Page 71 of Moving to Love
Staci’s voice rose in a gasp, and he looked over at her. Her eyes were wide when they turned on him. “You don’t have anything planned? Are you kidding?”
“We’ve been so busy with everything else, we haven’t had time for wedding planning,” he said a bit defensively.
“When we get back home, we’ll get everyone together to make plans,” Joci said, trying to soothe ruffled feathers.
Jackie asked, “Do you think you should wait until next year, so we have time to pull everything together?”
“No,” he said emphatically.
He leaned down and kissed Joci’s forehead. She smiled, looked at Jackie, and shrugged. He grinned; she was coming around to the idea of a fall wedding. She had worried out loud to him at first.
The next morning, the Rolling Thunder group met for breakfast at the hotel. The local dealerships all had bands, vendors, food, and events going on. The whole gang decided to check out the action. At the first dealership, they pulled some picnic tables together to sit and listen to music for a couple of hours.
Later in the afternoon, the group headed to another dealership. The band played fabulous rock and roll, despite the heat. The crowd shifted as people came and went. He was proud of his group for sticking together and acting responsibly.
By seven that night, he was tired. “Okay, listen up.” He looked around to see who they were missing: Frog, Chase, LuAnn, and Ryder. “I’d like to head back to the hotel. If you want to stay, that’s great, but Joci and I…” he locked eyes with hers. She smiled and nodded. “…are taking off. Not sure what we’ll do this evening, but I think the hotel has a band playing.”
JT looked around, then addressed his dad. “We have a few missing right now. Can you hang around until they come back? I’ll text Ryder now.”
“Yeah. No problem.” He leaned down close to Joci’s ear, breathed in the scent of her perfume, and closed his eyes; even now, it stirred him. “You okay with waiting a few more minutes?”
“Of course. The music is good, and I’m with my fiancé.” She chuckled, “Honestly at my age you’d think that word wouldn’t send a thrill through me, but it does. Every time.”
He kissed her lips softly. “I know exactly what you mean. But the word wife is so much better.”
She chuckled again; he could listen to that sound over and over.
Half an hour later, Frog and Ryder came walking back, practically carrying LuAnn. Ryder walked over to Jeremiah, Dayton, JT, Gunnar, and Joci. His brows were furrowed, and his lips pressed into a thin line. “LuAnn’s wasted, and Chase left.”
“What the fuck happened?” Jeremiah asked.
Ryder looked a little sheepishly at Joci. “She kept on whining and whining about how much she loves you and can’t stand the fact that you and Joci are getting married. She continued to drink, and Chase got pissed and left. He has feelings for her.”
Jeremiah pulled Joci close and squeezed her shoulders as everyone else floated over. He looked over at LuAnn. She could barely stand up, let alone hang on to anyone on the back of a bike. His jaw tightened, and his body grew rigid. Too good to be true.
“Let’s go,” he barked out. He grabbed Joci’s hand and started toward the bikes.
Frog grew tired of trying to get LuAnn to walk, so he threw her over his shoulder and carried her back to the bikes like a sack of potatoes. When they reached the bikes, he set LuAnn down, and she promptly slumped to the ground. Janice leaned down and tried talking to her to see if she was even conscious. With darkness starting to set in, they needed to figure out what to do with a very inebriated LuAnn.
Jeremiah’s voice was tight. “She’ll have to ride on back with me. I’m the only one who has a seat she won’t fall out of.”
Joci sucked in a breath. “Wait! LuAnn just spent the afternoon whining about how much she loves you and doesn’t want us to get married, and now you want to put her on the back of your bike and take her back to the hotel? Jeremiah, you’d better be joking.” She planted her hands on her hips and widened her stance.
He turned to look at her. “I don’t know what else to do, Joci.”
Joci stepped back. “Don’t do it, Jeremiah. I mean it. Don’t.”
“Joci, what else am I supposed to do? We have to do the right thing here.”
“Fuck the right thing. Why do I always have to do the right thing? Do the right thing for Keith. Do the right thing for LuAnn. They both have done nothing but shit on me. Now, after a whole afternoon of her professing her love for you, I’m the one who has to do the right thing?”
He scrubbed his hands through his hair. “I don’t know what else to do, honey.”
She backed up and walked toward her bike. She threw her hands up. “I have nothing else to say.”
“Joci, baby, please talk to me about this.”
“No fucking way, Jeremiah. I’ve had enough of this bitch and your catering to her. Enjoy your fucking ride back.”
