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“They double booked! We can’t have the rehearsal dinner here tonight, and everyone’s supposed to be here in three hours. There isn’t enough time to even tell everyone or find somewhere new!”
As I hugged Aubrey without a solution, the boxes of decorations for the rehearsal dinner caught my attention.
“I have an idea,” I told her, stepping out of our hug to reach for my phone. I dialed Rowan’s phone with Aubrey almost hyperventilating on the damp pavement behind me.
“Hi, beautiful. You know what day it is?” I could hear his smirk through the phone when he answered.
“The same day it was when you asked me this morning,” I teased. “We’re having a wedding emergency and I have maybe the biggest favor to ask of you, Rowan.”
“I’m all yours,” he told me, patiently listening to me as best he could with Aubrey shouting in the background.
Once we hung up and we set our plan in action, I shoved Aubrey in the car and wouldn’t tell her anything. Knowing too much would’ve driven her even more batty, so I assured her that the maid of honor and best man had everything under control, and all she had to worry about was whether she wanted to marry Ethan. She didn’t laugh at that, but I had to amuse myself after listening to her sob for half an hour.
I had to keep her out for another two hours, which gave us enough time to get Aubrey a drink to calm down. I took her phone away after she called Ethan seven times. He was busy with Rowan; they had an entire phone tree to call and things to set up. I knew she’d thank me the minute we got out of the car.
Pulling into Rowan’s neighborhood, Aubrey was telling me about their honeymoon and how she couldn’t wait to marry Ethan. I tried reminding her that’s what mattered, but I wasn’t the bride to be with a mis-communicated booking.
“Why are we here?” She asked, unbuckling her seatbelt, when I stopped my car outside Rowan’s house.
I climbed out and reached into the backseat for the decorations, the pile of roses on top making me think of Rowan and our phone call hours prior when we devised the plan to save their rehearsal dinner.
He jogged down the stairs, buttoning the cuff of his white button down, when I stepped onto the sidewalk.
“Is she okay?” He asked, kissing me in greeting before taking the box from me.
“She will be. Thanks to you. Take those inside and I’ll bring her in. Is Ethan here?”
Rowan nodded, winking at me before his long strides took him back inside. I closed my eyes for a second and turned back to the car, watching Aubrey close her door.
“I saw the roses in my car earlier,” I told her. “Rowan took me to the rose garden that day our photo was first in the news. The one you freaked out about. Remember?”
“Yeah,” she smiled, “I remember when my two best friends fell in love. What about it?”
“The roses made me think of him and I knew he’d help.” I took Aubrey’s hand and pulled her along the sidewalk and up Rowan’s steps into the house that pulsed with life. “So,” I began, scanning the flurry of activity just as she did, “we’re hosting your rehearsal dinner here. He and Ethan called the caterer, the guests. It’s all taken care of. All you need to—”
Aubrey smashed into me, squeezing me so hard I almost crushed a lung. “I love you. I love you two so much. Thank you! Where is that hunk so I can tell him myself?”
“Which one?” I returned her hug, joining in her fit of giggles.
Everything came together, thanks to Rowan. Aubrey wandered through his house, admiring the decorations and completely reversing how she felt before as she nearly skipped and spun around before the rehearsal.
When we returned to his house in the evening, it felt like home. Guests filled the rooms, their conversation and congratulations exciting anyone who walked by.
I found Rowan on the back patio, standing with his hands in his pockets while he looked at the stars.
“What are you doing out here?” I snuck up behind him and hugged him, pressing my face against his back. He moaned happily and turned around to face me, taking his hands from his pockets and holding me against him.
“Thinking about growing up here. I always said it deserved to be filled with family,” Rowan told me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and kissing the top of my head.
“Thank you for this, Rowan. You’re really an amazing man. I love you so much more for this.”
“I know a way you could repay me,” he hummed, “and it doesn’t involve your body naked with mine just yet.” Smacking his hard stomach, I tried to shush him but he kept laughing at me. “What do you say, roomie?”
“It terrifies me how much I want you,” I whispered, pulling back from him as we watched the party inside through the large kitchen windows.
“What do you love about me?” Rowan asked, his eyes flicking across my face when he spun me back to him.
“You’re the only one who calls me by my name. You never call me anything but Meredith.” I started, biting my lip.
