“Yeah?” he asked.
“Definitely.” I approached him with a plate of curry and rice, my eyes dipping to the floor. My gaze caught on Ellie’s feet. I tried and failed not to smile as I asked Els, “Sweetie, have you looked at your feet lately?”
Wrinkling her nose in confusion, Ellie looked down. She sighed. “Bugger.”
Curious, Braden looked down too after accepting his plate from me and immediately choked on his bite of curry.
I laughed.
Ellie was wearing two different shoes. They were flats of a similar style, but one was definitely brown and the other black. “I’ve been wandering all day over New Town like this.”
“I doubt many people noticed your feet, Els.”
She kicked off her shoes and we all settled around the table, eating and planning. Well, Braden had done all the planning, so it was mostly just me nodding my head to his suggestions and covering Ellie’s mouth when she got too vocal in her opinions over the flowers.
We were just winding down when Ellie’s phone rang. It was Adam, requesting her company, although from the way she blushed I doubted the request was that polite or lacking in sexual innuendo.
She got up hurriedly, giving me a smile and her brother a kiss on the cheek. “This was fun.
Thanks for letting me crash it. Speak soon!” She floated out of the kitchen, in her mind already out of the flat and with Adam.
“Tell Adam I said hey!” I called to her.
“Will do!” The door slammed in her wake.
I pushed my plate away, cupping my chin in my palm as I smiled at Braden. “Thank you for doing all this.”
“You’re welcome.” His smile turned into a yawn. He ran a hand through his hair, looking exhausted. “The only thing left to plan is the hen and stag nights.”
A hen party was what the Brits called a bachelorette party, and a stag night a bachelor party.
“Won’t Ellie and Adam be organizing those?”
“Aye, at least that’s something.”
I huffed. “That’s okay for you to say. I doubt Adam is going to arrange an elegant tea party for yours.”
“Nah,” Braden grinned. “Casino night.”
I pouted. “I want a casino night.”
“Have a casino night. I’ll get Adam to nudge Ellie in the right direction.”
“We can’t end up in the same place for our parties.”
Braden leaned toward me, his gaze curious. “Why not?”
Surprised by the question since I thought the answer was pretty straightforward, I blinked a few times. “Uh, because it’s supposed to be a symbolic evening where we celebrate our last night of singledom.”
“But we’re not single. We’re married without the certificate. Let’s change the symbolism of it.
We’ll celebrate together. We’ll celebrate how we mean to go on for the rest of our lives.”
I loved the way he looked at me. So full of … everything. “You could charm the pants off absolutely anyone,” I told him quietly.
He smirked. “I take it that means you like the idea?”
“I love the idea. I love everything you’ve said. But I know Ellie’s excited about this, so we’re going to give our friends what they want.”
“Adam mentioned strippers,” Braden warned me, his eyes twinkling.
“If Adam books a stripper for you, I’ll force Ellie to book a stripper for me.”
Chuckling, Braden relaxed back in his chair. “Let’s agree to no strippers.”
I raised my glass of water and waited for Braden to do the same. “To no strippers.”
“To no strippers,” he repeated.
“And let’s just make that a motto for our marriage.”
Laughing, Braden nodded. “I can guarantee it.”
I gestured to our plans and gave him a smile. “So are we done for the night? Can we lounge in front of a movie now?”
“Definitely.”
Together, we cleaned our dishes and cleared the wedding plans away. Half an hour later we lay on the sofa together, my head on Braden’s chest, his arm around my back, as we watched an action movie on pay-per-view.
Forty minutes in, I tilted my head back to look into his face and said, “Sometimes I can’t believe that I get to do this with you for the rest of my life.”
Surprised at my sentiment, Braden looked at me, eyes glittering with amusement. “What? Watch a movie?”
“Yes,” I answered honestly. “Lie in your arms and watch a crappy movie. It might seem simple to other people, but it’s everything to me.”
The amusement left his expression, quickly replaced with something far more intense as he reached up to stroke my cheek with his thumb. “I’m glad you’re quitting the bar.”
“You are?”
“Yeah. I’ve never liked you working there, and I miss you at the weekend.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because you seemed happy. It’s sort of my life mission to make sure you stay that way,” he teased.
I grinned. “Gotcha. Well, mission accomplished. I have lots of new friends, so I don’t need the bar for a social life anymore. And I want to concentrate on my writing and on us. I’ll hand in my resignation this week.”
Braden nodded and squeezed me closer. “Sounds good, babe.”
Snuggling into him, I let out a contented sigh and turned my gaze back on the movie. “Pfft.”I mocked the screen as we soaked in each other’s warmth. “Like a cop would start shooting in a public place like that. What is this crap we’re watching?”
“Something about ‘everything to you,’ I believe.”
“Hmmph. Well, it will be if we become a little more discerning in our rental choices. Oh, God,” I groaned at the screen. “This guy is a tool.”
“Jocelyn?” Braden tightened his arm around me and I looked up at him to find him grinning. “Just so you know, this is everything to me too.” He bent down to give me a sweet kiss before turning back to the television. “Perhaps minus the commentary from the peanut gallery.”
Chapter 3
The Wedding
Clark, Ellie’s stepdad, and thus father figure to Braden and me, threaded my arm through his elbow and patted my hand in a comforting way.
At the gesture, I glanced sharply at his kind face. “What? Do I look nervous?”
He smiled softly at me. “A little.”
“I don’t want to look nervous,” I whispered back.
Although his mouth didn’t laugh, his eyes definitely did. “Just take a deep breath.”
We were standing out of view of the double doors that had opened up onto the red-carpeted aisle of the church and my bridesmaids were already walking their way up it. It was nearly my turn.
I couldn’t believe our wedding day was here already. It didn’t seem that long ago that I’d woken up the day after my engagement to Ellie knocking on my door with a bunch of bridal magazines in her hands. Although I’d had moments of doubt, I’d fiercely fought them back.
It was kind of a shock then to find myself standing at the bottom of the aisle, freaking out.
Fuckity, fuckity, fuck, fuck.
Deep breaths.
I could not have a panic attack. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Braden. The problem was I was terrified I was going to find some way to fuck it up. Even after months of proving to myself that I was capable of being in a committed, loving relationship, I was still afraid. I was afraid I was going to hurt him.
“What if I mess this up?” I murmured.
Clark’s hand tightened over mine. “It’s not going to be perfect because no marriage is. You’re going to fight, clash, say things you don’t mean … When you love someone, these things can happen. But, Joss”—he dipped his head to meet my gaze—“the good you two will have together, will always outweigh any bad.” He smiled. “And I think Braden’s proved there’s not much you can do to chase him off.”