Page 21 of Just One of the Groomsmen
Addie turned, trying to piece her words together with what they’d been talking about before the touchdown.
Then it hit her. Surely she didn’t mean…?
The blonde blinked big, flawlessly lined eyes that perfectly complemented the vintage floral dress she’d worn. She walked in five-inch heels like they were sneakers and somehow never managed to get wing sauce all over her fingers and face, whereas Addie’s lips were burning from the fiery sauce, and she was sure her fingers would be orange for days.
This was why she knew she’d never truly impress Lexi, no matter how hard she tried.
“I need help planning this wedding,” Lexi repeated.
“Oh, you’ve come to the wrong girl.” As much as she liked Lexi, mostly because she clearly adored Shep and had been more accepting than most of her friends’ girlfriends, Addie held no pretenses that she could be the wedding-planning friend a bride needed. Wasn’t that what a maid of honor was for?
Before she could ask, Lexi sighed and hung her head. “I know.”
Well, that was…comforting?
She jerked up her chin, eyes wide as if she’d realized how that came out. “I mean, I know it’s not your thing. But Will loves this town, and I’ve come to love it and the people, too, enough to make it my future home. I don’t want to offend someone by accidentally not including them, and while I’ve met most everyone, there are things I’m still unfamiliar with, and there’s so much to do. And my friends and family live forty minutes away and are so busy with their lives. I’m not saying you’re not busy, I’m just saying you’re…”
“Here,” Addie filled in.
She doubted Lexi would be asking any of the other groomsmen, and as she took them in, their fingers also covered in orange wing sauce, eyes glued to the TV, she wondered how she’d managed to be enough of a guy that no one considered her a girl, but not enough of one to get out of wedding planning.
The fact that Lexi was so nice, combined with rocking that impression of Mrs. Shepherd and the Energizer-Bunny joke, made it impossible to flat-out say no.
“Look, I can try to help and point you to the right people to talk to, but again, this is way out of my comfort zone.”
“It’s not so bad. It’s mostly just legwork.”
Addie glanced up and met Shep’s gaze. He mouthed “thank you” and she wasn’t sure if he was in on it or simply thanking her for chatting with Lexi and trying to make her feel accepted.
She thought about the day she’d wrecked Dad’s new four-wheeler into a fence post. Shep had snuck it into his father’s shop and quickly fixed the dent so that no one besides the five of them would ever know.
She’d argue that Shep initiated the race that’d made her take the corner that fast, but she’d been at the wheel, unable to back down from a challenge as usual. It accounted for about 80 percent of why she’d landed herself in trouble. The guys sure used it to their advantage, just like she’d used the fact that Ford couldn’t resist a bet to hers.
Speaking of… “Hey, McGuire? Care to make a wager on the outcome?”
“You already owe me for last week’s game,” Ford said.
Yeah, yeah. She’d called one game wrong in a long string of getting it mostly right.
The two of them had always had a competitive thing, and while they’d both been studying anatomy for their respective careers, they’d had a bet going about who could get a better grade. It’d made them work harder, and when they both earned A’s, they’d celebrated. “Double or nothing?”
They negotiated the terms and she ordered another beer. Then she turned to Lexi, who still had stress hanging heavy in her features. “All right, I’ll help. What do you need me to do?”
…
Tucker finished explaining to Easton, Shep, and Ford about how he’d quit his job. He told them he wasn’t exactly sure what he was going to do yet, but he was done with city life, so the plan was to stay in Uncertainty.
“We could always use someone with a firm grasp of the law at the station,” Easton said. “I know most of the guys who run the courthouse in Auburn, too. Just say the word and I’ll poke around and see if I can’t get you a job.”
“You could work at the school,” Shep said. “They need people.I’mon the school board, for hell’s sake.”
Tucker laughed. If you’d told him that one of the guys who’d frequently landed him in detention would be on the school board one day, he never would’ve believed it.
He glanced at Ford. For all his joking and lighthearted demeanor, when shit went bad, you wanted him by your side.
In addition to responding to medical emergency calls and fires, he trained the K-9 units. Not only for the local search and rescue team, who spent a lot of time rescuing hikers and hunters and occasionally went down south when hurricanes hit, but also most of Alabama’s search and rescue teams. Which was pretty different from his original goal of becoming a professional stuntman in the movies.
All the same risks and then some, way less glory.
