“All right, I’ll ask him.” It took a moment for Meredith’s eyes to adjust to the dim interior of the office from the bright sunlight outside. When she could finally see clearly, she saw Anne looking at her expectantly from behind her desk. “What?”
“You have a phone, don’t you? If not, you can use mine.” She pushed her desk phone closer to Meredith.
“You want me to call him right now?”
“Yes, now. Because if I leave it up to you, you won’t call.”
How well Anne knew her. Reluctantly, Meredith pulled out her phone. “What should I say?”
“Oh, for mercy’s sake. You’ve known the guy for almost two months now. You’ll think of something.”
Meredith quick-dialed Ward’s cell number, praying he wouldn’t answ—
“Hey, pretty girl.”
Instead of warmth or tingles, all Meredith felt was embarrassed. “Hey, yourself.”
“What’s up? Calling to check progress on your house? Right now, we’re on schedule to be finished about a week early.”
“That’s good to know, but it isn’t why I’m calling.”
Across the desk from her, Anne’s expression of encouragement was anything but helpful. Meredith averted her gaze.
“So to what do I owe the honor of a phone call from Meredith Guidry?” The laughter in his voice conjured a vivid image of Ward’s handsome good looks in Meredith’s mind.
“I...” She forced herself to breathe. She’d never asked a guy out before. “My cousin Anne is getting married a week from Saturday.”
“I know. You’re the maid of honor.”
The fact that he was humoring her made what she needed to do a little easier. “Right. But I was wondering ... thinking maybe you might like to come as my ‘and guest.’”
Anne sighed loudly; Meredith gave her a dirty look.
“I’d love to be your ‘and guest’ at your cousin’s wedding. It’s in the evening, right?”
“The ceremony starts at five o’clock.”
“Good. I can still go to the hospital, then.”
Taken aback, Meredith glanced at Anne. “The hospital?”
“Didn’t I tell you? I volunteer in the pediatric cancer unit on Saturday mornings.”
Could this guy be any more perfect? He was going to make someone a great husband someday. “No, you never told me. What led you to do that?”
“I’ve been doing it since I was fifteen and my youngest brother was diagnosed with leukemia.” Someone yelled his name in the background. “I’ll have to call you back, Mere.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to you later. Bye.” She closed the phone and dropped it in her purse.
“The hospital?”
Meredith told her.
“He sounds like a keeper.” Even though Anne leaned over to pull out the binder of her wedding plans from under the desk, it wasn’t quick enough to keep Meredith from seeing her amused smile.
“For someone else, maybe.”
Anne snapped upright. “What?”
“I just don’t feel that way about him.”
“Not everyone falls in love right away. Sometimes it needs a chance to grow. I’ve planned plenty of weddings for people who were friends for years before they fell in love with each other.”
Friends for eight years before falling in love? Meredith shook her head. “I’m giving it a chance—it’s not like I have a lot of other options at this point in time.”
“You know I’ve been praying for you about this, right?” Leaving the binder on her desk, Anne came around to sit in the chair beside Meredith.
Emotion lumped up in Meredith’s throat, forcing her to nod as her only reply.
“Have you been praying about it?”
She nodded again.
“More than just, ‘Please, God, send me a husband’?” Anne’s blue eyes twinkled.
Meredith laughed. “Sometimes. But most of the time it’s, ‘Please, God, let me get over Major so I can fall in love with someone else.’”
“Oh, I can so relate.” Anne sighed. “Before I found out George wasn’t the one marrying Courtney Landry, that was my almost hourly mantra—‘Lord, please don’t let me be falling in love with a client.’”
“But he turned out not to be the one getting married, and he fell in love with you.”
“Right. But what I’m saying is that God did answer my prayer—granted in a rather roundabout fashion, but He answered. You have to trust that God will answer your prayer ... just maybe not in the way you expect or on your timeline.”
Meredith groaned and slumped down in the chair to rest her head against the top of it. “Maybe I should pray instead that He’ll take away my desire to get married. Then it won’t matter if the man I’m in love with doesn’t return my feelings.”
“Maybe you should pray for the patience to hold on until Major realizes what he’s missing.” Anne stood and picked up the binder.
“Right. And let God make me wait another eight years? I know what His sense of humor is like. No way I’m praying that!” She let Anne pull her out of the chair and followed her cousin to the small table in the bay window overlooking Town Square in the front of the building.
“Then I guess you’ll just have to muddle through.”
“Thanks. You’re tons of help.” Meredith stuck her tongue out at the woman who’d been her best friend since before she could remember.
“Well, you could always just talk to him.”
“Who?”
“Major—I thought that’s who we were talking about.”
“Talk to him?”
“About how you feel.”
“No way. Call me old-fashioned, but I firmly believe that a man should make the first move.” Meredith pulled her own folder of information for Anne’s wedding out of her bag. “Can we focus on you now, instead of me? You are getting married in a week, you know.”
“Nine days.”
“Right. Nine days. And there’s still lots to do, so let’s get to it.” Meredith pulled out her to-do list and started reviewing everything they’d accomplished since their last war-room briefing.
But she couldn’t put Anne’s words out of her head. Talk to Major about her feelings? What if he once and for all told her he could never feel that way toward her?
No, she’d rather live with the pain of unrequited—but hopeful—love than to know for sure that she would never have a chance at love with Major O’Hara.
Chapter 21
“Forbes, I saved you a seat.” Meredith waved at her big brother, who’d just entered The Fishin’ Shack.
“Thanks, Sis.” Forbes looked somewhat frazzled, which served as partial explanation as to why he was so late for the Thursday night cousins dinner. He walked around and greeted everyone at the table before taking the chair between Meredith and George.
“Tough day?” Meredith moved her purse from the table to the floor.
“Somewhat. But I’m no longer at work, so I refuse to think about it further. How was your day off? Did you and Anne get everything done you wanted to do today?” Forbes poured himself a glass of iced tea and doctored it with three packs of sweetener.
“There are still a few loose strings, but Anne will have everything tuned up and ready to go by the time we get to church for the rehearsal Friday evening.”
“I’m sure she will. I just hope we can all live up to her exacting expectations.”
“Hey—I heard that!” Anne leaned around behind George and poked Forbes’s shoulder.
“What? Anne’s here?” Forbes winked at their cousin.
Once the subject of the wedding had been brought up, it consumed quite a bit of attention around the table. Certain that no one was paying any attention to her or Forbes, Meredith leaned closer to him.
“What do you know about Major’s family?” she asked softly.
“Excuse me?” Forbes looked startled.
Maybe she should have figured out a better way to broach the subject, but she wasn’t sure how much time she would have before they were drawn back into the general conversation. “Major’s family. What do you know about them?”
“He was raised by a single mom.”