Friday Night Brides (21 page)

Max smiled as he gently eased her down until her feet were on the floor. “Why do you think I waited until the food started to be served?”

Becca swatted at him playfully. They quietly fixed their clothes and she was about to move away from the wall when Max cupped her face and kissed her again. She purred at the contact. When he lifted his head, she smiled. “You think she’d get suspicious if we just asked to rent it out once in a while?”

He laughed and took one of her hands in his as he opened the door. Checking to make sure the coast was clear, they left the room and went to the small kitchenette to grab a couple of bottles of water. “Are you hungry? Want to go and grab something to eat?”

“Absolutely.” They made their way out of the pool house and across the yard and quickly blended in with the group of people milling about piling their plates with food. When they were done, Becca looked around the yard until she spotted where Hailey and Angie were sitting. Nodding in their direction, she and Max made their way over. “Hey! Is there room for two more?” she asked as she approached the table.

“The more the merrier,” Hailey said, scooting her chair over—as everyone was—to make room for them.

“Look who finally made it out of the pool house,” Angie teased and Becca stared at her with wide-eyed shock. “Don’t even try to deny it.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Becca saw Hailey smirk but decided just to let it go. She was feeling too good to let herself get upset over some harmless teasing. “Wasn’t planning on it,” she said casually.

Angie grinned and went back to her burger.

Ella walked over. “I’m just gonna squeeze in here too. Don’t mind me.” She pulled a chair over as everyone did another round of scooting to make room for her. By the time she sat down, there was very little elbow room. “Sorry.”

“No worries,” Hailey said. “We were wondering where you were.”

“I was sort of lending a hand wherever it was needed,” she replied softly and then shrugged. “It seemed like a good thing to do.”

“El, you didn’t need to do any work. Why didn’t you just come and hang out?” Becca asked.

Without looking up, Ella said, “I really didn’t think you and Max wanted a threesome in the pool house.”

Angie and Hailey both barked out loud with laughter and Becca immediately began to choke on her drink. Jack and Sean exchanged smirks and Max slouched down in his seat as he rubbed Becca’s back.

“I am really liking this new Ella,” Angie said a few minutes later.

Ella looked up. “What? What did I say?”

Angie’s eyes went wide. “You just dished out the ultimate snarky comment and you didn’t even blink an eye!” She wrapped her arms around Ella and hugged her close. “I’m so proud of you!”

Ella chuckled. “Yeah, well…I guess after all these years of hanging out with you, some of your sense of sarcasm has finally rubbed off on me.”

Angie made it like she was wiping her eyes. “It’s one of the proudest moments of my life. You always dream that your kids will turn out like you, but this is so much better!”

Becca was still a bit red in the face but kept her gaze averted as she ate her burger.

“All right, all right,” Hailey finally said, “I think that’s enough. You’ve managed to make Becca turn a shade of red that probably isn’t healthy. So…change of subject.”

Angie quickly raised her hand. “Ooh…I know! How about…”

“Whatever it is,” Hailey interrupted quickly, “no!”

“What? But…?”

“I’m thinking of a spa weekend next weekend,” Hailey began, effectively ignoring Angie’s protests. “We’ve got the show Friday night but I’m thinking we can meet up Saturday morning and do the luxury overnight spa thing. What do you think?”

“Aren’t they normally west of here?” Becca asked. “Like in the mountains?”

Hailey shook her head. “There’s actually one only about thirty minutes from here. I met the manager last night at the show. Her daughter’s getting married and she was interested in being a vendor at one of Mom’s shows so she offered a heavily discounted rate for us to come and check it out.”

“I’m pretty sure she meant for that offer to go to your mom,” Ella said with a frown. “That’s only fair.”

Hailey shook her head again. “Mom was standing right there and said she was too wound up for something like that but mentioned that we—as in the four of us—would probably enjoy it and would give honest feedback.”

“And she went for it?” Angie asked.

“Yes! Isn’t that great!” Hailey said with a smile, looking at each of her friends. “So? What do you say? Are you in?”

“I’m in,” Angie said instantly and then turned to look at Sean. “You’re going to be back up north all next week, right?”

He nodded. “That shouldn’t matter,” he said with a smile. “I would never stop you from doing something with your girls. I know better than that.”

There were some soft chuckles around the table.

Becca looked over at Max and then back at the group. “We sort of had plans…”

Max reached out and stopped her. “That we can reschedule. How often do you get a weekend away to get pampered?”

She blushed and was about to remind him of all the ways he’d pampered her last night but thought better of it. “Only if you’re sure,” she said to him softly. “I really wanted to go to the art exhibit with you.”

He cupped her cheek and leaned in and kissed her softly. “We’ll go Sunday night then. I’ll take Saturday night to work on some of my own art and maybe someday we’ll be going to an exhibit of mine.”

Her shoulders sagged with relief as she briefly kissed him back. “You’re amazing, you know that, right?”

Before they could say anything else, Angie called out, “Ella! What about you? Are you in?”

Looking up at all of the hopeful expressions, she simply shrugged. “Sure. It’s not like I’ve got anything else to do or anyone to ask about it.”

Hailey reached over to comfort Ella but Angie slapped her hand away. “That’s the spirit!” she cried out. “Glad you have a good attitude about it. It’s going to be great! Lots of fun. Very therapeutic!”

“I guess,” Ella mumbled and then went back to eating her salad.

Conversation flowed around the table with questions about the art exhibit Max and Becca were going to, then moved on to the spa the girls were going to and finally to the next Friday night show. Everyone had finished eating and the sun was setting.

“This was a good day,” Hailey said, relaxing back in her seat.

“Agreed,” Angie said. “The food was great.” She looked over her shoulder. “Do you think they’re going to bring out dessert soon?”

Sean stood beside her. “I’ll go check.” He leaned down and kissed the top of her head before walking away.

“Dessert does sound good,” Becca said. “Something chocolate…”

Taking the hint, Max stood. “I’m on it.” He followed Sean.

That left just the girls—and Jack.

Clearing his throat, he slowly pushed his chair back and stood up. “So…I guess I’m going to check and see if there’s any dessert out,” he chuckled and then looked down at Hailey. “Any requests?”

“I’m with Becca. Anything chocolate,” she replied with a smile.

He nodded and then reached over and picked up her empty wine glass. “You want another?”

Hailey nodded. “Please.”

With a smile, Jack carefully made his way around the table and then walked off to join the guys in their quest for dessert.

Hailey sighed and smiled and then noticed her three friends staring at her with knowing smiles on their faces. “What? What did I do?”

“Girl,” Angie began with a very satisfied smile, “you are so into him. There’s no denying it.”

Hailey’s eyes went wide. “Why? Because he offered to get me some dessert? Please,” she snorted with disgust. “That’s crazy.”

“No, not because he’s getting you dessert, dummy,” Angie said, leaning forward.

“More like because you looked at him like you wanted to eat
him
for dessert,” Ella said and then giggled.

“Twice in one night!” Angie cried and pulled Ella in for another hug. “I love it!”

****

It was late.

The yard was almost empty.

And Hailey was still sitting with Jack.

Becca and Max had left an hour ago with Angie and Sean not long after them. Ella was helping Judith straighten up and if Hailey heard things correctly, her mother had thanked Ella and told her she should head on home.

Which still left Hailey alone with Jack.

Over the course of the day she had learned about his job, his hobbies and his family. If she were honest with herself, this was the most perfect date she’d ever had. Jack was charming and funny and they seemed to have a lot of common interests, none of which she could recall because suddenly Jack wasn’t talking and he was studying her. She squirmed a little under his intense gaze until she couldn’t take it anymore. Straightening in her seat she huffed, “What? What are you staring at?”

He chuckled. “You know, Princess, I had a really good time today.”

Hailey relaxed slightly in her seat. “Oh,” she said, smiling shyly. “Me too.”

Leaning his arm on her chair, he was close. Hailey could practically see herself in his eyes. Her mind raced as she secretly hoped he’d simply close the distance and kiss her. There. She admitted it. Sort of. Scanning his face, she hoped he understood she wouldn’t mind if he kissed her—there was no way she was making the first move.

Again.

Swallowing hard, she whispered his name.

Smiling, Jack reached out and cupped Hailey’s cheek. “I’m going to see a friend of mine’s band play Wednesday night. They’re playing at a club in downtown. Would you like to go with me?”

He was asking her out.

Not kissing her.

Damn.

Although she had to admit, it was nice that he wasn’t being overly aggressive and this could work for them too. “I’d like that,” she finally said and couldn’t help but smile at the pleased look on his face.

He pulled back and relaxed in his chair. “Good,” he said with a hint of satisfaction. “That’s good.”

Hailey waited for him to ask her to dinner first but he didn’t say anything. She was just about to question it when her mother walked over.

“Oh! There you two are! I was hoping I didn’t miss saying goodnight to you with all this running around,” Judith said, her hand fluttering over her heart.

“Mom, you hired a crew to handle all of the cleaning up. Why aren’t you relaxing?”

Judith waved her off. “Please, when have you ever seen me sit back and let anyone else do all of the work?”

Hailey chuckled. “Okay, good point. So other than the running around, did you have a good time today?”

“Oh, yes,” she replied, pulling up a chair and sitting down. “I am thrilled with the way everything went. It was a total success.” Sighing, Judith let her head fall back for a moment before it snapped back and she was looking at Hailey. “I am worried about Ella though.”

“Join the club.”

“No…it’s…I can’t quite put my finger on it. She’s not emotional, Hailey. She’s just not herself. She asked me to cancel her gown today.”

Hailey frowned. “Well…I guess it’s the next logical step…”

Judith shook her head. “No. Absolutely not,” she said firmly. “That girl needs to fight for her man! For their relationship!”

“Mom…she tried. We were there to see it for ourselves; it was awful. Maybe she’s realizing it’s not the relationship she wants. Maybe now that she’s finally standing up for herself she sees that Dylan isn’t the one for her.”

Leaning forward, Judith slapped Hailey on the arm.

“Ow! What was that for?”

“Do you hear yourself? You and Ella have been friends for just about your entire lives! Can you honestly sit there and believe she and Dylan aren’t right for each other? Well? Can you?”

Hailey was still rubbing her arm. “Look, I don’t like it either but it’s not our call to make! Maybe she needs this time to figure out what she wants. And why should she go into debt with wedding plans and preparations for a ceremony that might not happen?” She paused. “And as for emotional, she spent a week holed up in her house crying! She’s drained. She’s tired. Right now she doesn’t have much left in her to give. What are you expecting?”

Now it was Judith’s turn to frown. “I just expected…”

“We all did, Mom. Trust me.”

“And I can’t believe Dylan isn’t doing anything either. I would have thought for sure he’d have come to his senses by now and tried to make things right too.”

“I think he’s just as confused as she is.”

“If I could interject something here,” Jack said hesitantly.

“Oh!” Judith said, slightly flustered. “I almost forgot you were sitting there, Jackson. I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to exclude you.”

He smiled and shook his head before taking one of Judith’s hands in his and kissing it. “If you’d like the male perspective…”

“Absolutely,” Judith gushed and Hailey rolled her eyes at her mother’s exuberance.

“Dylan probably doesn’t know which end is up right now. From what I’ve heard—which isn’t much—Ella’s come to this revelation about her life and what she wants and doesn’t want. I’m sure Dylan’s equally confused because he has no idea if
he’s
still what she wants.”

Hailey and Judith looked at Jack and then at each other before turning back to him. “I’d say that’s fairly accurate,” Judith said. “I imagine the poor boy is probably afraid to make the wrong move. If he comes after her, he could be pushing her further away.”

“Exactly,” Jack agreed.

“But,” Hailey began, “if he simply sits back and does nothing—which has sort of been his M.O.—they’ll never work anything out.”

“I don’t think it’s that Dylan does nothing, Hailey,” Judith countered. “He’s more like the type of man who is laid back and waits to see how it’s all going to play out.”

“There’s a time and a place for that,” Hailey argued, “and by him sitting around and waiting, all he’s accomplishing is making Ella feel like she doesn’t matter enough for him to fight for. She left her comfort zone and maybe it’s time he did too.”

They grew silent and stayed that way for several moments before Judith stood and kissed Hailey on the cheek and then Jack. “Unfortunately, this isn’t our fight. Ella and Dylan will have to work it out.” She looked around the yard. “I’m going to make sure the staff is cleaning up.” Turning back to them, she smiled. “Jackson, it’s always a pleasure to see you. Thank you for coming. And Hailey, are you still coming for dinner tomorrow?”