Page 20 of Just One of the Groomsmen
“Like I need tips from a guy who thought it’d be romantic to take the hottest girl in school hunting for nightcrawlers.”
Ford shifted the truck into reverse. “That was just the excuse to get Daisy Price out under the stars. Course, I was goin’ fishin’ the next day, so I call it a fine bit of multitasking.”
Back in the day, Addie had to hear how hot Daisy Price was so often that the name still made her eye twitch.
They’d all made stupid bets about who’d get her to go out with him first and then attempted to sabotage one another.
“And I got to second base before the can of dirt fell over and the worms wiggled out and into her shorts,” Ford continued. “I also got to fish ’em out while she was screaming my name—see, that’s what women do when they’re satisfied.”
“Oh, I know.” Tucker grabbed the bar over the window. “Your mom’s quite the screamer.”
Ford knocked into her as he slugged Tucker’s shoulder, and Tucker laughed and backhanded him while she shielded herself from friendly fire.
“And the award for maturity goes to Crawford and hisyour momjokes,” she said, rolling her eyes, although she found comfort in the automatic back and forth, untouched by time apart.
As they turned down Main Street, still exchanging verbal jabs, an overwhelming sense of nostalgia hit her.
Add Shep and Easton crammed in the back or driving behind them in Shep’s truck, and it was high school all over again.
The guys had liked her for her back then, and they liked her for her now.
So while she was a pinch worried that Lexi would take one glimpse of her tonight and regret her decision to let her be a groomsman, she could only imagine the odd looks she’d get from Ford and Tucker if she requested a fifteen-minute stop at her house to freshen up.
Besides, the ship to make a good impression on Lexi had sailed already.
…
The Old Firehouse was exactly what it sounded like—a bar built from the old redbrick firehouse. There was a shiny pole that no one ever slid down, since they’d sealed off second floor access, but drunk chicks occasionally “jokingly” danced on, and they had cold beer and amazing wings and all things fried and artery destroying.
They also had two flat-screen TVs, which meant the game was visible from about everywhere, unless you arrived super late and got stuck in the far corner. With a cop and a firefighter in their crew, people were extra accommodating, so that hadn’t happened in ages.
Being on the up and up of the legal side these days had its benefits.
Addie was three beers in when Lexi sidled up to her. There was a wild gleam in her eye that automatically set her nerves on edge.
“This is a list for how to plan a wedding in six months.” Lexi slid it toward her.
Addie glanced at the lengthy checklist, with its wedding bells decoration and hot pink swirly print. “It’s nice.”
“We’re only two months out, and I still have four months of stuff to do. When we first became engaged, I mentioned hiring a wedding planner, and Will’s mother acted like I’d demanded a throne of diamonds. ‘Oh, honey,’ she says to me, ‘here we don’t throw money away on weddin’ planners. We save that so we don’t start our new lives in a heap of debt, which also makes the marriages run more smoothly.’”
Honestly, it was a damn good impression of Shep’s mother. Super sweet, albeit slightly judgmental, and 100 percent her way or the highway.
“Then she rattled off names in a whir. So and so always does the cakes, and another person caters, and apparently someone’s son recently became a DJ, and of course we’d hire him, wouldn’t we?”
“Josie’s,” Addie said. “And he’s not bad. You just need to be super detailed with the playlist or he’ll go rogue, and suddenly you’ve got ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ playing at the nursing home’s summer bash, and half the attendees are having heart attacks—to be fair, only one of them was a literal heart attack, and it was mild and most likely not the music’s fault. Allegedly.”
“Oh, jeez.” Lexi tapped her pen to her list. “She kept on going and going, Energizer-Bunny-style, and I just nodded, because she already thinks I’m too high maintenance. But I didn’t write anything down and I’m scared to ask her again, and I’m starting to freak out.”
Addie squinted at the list as if that’d help her decipher the madness.
Then the Falcons scored, and she jumped up to high-five the guys over the table—save Tucker, since he was cheering for the other team out of stubbornness.
He got a “Suck it, Crawford!” She grinned at Shep. “I told you our new tight end was hitting his stride.”
“It’s about time,” Shep said, reaching for another wing.
“I need help.” Lexi’s voice sounded small in the noisy bar.
