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“Keaton will make it look brand-new,” I reply proudly and notice that Liv gets a sly smile on her face. “What?”
“I’m totally going to have sex in that car.”
“For sure,” Haley agrees. “Just not while it still looks haunted.”
“Are you ready for tomorrow?” Chelsea asks. She’s the youngest of the Williams family, and she and I have become close over the past few months.
“I’m past ready. I moved past ready about a month ago. Now, I just want to get it over with so I can finally be his wife, and we can get on with it.”
“How did you manage to keep the press away?” Sophie asks. “We’re not even at the vineyard.”
“As far as I know, no one told the press,” I reply. “Which is just how we all want it.”
“I want to see the dress,” Haley announces, standing up. “Let’s go inside and swoon over it again.”
“Let’s go!” Stella and Liv reach for the bottles of champagne, and everyone files out of the shop to the house, much to my relief.
I’m the last one to leave the building so I can shut off the lights and lock the doors behind me. But before I leave, I look up at the camera and smile.
I don’t know if he can hear me, but just in case, I say, “Don’t worry. I’ve got this. I can’t wait to marry you tomorrow. I love you.”
I blow Keaton a kiss, then turn out the light and shut the door, locking it behind me.
Tomorrow afternoon can’t get here soon enough.
Are you excited for Drew Montgomery and London Ambrose’s story? They are up next in The Stand-In!
You can get all of the information here: https://www.kristenprobyauthor.com/the-standin
Bonus Epilogue
Natalie Williams
“You’re home.” My husband’s arms come around me from behind as I stand at the kitchen counter, and I lean back against his hard chest and let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding.
“Got here a little bit ago,” I confirm. “I didn’t want to wake you.”
“I was waiting for you.” He kisses the top of my head, and then I turn in his arms and look up into eyes so blue they could make the gods weep. And still, all these years later, they still hold all the love and all the passion they held when I first met him. “Why do you look sad, baby?”
“I’m not sad.” I shake my head, but the tears still fill my eyes. “Melancholy, I guess. He’s my only boy, Luke, and now I have to pass him over to another woman.”
“Hey.” He pulls me in for a big hug and rocks me back and forth.
Yeah, I got home earlier, but now, in Luke’s arms, I’m really home.
“He’s still your boy,” he says softly.
“He’s a man.” I sniffle and then shake my head once more. “And this is silly because I love Sidney. She’s just the sweetest woman, and I know she loves my boy so much, but how did this happen? How did they all grow up so fast?”
“I don’t know.” He glides his hands up and down my back, soothing me. “It feels like it was the blink of an eye. But at least they’re not going far. They’re ten minutes away.”
“Thank God.”
I blow out a breath and pull away from him.
“I was going to make some tea. Would you like some?”
Luke looks at something over my shoulder, and then he slowly smiles and shakes his head.
“No, I’m going to head to bed. Have some tea with your boy.” He kisses me softly, and then he turns to walk back toward our bedroom, and when I turn around, I see Keaton standing ten feet away.
“I thought for sure you’d be dead asleep,” I say as I move to fill a kettle with water. “You have a big day tomorrow.”
“I don’t like sleeping without her.” The comment is so easy, so simple, that it takes my breath away. My Keaton is so much like his father.
“That’s lovely,” I reply and pull two teacups out of the cupboard. “Let’s have some tea, then, and we can talk.”
Keaton came to stay with us tonight because it’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding, but he wasn’t happy about it.
“I saw that the girls hung out in my shop tonight.”
I smile and unwrap the tea bags.
“I don’t think they did any harm.”
Keaton shakes his head and sits on the stool on the other side of the kitchen island. How many times have we been here, just like this, over the years? A hundred? A thousand?
One of our favorite things to do when Keaton was a kid was to stay up late, after everyone else had gone to bed, and make chocolate chip cookies.
“You know what would go good with the tea?” I raise my eyebrows in surprise because it looks like he was thinking about the same thing I was.
