Page 9 of Best Man
“No, you tell her,” Niko said. “Wait. Better yet? Don’t tell her. Surprise her.”
“Really? But it’syourgift, bro. Don’t you wanna be the one to tell her?”
“It’ll be more fun if it’s a surprise.”
“It’ll knock her off socks, that’s for sure.” Jax’s grin refused to fade. “Tell you what. I’ll film it. I’ll get her reaction on camera.”
“Ah, there we go. Perfect.” Niko peeked at his watch. “We should probably head over to the hotel now, yes?”
“Yeah, let’s get going.” Jax followed Niko off the plane, clapping his hands on his best man’s shoulders and adding a friendly squeeze. “Thanks again, Niko. That’s huge, man. Just a huge gift.”
“My pleasure,” Niko said. “Congratulations to you two.”
4
Paulina
After another trip out to the field, Paulina climbed back into her truck and wiped a thin sheen of sweat from her forehead. The afternoon sun was really bearing down now, and Paulina, still in her farmer’s market clothes, badly needed to freshen up and change before everyone came over for the rehearsal.
And I still need to finish my project,she thought, biting her lip with worry. It was looking more and more like she wouldn’t have enough time to finish what she’d wanted to do. She peeked in the rearview mirror. The pickup bed was loaded with bright, freshly cut flowers and lush green foliage resting in cut buckets.
Hopefully, this’ll be the last load.
Racing against the clock but careful not to jostle her haul, she drove back to the property gingerly, following the well-worn ruts in the grass. Back at the new house, she pulled up along the shaded side of the barn and parked. With the barn doors open, she heard her sister and parents talking over the country music station that played over the portable radio.
Paulina called for help, yelling, “I’m back!” She went to the rear of the truck and grabbed two cut buckets and made her way into the barn.
“Thank God,” Piper said, rushing out of the barn to help unload. Whatever pressure Paulina was feeling to get things done, the bride was feeling double. Mom and Dad, not in as much of a rush, lagged behind Piper. “C’mon, guys, hurry!” Piper rebuked them, gathering a load of cut buckets. “We still have a ton more to make and we don’t have much time left before people start showing up!”
“Sorry,” Mom and Dad murmured, but at their age, they couldn’t move much faster.
Paulina carried her buckets into the barn, which was ready to rock as the event space for tomorrow’s reception. The rustic wood tables were laid out to serve tomorrow’s one-hundred-and-fifty guests communal style. After dinner, those tables would be moved and the polished concrete floor would morph into the dance floor. Streamers, strings of sparkle lights, and chandeliers hung from the exposed beams, tying the barn together and giving it a warm, romantic light.
After a couple more trips back out to the truck, the rest of the cut buckets were unloaded. Paulina took a second to admire the progress her family had made while she was out in the field.
“What do you think?” Piper asked.
“You guys got a lot done,” she said, impressed. The large bouquets popped with sunflower heads, whose bright gold-and-brown flowers were accented by royal lavender and blue larkspur. For foliage, they used stalks of wheat and deep green eucalyptus leaves. Each vase stood on a two-inch thick sliver of oak trunk, hand-sawed, stained, and finished by Dad and Jax themselves, and was adorned with a glass candle jar and an ornament displaying the table’s number. “It looks amazing.”
Not that anyone would probably notice the difference, but the fact that almost all the flowers and foliage had been grown right here on Eaglestorm Ranch gave the bouquets a genuine do-it-yourself charm, too. Sure, Piper and Jax could’ve easily paid a professional to handle the floral arrangements, but that wasn’t really how farm folk preferred to get things done.
If you want something done right, do it yourself,as Mom and Dad always told the girls when they were growing up.
“Okay, well, we need to get back to work,” Piper said, and the family took their seats. They hunkered down and made small talk while paring flower stems.
Piper’s phone trilled. She pulled the device out and gasped, her eyes wide. “Oh myGod.”
“What?” Paulina asked.
“Text from Jax. Check this out.” She showed Paulina the screen. It showed a picture of a fancy looking jet with sporty curves. “Apparently, Niko rented a friggin’ private jet to fly everyone up from Dallas.”
Paulina chuckled. “Whoa. Sounds expensive.”
“I’msureit was, but that’s just how Niko rolls,” Piper said. “The guy lives in a suite at the frickin’Ritz,for God’s sake. He could easily buy a house with his contract, but nope. Not his style.”
“Boy, I tell ya,” Dad began with an uneasy grimace. “I hope Jax doesn’t spendhismoney like that.”
“Oh, Daddy! You know Jax is responsible with money,” Piper said.
