Runaway Bride (Across the Stars: Book 2) (9 page)

Chapter Ten

Sandy took another look in the mirror and groaned.  She yanked off the headband.  It wasn’t working with her long blonde hair today.  No matter what hairstyle she tried, her hair didn’t seem to want to stay in place.

How she hated being fixed up with someone!  She never knew what to say or how to act.  There seemed to be nothing but a bunch of expectations and she didn’t know what those were.  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  After she held it for thirty seconds, she slowly released it.  The simple action allowed her to calm to the point where she could think clearly.

Opening her eyes, she examined her reflection.  Usually, her wavy hair fell nicely over her shoulders.  Usually, when she added hair mousse to it, she had no trouble styling it.  Today, however, it didn’t want to cooperate with her, no matter what she did.  And of course, it had to be a day when Caitlyn was trying to fix her up with Mark.  Why did this kind of thing only happen when there was a man involved?

Tapping her fingernails on the bathroom counter, she finally decided to put her hair up in a ponytail.  She retrieved a green scrunchie that matched her dress and pulled her hair back.  Afterwards, she examined her ponytail and decided it was her best option.  At least, her hair didn’t look as if she’d just gotten out of bed.

The doorbell rang and she checked her watch.  Great.  In addition to having a bad hair day, she was also running late.  This didn’t bode well at all for her date.  It was going to end badly.  She didn’t know how, but it would.

She turned off her bathroom light and grabbed her purse before she made a beeline for the door.  When she opened it, she took in Caitlyn’s immaculate appearance and shook her head.

“Why is it that you always look perfect?” she asked as she stepped over the threshold and shut the door.

Caitlyn laughed.  “Come on, Sandy.  You look awesome.”

She locked the door and grunted.  “Yeah, for a garbage bag.”

“You’re too hard on yourself.  You look fine.  You need to think positive if you’re going to enjoy yourself.”

“Easy for you to say.  Your prince dropped out of the sky and married you.”

Crossing her arms, Caitlyn smiled in amusement.  “If memory serves, you thought Chris needed to be hauled off to prison when I first told you he was an alien.”

“Come on, Caitlyn.  Anyone with common sense wouldn’t believe he came from a planet with no women.”

“And yet he did, and you’ve seen how happy he’s made me.”

“That’s true, but I still think you’re nuts for having sex with him right away and then taking him home.”

“It was the bonding ceremony that made me have sex with him.  I didn’t leave the diner with the intention of doing all that.  Whatever hormone men from his planet have, it’s powerful.”

“Somehow I find it hard to believe you had to have sex with him.”

“Well, if things with Mark work out as well as I hope they will, you’ll find out soon enough.”

Sandy glanced at Caitlyn’s minivan.  She saw Chris in the passenger seat but couldn’t tell if Mark was in the back.  “He’s not going to try doing a bonding thing with me, is he?  Because if that’s the plan, you can count me out.  You might be okay with a stranger doing that to you, but I’m not.”

“Of course, he’s not going to do that.  And the thing with Chris was different.  He was assigned to me.  Mark has a choice.  He’s being careful, checking all his options.”

Though wary, she nodded.  “Alright.  But if he emits any hormones, I’ll use my pepper spray.  I need to know more about him before I commit to anything.”

“He won’t do anything you aren’t ready for.  I promise.  Now, let’s get to my sister’s engagement party before my mother calls to make sure I didn’t forget.”

Noting the way Caitlyn rolled her eyes, she grinned and joined her friend as she headed for the minivan.  “At least you won’t be the focus of the party.”

“Yeah, but I expect her to give me ‘the look’ since I appear further along in my pregnancy than I actually am, and I can’t tell her that babies on Chris’ world progress faster in the womb than they do here on Earth.  You’d swear I’m five months along.”

“If she gives you that look, tell her you think the decorations on a certain table are crooked and she’ll go running off to fix them.”

Caitlyn giggled.  “That’s a good idea.  I’ll keep that in mind.”

They reached the minivan and Sandy saw that Mark was, in fact, in the car.  Since he was sitting behind the driver’s seat, she got in on the other side.  She tried to ignore the nervous pounding of her heart.  If nothing else could be said about him, he was good looking.

“Mark,” Caitlyn said after she slipped into the driver’s seat, “you remember Sandy from my wedding, don’t you?”

“Sure.” Mark offered her a polite smile.  “You were Caitlyn’s maid of honor.”

“And you were Chris’ best man,” Sandy replied.

“I am the best, but I try not to let it get to my head,” he joked.

“What does being the best man have to do with your head?” Chris asked.

“It’s an expression, sweetie,” Caitlyn told him as she pulled out of the parking spot.  “And he’s not serious.  He’s just kidding.” Glancing at Sandy, she added, “He’s not an egomaniac.”

“I’ll never learn all the strange phrases you have on this planet,” Chris muttered while Caitlyn drove down the street.

“You should watch more TV,” Mark advised.  “They use idioms all the time, especially in sitcoms.”

“I have better things to do with my life than watch TV,” Chris replied and gave Caitlyn a wide smile.

Sandy sighed.  What was it like to be loved to the point where the man practically worshiped the ground you walked on?  No doubt, Chris would give up anything to be with her.  Sandy didn’t often envy others, but in this case, she couldn’t deny the slight twinge of jealousy over Caitlyn’s good fortune.  True, Chris’ method of securing the marriage to Caitlyn left a lot to be desired, but he loved her above everything else.  Sandy thought of how easily Josh ended their engagement twelve years ago and wondered why he hadn’t been willing to give up more to be with her.  Because his love wasn’t unconditional, she thought.

She forced the past aside.  This was a lousy way to begin a possible relationship with Mark.  Mark wasn’t Josh.  He was looking for a wife, something he couldn’t have back on his planet.  She had to give him a chance.  Smiling, she turned her attention to Mark.  “Caitlyn says you and Chris work together.” Fine.  So it was a lame icebreaker, but she couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“Yep.” Mark nodded.  “He’d get bored if not for me.”

Sandy noted the teasing tone in his voice as he glanced at Chris.  “Much like Caitlyn,” she mused.  “She made the diner fun when she worked there.  It’s not the same without her, but I’ll forgive her for abandoning me since she’s happy.  Good friends, those you can depend on no matter what, are hard to come by.”

“They are,” Mark agreed.  “That’s why I’m glad Chris and I ended up at the same place.  He’s a good friend.”

Chris looked at Mark, his eyebrows raised.  “We’re friends?”

Mark laughed.  “Of course we are.”

Caitlyn shot Chris a pointed look.

Sandy sensed a private message being exchanged between Caitlyn and Chris but knew better than to ask what it was.  Every couple was entitled to their secrets.

“Do you know Lexie?” Mark asked.

She turned her gaze in his direction.  “I do but not that well.  She spends most of her time with her mom or…” She glanced at Caitlyn.  “Who is the guy she’s marrying?”

In a high pitch tone, Caitlyn mimicked her mother, “The doctor.”

Everyone chuckled and Sandy had to wait until she stopped laughing before she continued, “I don’t know his name.  I think it’s something like Rick.”

“No, I think his name starts with an ‘N,’” Chris replied.

“Nick,” Mark said.

“Probably,” Sandy agreed.  “Anyway, I see Lexie when my family is doing something with Caitlyn’s family, like a backyard barbeque, but other than that, I don’t.”

“It’s sad we don’t even remember the guy’s name,” Caitlyn said as she made a left turn onto another street.  “I mean, he’s going to be my brother-in-law.”

“It’d help to remember his name if we got to see him,” Chris added.  “I have no idea what he even looks like.”

“You’ll get to see him today.”

“Maybe.”

“He’s not going to miss his own engagement party.  Even a heart surgeon wouldn’t do that, no matter how
important
he is.”

Mark leaned forward so he could get a better look at Caitlyn.  “You don’t like him?”

Caitlyn shrugged.  “I don’t know him enough to like him or not like him.  It’s just that from what I’ve heard about him, I get the feeling he thinks we’re all here to admire his greatness.”

“Caitlyn,” Chris replied in a tone that suggested she was being too hard on him.

“You haven’t met him.  Ever,” she emphasized.  “So how would you know?”

“Did he actually come out and say he’s better than everyone else?”

“It’s not what he says but the way he says it and the way he acts.  There are subtle things that crop up when you’re talking to him.  Personally, if it weren’t for my mom, I don’t think Lexie would even consider him.”

“Really?” Mark asked.

“Really,” Caitlyn replied, glancing at Chris who shook his head.  “It’s true.  Lexie doesn’t stand up to our mother like I do.  She lets Mom run her life.  I just hope Nick makes her happy.”

“Have you talked to Lexie about this?” Sandy asked her friend.

“Yes,” Caitlyn said, glancing at Sandy, “but Lexie says there’s a side to Mom that I don’t see.  Apparently, there’s a good friend buried somewhere under the bossy woman.”

Sandy decided not to say anything else.  She’d seen small moments where Caitlyn’s mom showed a tender side, but she knew her friend didn’t want to hear it.  And who could blame her after all the grief her mom put her through with Randy and then Chris?  She once suggested Caitlyn talk to her mom—have a real heart to heart conversation with her—but Caitlyn insisted it’d be pointless.  So Sandy opted to stay out of it.  It was the least she could do since Caitlyn didn’t press her for the reason Josh dumped her.

Caitlyn parked in a spot along the beach where other cars were and motioned to the large house.  “Here we are.”

Interested to see what kind of home a doctor lived in, Sandy peered out the window.  Her eyes grew wide.  “It’s huge.”

“Are all those windows a good idea?” Chris asked.  “Don’t you have to worry about hurricanes in this area of the planet?”

While Caitlyn answered him, Sandy’s attention went to the people lounging along the balcony and then to those sitting in chairs set up on the beach.  The Gulf of Mexico wasn’t far away and a couple of people chose to take a stroll along the shore.  Sandy couldn’t help but think if a man offered her this kind of home, she might marry him too, even if he was conceited.  At least she’d live comfortably.  She couldn’t blame Lexie for taking the offer.

“Thank goodness there’s a lot going on at this party,” Caitlyn said.

Sandy hid her grin.  No doubt her friend was thinking of a way to avoid her mother.  “Well, I’d like to see what Nick looks like since I haven’t seen him yet.”

“I wouldn’t mind seeing what he looks like, too,” Mark said as everyone got out of the minivan.  “Mind if I join you, Sandy?”

Sandy caught the excited expression on Caitlyn’s face and her heart did a crazy flip-flop.  It had to be a good sign he was choosing to go with her instead of Caitlyn and Chris, right?  Don’t get your hopes up, she warned herself.  He might just want to meet Nick.  Clearing her throat, she waited until Caitlyn and Chris headed for the beach before turning to Mark.  “My guess is the groom-to-be is in the house since he’s hosting the party.”

“You’re probably right,” he replied.

As they headed for the front door, she thought over what she could say to start a conversation.  “So, you and Chris are good friends?”

“Yeah.  He’s a really good guy.”

“Everything happened so fast when Caitlyn met him.  I wasn’t sure what to think of him at first.  She was married to my brother before he passed away.  It’s nice to see her with Chris, after everything that happened.  I mean, they got married so fast, but it’s worked out.  That’s the point to finding someone anyway, isn’t it?  To be with them.  It’s not the amount of time you’re with someone but the kind of person that someone is.” Her face grew warm when she realized she was rambling.  And not only that, but she was making no sense at all.  She bit her lower lip so she wouldn’t say anything else to possibly embarrass herself.

Fortunately, he didn’t seem to notice how nervous she was.  “I couldn’t agree more.  Sometimes love comes when you least expect it and the best thing you can do is make every moment count.”

Relaxing, she returned his smile.  So he hadn’t been turned off by her rambling.  “Exactly.”

They reached the front door, and he got ready to ring the doorbell but a butler opened it, holding a clipboard in his hand.  “May I have your names?”

Surprised by the formality, Sandy glanced at Mark to see what he thought.  If she guessed right, he was as stunned as she was.  Her gaze went back to the butler.  “I’m Sandy Davis.”