and AJ had known Cooper intended to propose.
“I may not have your experience with women, but I know when it’s right. This is very right between me and Cheyenne,” Cooper said, his face lighting up in a dopey way.
Cooper told Zane how he’d met Cheyenne when she and Ty’s little sister Aubrey arrived at his front door asking for his assistance getting Cheyenne a service dog. “Next thing I knew, I was training a dog for her; she was helping me collect data for the SeizureReader and working in my animal clinic.”
“And I thought I moved fast.”
“After Olivia, I never thought I’d feel this way again.” Cooper shook his head. “Who would’ve thought Ty, AJ, and I would all fall in love with women we met in Wishing? You’d better watch out, buddy, or whatever’s in the water could get you, too.”
“Thanks for the warning. To be safe, I’ll stock up on bottled water.”
Not that Zane didn’t love women. He did. But because he wasn’t built for a one-on-one, long-term relationship, to avoid any misunderstandings, he spelled out his expectations when he asked a woman out.
Just so you know. I’m not interested in a long-term relationship. I’ll never put a ring on your finger. If you want a man to do those things, find someone else.
His father hadn’t shown his mother that courtesy. Nope, he’d stood in front of a justice of the peace, recited vows to love and honor, and broke every single one of them having a second family on the side. Zane vowed he wouldn’t lie to a woman the way his father had.
Shaking off the memories, Zane prayed his friends had better luck in the marriage department than his parents.
“If the plan is to protect your grandmother’s interests and not run her business into the ground, you need to keep the antimarriage attitude to yourself,” Cooper said.
“What business is Zane running into the ground?” Ty asked as he joined them.
Before Zane could answer, AJ walked up. “Hide me. You’d think folks wouldn’t talk shop at my engagement party, but they are.”
“That’s what you get for inviting half the town,” Ty said.
“I wanted to keep the party little, but Grace worried people would get offended and think she was being New York City snooty.”
