Accidental Fiancé Read online

  "I bet he's thrilled about that."

  "He's the groom. I'm the bride. I outrank him."

  "That's always bothered me."

  Both women looked at me as if they had forgotten I was there.

  "What has?" Thea asked.

  "When people say the bride is more important than the groom at a wedding." Roxie squeezed my hand, but I kept going. "I mean, he's getting married too. It is the groom's wedding just as much as the bride's, at least, I think it should be. The wedding is about the two of them coming together to be one and start their new life together. It shouldn't only be about her. In fact, the only one at the wedding who should be completely engrossed in the bride and thinking only of her should be her groom. But at the same time, she should be fully focused on him." I squeezed Roxie's hand and turned to gaze at her for a few seconds. "At least, that's what I think I want when I get married one day."

  There was a brief silence. This was the moment of reckoning. The moment when my first impression was made. Finally, Thea smiled and gave Roxie a knowing look before turning around and walking into the building. Roxie glanced at me before we followed.

  "I know what I'm doing," I murmured to her.

  Roxie

  He was good.

  He was so good, I almost believed we had taken the long, leisurely way to the resort from the airport instead of getting in a screaming match with the car rental clerk, arguing over who was going to drive, and then playing Tetris with our bodies and luggage just to fit in that stupid roller skate of a car. It wasn't quite good enough to make me feel warm and fuzzy when we got into the suite and saw the piles of luggage that served as inanimate reminders of all the people already here, though. I knew what they were thinking. I should have been there first. The maid of honor shouldn't be dragging in after everyone else. I should have been there to greet people and support Thea. Oh well. Life happens.

  Luca and I dropped our bags to the carpet in the one remaining empty corner of the suite.

  "So Thea, why aren't you and Bryce staying in the same room?" I asked.

  "We thought it would be more romantic to be apart until the wedding night," she said. "Come on. Everybody will be happy to see that you got here. I know they were starting to get worried."

  She had regained that dreamy note in her voice as she walked toward the door to the suite. I started after her, but my eyes fell on a series of four bags positioned right in a row like dominoes. They were each a different color. Blue, purple, pink, and yellow.

  "My sisters are already here?" I asked.

  Thea stepped back into the room.

  "Yeah," she said, "they got here a few hours ago. They all drove in with your parents. It was a line of cars, like a little caravan."

  Thea was grinning at me expectantly, but I didn't feel quite as enthusiastic about my family being there as she did. I had hoped that at the least I would arrive before my sisters did. I had been surprised when Thea told me she had invited all of them to the resort for the entire week, but she had reassured me they probably weren't all going to come on the first day. Apparently, two of their husbands were having trouble getting time off. And Kimberly, the youngest of my sisters, was being recognized at an event for her work. It never ceased to amaze me that no matter how long I went without talking to my sisters, Thea always knew everything going on with them. I often felt like she was the thread that kept us together, even if it wasn’t always for the best. I figured it was that thread who had informed my sisters I would be arriving on the first day of the wedding week, with my boyfriend, and suddenly all four of them had all the time in the world.

  That was just like them. Always showing me up.

  I took a moment to smooth my dress and fluff my hair, trying to repair my outfit after getting lost while trapped in the ridiculous excuse of a vehicle. I could hear faint music and voices coming from a room toward the back of the building as we walked down a wide hallway. I tried to imagine what this building had been like when it was a private home. I could tell it had undergone extensive renovations and structural changes to be made into the bed and breakfast portion of the resort, and I had a strange sense of sadness over it. I could tell it had once been a gorgeous home, and someone went to great lengths to turn it into something else just to suit their own needs.

  I paused that train of thought and winced.

  I was commiserating with a house. I had reached a new low.

  Luca stepped up beside me and stood close enough that his arm pressed into my shoulder. I had to stop myself from staring at him. It was enough to be able to feel his chiseled muscles through his shirt and the occasional warmth of his skin brushing my hand. If I looked at him, I might lose my resolve to not get involved.

  I hadn't even gotten a chance to get all the way into the ballroom before my parents burst out of the door as if some sort of parental sonar told them that I was there. Their prodigal child had returned.

  Well, to a beach resort that contained the vast majority of the people with the same home. Close enough, right?

  "Roxanna!" My father bellowed as he came out of the ballroom.

  "Roxanna?" Luca whispered.

  "That’s my full name," I muttered back. "Do you really think my parents would just name me Roxie? That’s my nickname."

  "It's so good to see you, baby!"

  My mother pulled me into a tight hug, pushed me back to look at me, kissed me hard on the cheek, and then pulled me back against her.

  "Good to see you, too, Mom."

  "What took you so long to get here?" she asked, still clinging to me. "I was so worried about you!"

  "We called you a few times," my father said. "You didn’t answer."

  That would be because my tin can rental car didn't give me enough range of motion to get the phone out of my purse.

  Mom held me tighter at the apparently terrifying thought of not knowing where her daughter was in the wilds of a sleepy resort town.

  "Mom," I said, trying to maneuver myself out of the hug. "Mom. Seriously. Mom. I've only been gone two years and you visited me less than six months ago."

  "Exactly! Six months! I feel like I don't even know what's going on in your life anymore. Look at this good-looking man standing here with you! I didn't think –"

  "That I was actually going to show up with anyone?"

  "No!" she protested. "Well, yes. But you can't really blame me. I mean, you didn't even mention him to me before last week. What I was going to say was I didn't think you were seeing anyone. I thought you spent all your time in that big city working."

  "Most of her time," Luca interjected. "Your daughter is extremely dedicated to her work and she does such incredible things to help others. I am just fortunate enough to get the scraps of her time." He reached for her hand. "I'm Luca."

  He kissed the back of her hand and I thought my mother was going to pass out right then and there.

  "Mallory," she said.

  "It's a pleasure to meet you."

  She was gazing at him like he was a glazed doughnut.

  "Dad," I said, redirecting the conversation before Mom could go in for a kiss. "This is Luca. My boyfriend."

  "Sir," Luca said, extending his hand. "It's nice to meet you."

  "Hank," my father said. "Good to meet you too."

  "Oh, Roxie, we have something to give you," my mother said.

  "What?"

  "It's in the room with all the luggage. Come on."

  We turned around and followed them back down the hallway to the suite. I watched my mother go to the closet. She threw open the doors and reached inside. When she turned around she was holding a massive cardboard box with my name written across the side in her smooth, flowing script. She was the only person alive who marked moving boxes like she was signing the Declaration of Independence.

  "What is that?" I asked as she crossed the room towards us.

  "We finally decided to convert your old room into a storage room," she said.

  "You still had my old room?"
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br />   "Well, yes," she said. "We didn't really know how long this whole New York thing was going to last, and we wanted to make sure that if you had to come home, you had a place to stay. But it seems like it's going to stick, so we went ahead and made your room into a storage space."

  "What happened to the garage?" I asked.

  "Your father has claimed it as his man cave," she said. "Have you ever heard of such thing?"

  "Yes, Mom, I've heard of a man cave."

  "Well, I just don't know what he does out there all day."

  "Whatever I want to, Mallory. It's my man cave. It's my domain. I get to do whatever I want out there and no one else is allowed in."

  He sounded like a little boy who had just made his first no-girls-allowed clubhouse in the woods.

  My mother rolled her eyes.

  "He built a food slot into his door, Roxanna. A food slot. He expects me to do the cooking for him and make him whatever he wants to eat in that cavern of his, but I'm not even allowed to go inside to give it to him. I have to slide it through the door."

  "Cave, Mallory. Not Cavern."

  My mother made an exasperated sound and held the box out to me again.

  "But you still cook for him?"

  "Of course, I do. When I cook the meals, of course. He grills sometimes. Your dad might be getting crazy in his old age, but he's my crazy."

  "Mom. He's barely over fifty."

  Luca chuckled beside me and I saw him duck his head to try to muffle it.

  "Take your box, Roxie," Mom said.

  "What is it?"

  "It's just some things from your old room. You didn't leave a whole lot when you up and went to New York, but we found some things from when you were in middle and high school."

  I took the box and opened one flap to look down into it. A few stuffed animals mingled with a stack of journals, loose papers tucked into a folder, and some well-worn paperbacks. At the bottom was a folded blanket and in one corner, a single slipper.

  "Why did you bring this stuff here, Mom?"

  "So that you could take it to the city with you," my father said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "There's some good stuff in there. You might need it."

  "I can't bring this on the plane with me, Dad."

  He shrugged and took the box from my hands again.

  "OK. We'll just keep it in our storage room for you until you visit."

  "You're going to put it right back in the same room that you took it out of?"

  "Well, on a shelf," he said.

  "Then why did you take it out of the room?"

  "To put on the shelf, I guess."

  "There you all are," Thea said, coming into the room. "They are about to open the buffet. And Roxie, there are some people here who are really excited to see you."

  Everybody started out of the room and Luca leaned down toward me.

  "See? They're excited to see you."

  "They're excited to see you," I said. "By now they've all heard that I was coming with someone, so this is the big reveal. Did she actually show up? Does she have a man with her? What's going to be her excuse if she doesn't?"

  Luca looked at me for a beat.

  "There's a lot going on up there right now, isn't there?" he asked, tapping my head gently.

  I nodded.

  "So much. I want this week to be perfect for Thea. I don't want anything to mess it up."

  Luca reached forward and brushed a piece of hair away from my forehead, before tracing his fingertips along the side of my face. I felt myself shiver but tried not to let him notice.

  "It is," he said. "We've got this. Just relax and try to have fun. I'm here for you."

  He took my hand and we walked into the room where the welcome party was being hosted.

  Let's do this.

  Chapter Six

  Luca

  The energy of the room completely shifted as soon as we walked in the door. People who had been talking and laughing suddenly paused and looked our way. Then the whispering began.

  Holy hell. They really are that invested.

  Roxie's hand tightened on mine and I squeezed back reassuringly. We took a few more steps in the room, and the onslaught began. People rushed up to us from all sides, greeting Roxie with an amount of exuberance that seemed to far exceed the two years she had been away from her hometown. I was starting to get images of everyone in her hometown coming together and holding hands to sing Whoville-style songs and that her absence meant an ever-present hole that would never be filled. Maybe a solo that could never be sung.

  This was the Seuss that was never written.

  Roxie had to let go of my hand to accept all the hugs that were being thrown at her, but it wasn’t empty for long. Soon I was shaking hands and having my back clapped like I was running for mayor. Just as quickly I noticed that the people greeting her really did seem more interested in evaluating me than they did welcoming her back.

  "You really did come with a date!"

  "I can't believe it. I mean – I'm so happy for you!"

  "Look at him. You did a good job for yourself in the city, Roxie."

  "I was sure that you were still single. Your parents hadn't mentioned any special man in your life!"

  The comments were coming so fast Roxie couldn't even respond to them all. None of them were said bitterly or with even a hint of meanness. Instead, they were just subtly judgmental, each comment filled with pity and utter astonishment, but veiled with delight. I couldn't decide if it would be better if they were just blatantly mean. If they were directly mistreating her, she could push back. But this way they sounded like they were being nice, so she had no choice but to be nice back to them. It was rubbing me the wrong way, and I didn't even know these people.

  Suddenly the group parted and a group of four women came toward us. They had a similar look to Roxie but looked much more like each other than her. They were even wearing similar dresses. Not enough that it looked like they had gone shopping together to purposefully coordinate, but enough so that it showed the similarity between their thought patterns. The effect was somewhat unnerving.

  "Luca," Roxie said, gesturing toward them. "These are my sisters. Marcia, Janet, Cynthia, and Kimberly."

  Marcia, Janet, and Cynthia?

  I looked at her to see if she was kidding. The stony expression on her face told me that she wasn't.

  "I'm picking up on a little Cinderella vibe here," I muttered to Roxie.

  "Yeah, but they aren't my stepsisters. I come by this naturally."

  "It's nice to meet all of you," I said, turning to them with a smile.

  "Hello, Roxie," Marcia said in almost the exact haughty tone I’d imagined she would use. It was almost comical.

  "It's nice of you to finally join us," Janet added.

  Well, now we might be edging a bit toward being mean.

  "We were starting to think that being maid of honor might just be too much for you."

  Getting closer.

  "Especially with Brad and all."

  And there it is.

  "Brad?" I asked.

  Marcia looked at me with a delightedly cynical smile.

  "She didn't mention Brad to you?" she asked. "Her ex – the reason she ran off to New York in the first place?"

  "I thought she went to New York to pursue her career. At least, that's what she's been doing. With exceptional success, I might add. And she has told me about her ex." I turned to Roxie and stroked her face tenderly. "She just hasn't had much of a reason to think about him recently."

  Her lips turned up into a slight smile that promptly disappeared with her sister's next comment.

  "That's good to hear. It means it won't bother you the entire time that Brad and Heather got engaged last week."

  Roxie's eyes snapped over to Marcia.

  "They're engaged?"

  Janet nodded.

  "They told everyone yesterday."

  "Well, I think that's a little bit tacky. He's heading into his sister's
wedding week and he takes that as an opportunity to announce his engagement?"

  "You're sweet to be so concerned about Thea, my darling," I said and leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. "But think of it this way. Thea will be such a lovely bride and this wedding is going to be incredible. That poor Heather has already been completely overshadowed. This special time for her isn't even really that special now."

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Roxie's sisters exchange glances. None of them said anything. They seemed to have been silenced. Roxie looked up at me and her eyes told me she felt the same thing I did.

  Score one, Roxie.

  "Roxie?"

  We turned to the sound of the voice behind us and I saw a dewy-eyed woman coming toward us.

  "Serena," Roxie said, stepping toward her and opening her arms in one of the very few truly voluntary hugs I had seen from her that day. "It's so good to see you."

  "I've missed you, Roxie. Thea's missed you, too. She's so happy that you're here."

  "I am, too."

  Roxie stepped back from the hug and took my hand, pulling me toward them.

  "This is Luca. Luca, this is Thea's mother."