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I closed my eyes, annoyed at Thea for not giving me the time I needed to myself, but unwilling to be rude to the man who’d be my husband in less than an hour. “Come in.”
Andy entered my apartment in a suit and tie, blonde hair slicked back, and a pale pink boutonniere on his lapel. Handsome. Devastating, even. No wonder he wanted someone to play his wife. He must have been fighting off women at business meetings each and every time.
“You okay?” he asked as he shut the door behind him. When he turned, his eyes widened and his gaze fell from my face, down my dress, and back up again. “You look phenomenal.”
I bit back a self-conscious laugh. “Well, good, because it’s my wedding day.”
“Lucky guy.”
Tears sprung into my eyes. Andy’s face fell. He covered the distance between us, his eyes searching mine before wrapping his arms around me. As he pulled me into his suit, wool obscured my vision and his musky scent of cedar and orange enveloped me. He placed a hand on my back as I melted against him, his arms holding me still.
My eyes welled, but the tears didn’t fall. A sense of calm rushed through me as Andy tightened his grip.
“We’re in this together. From now on. I promise I’m going to do everything I can to make sure you don’t regret this marriage.”
For the next four years.
I pulled back to look up at him. His steely blue eyes burned with an intensity that left me breathless. For a moment, I wished I was walking down the aisle to him under completely different circumstances.
“Are you in this with me, Nora?” he asked, his voice low and serious. His breath warmed my face. He stood so close I could lift onto the balls of my feet and kiss him.
“I’m in this with you,” I promised. “I just hope you won’t regret it.”
He shook his head, a grin pulling at his lips. “Never.”
CHAPTER9
Andy
Nolan stoodin front of the gathered crowd, a beer in one hand and a microphone in another. “I only had one question when Andy told me he was getting married this week and if I’d be his best man: who are you marrying?”
The joke drew an equal mix of laughter and apprehensive whispers. I stayed on alert, fully prepared to kick the microphone loose from the speaker if he went too far off script.
My conversation with Nolan hadn’t exactly gone to plan. Rather than excited, Nolan was completely baffled by how I’d gone from asking Nora on a date to proposing marriage.
Between work and preparing for the wedding, I’d had little time to explain the situation to him in detail, but he showed up at the wedding anyway and was doing his best to navigate the situation. He had complimented Nora, ingratiated himself with her friends, and even asked Bunny for a dance.
“I remember when Nora and Andy met for the first time, and I know more than a few of you remember it too. The annual Pierce-Franklin Notch rivalry basketball game. Nora cheered on the sidelines and Andy played center. Mid-way through the third quarter, Andy followed the ball off the court and ran straight into Nora.”
A wave of laughter gathered as everyone who’d been at the game remembered what happened next.
“Andy tackled Nora and, before either of them could make sense of what happened, her brothers dragged Andy off her. Cal, as I recall, you took a swing at him and got ejected from the game.”
Cal lifted a beer glass. His girlfriend, Becca, rolled her eyes at the satisfied look on his face.
“After that, Andy was smitten. Sure, Cal and Len wouldn’t let him get within a mile radius of their little sister, but he held onto that crush for years afterward.”
Nora straightened beside me, leaning close. “Is that true?”
I brushed the question off with a non-committal shrug but didn’t miss the way she smiled and blushed at the admission.
“And, apparently, the first chance he had at making good on that crush, he swooped in. So, to my best friend, I wish you a lifetime of happiness. And Nora, congratulations. What Andy lacks in looks, he more than makes up for in loyalty.”
The dull sound of plastic utensils clacking against solo cups spurred us to kiss. Not that I minded. I had taken every opportunity today to have Nora in my arms since I wouldn’t have many opportunities in the coming weeks. She turned to me, placing the hand wearing my ring against my chest and licking her lips in anticipation.
I bent my head, capturing her lips with mine as I cupped her face. I kissed her a second too long, long enough to get some catcalls from the increasingly rowdy crowd gathered on a Wednesday, eating too much sugar and drinking too much booze. All donations and offerings from a town that loved Nora as if she were their own. Because she was. A perfect daughter who walked their dogs, showed up to their parties, visited when they were sick, and always remembered their names. Too good for anyone, let alone me.
But she wasn’t just theirs anymore. She was mine. Not as much as I was hers, but we’d kissed as man and wife in front of the town and signed our names, stamped by a notary. From now until I lost her, Nora McDonaghue was my wife.
