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Chapter One
Emily
October 2016
Wedding planning is stressful. There are so many questions that need answers that I never even thought about before. Part of me wishes I was one of those girls who has been planning their wedding since they were six. This wouldn't be as bad then, I don't think. A wedding party, guests, food, flowers, color theme, and so much more. I wonder what Jake would say if I tell our planner to put together a wedding without me.
Instead, she is waiting on answers from us to begin the dirty work for me. I don't care about half of this crap. A twinge of guilt stabs me. All I want is to marry Jake. The details don't matter to me, but he's so excited about it all. Ever since I finished school and started working at a local practice, Jake has been hounding me about getting married. I remember our first conversation about it.
“Sweetness, we waited like Mike wanted. It's our time. We're going to plan our wedding and it's going to be perfect.”
“You obviously know nothing about weddings. They never go the way you plan,” I said with a shake of my head as I flipped through a wedding magazine.
“That's not what I meant. Remember when you told me that it's about us and not the flowers or anything like that? That's what I'm talking about. It will be perfect because it's going to be you and me and our relationship. Our past, present, and future.”
He wants us to choose every aspect together because it's going to be “our day.” Yet here I am thinking about paying someone to take over completely. I'm horrible. I hear the door shut and Jake saying hello to Drake. I feel a quick, barely there kiss on my cheek seconds later.
“Hey, Sweetness. What's on our agenda tonight?” he asks as he leaves my side.
I watch for a second before answering as he opens the microwave to retrieve his supper. It's after he reheats it and sits across from me that I answer.
“We need to finalize our wedding party and guest list.”
“That doesn't sound too hard,” he says with a bite.
On the legal pad in front of me, I scribble wedding party and all of the titles included. “Helen is going to be my maid of honor. Hannah, Abella, and Kristi will be my bridesmaids. Helen's daughter, Sophie, will be the flower girl. I need to know who will be your best man, groomsmen, and ring bearer.”
“Can I have two best men?” he asks.
“No. It's going to make things off balanced.”
“Fine. Todd is my best man. Drake, Steve, and Will can be my groomsmen. I don't know who can be the ring bearer.” Steve and Will are some of his teammates.
“I have an idea,” I say hesitantly. I'm unsure how Jake will take this, especially with his behavior lately.
“Who?” he questions, finishing off his plate. He stands and rinses off his plate before placing it in the dishwasher. I take this opportunity of Jake not looking at me to answer. Some habits never go away.
“Logan.”
He shuts the door to the dishwasher a little too hard. I bite my lip as he stalks to the fridge and grabs a can of Pepsi. It's not until he sits back down that he answers.
“You want to invite Conrad?” Those green eyes slide over me, but his voice is very calm.
“Lily and Logan too. They invited us to their wedding, Jake.”
“We didn't go,” he points out.
“Only because we couldn't.”
Jake thinks about it and then says, “Okay. Logan can be ring bearer.”
“Really?” I'm just a wee bit shocked.
“Absolutely. I have my reasons, but I'm cool with it. What else is on the list?”
“Um, we need to make the guest list.” I turn to another sheet and write Guest List at the top. “Oh! I need to know one thing.”
“What's that?”
“In which state are we getting married?”
Jake laughs for the first time in two months and it's so good to hear. “That is very important, isn't it? Either way, people are going to be flying.”
“True. I've actually been thinking about the Outer Banks.”
“That sounds great, Sweetness. Let's do that.”
We move on to the guest list. I want to invite my dad, of course. Add to it his wife, Cherish, and my step-brothers, Blake and Chris, which mean I have to invite Blake's wife as well. (Chris is still single.) In the past three years, my relationship with them has improved since our first encounter. Cherish isn't so bad really. I never would have thought that I would be as close to her as I am. She's not a step-mom to me, per se. Cherish is more like an older, wiser friend of mine. Blake and Chris seem more like fun distant cousins. We don't keep in touch, but we have fun when we're around one another.
Jake is inviting the entire team. I'm thankful that I've liked and have become close friends with some of his closest teammates' wives. Jake's high school coach and a couple of those teammates and their wives are going to be invited too. While writing down Conrad and Lily, I note how Jake has so many more guests than I. Oh well.
“Are you inviting Roy, Diane, and your cousins?”
Jake frowns at me. His relationship with his uncle hasn't improved at all. I'm pretty sure they haven't spoken since Mr. Benson's death. I know he talks to Diane and the girls every now and then, so I'm unsure what he wants to do. A long time has passed and it's time for them to put the past behind them. There's no sense in letting it continue any longer.
“Maybe this could be his chance to make up,” I add. “If you want to give it to him.”
Jake thinks about it, glances at Drake who is heading to get a shower, and nods. “Add them to the list. Surely, by now, he doesn't have the same feelings about you. I'll give him the chance, I guess.”
“Who else?” I ask, taking in my love. His features seem to have sharpened over the years. His face becoming harder, his body still built, and those striking green eyes that stand out even more now that he's keeping the facial hair. His beard isn't a Duck Dynasty beard, but more of a week into the playoffs type beard, I'd say. He keeps it at that length, thank goodness. After last season, he decided he liked it enough to have it all the time. As if he knows I'm thinking about it, he scratches his chin.
“There's really no one else, right? We have the only family I have left, my teammates, coach, your friends and family. Are we missing anyone?”
“I don't think so,” I answer.
“I'm going to bed,” Drake calls, entering his room and shutting the door behind him before we can even respond.
“What's his problem?” Jake asks.
