Page 43 of My Best Friend's Mardi Gras Wedding

Tori drank down the rest of her sweet tea and then started to swivel away from the bar.But Ellie stopped her.The little woman leaned over the bar and took Tori’s face in her hands.

“The regulars around here are already a little crazy, but we can make anyone crazy, given half a chance.”

Tori laughed.“Is that a selling point?”

“It is when you realize how damned much fun it is to have people crazy about you and to be crazy about.”

Tori swallowed hard.Her parents loved her.Her grandparents, who were all gone now, had loved her.Her aunts and various cousins cared about her.She had acquaintances and classmates she still saw on a regular basis, though more as clients now than friends.But she wasn’t sure anyone had ever beencrazyabout her.Andrew was her closest friend, and he’d never done anything really crazy or gone out on any limbs for her.Not that she’d given him any reasons to, come to think of it.She was pretty easy to justbearound.No craziness required.

But the idea that someone might feel inclined to lose his head a little…that caused some butterflies.

“Thanks,” she said quietly, looking into Ellie’s eyes.“I had a great time here.”

“You’re welcome any time.”Then the older woman gave her a little kiss on the cheek and let her go.

Tori turned and slid off the stool.Then she looked over at Jeremiah.“It was nice to meet you.”

“Well, you have to come back,” he said, lifting a shoulder.“Hannah is gonna bepissedat all of us that she didn’t get to meet Josh’s Mardi Gras girl.”

Every time she heardJosh’sin regards to herself, she felt a little flip in her chest.“Where is she right now?”

“Working,” he said.“She’s a teacher in N’Awlins.”

“Well, I would have liked to meet her.”

He winked at her.“We’ll be seeing you, Tori.”He said it with promise.

Finally, she took a deep breath and headed out to the tour bus with Leo.

6

Josh wiped his hands on the thighs of his pants and took a deep breath.

He was nervous?Why was he nervous?

Maybe because his family had given Tori their entire family history—and a healthy dose of their nuttiness—yesterday.

They’d told her his mom and dad’s story.

That wasn’t something a person told a girl he’d just met.

Andthey’d told her Leo and Ellie’s story.

Both stories.Day one.That was a lot to process for someone he definitely didn’t want to spook.

Of course, both of those stories were pretty good.

Okay, his family wasn’t reallycrazy.They were just a little eccentric and over-the-top.Especially as a group.The what-the-hell multiplied when all of those offbeat personalities got together.

But now Tori knew that Landrys tended to think falling in love within ten minutes was no big deal and that he’d been “mooning over” her for the past year.

“Don’t worry, darlin’, she knows you’re hoping for something big with her,” Cora had told him.

Yeah, great.Let’s just tell the girl that he had diamond rings on the brain within an hour of seeing her again.That was totally normal.That wouldn’t make her nervous at all.

And, for the record, he didnothave diamond rings on the brain.Exactly.He wanted todate herfirst.Spend time with her.Maybe dance with her.Definitely kiss her some more.Hear more about her family and her work.Talk about things like their favorite holidays and pizza toppings.Sure, that was kind of boring and didn’t really matter.He’d like her whether she liked pepperoni or not.But he was kind of hoping to do this like an ordinary couple who met and liked one another and wanted to get to know one another before he talked her into staying in Louisiana.Forever.

Of course, the fact that he was even thinking about doing that was probably not normal.

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