My plan to go home and think was derailed the moment I saw Delaney’s number on my screen. With only three weeks until the wedding, her nerves were starting to frazzle.
“Hey there.” I wanted to be the voice of calm for my friend.
“Please tell me you aren’t busy. Can you come over?” Her voice sounded strained, but at least it didn’t sound like she’d been crying.
“I can be there in two minutes. I just finished hiking with Garrett.”
“Oh good. Do you know the way through the back gate?”
I waved to catch Garrett’s attention. “I’ll find out. Be there soon.”
He leaned down to my window. “What’s up?”
“What’s the fastest way to the goat farm? Delaney is having a mini crisis, I think.”
He pointed, giving directions and mentioning landmarks. The man knew how I navigated.
“Thank you.” I started the engine. “I had a lot of fun today. And I’m glad you showed me that spot. A house up there would be amazing.”
He smiled. “Good. I’ll talk to you later. Call me when you get home.”
“I will.” I followed his directions and parked in front of the trailer a few minutes later.
Delaney waited on the porch. “Thank you so much for coming. I’m having trouble with the seating arrangements. I’ve stared at it for so long, and Eli isn’t much help. He says people will be happy with whatever. The only thing he said was not to sit Tandy and his granddad anywhere near each other.”
“Yeah. Don’t do that.” I followed her inside.
“In a minute you have to tell me why. Eli won’t talk about it.” She sat down at the table and ran a hand over a seating chart before wiping her eyes. “And thanks to Eli and Garrett, I contacted my mom. She’s coming.”
“Oh, Delaney! That’s wonderful.” I hugged her.
I’d been so wrapped up with Garrett’s injuries and healing, I hadn’t even thought of what I shouldn’t say to Delaney about Eli and Garrett meeting at the doughnut shop. But now, she knew that Eli had hired Garrett, and I didn’t have any secrets to keep.
“I’m so happy Garrett found her. He’s great at the private investigator stuff.” Her smile left no question about how she felt.
“Funny you should say that because he’s getting out of it. He’s going to be a rancher.”
“I’m sure his dad is happy about that.”
“He is. But tell me more about your mom.”
Delaney grinned. “She sounds like she’s doing well. Not perfect, but better than the last time I talked to her. And I think she hadn’t reached out because she wasn’t sure if I wanted contact.”
“It’s great that you found her.” I sat down, and seeing the tears in Delaney’s eyes, I steered the conversation in a more productive direction. “Now, let’s figure this out.”
She pointed at a small table on the chart. “Instead of having a head table for all the wedding party, this table is just for me and Eli. I’m letting everyone else sit at the other tables. Eli has Zach and Harper as groomsmen, and I have you and Cami. Zach will want to sit with Haley, and I was going to seat you next to Garrett because y’all are friends.”
“Perfect. Garrett and I are attending together.” I saw Delaney’s facial muscles twitch and quickly added, “As friends.”
She clasped my hand. “I’m not saying that it’s a bad idea for you to be friends with Garrett, but what’s going to happen if a woman sweeps in and steals him away?”
I’d thought about that many times, and I knew the answer. When Garrett found the love of his life, I’d pull away and nurse a broken heart, but that would be easier than being a disappointment. I told people I wasn’t willing to risk my heart. That was partially true. But ultimately, I wasn’t willing to risk being not enough. That truth had been buried in the story I told Garrett, but I’m not sure he completely understood. As much as I loved and trusted Delaney, I couldn’t tell her that part of my story.
I blew out a breath. “Let’s just work on the seating chart.”
“It can wait a few minutes. Talk to me.” Delaney walked into the kitchen and pulled out hot chocolate packets. “With or without marshmallows?”
“With. Always.” I crossed my arms on the table and laid my head down. “I don’t want to think about Garrett with someone else. But I care for him too much to want him to stay single because of me. This topic came up today on our hike.”
She set two mugs on the table and slid the bag of marshmallows toward me. “And?”
“I made him promise that he wouldn’t ignore an opportunity.” I poured in marshmallows until the chocolate could no longer be seen.
Delaney added only a few to her mug. “How did he respond?”
“He said that when he found the right woman, he’d expend all his energy to win her heart.” I sipped my chocolate, getting a mouthful of marshmallows in the process. “And when that happens, I’m going to need you to take the doughnuts away from me.”
She laughed.
Wiping tears, I shook my head. “I’m pouring my heart out, and you’re laughing.”
“First of all, you make doughnuts for a living. How am I going to take them away from you? You’d only make more.”
“True.”
“And secondly, I can’t imagine Garrett chasing anyone else anytime soon.” Delaney stirred the marshmallows into her chocolate. “No matter what, I’ll be here. Even if it means slapping doughnuts out of your hands.”
The words ‘anyone else’ played in my head, and I thought back to Garrett’s carefully worded promise. He hadn’t promised to date some unknown woman who might be part of his future. When he made that promise to pull out all the stops, he meant me. The realization made me giddy . . . for a half second, and then the panic crept in. I couldn’t think about this now. If things went south and I spent three weeks eating doughnuts, I wouldn’t fit into my dress. I wouldn’t do that to Delaney and Eli.
“We haven’t gone a single day without texting or talking since Thanksgiving. I look forward to spending time with him, but I’m terrified of labeling our friendship as anything else. I can’t.” I swirled the marshmallows around in my mug. “Dating him would risk having my heart broken, and I can’t do that. I think I’ll leave things as they are until the wedding—because I already said yes to being his plus one—and then I’ll pull back a little so that he has space to find someone else. But thinking about it too much right now isn’t a good idea.”
Delaney set her mug down and looked me in the eye. “When I was being stupid, you called me out on that because you are my best friend. Now I’m returning the favor. That is the absolute worst plan.” She tapped her fingernail on the table. “If you are afraid of having your heart broken, avoiding the label of dating isn’t going to prevent that.”
I swallowed down the rest of my chocolate. “Right, but I don’t have the bandwidth for this right now. I need to think about Christmas and making cakes for your wedding, and . . .”
“Just enjoy his company. Don’t worry about labels or giving him space. He’s a grown man. If he needs space, he’ll say so.”
“And if he wants more than friendship?” I knew he did. Why was I asking Delaney this question? It would lead right into the conversation I didn’t want to have.
“He’ll show you.” She smiled. “Now, seating. I need to know why Tandy can’t be by Matthew.”
“No one talks about it, so I don’t know exactly. But they never speak to each other. I’ve only seen them in the same room a couple of times. But you can sit Matthew over here with Eli’s parents. And Tandy knows Lilith, so you can sit her with the Henrys.”
“Okay.” She scribbled on the chart. “Now for the big question. What about my parents?”
“Tables for six or eight?” I scanned the page.
“Six. Should I have chosen eight? That just seemed so big.” Her brow furrowed. “I’m second guessing every single thing about this wedding.”
“Eli?”
Delaney’s face flushed as she smiled. “I’m a hundred percent sure about that part.”
“Good. So, you could put Beau, Lilith, Joji, Clint, Tandy, and your mom at this table. They would keep your mom entertained and make her feel welcome. And then put your dad’s family with Eli’s parents.”
“Then where would I put Matthew?”
“With Haley and Zach. Over here. Hank and Nacha and the baby are also at that table, so there is one extra chair.”
“Perfect. And last question. Your parents?”
“With me and Garrett. And if you don’t have Ava and Mad Dog assigned yet, put them at that same table.”
Delaney hugged me. “Thank you. You’ve made this so easy.”
“And thank you for being honest with me. I’m just going to table that entire line of thought until after you are Mrs. Gallagher. I can’t believe the wedding is only three weeks away.”
“I know. I’m so excited.” She glanced out the window as a truck door slammed. “I say that Eli makes me happy, but that’s not it really. I wasn’t unhappy before. But with him, I’m more content, freer to be me. I know that sounds silly.”
“It doesn’t.” The contented feeling was something I knew quite well. Recently.
The door swung open, and Sherlock bolted across the room as Eli entered.
“Hey, Eli.”
“Oh no. Not the chart.” He feigned horror.
Delaney kissed him. “Oh stop. We’re done. Tessa helped me.”
“Tessa, you’re a lifesaver. Delaney kept asking me about where to seat people and then got upset when I said we should pin the chart to the wall and throw darts to decide.” Eli chuckled. “I don’t know why she didn’t like my idea.”
I leaned down as Sherlock sniffed my pants. “You smell Blue, don’t you?”
Sherlock jumped and tried to lick my face.
“Sit.”
He dropped to his haunches, his tail wagging.
“Good boy!” I petted him. “Y’all have really been training him.”
Eli and Delaney blinked, and then she said, “We have. But why are you acting as if you like dogs all of a sudden?”
“Turns out, I sort of like well-behaved dogs.” I picked up my purse. “I’m going to go, so that y’all can do couply things and I can eat and relax before going to bed.”
Eli opened the front door. “Are you and Garrett coming for Christmas Eve dinner?”
“We are. I talked to your mom yesterday. She’s so excited about having an extra mouth to feed.” I laughed. “See y’all later.”
I climbed into the car and drove home. When I walked back into my apartment, I texted Garrett. I’m home.
Thanks for letting me know. I’ll see you in the morning.
Dang my heart for being so excited about that.