Susan Mallery Fool's Gold Series Volume One: Chasing Perfect\Almost Perfect\Sister of the Bride\Finding Perfect (70 page)

She walked a little faster toward the stage.

“Liz grew up here, like me. Unlike most of us, she didn't have an easy time of it. Her mother was indifferent at best and abusive at worst. Some of you might remember her. She had a reputation for being a drunk and…” He hesitated.

The crowd went quiet.

“In high school, Liz was smart and beautiful and sweet. But almost no one bothered to notice. Instead the other kids said terrible things about her. Things that weren't true.”

Liz didn't know if she should walk faster or disappear into the crowd. Humiliation burned her cheeks.

“It was all a lie,” Ethan continued. “I know, because I was her first boyfriend. Her first kiss. Her first.”

“We know about the kid, Ethan,” someone called.

“Right. But what you don't know is that I made a promise to Liz back then. I told her that I loved her. I said we'd go off to college together. And then when my friend asked me if I was dating Liz, I lied and said she wasn't anyone I would spend time with. I denied I even knew her and I did it in front of all my friends and in front of Liz.”

There was an audible gasp.

Liz wove through the ever-growing crowd. She could see the stage more clearly now, could see Ethan. He stood alone, facing the town.

“I betrayed her and broke her heart,” he said quietly. “I denied her and I denied myself. Because I did love her. But I was young and stupid and more worried about what my friends thought than her. I didn't deserve her.”

“You can say that again,” someone urged.

Liz reached the side of the stage, where the steps were. But now that she was there, she didn't know what she was supposed to do. Stop him? Listen? This was the most surreal moment of her life.

“Liz took off. Who can blame her? About three weeks later, she found out she was pregnant. She came back to tell me and I was, ah, otherwise occupied.”

“What does that mean?” someone asked.

“He was in bed with someone else,” a guy in the back hollered.

Several people laughed. A few groaned.

“Not smart,” a woman said.

“Tell me about it,” Ethan agreed. “Flash forward six years. Liz came back again to tell me about my son. This time, she was determined I would know. But someone got in the way and kept the information from me.”

He drew in a breath. “The reason I'm telling you all this is that Liz is staying in town. She's moving here so I can be with my son and her nieces can live in a familiar place. She's a helluva woman.”

“Hey. We've got kids here.”

“Oh, sorry.” Ethan looked chagrined. “She's amazing. So for those of you who want to say something bad about her, you're going to answer to me. No more stopping her on the street or in a store and saying she was wrong to keep Tyler from me. No more making her feel bad. Liz deserves better and we're all going to give it to her. Understand?”

There were several murmurs of agreement.

Liz felt as if she were taking part in a play. Or watching a movie. This couldn't be happening.

“If she's all that and you're obviously in love with her, why aren't you marrying her?”

The question came from down in front. Liz stiffened, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.

Ethan sighed. “Hi, Mom.”

The crowd laughed.

“Answer the question,” Denise insisted.

Liz held her breath.

“I want to. Liz is my world. But I've been an idiot one too many times. I asked her to marry me because it was the right thing to do.”

“You really are stupid,” a woman commented.

Everyone laughed.

“Did you tell her that you're sorry?” a boy offered.

Liz turned toward the speaker and saw Tyler standing next to Denise. Abby and Melissa were nearby, all looking at Ethan, all hopeful.

“She likes it when you apologize after you've done something wrong. And she always gives you a second chance,” Tyler informed.

“Not this time, buddy,” Ethan argued.

“But if you love her,” Melissa said, “you should tell her again. Tell her like you mean it.”

“Kiss her like they do in the movies,” Abby added.

“It's not going to be enough. Liz deserves better than me.”

“Darlin', if we only married who we deserved, then the world would be filled with single women,” an older woman said.

There was more laughter.

“I do love her,” Ethan told the crowd. “But sometimes love isn't enough.”

Liz stared at the man who had always been in her heart and knew she'd been given the most precious gift of all. A second chance. Whatever doubts she'd had faded away in the face of Ethan humbling himself before everyone he knew—just to protect her and make her feel safe.

She felt his love, his caring, his support. The road they shared might not always be easy, but it was where they both belonged.

“Love is always enough,” Liz said.

He turned, looking stunned. “I thought you weren't going to be here until noon. I thought the kids had come on their own.”

“The band goes on at noon. We got here a while ago.”

He dropped the microphone to his side. “How much did you hear?”

She climbed the stairs to the stage. “All of it.”

“I do love you, Liz. I mean that.”

“I believe you.”

“What's he saying?” someone in the crowd asked.

A person up front shushed him. “We'll tell you later,” the woman said.

Ethan set the microphone back in the stand and moved toward her. “I want us to get married. I want us to be a family. But only because I want to spend my life with you, making you happy. I want to be the man you deserve, but I'm going to need your help to get there.”

“You got that right,” she said with a smile.

“Is that a yes?” he asked.

She stepped into his embrace.

“Yes,” she whispered, right before his mouth pressed against hers.

“They're kissing like in the movies,” Abby crowed. “I love it when that happens.”

Sister of the Bride

Susan Mallery

One

“K
atie, honey, you need a date for your sister's wedding.”

“I had a date, Mom. He's marrying the bride.”

“All right, fine. Your sister stole your boyfriend,” Janis McCormick said with a sigh. “And it was wrong. But that was nearly a year ago. It's water under the bridge. They're getting married. The whole family is flying in and we have two hundred other guests. We're going to have a long weekend of all kinds of events and, trust me, you'll feel better if you have a date. The extended family will torture you if you don't, and that will make us both crazy.” Her mother finally paused for a breath. “For me, Katie? Please?”

At times like this Katie really hated the whole concept of growing up and acting mature. There were situations where a good temper tantrum seemed like the exactly right solution to a problem. Like this one. But she'd never been into drama—that was her sister's thing. And it was difficult to refuse her mother. Mostly
because Janis didn't ask for very much. She was one of those warm, loving parents who worried and slipped Katie an extra fifty dollars every time they had lunch, despite the fact that Katie had been on her own since college and had a great job that she adored.

“Mom,” she said, “I love you. You know that.”

“Don't say ‘but.' I'm on the edge as it is. Your sister is driving me nuts. I didn't have to start coloring my hair until she got engaged. I swear, the second she brought over bride magazines and started talking tulle, I began going gray.”

Katie leaned forward in the booth of the restaurant. She and her mother were having a quick lunch to talk about the latest changes Courtney had made to her wedding. The fact that it was only two weeks away didn't seem to worry Courtney.

Nor had stealing Katie's boyfriend.

She wasn't going to be bitter, Katie reminded herself. She was going to rise above petty emotion. Courtney was her sister and the sisterly bond was powerful and lasting. And if Courtney woke up with a zit the size of Cleveland on her wedding day, well, that would be fun, too.

Katie cleared her throat. “However, as much as I would love to bring a guy to the wedding festivities, there isn't anyone. We're talking Fool's Gold. You know there aren't a lot of single guys hanging around. I can't come up with anyone I would trust to pretend to be involved with me.”

“Are you telling me you haven't dated since you and Alex broke up?”

Technically, they hadn't broken up. Katie had brought Alex home for one of their usual Sunday-night
dinners with Katie's parents. Something she and Alex had been doing regularly for months. The only thing that had been different about that night was the feeling Katie had that Alex was going to pop the question. Mostly because she'd accidentally found a receipt for a diamond ring in his coat pocket when he'd loaned it to her at a football game.

Katie hadn't been sure Alex was the guy she wanted to spend the rest of her life with, but she'd figured being unsure was normal. After all, how could anyone
know
any particular guy was the one? Only, he hadn't proposed. Their friendly dinner had been interrupted by Courtney's unexpected arrival. Alex and Courtney had taken one look at each other and Katie had ceased to exist.

“Katie?” her mother asked. “You're not seeing anyone?”

“No. I've been busy with work and not in the mood.”

Her mother sighed. “It's four days of family and stress. I know I don't want to have to field questions about your lack of love life and you have to want it even less. You have to bring a man.”

“Sorry, no.”

“What about Howie?”

Dear God, no.

Katie thought about banging her head against the table, because honestly, the pain would be less. “Mom, no.”

“Why not? He's smart and rich and very funny.”

And his name was Howie. He was the son of her mother's best friend. The two women had been doing their best to fix up their kids for years. Katie had resisted with all her might. The last time she'd seen Howie, he
and his mom had been visiting Fool's Gold. He'd been maybe sixteen and smart enough that he was already in college. Tall, skinny, with too-short pants, thick black-rimmed glasses and a way of peering at her as if she were an uninteresting form of bug. They'd had nothing to say to each other.

“Most of the time I'm willing to take one for the team. But I'm not interested in Howie,” she said firmly. “I'd rather deal with the awkward questions.” No one was desperate enough for Howie—certainly not her.

“Katie, don't make me use my bad-mom voice.”

Katie smiled. “Mom, I'm twenty-seven. The bad-mom voice doesn't work on me.”

“Want to bet?” Her mother sighed again. Worry darkened her eyes. “Please? I'll beg. Do you want that? I'm desperate. I want you to have a good time.” She paused. “Well, as good a time as you can have at this. And I don't want you to worry about what everyone else might be thinking. It's four days. You'll barely have to see each other.”

It was four days trapped in a hotel with her family at the top of a mountain. Where was she supposed to go to avoid them—and Howie?

“He's doing some big project at work,” her mother added. “I'm sure he'll be busy most of the time.”

Katie hesitated, not just because she adored her mother but also because the questions from family about why she wasn't married had begun to border on brutal. There she was—the older sister—still not married, no prospect of a boyfriend. Courtney could barely go fifteen minutes without falling in love.

“Fine,” Katie conceded at last. “Just for the wedding, though. Nothing more. Ever.”

Her mother beamed. “Wonderful. I'll let him know. This is going to be wonderful. You'll see.”

Wonderful?
Katie could think of a lot of words but that wasn't one of them. She was already knee-deep in regrets. Four days with Howie? Fourteen years ago, they'd barely lasted an hour in each other's presence.

The only bright spot in the whole thing was that back then he'd disliked her as much as she'd disliked him. Maybe he would do a better job at telling his mother no and then none of this would be an issue.

* * *

“Mother, I won't,” Howard Jackson Kent said firmly.

“I see.”

Two simple words. They didn't matter in and of themselves, it was the tone that was going to come back and bite him in the ass. He could already feel the teeth.

“We'll ignore the fact that Janis McCormick is my best friend,” his mother said, staring at him from across his desk.

They were in his office, his mother having dropped by unexpectedly between his meetings. There was only one way she would have known he was free, which meant later he would be having a little chat with his personal assistant.