Eve had quite possibly never been this relaxed in her life.
Then again, neither she nor Sadie had ever been to a spa. It was one of those luxuries they’d never allowed themselves. Besides, Eve was always more comfortable on the back of a horse, and ranch living wasn’t conducive to such pampering. Still, she would agree there was a time and a place, and right before a wedding seemed a good reason for such pampering. It also became the perfect way to host a small bachelorette party.
The bachelor and bachelorette parties were occurring a week before the wedding, to give the groom enough time to get over the hangover he’d be likely to have the next day. They’d all heard horror stories about grooms who were late, sick, and hungover. One of Linc’s friends threw up on the altar. Not an auspicious beginning.
Eve was salt scrubbed, exfoliated, and deep tissue massaged with aromatherapy essential oils until she nearly fell dead asleep. Keeping her from falling asleep was Daisy’s nonstop talk about Wade. Wade this and Wade that.
“Do y’all think Wade will ever get married?” Daisy asked.
Eve was lying on a cot between Daisy and Lucy, Sadie’s friend and a part-time waitress at the Shady Grind.
“I don’t know,” Lucy piped up. “He’s a bit of a loner. Why do you like him?”
“He’s a good guy deep down,” Daisy said. “With a big heart.”
Eve and Lucy shared a smirk. That sounded like wishful thinking.
“I know he must have a big something,” Lucy muttered under her breath and Eve swatted her.
“All I know is I’m marrying the most handsome man on earth, y’all,” Sadie said from under a towel placed at strategic points to cover all the naked. “He’s mine. And he knows how to give his woman some good lovin’.”
“Eww!” Daisy rolled over to her side, turning away from Sadie.
“A little tact?” Lucy snort laughed.
“What? I’m just talking about his kisses.” Sadie winked.
“Yeah, right,” Eve said.
“I’m sorry, girls. I’m just so happy,” Sadie said. “It’s kind of like trying to hide a bush fire under a basket. It’s not going to stay under there long.”
“You have every right to gush.” Eve then hushed her voice. “Just don’t brag about his sexual prowess in front of his sister.”
“Alright, then.” Sadie waved a hand dismissively.
A while later, they’d all made their way up from the hotel spa to the sixth-floor three-bedroom suite, still wearing their hotel spa bathrobes and sandals. The suite contained a separate living room with a plasma TV, a sofa, and a mini fridge. A sunken whirlpool tub sat in the two-vanity bathroom.
Sadie’s parents wanted to spoil their only daughter. They told Eve to spare no expense, and she hadn’t.
“Are you sure about this?” Eve perused the room-service menu. “This food is way too expensive. We could get dressed and go find a diner somewhere. Look at the price of the hamburger! Even Hank would be shocked.”
“Is it Kobe beef?” Lucy leaned over Eve’s shoulder.
Eve shrugged. She handed Lucy the menu and went to find her phone. She’d been pathetically checking it frequently this week, asking Annabeth if everything was going well at the clinic, and whether she should come in to help out. Annabeth kept reassuring her everything was under control, and to try to enjoy herself.
Eve pulled Sadie aside after they ordered meals. “Did you tell him?”
“No, but I will. Tomorrow night.”
“I can’t believe you’ve waited this long!”
“No time has been perfect. Something always stops me.”
“No time is ever going to be perfect.”
“I was thinking on our honeymoon. We’re going to be so relaxed and I’ll make it special. One night over a candlelit dinner or something.”
“If you’re okay with not telling him before your wedding day. I’m sure it won’t matter. Not like he won’t marry you if you’re pregnant. That’s usually the other way around.”
“True. At least I know he’s not marrying me for the wrong reasons.”
“Exactly. It’s going to be fine.”
“Sure. Now, help me talk Daisy into staying away from Wade. It isn’t like she doesn’t have plenty of other choices. The last thing she needs is to fall for Lincoln’s best friend. Then ‘rodeo-Wade’ will drop her, break her heart, and I’ll have to intervene so I don’t wind up visiting my new husband at the pokey.”
“You’re exaggeratin’.”
Sadie went hand on hip. “Now, he wanted to kill the man who hurt you. What would he do to someone who hurt his little sister?”
Eve doubted Wade would ever hurt a woman in the same way, but the point was taken. Emotional pain could be as devastating, and Daisy was inexperienced both with men and their rejection.
“Okay, okay. But I don’t know how we can talk her into ignoring a sexy rodeo cowboy.”
“Follow my lead,” Sadie said, beckoning Eve.
Lucy was making herself at home behind the bar. “Anything you want. Anything at all. Challenge me.”
“Oh! A mojito,” Daisy said, jumping up and down.
“Challenged accepted.” Lucy ducked under the bar and came up with vodka. “It’s a good thing I dropped by the store to pick up fruit, olives, and mint. It’s always such a challenge being the only bartender at a party.”
“Is it?” Daisy rolled her eyes. “The weight of the world?”
“Y’all, you know what I was just thinking?” Sadie said, sliding Eve a look. “I’m so glad I waited and took my time to find the right man. It was worth the long wait. Lincoln would never hurt me. From the start, when we got together, I knew it would be a forever thing with us.”
Eve should follow Sadie’s lead. But suddenly she didn’t want to play. Because Daisy should know the whole story and not just the pretty-packaged version of love and romance. Daisy should know that not all men were after love, or even sex. Some craved control. Possession. And if they couldn’t have you, they wanted to make certain that no one else could.
“I agree,” Eve said. “Sadie and Linc are made for each other. But Daisy, first make sure the man you’re with isn’t just with you because he wants to control you.”
Daisy snorted. “Control me? Who would even dare?”
“Eve’s got a good point.” Lucy shook the tumbler filled with crushed ice. “I myself am done with men. All they want to do is call the shots. ‘Wear this, cut your hair like that, don’t talk to that man. Is that your ex texting you?’ No thank you.”
“And our men know better than to fool with that controlling business,” Eve said.
“Then why’d you bring it up?” Lucy said.
“You want to see real men, you should come by my daddy’s ranch sometime,” Daisy said with a wicked grin. “Some of the rodeo cowboys are ranch hands off season. Oh good Lord, the way they fill out them Wranglers.”
“Back to what I was sayin’. Eve’s right about the control thing, but you also don’t want to be with a man that’s just going to drop you when the next pretty young thing comes along.” Sadie gave Eve a significant look. “Know what I mean?”
This conversation was making Eve’s eye twitch. Once, she’d found the perfect man in what might be viewed as a haystack of men. It could happen.
“I think Daisy needs to date some more men to find out whether Wade is as great as she thinks he is. Because you know, he might be, or maybe not. How would you know?” Eve said.
“That’s right.” Sadie elbow nudged Eve. “Listen to Eve. She knows what she’s talkin’ about.”
Daisy crossed her arms. “Is that why you left my brother at the altar? You weren’t sure he was the right man because maybe you hadn’t tried everyone else?”
The silence and sudden tension in the room was thick and swift. Lucy stopped pouring drinks. All eyes were on Eve.
“It’s a little more complicated than that,” Eve muttered.
“Let’s go have some of those drinks!” Sadie said, moving toward the bar. “I am so thirsty. Whew!”
“Y’all are going to love my mojitos.” Lucy started pouring. No one had yet noticed or questioned why Sadie wasn’t drinking with the rest of them.
Daisy stood, arms crossed, more hostile than Eve had ever seen her before. She’d been a teenager then and one of the bridesmaids for their wedding-day fail. She and Daisy never talked about any of this.
“Well?” Daisy pressed.
“I was younger than you are now. I’d never dated anyone before Jackson. I was sixteen when we met. How could I know that I’d met my soul mate in our Podunk town?”
“Aww,” Sadie and Lucy said at once.
“And Wade could be my soul mate.” Daisy flipped her hair. “How do you know he’s not?”
“He could be. I don’t know. Just make sure he wants the same things you do. Just because y’all are soul mates, that isn’t always the case,” Eve said.
A few minutes later, the other women were enjoying their cocktails. Except Sadie, of course. Eve, too, remained sober as a nun. She’d never been much of a drinker, and in college she hated the alcohol excess she’d witnessed. They ordered off the room-service menu, an impressive presentation of hamburgers and crunchy, warm French fries rolled in on a white cloth-covered cart. It made their junk food look fancy. Lucy and Daisy were staring with rapt attention as Tatum Channing danced on the plasma TV in the first of their marathon movie-night selections. Sadie was alternatively staring dreamily between her sparkling one-carat diamond ring and the TV screen, a dopey smile on her face.
Eve interrupted whatever dream her best friend was caught in. “I lost my hearing aid yesterday and I don’t think I’ll have a new one in time for the wedding. So just make sure if you have something you want to whisper, be on my right side.”
“Oh, okay. How’d you do that?”
Eve explained how Levi was trying to give a difficult cow pony some retraining, how she’d gone after him, and dropped her hearing aid.
“I tried to save it, but it was a lost cause. At least now Jackson knows, and I don’t have to find the right time to tell him. Or think about whether he has to know at all.”
“What did he say?” Sadie’s eyes went wide with anticipation.
“He…he said he was sorry and then he held me. For a long time.”
“Oh.” Sadie patted her heart. “That’s the Jackson we all know and love, isn’t it?”
Eve thought back to that moment of incredible warmth and comfort, feeling herself enveloped in his big arms, his tall body dwarfing hers. He’d been so close she could feel his heartbeat. She’d longed for that moment and yet when it came, she hadn’t been prepared. She couldn’t handle the emotions that came rushing back. The memories. He happened to be a part of her best ones.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do. Now that all the anger is behind us, I can’t help the way I feel.”
“How do you feel?”
“I like him…a lot.”
It would be more, were she ready for that. But she wasn’t in the position to trust anyone. Not even him.
Sadie grinned. “That’s a good start.”