Page 67 of The Magic of Sea Glass
Lauren squeezed her eyes shut to alleviate the burning from crying earlier. “All right. I’ll be there in just a few minutes.”
She cleared it with Mary and then jumped into her car and headed to Brody’s. When she arrived, she parked next to the Winnebago and ran up to the front porch, ringing the bell.
Brody answered the door wearing a tattered T-shirt with a fishing logo on top and his tuxedo trousers and shiny shoes on the bottom. “The tuxes for Stephanie and Mitchell’s wedding came today.” He opened the door wider to let her in as Milton greeted her. The tuxedo shirt and jacket were draped on the leather sofa.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, giving the dog a pat on the head.
“Well, take a look at this.”
He stripped off his T-shirt, causing her to stop breathing at the sight of his bare, toned chest and arms. When he turned toward the sofa, she forced herself to take in a gulp of oxygen. He slipped on the shirt, and it was about two sizes too small.
“The jacket is the same way.”
Lauren had learned to stay calm in these kinds of situations. But with the wedding in a mere two days, her jumping ship at the last minute, and no idea where they’d find a tuxedo with Brody’s broad build, her pulse quickened. “Did they send the wrong size?” she asked, walking over to the jacket and checking the tag.
“Yep,” he replied, taking the shirt back off.
Lauren tried to keep her gaze off his biceps. No matter how hard she tried, though, all she could think about was his touch, and given her day today, and the fact that he was leaving at the end of the summer, she needed to look away and focus on the task at hand.
“AndI called them, and the other two tuxedo rental companies on the island. None of them have my size in stock at the moment. The guy said he’d refund the money, but that’s not going to do me any good at the wedding.” He slipped his T-shirt back on, to her relief. “So, what are we gonna do?”
“Okay, let’s think,” she said, more to herself. But as she did, the tears that she’d worked so hard to stuff down surfaced, and to her complete mortification, she found her bottom lip wobbling.
“We could all go shirtless,” he said as he went around the bar that separated the living area from the kitchen and pulled two glasses from the cabinet, filling them with lemonade. Milton followed and loafed on the floor beside him.
Lauren scrambled to get herself together.
“Stephanie’s a pretty relaxed person, but if we tell her this, I can almost guarantee that she’s going to freak out.” He handed Lauren a glass of lemonade, clearly not noticing her inner thoughts.
“Brides usually do,” she heard herself say, but she was distracted by the warning alarm in her mind that was screaming for her to get out of there before she fell apart.
“Yeah, I guess for most of them it’s the one day in their lives that they’ve planned for since they were little girls, right?” He gestured for Lauren to take a seat on the sofa, but then his face came into focus. “You okay?”
She sat down before her knees buckled. “I told her I can’t do this,” she said, her voice quivering. Brody’s empathetic stare only made her feel worse.
“Do what, the wedding?”
She nodded, the tears that she’d somehow managed to keep at bay springing to her eyes.
“Hey, it’s okay,” he said.
She shook her head, unable to speak for fear she’d blubber all over him.
Tentatively, he put his arm around her, her head resting on his chest, under his chin. She felt even worse now. And it wasn’t the wedding. It was the fact that she held on to the guilt over moving on with her life, as if it were some kind of gift that she’d been given, but she was messing it up, and the whole ordeal was now making her feel like an utter failure. She looked up at him, but not for an answer. She just needed to know that someone could see her.
He took her hand, his thumb stroking her fingers. “You’re doing great,” he said.
She looked into his eyes, shaking her head. More tears flowed.
“You’ve singlehandedly helped Mary with the inn and planned a wonderful wedding for a good friend. You’re changing lives.” He wiped her tears away. “You’ve definitely changed mine.”
She wasn’t sure what came over her, but without a thought, she wrapped her arms over his shoulders, giving him a hug. He pulled her into his embrace, his strong arms around her, the scent of him filling her lungs.
“How can I get someone to do the wedding at this late date?” she asked through her sobs.
“You can do it,” he whispered into her ear.
“I don’t know if I can.”
