Page 65 of The Other Plan

“Damn. That is a first.”

“All I know is that we’re crazy about each other, and we’re just going to have to figure out how to make it work.”

Jo wrinkled her nose. “Wait a minute. You’re not moving to New York, are you? I didn’t just screw up and cause my sister to move across the country, right?”

“No. Definitely not moving to New York.” I blew out a breath. “I hate cities. You know that.”

“Good.” Jo smiled. “So, will he move here then?”

Grimacing, I shook my head. “I don’t think so. He owns a big company in New York. I can’t imagine him wanting to give up his dream and move to Door County.”

“So...” She furrowed her brow. “What happens now?”

That panic deep in my gut resurfaced as I let the reality of our situation settle in.

I turned and looked at her. “What happens now is that I have no freaking idea.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CARTER

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“Play it again!” Andrew, one of the groomsmen, yelled to the guy working the jukebox at The Bayside. “Free Bird!”

His slurred words induced a round of cheers from the other ten men in our party... the men who’d consumed more shots of Jägermeister than I ever knew possible. I’d had a few myself, but I’d pumped the brakes when I started to teeter. I had a woman waiting for me tonight, and to hell if I was going to get so hammered, I couldn’t ravish her the way I’d envisioned in my head all day. No one wanted a sloppy drunk crawling into their bed.

“So, you and Jenna, huh?” Eric asked from where he sat at the bar by my side.

Just hearing it out loud made me smile. “Yep. Me and Jenna.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “This is nuts, man. What the hell were the chances of your Jenna being my wedding planner Jenna? It’s crazy!”

“Yeah. It is crazy. But here we are. And this time, I’m not letting her get away.”

Eric furrowed his brow. “Yeah. About that. How is this going to work? You’re not ditching me in New York, are you?”

I chuckled and shook my head. “Nah. I’m finally making some good money after putting in a hell of a lot of work.”

“So, is she moving to New York then? Aunt Tilly and Valentina know a ton of socialites in New York. I bet they could get Jenna hooked up fast!”

“We haven’t had this conversation yet, but I’m hoping so. I mean, there are a lot of events that need planning in New York. And she’s super talented, so obviously, she’d be successful there. I’ve been thinking a lot about it, and I can’t imagine Jenna wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to build an event planning empire in New York. She’d make a serious killing. There’s no better place to plan parties than New York City. She would do amazing things. I know it.”

The thought of Jenna in my world warmed my heart with hope. Everything. I would have everything with her by my side. I knew Jenna was talented and driven, so it wouldn’t take long for her to rise to the top of all the planners in New York. Hell, she’d probably grow so big she’d give my company a run for its money with her yearly revenue. I lit up inside with excitement just thinking about presenting her with the idea. Jenna would initially be concerned with the logistics of the move and starting a new business, of course. After she thought it out, I felt confident she’d be elated at the idea. Despite rushing in to rekindle our connection by asking her to move to be with me, excitement took over and won that internal war. I was too damn excited about the prospect of seeing her every day to focus on the timeline or the pesky little details like rational thinking. We’d spent a decade apart, and it was about damn time we got our happily ever after.

“We’ve got that extra apartment in the city she can stay in for a while if you two don’t want to move in together right away. I mean, I doubt you’d be opposed to waking up next to Jenna every day, so just in case she thinks it’s too fast. But dude... is this happening? Are you really going to end up with the girl you fell for so hard when we were just kids?

“I think I am.” My smile stretched my face.

“And it’s all because of me and my wedding. You’re welcome.” Eric grinned then tapped his beer against mine.

The front door of the Bayside opened, and the sounds of screaming girls flooded the bar. We all spun to the door, and Eric lit up like a lightbulb when he saw Valentina coming our way with her bridesmaids filing in behind her. The pink, sparkly sashes and penis balloons over their heads made me chuckle.

“Baby!” Valentina called then hurried to Eric.

“What are you doing here?” he asked before kissing her. “I thought you guys had AC Tap, Husby’s, JJ’s, and The Bowl for your party, and the boys got Blue Ox, Pen Pub, the Roadhouse, and The Bayside.”

“We did.” She flopped onto his lap then wrapped her arms around his neck. “But I missed you, so we told our trolley driver to toss out the itinerary Jenna made and bring us here. Is that okay?” Her glassy eyes searched his as she pushed her lip into a full pout. “Or did you want us to go?”