Page 4 of Best Man
Besides, he thought with a smirk,bad girls are so much fun.
2
Paulina
The rising sun had just cracked the horizon, but it was still dark out when Paulina pulled into the farmer’s market parking lot. She stomped on the clutch and threw the stick shift into reverse, and the big truck’s transmission whined as the twenty-four-year-old fearlessly whipped into the usual stall.
Her older sister, Piper, let out an impressed laugh. “You make it look easy.” She patted the dashboard as if the truck were a rabid dog that might snap at her fingers. “I was always too afraid to drive this thing.”
Paulina never really had a choice—her parents had needed her help. She was only fourteen when Piper turned eighteen and left the family farm to blaze her own trail out in the world. Sure, she’d been a little afraid when she first learned to drive the truck, but like all things, eh, you figure it out as you go.
“It’s not so bad,” Paulina said as she doused the headlights and shut off the engine. She added with a devilish twinkle in her eye, “Besides, people tend to get out of the way when they see me coming.”
“Can’t imagine why,” Piper joked.
Paulina hopped out of the truck and stretched. The mountain air felt cool and silky, and a chorus of birds warbled their morning songs. The Rockies, looming in the distance, were still enshrouded in fog.
Piper joined her a second later with a sleepy yawn. “Boy. I’m not used to being up this early.”
“You’ve been away for too long, Pip,” Paulina teased.
“Andyou’vebeenherefor too long,” Piper countered. “Don’t you want to get out and see the world?”
“Meh.” Paulina dodged the question with a wave of her hand. “You ready to set up shop, or what?”
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s do it.”
The girls went to the rear of the truck and started unpacking the bed. First, they rigged up the pop-up canopy that would protect them from the sun. The sun wasn’t all that intense atsix-thirty in the morning, but it would be by noon. Then they set up the two folding tables that would display their produce.
Moving and working in tandem, the sisters might’ve looked like twins. They wore their strawberry blonde hair the same way, in braided pigtails. They wore matching outfits, too—tie-dyed t-shirts, with the hem tied off into a knot to make the fit a little cuter, and jean shorts—just like they used to in the old days. Coordinated outfits were part of their “brand,” as Piper always used to say. The sisters had been the face of Eaglestorm Ranch ever since they were little girls—until Piper moved to New York City, anyway.
“This is so gonna be so much fun,” Piper said as the girls began unloading crates of produce from the pickup bed. “I haven’t done this in so long.”
“Yeah? Fun?” Paulina chuckled. “Not sure I’d call it fun.” It wasn’t that she disliked the farmer’s market, though. It was simply her job, the family business, the same thing she’d done every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning for as long as she could remember.
“Don’t eventrytelling me you’re bored with this,” Piper said. “Youhave a job waiting for you in Dallas, you know. And I could use the help.”
Piper had been trying to lure her sister down to Dallas ever since her dating app, Soulmate, became a big hit.
“I know, I know,” Paulina said, not wanting to go down this road again.
Piper didn’t press it. “Anyway, all I’m saying is, I haven’t worked the booth in years. And it’ll be nice to get my mind off the wedding for a little while? Ugh, there’s still so much left to do.”
“Tell me about it,” Paulina concurred. As the maid of honor, Paulina had put as much work into organizing the wedding as the bride had. But with just one day before the wedding, it was officially crunch time, and Paulina still had to finish writing the speech she had to give in front of everybody tomorrow—the prospect of which made her queasy—andshe wanted to finish crafting a super-secret surprise she’d planned. Paulina was starting to worry she wouldn’t have enough time to finish it before tomorrow. “Remind me, what’s on our agenda today?” she asked, hoping she might be able to find some free time.
Piper glanced at her watch. “The Dallas crew flies in around lunchtime. Once they’re all settled in at their hotel, they’ll come over for the rehearsal around five.”
“Gotcha. Need me to pick them up from the airport?”
Piper shook her head. “Nah, Jax is on top of it.I was hoping you could help me make the centerpieces for the tables, though?”
“Of course, Pip. Whatever you need. I’m here for you.”
“Thanks.” Touched, Piper stopped unloading crates to squeeze her sister in a hug. “You’ve beensuchan amazing help, by the way. When you get married, trust me, I’ll repay the favor double, okay?”
Paulina chuckled, escaped her hug, and got right back to work. “Thanks, but I doubt I’ll need it.”
Piper tutted. “Where’d that come from? You don’t want to get married now?”
