Page 24 of Nothing Breaks Like A Heart

"Where is Andrew?" Jamie asked, cutting through the tension between Harper and me. "I haven't seen him in a while."

Fortunately, I finally had an answer to that question as Andrew walked over to us, with Jeanette right on his heels.

"He's here," I said with relief.

"Good, you're all together," Jeanette said as they reached us. "Except for my groomsmen. Where are my guys, Andrew?"

"Jay isn't going to make it for the rest of the reception. He's with his girlfriend who isn't feeling well. I told him to stay with her. I'm not sure where Colin is."

"I'm here," Colin said, coming up behind Harper. "What are we doing now? Is it time for cake?"

I couldn't help noticing that Colin looked a bit flushed, his hair windblown, as if he'd run in from somewhere. But there was no time to linger in that questioning thought as Jeanette turned to Andrew with annoyance.

"We really need Jay. The photos won't be balanced without him." She paused as Megan joined the group. "We're missing a groomsman," Jeanette told Megan.

"What? That's a problem," Megan said, distress in her eyes. "We need to get him in here, Andrew. He committed to all the photos."

"Well, he's not coming," Andrew snapped, for the first time losing some of his patience. "We need to make it work without him. We're just cutting a cake. It's not that big of a deal, is it?"

It was nice to have someone else tell Jeanette and Megan to make it work, because I was exhausted with trying to keep up with their demands.

Megan's lips tightened, and she shot me a dark look as if I was the problem and not Andrew. That was probably because I reported to her and Andrew didn't.

"Fine," Megan said. "We'll do a group shot around the cake." She paused. "Actually, why don't we lose one of the girls? Let's do you two," she added, pointing to Harper and Colin. "You look good together."

Jamie's expression darkened as Jeanette paired Harper and Colin together.

"I could bring my fiancé into the shot," Jamie suggested.

"He's not wearing a matching tuxedo," Jeanette replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. "That won't work."

"Fine," Jamie said. "I'm over this anyway."

"Uh, she doesn't seem happy," Andrew muttered, his gaze following Jamie's abrupt departure.

I couldn't help but agree. In fact, Jamie seemed unusually pissed. But since she was gone, and I wanted to get this over with, I said, "It's fine. I'm sure she doesn't care that much."

"She doesn't care," Harper agreed. "She told me a few minutes ago she couldn’t wait for this to be over."

Harper's words made me feel sad my wedding was such a chore for my friends. But it had been a long day, and I probably would have felt the same if I were in their shoes.

The four of us moved across the room to the cake table while the media team set up for the photos and video. Then Jeanette took over the microphone by the band, encouraging everyone to watch the cutting of the cake. As the crowd gathered in front of us with more lights and cameras whirring, Andrew and I picked up the knife, his warm hand covering mine. Then we slid the blade through the sponge cake.

After placing a piece of cake on a pretty china plate, we fed each other pieces of cake without smearing any icing on our faces. Although for a split second, I was oddly tempted to do just that. Everything felt so orchestrated and formal, so very unlike me. Andrew probably would have laughed, too. But in the end, I couldn't do it. I knew how important this campaign was and how costly it would be to reshoot anything, so I did my job, because that's what this whole wedding was about.

Once we were done, the catering staff took the cake into the kitchen to slice up individual pieces for our guests, and Jeanette announced the traditional garter and bouquet toss.

We made a big production of Andrew taking the garter off my leg. Then he turned around and launched it over his head like a slingshot. Colin jumped to catch it, looking triumphant, as if he had caught the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl.

Then it was my turn to toss my bouquet to one of the single women at the party. Jamie was sitting this out as she was officially engaged, but Harper was in the front row, so I wanted to toss it in her direction and hope she caught it.

As the band played a drum roll, I threw the bouquet as hard as I could, then whirled around, realizing that I'd actually tossed it to the back of the group, and it had landed in the hands of Allison McGuire.

Damn! What were the odds of that happening?

My gut tightened as she walked over to us. "I finally get a chance to officially meet the bride," she said, giving me a smug look. "I'm Allison McGuire. I'm a good friend of Andrew's." She sent Andrew a challenging look, as if she were daring him to refute that.

"Nice catch," Andrew said.

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