Friday Night Brides (9 page)

Hailey’s eyes went wide. “What? No!” Then she growled with frustration. “It’s not the same thing, Ella.”

“Yes it is,” Ella replied defiantly. “You’re sitting here blatantly putting Logan down—and judging him—because he doesn’t have the kind of job you think he should. Well, neither does Dylan.” She crossed her arms across her chest and turned to look out the window.

“Okay, I think everyone needs to calm down,” Becca said soothingly. “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. We all know and love Dylan and have for years. He’s one of the most hard-working guys I’ve ever met and personally, I think it’s cool that he’s in construction. Plus, he can fix anything and everything. You are very lucky, El, because he’s the kind of man who will be able to do everything you need on your house and cars.”

“Plus he looks damn fine in a pair of jeans,” Angie teased.

“Oh, shut up!” Ella said right before she broke out in a fit of giggles. “But he totally does!”

They all laughed for a minute and then the car grew silent again. Hailey sat and watched the scenery go by. She was beyond ashamed of her behavior, her words and her attitude. It wasn’t Logan’s job that had first attracted her to him. It was his smile and his kindness. He had a great sense of humor and he was just beyond good-looking.

So maybe he didn’t have a great job. So what? After fawning over him for so long, didn’t she owe it to herself to stop being superficial and genuinely get to know him? That’s not to say she could change who she was and how she thought in the next twelve hours, but she could certainly try. Logan deserved that much.

“So what happened with Max?” she said to break the long silence.

Becca told them about her conversation with Max. “Honestly, I was speechless. I had no idea he was even remotely interested in me. I’m usually just a step above a bumbling idiot when I’m around him. Danny really did a number on my self-esteem.”

“Max seems like a great guy,” Hailey said. “I think it’s great you’re going to go out with him.”

“He gave the DVD for us to look at. I knew you weren’t going to be coming to lunch tomorrow but maybe afterwards you can meet up with us and we’ll all watch it together.”

“I have to admit, I’m really excited to see what he created,” Hailey said. “It was something I always wanted to do for Mom but I’m not creative that way. And you just know she’s going to love it.”

“I think so too,” Becca replied. “He asked me to call him after we watch it and then we can talk about where we want to go for lunch on Sunday.”

“Ooh…nice,” Angie said. “Dinner as a first date could be intimidating. I think it’s very cool how he made it a lunch date first. He’s very considerate.”

Becca blushed. “I’m not sure I’m ready for this.”

“What? Going out with a nice guy?” Angie asked.

“No…just going out with any guy. It’s only been a couple of weeks since the whole Danny disaster and it just feels weird.”

“Well it shouldn’t,” Ella said. “Max is nothing like Danny and you need to start believing in yourself. The fact that he seemed just as nervous as you are tells me that Max is a good guy. Go and have lunch with him and get to know him. Tell him you need to take things slow if it makes you feel better but don’t cut yourself off from the possibility of a great relationship because some jerk made you doubt yourself!”

“I agree,” Angie said. “He seems like a nice guy and if Mrs. J hired him, it’s sort of like getting a seal of approval.”

Hailey leaned forward and popped her head toward the front seat. “Agreed.”

“So just to be clear,” Becca said, “Hailey, you’re going to lunch with Logan tomorrow, right?”

“Right.”

“Well…since we’re obviously going to be getting home late tonight, I know that I, personally, am going to sleep in,” Becca said. “Why don’t we skip lunch and maybe you can all come to my place for dinner? We’ll get some Chinese takeout and watch the DVD and just relax. What do you think?”

“Perfect!”

“Count me in!”

“I’ll bring the wine!”

With a chuckle, Becca shook her head. “I love how we are all on the same page.”

“But you have to promise not to watch it without us,” Hailey said. “I want it to be a surprise for all of us.”

“Deal. Trust me, my plan is to sleep late, do laundry, and wait for one of you to bring me Chinese food.”

“You’ll have to eat something before then,” Ella said.

“Fine. I’ll have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich,” Becca sighed dramatically. “But other than that, I’ll wait to binge on dumplings.”

“Someone is bringing dessert too, I hope,” Angie said. “I’m bringing the wine.” She turned in her seat. “Hailey, you pick up the food—you’re closest to the takeout place—and Ella, why don’t you bring your famous brownies?”

“It’s going to be like a food orgy,” Becca sighed. “I’m not sure I should do that the night before a date.”

There was a collective groan of frustration in the car at her statement.

“Okay, okay…forget I said anything!” Becca huffed. “Sheesh.”

After that they all quieted down and began to unwind. Thirty minutes later they were back at Enchanted Bridal where they had met that afternoon. Becca pulled into the parking lot and parked next to Angie’s car. “I am going to crash hard in my bed.”

Everyone began to climb out. Dylan was parked two spots over and in no time he was beside them sweeping Ella up in his arms and kissing her.

“I really want to be annoyed by their constant PDAs,” Angie murmured, “but they’re too damn cute.”

“I know,” Becca sighed. “Too bad it’s not like that for everyone.”

“I have a feeling you and Max are going to be like that.”

I wish
. She had to bite her tongue to keep from saying it out loud. “We’ll see,” she said instead. “Be careful driving home and I’ll see you tomorrow. Did we decide on a time?”

“How about six?” Hailey suggested.

“Works for me,” Angie and Becca agreed. They called out the time to Ella who gave them a thumbs up as she climbed into Dylan’s car.

“Okay, girls,” Hailey said as she straightened and pulled her keys out of her purse. “Wish me luck tomorrow!”

“It’s going to be good,” Becca said. “You’re going to have a great time and finally get to know Logan.”

“Open mind,” Angie said. “Just remember to go in with an open mind. Pretend you’re just meeting him on a blind date or something.”

“Ooh…good idea!” Becca smiled. “Do that!”

Hailey rolled her eyes. “I’d like to see how easily either of you could do that. It sounds good in theory, but the reality is…”

“Stop!” Angie cried as she slammed the car door shut. “Just stop! Either you’re going to try or you’re not. End of story! You’ve been panting after this guy for a year and you’re going to let something stupid like his job change all that? He works in a coffee house, Hails, he’s not a serial killer. Just relax and…you know…not be you for a little while.”

They stood on opposite sides of the car staring at each other for a long minute before Becca spoke up. “I think we’re all a little tired and cranky and it’s time to call it a night.” She looked at Hailey. “Have fun tomorrow and I can’t wait to hear all about your lunch.” Then she turned to Angie. “Be careful driving home and maybe bring an extra bottle—or two—of wine. If we have to, everyone can crash by me tomorrow night.”

They had a group hug—minus Ella—and each got in their cars and headed for home. Becca couldn’t wait to crawl into bed. She had a feeling she was going to need to rest up for their get-together tomorrow night.

Four

With no plans for lunch, Angie took advantage of the time at home to do all of the chores and cleaning she had been procrastinating over—laundry, dusting and vacuuming. The only real perk she was finding was that she could stay in her yoga pants for the majority of the day.

Sometimes it was the little victories.

With her second load of clothes in the wash and the floors cleaned, she decided it would be a good time to stop and make something light for lunch. She chuckled when she looked at the clock and saw it was the normal time she and the girls would be ordering theirs.

“I think I’m in a rut,” she said as she walked into the kitchen. Trampus was sitting by the back door staring at her. “Yeah, I know…but I was busy.” Opening the back door, she stared down as the cat gave her a quick glance over his shoulder before walking out. “Now lunch,” she murmured as she closed the door.

The contents of her refrigerator did not look promising. Everything in her crisper drawer looked like it had died a slow and painful death. “Great. Now I’ve got to add ‘clean the refrigerator’ to my list.” With a curse, she shut the refrigerator and walked over to the pantry. It wasn’t much better. When her doorbell rang, she said a silent prayer that it was a lost pizza delivery guy.

Opening the door, she put a smile on her face and then froze.

“Sean?”
Holy crap!
“What are you doing here?” A million things raced through her mind, but first and foremost was how she had answered the door while wearing her yoga pants, an oversized t-shirt, no bra and with her hair up in a ponytail.

It was the quadfecta of horror.

Sean’s smile was slow and easy and if anything, he seemed just as happy to see her as he always was. That made Angie frown. She knew she looked hideous right now compared to every other time she and Sean had been together. Either he had some serious vision issues or he was a good bullshit artist.

“Hey,” he finally said as he stuck his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. “How are you?”

That was it? That’s what he had to say? Although…to be fair…Angie wasn’t exactly sure what the proper protocol was for people showing up unexpectedly on someone’s doorstep. “Um…good.”

He nodded. “Can I come in?”

The only silver lining in sight was the fact that the house was somewhat clean. Stepping back, she motioned for him to come inside. Sean had only been to her place once. Over the course of their relationship, they tended to meet up at other places—hotels, resorts and other neutral places that were out of town for both of them. It worked out better that way and she had enjoyed it.

Closing the front door, Angie leaned against it and watched as Sean walked around her living room. Her home was a small craftsman bungalow. It was a rental but she had totally put her stamp on the place with paint colors and furnishings. She may not own it, but everything about it screamed Angie.

“This is a great room,” Sean said as he turned and faced her. Then he simply looked at her and smiled.

“I like it,” she said casually with a small shrug.

“I wasn’t sure if you’d be home. I know you go to lunch with the girls sometimes, but I decided to take a chance.”

“Why?”

He sighed and for the first time since she’d opened the door, he looked a little less confident. “You didn’t text or call me.”

“Did you really…?”

“I know why you didn’t,” he quickly interrupted. “It was wrong of me to go about things like that. It was cowardly. You deserve better than an apology by text. That was crappy.” He paused as his expression grew serious. “I’m sorry.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to argue how she preferred the whole texting thing because this seemed incredibly awkward, but she didn’t. “What exactly are you apologizing for, Sean?” she asked, stepping away from the door. “For the crappy apology? For not calling me any sooner? For ending the relationship without an explanation? I guess you can take your pick because they were all crappy things to do.”

Sean took a couple of steps toward her and stopped. “I’m apologizing for all of it.”

Angie took a steadying breath and let it out slowly. “O-kay.”

“You know how I used to do a lot of international construction stuff before Tricia and Ryan got married, right?”

She nodded.

“Well, after I had the accident, Ryan and I decided to go into business together.”

“This isn’t news, Sean.”

He held up a hand to stop her. “Just…give me a minute to explain.” He paused. “Ryan and I always got along fine. At least we did until we started working together.” He shrugged. “We were both so used to being in control that it was hard to share responsibilities and actually talk to each other about the things we wanted to do. It didn’t take long for me to realize we had made a mistake. Things weren’t working out and we were fighting all the time and then Tricia would get involved because she’s my best friend and Ryan’s her husband and she tried to play peacemaker, but all it did was leave all of us pissed off.”

“She never mentioned any of this to me,” Angie said quietly.

“She wouldn’t,” Sean said. “I think she always figured Ryan and I would work things out. She knows us both so well and she knew if given a little bit of time, we’d get through it.”

“And did you?”

He shook his head. “I took off and took a job down in Brazil. It was a six-week gig and I just needed the time away to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.”

“And you didn’t think to call and let me know any of this?” she asked sarcastically and then she cursed under her breath. “So I was good enough to slip away for dirty weekends with, but you didn’t think enough of me to tell me you were leaving the country?”

“It wasn’t like that…”

“It was exactly like that!” she cried. “From the first moment we met, you pursued me and I didn’t put up much of a fight! You talked big about how much you wanted me and all that crap but in the end that’s all it was—it was only about the sex to you!”

Closing the distance between them, Sean gently grasped her shoulders. “No! It wasn’t! I…
shit
! Angie, the first time we met, you pretty much knocked me on my ass! You were like my every living fantasy come to life. And the fact that you wanted me too was pretty freaking incredible.”

“And yet you were able to leave the country…”

“It wasn’t about you!” he yelled and stepped away. He raked a hand through his hair before looking at her again. “I was pissed off at Ryan and even at Tricia. She was my friend first and as childish as it sounds, I still felt like her loyalty should have been to me. So I took off. Hell, I didn’t even tell my mother where I was going. For two weeks, no one knew where I was.”

“But I bet you eventually called them and let them know.”

“You may not believe me but the only reason I did was because they were relentlessly calling the company I had sub-contracted with and harassing them. It was the only way to make them stop.”

“All you’re doing is proving that you’re a completely selfish jackass. You know that, right?”

Sean nodded. “I can’t change what I did. I wish I could. Honestly, I don’t care if I upset my family, but I do care that I hurt you. It was never my intention. At the time I was angry and frustrated with pretty much every aspect of my life. I didn’t want to burden you with all of my bullshit. All I can say in my own defense is that I wasn’t thinking rationally.”

Angie sighed. “Yeah, well…it is what it is. I appreciate you explaining all of this to me, but unfortunately it doesn’t change anything.”

“But…”

Walking around him, she went to her comfy chair and sat down. “Look, you and I clearly didn’t know each other as well as we thought we did. I thought we were moving forward and were serious, but when you were struggling with something big, I wasn’t even a consideration. I’m probably not going to get over that any time soon.”

Sean sat down on the sofa and faced her. “I know. But…do you think in time…?”

It would have been so easy to say yes, to tell him she just needed some time to process it all. Hell, she could probably be over it by tomorrow if she sat down with the girls tonight and talked about it, but there was more to it than that. “Sean, who’s to say that in another couple of months, something else isn’t going to come up that pisses you off? Can you honestly sit here and tell me you aren’t ever going to take off like that again?”

“I can,” he said earnestly and reached for one of her hands. “I used to get a thrill out of taking the jobs no one else wanted. I enjoyed the freedom of being myself without anyone really looking over my shoulder, and no family around to question me. It was a completely selfish way of life. I realize that now. I probably should have realized it years ago. But now that I’ve watched everyone around me starting to have a life, I see that I want that too.”

“Wait…what?” she asked incredulously. Maybe she was reading him wrong, but all of a sudden this seemed way more serious than she was prepared for.

“Tricia and Ryan are married and planning on having kids soon. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if I got the call that they were pregnant already. She’s so damn happy and my brother —who I have since reconciled with—is like a different man. He smiles all the time and when he talks about Tricia, he’s like someone else. And then my mom married Paul and after being a widow for so long and the fact that she was always such a free spirit…well, it’s nice to see.” He sighed. “They’re all settling down and I’ve been living like some sort of nomad.”

“There’s nothing wrong with…”

“I don’t want to live like a nomad, Ange,” he said softly. “When I think about my life and where I want to be, I think of you.”

Oh. Shit. “Um…”

“I screwed everything up. I know that. But I want a chance to make it up to you. I want us to start over and not look at this as some casual relationship. I think you’re amazing,” he said with a smile. “And…I think if you can find it in your heart to forgive me, you might even admit you think I’m a little amazing too.”

Angie couldn’t help but chuckle at that. It was typical Sean. He was more cocky and confident than he should be, but he was goofy enough about it that he didn’t come off as being offensive. And dammit, she didn’t want to be feeling all soft and sentimental about him, but she was.

He gently tugged on her hand. “I know it’s not going to happen overnight, but I really want us to give it a try—to be even better than we were before.”

“Sean…”

With her hand still in his, Sean stood and pulled her gently to her feet. It didn’t take much to have her pressed up against him. His hand came up and caressed her cheek. “Promise me you’ll think about it,” he said as he leaned forward and kissed her cheek.

She closed her eyes and willed herself not to melt against him.

Raising his head, Sean looked into her eyes and gave her a slow, sexy grin. “I’m not going to push you for an answer right now. I know better than to do that. But I want you to know that I’m not giving up. I know you’re pissed off at me and rightfully so, but I also believe that given a little bit of time, you’ll see how we fit.” His finger stroked down her cheek. “And we have since the minute we met.”

Dammit, he was right. Angie prided herself on being strong and independent. She didn’t rely on anyone for anything, but standing like this with Sean had her wishing that she could just be a little softer—the kind of woman who could listen to what he was saying and simply accept it without argument.

Pulling back a bit, she looked him in the eye. “I will think about it,” she admitted softly. “But you have to know that you seriously broke my trust in you. It’s not something I take lightly. If I’m going to be all-in with you, or with anyone, trust is key. And to be honest with you, I’m not big on second chances.”

Sean nodded. “Duly noted.”

Unable to help herself, she rolled her eyes as she chuckled. He was always way more laid back than she was. He always saw the brighter side of things. They complemented each other almost perfectly. “I’m serious, Sean. It’s going to take more than a grin and a kiss for me to believe in you again.”

“Sweetheart, I am willing to do whatever it takes for you to realize I’m serious here. You tell me what it is you want from me, and I’ll do it. Do you want me to leave right now and wait for you to call me? I’ll do it.” He paused and pulled her in close again and rested his forehead against hers. “Or do you want me to stay?” he asked, his voice like silk. “I’ll spend the entire day doing whatever it is you want.”

Angie couldn’t help the small gasp that came out or how her eyes went just a little wide.

Sean switched the angle of his head just slightly until their lips were almost touching. “Whatever. You. Want.”

And then he kissed her.

****

“Oh my God!” Ella cried. “What did you do? Did he stay? Did you do it? Was it good?” She fanned herself wildly and then looked at Becca, Hailey and then back at Angie. “Was it wild and intense? Oh…I bet it was wild and intense!”

Angie looked at her for a minute before turning to Becca and Hailey. “I think we may need to turn the hose on her.”

“Definitely,” Hailey agreed. “But you still haven’t answered the question.”

Looking at her three friends with a sassy grin, Angie stood and went to grab another bottle of wine. It wasn’t until she sat back down and poured herself a glass that she finally said, “He stayed.”

“I knew it!” Ella shouted.

“And…?” Becca asked anxiously.

“He cleaned my house,” Angie said with a hint of satisfaction.

“Wait…what?” Ella asked.

“Sean stayed all day and cleaned my house—even Trampus’ litter box. It was awesome.”

Hailey frowned. “Let me get this straight—the guy you’re crazy about comes and pretty much begs you to take him back and then promises you a day of…pleasure, and you decide to take that and turn it into making him clean? Why?”

Angie’s laugh was a little maniacal. “Don’t you see? It would have been easy and predictable to jump back into bed with him. And believe me, I wanted to. The things that man can do…” She mimicked Ella’s earlier fanning of herself. “But that wasn’t going to prove anything. I already know we’re physically compatible. That wasn’t the problem. I need to see if Sean’s going to stick around for the day-to-day stuff and when I’m just being a bitch.”