A Fare To Remember_ Just Whistle_Driven - Vicki Lewis Thompson [118]
And she was due to be married in ten minutes to a man who might be sexually dysfunctional. Sometimes life seemed totally unfair.
CHAPTER THREE
PRIS AND HER BRIDESMAIDS walked around to the side door of the church, and on the way she noticed that her parents’ car was in the parking lot. She’d invited them to ride in the limo with her and her friends, but her mother had wanted to go on ahead and make sure everything was in order at the church.
Her mom and dad were the best, the very best, and they’d put out a bundle to make today special. If only she didn’t have this gnawing feeling in her stomach about Brad, life would be perfect.
Kristin, a tall brunette she’d known forever, started to open the door that led to the small room where they’d wait for the ceremony to start.
“Hold on a minute, Kristin,” Pris said. “Listen, does anybody have a piece of paper and a pen?”
They all looked at her as if she’d gone insane.
“Why?” said Jenna, the fiery redhead and longtime friend she’d asked to be her maid of honor.
“I, uh, I need to write a note to Brad.”
Her attendants looked at each other in confusion.
“Okay, I know it sounds peculiar, but I—”
“You’re allowed to be peculiar on your wedding day,” said Jenna. “I’m sure we can come up with a piece of paper and a pen, but let’s do it inside.”
“No, out here. I don’t want my folks getting wind of this. I need one of you to deliver the note to him right away and wait for him to write the answer and give it back to you. This is important.”
“Did you guys have a fight?” asked Julie, a short blonde who was Pris’s former college roommate.
“No. I just need to ask him something. And it can’t wait until after the ceremony.”
Jenna sighed and started rummaging through her purse. “Okay. All I have is a receipt from the grocery store.”
“That’ll work.” Pris took the slip of paper and pen Jenna handed her and scribbled her question on it. Then she folded it four times.
“I’ll take it to Brad,” Kristin said.
“Thanks.” Pris handed her the tiny note. “You can’t read it. It’s very personal.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, I won’t read it,” Kristin said.
Julie began to laugh. “I’m getting the picture. This is one of those questions like Honey, did you pack extra condoms? Am I right?”
“Sort of.” Pris couldn’t tell them. If it turned out the ex-girlfriend was making things up, Pris didn’t want her friends getting the wrong idea about Brad.
“Now can we go in?” Jenna asked.
“Yes, now we can go in.” Pris glanced back at the limo one more time. Josh was leaning against it, arms folded as he gazed in her direction. The next time she saw Josh, she’d be a married woman.
Once she walked into the small room, life became a blur of last-minute preparations, but through it all, Pris thought of little else but the note she’d given to Kristin.
At last Kristin came through the door and hurried over to her. “He kept the note. He looked a little embarrassed, but he said for you not to worry, that you and he would work it out.”
Pris stood in stunned silence. So it was true.
CHAPTER FOUR
JOSH CLIMBED into the back of the limo, turned on the TV and tried to concentrate on the basketball game. But all he could see was Pris as she’d walked toward the church. She’d looked like a woman going to her doom.
When she’d glanced at him right before going through the door, he’d had the feeling she wanted to be rescued. Oh, hell, that probably wasn’t what she’d been thinking. More than likely she pitied him for being such a stubborn SOB when he could have had a woman like her.
Admittedly, seeing her in that white dress had shaken him up. Most women looked good on their wedding day, but Pris was spectacular, with her blond curls done up in that arrangement on top of her head and a dress that emphasized her tiny waist and generous cleavage.
His stomach was in knots, and he couldn’t sit still another minute.