As if talking about him had summoned him, Scott appeared at the back door just as my sister nodded enthusiastically. He grinned when he saw me sitting with her, and came over to give me a warm hug before I could even stand up or stick my hand out.
“Colt, you’re here!” He unknowingly echoed the exact words Teddy had said to me earlier. “I’m so happy you could come, man. We were worried you might get held up at work. The VPs of international construction conglomerates can’t often take so much time off just because their little sister is getting married.”
While he spoke, he let go of me and went to stand behind Teddy. Then he leaned down to press a sweet kiss to her cheek. When they first told me they’d gotten together, my fucking head had nearly exploded but I’d long since learned to live with it.
It helped to know that he’d do anything for her and that he was genuinely in love with her. “Of course, I’m here. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Lucky for me, this VP of an international construction conglomerate can take as much time off as he wants for this. I can manage the European developments we’re busy with remotely for now and I’ve got a solid team working under me.”
“Well, good. We’re happy to have you.” He grinned, then nudged Teddy and made eye contact with me. “Come to the backyard and see what I got. It’s a potential beauty.”
My sister jumped up and rushed out, and Scott laughed before he followed her. By the time I got out there, they were standing next to a pile of rusty old pipes and looking way too excited about it. He turned to me to explain.
“I found these at a flea market,” he said. “It’ll make the perfect arch and trellis for the wedding. We’re having a bohemian chic theme, so these will work like a charm.”
To me, it looked like a mess.Right, executive-decision time. My sister’s wedding will not become too DIY and tacky.
As a construction mogul now, I didn’t only have millions in the bank, but I also knew how to build things to make them look good. And a bunch of interconnected rusty pipes was not the setting my sister deserved for the moment she said her I-dos.
They were excited, so I didn’t say any of this out loud. Instead, I slung my arms around their shoulders and walked them back toward the house. “That’s great, guys, but I’ve had a vision for your wedding that I’d like to share. Let’s get Scott a glass of lemonade, and I’ll tell you all about it.”
He sent me a sideways glance, but Teddy shrugged and nodded. “I can’t wait to hear what you have in mind.”
Back in the kitchen and with Scott now holding a drink as well, I started sketching out the idea I’d had of a beautiful, outdoor wedding setting with lovely tasteful decorations. “Imagine this. Beautiful lush green gardens. Twinkling lights. A solid stone arch. Waiters circling the guests with canapés on trays and crystal flutes filled with real champagne. We can set up cocktail tables in a bohemian-looking tent to stay true to your theme and we can fill it with freshly cut flowers.”
Teddy was looking starry eyed by the time I was done, but Scott’s brow was furrowed and his knee was bouncing. Fast. “That sounds great and all, but it also sounds expensive. I gave up my dream of making the big bucks when I moved out here, remember? We’re doing okay, but we don’t want to bankrupt ourselves for a wedding. It’d be nice to have something left over for the actual marriage.”
She gave her head an almost imperceptible shake and her eyes focused again when she lifted her gaze back to mine. “We’ve already booked a park just around the corner for the wedding and the reception. As nice as it sounds, we don’t need stone arches or real champagne. We just need some food and an officiant to do the deed. That’s it.”
“Don’t worry about money, guys. Let me take care of it for you. It’s my duty as wedding overseer to make sure everything is perfect, and I am the wedding overseer since I’m walking you down the aisle and Dad isn’t here.”
As I spoke, they looked at each other and exchanged a loaded glance. While I couldn’t hear the silent conversation they were having, it was clear that it was happening. Just to make sure that they knew where I stood on this issue before they made their final decision, I added one last thing. “I’m not taking no for an answer. No matter what you decide on doing for the wedding, I’ll take care of it. Dad wouldn’t have wanted it any other way, and neither do I.”
They both glanced at me. Then Scott released a long, quiet breath and Teddy held my gaze as she nodded. “Okay, we give up, Colt. We’re relenting. You can take care of it, but within reason. This is not going to be a million-dollar wedding.”
Relief rushed through me when she said it. Not only was this really what our parents would’ve wanted and what I wanted, but making over this wedding would give me something to think about other than my heartache.
As long as I focused on the practicalities and not the fact that they were for a wedding, I should be okay. My sister needed this. As much as I knew she would’ve been happy with her park idea too, she deserved to have all her dreams come true. If I could make it happen, I damn well would.
That was what I needed to keep at the front of my mind—my sister and what she needed. I’d been her primary caregiver since before I’d even hit my twenties. I sure as hell wasn’t going to start ignoring my responsibilities now just because I’d been walked out on.
I raised my chin and stuck out my hand to shake on it with her, fixing my gaze on her worried, chocolate brown stare. “You’ve got yourself a deal, little sister. It won’t be a million-dollar wedding, but it’s sure as hell going to look like one.”
2
EMMA
“Construction paper circles. Circly, circly circles,” I sang under my breath as I let my scissors slide along the lines I’d drawn on the paper before I’d gotten started. “Only seventy-two more to go of the circly, circly circles.”
As a preschool teacher, I was a pro at these things. I had cut out thousands of circles for class projects just like the one I was preparing for now. The thought of having to cut out a hundred circles might’ve been daunting to some, but I’d learned to keep my eyes on the prize and to take each circle as it came.
I made up little songs as I went along, and if I came up with a good one, I jotted it down in my trusty notebook and taught it to my class while we did the project together at school. It helped to keep me focused and from getting overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work that went into class prep.
Just as I was about to start on the next sheet, I heard the telltale creak of my front door opening. I sat up a little straighter until the voice I’d been waiting for rang out from the foyer. “Hello? It’s me, Em.”
“If the door opens without a knock, I know it’s you,” I called, setting the sheet down and getting up. Teddy rushed into the dining room where I’d been working.
Theodora Eldridge had been my best friend and next-door neighbor for most of our lives—save for the couple of years that Colt had taken her to the city with him shortly after their parents had died. Even then, she’d still been my best friend. She just hadn’t lived next door.
She’d stopped knocking or using the doorbell the year we’d turned ten, and although I’d been afraid that things would be different once she got back, they hadn’t. We’d picked up exactly where we’d left off and she’d never gone back to waiting at the door like she had when we’d been kids.