JORDAN
“What do you think?”
I looked up from my phone as Meg walked out into the salon wearing her wedding gown.
She looked stunning. The dress was a princess ball gown with lots of tulle and lace. It showed off her tiny waist, and even though she’d worried that it would be too much dress for her since she wasn’t tall, somehow it fit her perfectly. She looked like a delicate fairy.
“You look amazing.”
Our mother pulled out a tissue, dabbing at her eyes. “My little girl—all grown up.”
Meg grinned. “It’s perfect, right?”
“Mike is going to love it. You look like a princess.”
It was three days before the wedding, and Meg was having her final fitting to make sure nothing had changed and the dress still fit like a glove. I’d taken the week off to help Meg with last-minute wedding plans and to entertain all the out-of-town wedding guests who were beginning to trickle in. I’d already made four trips to the airport to pick up relatives and I still had to go back tomorrow to pick up Noah.
My mother and the bridal shop attendant fussed over Meg’s gown and veil, and I felt tears welling up. Images of us growing up together flashed before my eyes. I was so going to cry at the ceremony.
My phone rang, the screen lighting up with the picture of Noah in his flight suit that I’d snapped last time we were together.
“It’s Noah. I’ll be right back.”
I hit Accept and walked out of the shop.
“Hey,” I answered.
“Hey, babe.”
His voice sounded different; not the usual happy-to-talk-to-me that I normally heard when he called.
“What’s wrong?”
He sighed. “I have bad news. I’m really, really sorry, but I’m not going to be able to make your sister’s wedding. I got stuck with an ONE that I can’t get out of. I’m so sorry.”
“An ONE?”
“Operation Noble Eagle. Flying air support for high-profile targets. I can’t say what it is, but the squadron got tasked with one for this weekend and manning is a bitch. They need an instructor to lead it and Joker wants me since it’s high vis. I tried to get out of it, but there’s no way.”
Disappointment clogged my throat as silence filled the line. It was his job; I knew he couldn’t do anything about it. I wasn’t angry, just frustrated. And embarrassed. I didn’t know how to explain to my family that he was canceling at the last minute. The military was such a foreign concept to them that I doubted they’d understand. And ugh, now I was dateless again. Not to mention the fact that I’d been looking forward to seeing him again. Really looking forward to seeing him. I felt petty for caring, but my family was important to me. I wanted them to meet Noah. Wanted him to see this side of my life. And I wanted to make memories together. To start building a life. It wasn’t just him missing a weekend together; it was him missing a huge family event. Maybe it was stupid to let it bother me, but it did.
“Jordan?”
“It’s okay. I understand.”
“I know it’s not okay. I feel terrible.”
I forced myself to sound as cheery as possible. “You shouldn’t feel terrible. It’s your job. You told me it would be like this. I’m not going to lie and say I’m not disappointed, but I do understand. I know you would be here if you could.”
I hoped I wasn’t wrong about him, that he really was the guy I thought he was. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d trusted what a guy told me only to find out it had all been one big lie. I really hoped I wasn’t going to get burned on this one.
“I hate letting you down. Hate disappointing you.”
“I know.”
“I’m sorry I’m going to miss meeting your family. Maybe I can try to plan a trip to Florida after I get back from the TDY to Alaska.”
He was going to be gone most of April and all of May, and it was officially the longest separation we’d had.
“Yeah. That would be good.”
We said bye, and then he was gone, and I was standing outside the bridal shop, facing the unpleasant task of having to go explain to my mother and sister that Noah couldn’t make it to the wedding. Considering the hard time my mother had given me about dating him, period, I figured this news would only bolster her argument that this wasn’t a stable relationship for me. Maybe she was right. Maybe I was setting myself up for a lot of heartache. But either way, I didn’t know how to turn off my feelings for him. Love wasn’t always logical.
* * *
I sat at the reception with the bridal party, dressed in my pink satin bridesmaids’ dress, the odd one out in what was now a table of nine.
The wedding had been beautiful. Meg had beamed walking down the aisle with our father, and the look on Mike’s face when he first saw her had been so incredibly sweet. I’d cried while they said their vows, still not quite believing my baby sister was now a wife.
I’d spent the reception talking to family members, fending off questions of why I didn’t have a date, and the ultimate, When are you going to meet a nice boy and settle down?
They asked it as though my single status were completely my choice, as though I was too “wild” for a relationship, an animal unsuited for domestication. Some part of me wanted to give a little overview of my last four failed relationships—the guy who had wanted me to wear flats whenever we went on dates because he didn’t like how tall I was, the one who lived at home with his parents at thirty-two, the one who’d cheated on me with one of his co-workers, or the guy who’d insisted on splitting the bill on every single date we went on with alarming precision. Not exactly the stuff of great romance.
I didn’t mention Noah. I wasn’t up for hearing the questions of why he wasn’t here or any repetition of my mother’s concerns about how he wasn’t a good bet for me. She’d pretty much freaked when I’d told her he wasn’t coming after all—not to mention how pissed they’d been about having to rearrange the table setting and seating chart. My father had been better about it, but I could tell he was disappointed about not getting to meet Noah.
I missed him tonight. There was something about a wedding—the romance in the air perhaps—that made it suck to feel single. I wanted him to whirl me around the dance floor. To hold my hand. I wanted to share it with him.
“It’s time for the bride to toss the bouquet,” the DJ announced. “We need all of the single ladies out onto the dance floor.”
Ugh.
In my twenties, bouquet tosses had been fun and exciting. There was still that optimism and the romantic possibility that maybe there was some good-luck-slash-magic in those bundled-up flowers. Now it was just a scarlet fucking “S” for single, as the smattering of loners were herded onto the dance floor like cattle to be pointed at by all the happily married couples watching us with varying stages of pity.
I stayed in my fucking seat.
“Jordan! Aren’t you going to get up there?” my mother called out from the table next to ours.
I gritted my teeth at the sound of her overly cheerful voice. It didn’t matter if it was my third grade dance recital or my sister’s wedding, my mother never shied away from embarrassing me.
I looked at the dance floor—four singles. Awesome.
“I’m okay.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Go out there.” She turned to her sister, my aunt Shirley, lowering her voice slightly, but still loud enough that I couldn’t miss her next comment. “She’s thirty this year. No boyfriend.”
I bit my cheek trying to keep from offering up a retort. I did have a boyfriend. He just unfortunately had a wife in the United States Air Force.
“Are we ready?” the DJ asked, scanning the crowd.
Meg walked up to the front of the room, bouquet in hand. Our gazes locked across the room.
“Come on,” she mouthed, gesturing toward me with her free hand.
I loved my sister, and it was her wedding. I stood, feeling like everyone’s gaze was on me as I made my way to the group of girls eagerly awaiting the toss.
Oh God, my seventeen-year-old cousin was here.
So freaking embarrassing.
Meg turned her back to us, and then she heaved the bouquet over her head, the flowers sailing through the air.
I didn’t know if she did it intentionally, or if the bouquet gods had just decided to add to my embarrassment, but either way, the thing practically fell into my waiting hands as though pulled there by a magnetic field.
Meg grinned, coming over and giving me a big hug, while all the people cheered.
Whatever.
NOAH
I was exhausted after the ONE, my day spent essentially flying circles in the sky. I was in a shit mood, knowing I’d let Jordan down again, my mind with her the entire time. I didn’t want her family to think I’d flaked out, didn’t want her to think that, either.
I checked the time in Florida and pulled out my cell and called her, wondering if she would be back from the reception yet. She answered immediately.
“Hey. How was the wedding?”
I could hear the excitement in her voice, and the telltale sign that she’d been partying a bit. “Really beautiful. Meg was so happy.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be there.” I stared at the picture she’d sent me earlier of her dressed in pink, flowers in her hand; I’d made it my backdrop. “You looked gorgeous. Did you have a good time?”
“Yeah, I did. I caught the bouquet.”
I grinned. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry I missed that.”
“Me, too.”
Silence filled the line.
Worry hit me.
“Are we okay?”
She took a deep breath. “Yes. Maybe a little no.”
A pang hit my chest. “That’s fair.”
“I know this is fast, and believe me, I kind of feel like an idiot for even bringing it up, but I’m thirty and I just caught the bouquet at my little sister’s wedding and endured days of relatives asking me why I hadn’t met a nice guy, and I’ve drunk like a freaking bottle of champagne, so I’m just going to ask—this is going somewhere, right?” She took another deep breath. “I’m not crazy here, thinking we’re on the same page when we’re not.”
I’d had the talk before with girlfriends, and honestly, it had never been something I enjoyed, but with Jordan, it felt different. I didn’t blame her for asking, and maybe it was too soon in the sense that we’d only known each other over a month, but in a way, it didn’t feel too soon. I’d been with girls for six months and felt less for them than I did for Jordan after just six weeks—a lot less.
“Yes. This is definitely going somewhere.”
“I don’t mind having fun, and I’m not asking for a proposal or anything,” she added, “but I really care about you, and even though I have no clue how it would work with our lifestyles, I could see myself having a future with you. I want to work toward that.”
God. Me, too. I was falling in love with her. I wanted to be able to tell her that we had a future together, wanted to give her the possibility of forever, even when my forever came with a host of military-provided caveats and asterisks.
“I don’t know what our future holds, and given the way everything has gone with my life in the military, I can definitely promise that it will be bumpy, but I’m with you—I want to work toward building a future together. I know it’s early, and I know it’s fast, but I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. You have me for as long as you want me.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
Silence filled the line again and then I could hear the smile in her voice. “How was your flying thing?”
I grinned. “It was good. Wish I were in Florida with you, though.”
“Can I come see you soon?” she asked.
“I was hoping you would. I miss you.”
“How about next weekend?”
“Next weekend is perfect.”
Relief filled me. I’d been so worried that this would screw things up between us, but now I clung to the hope that there was still a chance.
“So what are you wearing?” Jordan asked, breaking the silence, a teasing note in her voice.
I grinned. “Are you propositioning me?”
“Maybe. I don’t know if it was being a bridesmaid, or the wedding, or the champagne, but I sort of feel like I owe the dress some sex. Think you could help me out with that?”
That I could definitely do.