When my brother asked me to fly to Vegas to be his best man, I didn’t think twice. When I found out it was Gracie Matthews he was marrying, I felt like someone had punched me in the gut.
She’s the girl I couldn’t have. The one I almost gave up everything for just to feel her lips against mine.
The night of my going away party, she listened and noticed. She didn’t see me as Weston Moore, star athlete. She saw me for me—something the town of Lavender Falls forgot. I went away to college, and they put me on this pedestal. When I came home, I was still fucking there.
So, when I left small town life for California,I never came back. Leaving all my hopes of perusing anything with Gracie Matthews back in Lavender Falls. It was the right thing to do. Especially since she was my brother’s girlfriend.
Fast forward five years, and I find myself in the same predicament. Being around her has me wanting to pick up right where I left off.
The only difference: my brother is out of the picture. It should be the end game, right? Wrong. He is the one who chose to leave her, not the other way around. Everything from here on out—especially tonight—is a rebound. That’s why I’m fighting like hell to keep my self-control.
The near kisses, the touches…it’s all becoming too damn much.
“What’s that?” Gracie skips over to the side of the road and points to a flatbed trailer decked out with ribbons and a balloon arch.
“I don’t know.” I try to steady her, but she doesn’t need it. I guess the tacos gave her the balance she needed to hold her alcohol.
“You want to find out?” She looks at me with so much wonder in her eyes, there’s no way I can say no. I’d follow her wherever she wanted to go if she looked at me like that every day.
“Sure. Let’s go.” I take her by the hand to make sure she doesn’t run out in the road and lead us over to the other side where a man dressed as a preacher shouts into a microphone. “We have a free honeymoon to the Bahamas for the first couple to get up here and take the plunge. Who’s with me? Who’s ready to say I do?”
“I don’t,” someone yells from the gathering crowd.
“Good luck with that,” another hollers.
“No gimmicks. Just have to be the first up here.”
“Let’s do it!” Gracie grabs my hand and pulls me up toward the front. “Pick us! We’ll be first.” She waves her hands back and forth to grab his attention.
“I think we have a taker.” He points to her. “Come on up. I’m pastor Murphy. I’ll be marrying you two love birds tonight.”
“Gracie…” I plead, “you’re drunk. You don’t know what you’re doing.”
“I know exactly what I’m doing.” She points to her shirt. “Mrs. Moore, remember?”
“Oh, I remember.” I lean over to try to talk some sense into her but she’s all in.
“What do I have to do?” Gracie covers her face, embarrassed. “I mean, what do we have to do?” She loops her arm through mine, her blue eyes a little glassy but still bright. “You good, Weston? Not getting cold feet, are ya?”
“Not a chance.”
“That’s good.” Pastor Murphy announces to the crowd. “We for sure have two willing contestants. Let’s see if they are ready to get the ball rolling?” He motions over to the makeshift workspace where the computer is set up. “All you have to do is walk over there and have Marcy help you fill out the online form.”
“This can’t be legit.”
“You don’t worry about that. By the time you say your vows, I guarantee your marriage license will be ready for you sign.” Pastor Murphy pumps his fist in the air. “Who’s ready to help me marry…”
He holds the mic in front of Gracie. “Weston and Gracie.” She smiles.
“Weston and Gracie.” He nods. “I like that.” He signals over to Macy. “Head on over there to fill out the paperwork. So long as everything checks out, we can get the ball rolling.”
“Great!” She claps her hands. “Aren’t you excited? We get to go to the Bahamas.”
“Yeah, that’s great.” I follow her over to the laptop. “But what about a ring? Where are we going to live? Do you want kids? I mean, these are things we should probably talk about.”
“Oh yeah.” Gracie motions for me to start the form then walks over to the crowd of on-lookers. “My guy here won’t marry me unless we have rings. Who’s willing to help this girl out?”
A young lady who looks around Gracie’s age holds up a bag of candy. “I have Ring Pops! Two of them.” She digs in her bag and pulls out a pink and green one. “Here you go!”
“Great! Thank you so much.” Gracie holds her hands out, and the woman tosses them her way.
“Now, what else do we need to discuss?” She stuffs the rings in my pocket for safe keeping. “Oh yeah…I don’t care where we live, and I want kids. Two at least, but we can have so much fun practicing.”
Hearing her say all this has me wondering if this is her or if she’s continuing the act from earlier. We played the role to perfection to land free drinks around town. Why wouldn’t she be able to pull off the perfect giveaway?
“Hey…” I begin to fill out the form, “come talk to me for a minute.”
“Yeah?” Gracie stands beside me. Her fingers instantly thread through mine, fitting together like they were made for each other.
“You really want to do this?”
Gracie tilts her head the side. “Only if you do.”
What is that supposed to mean? If we do this, will she regret it? Will she even remember it? If I make this decision for the both of us, I have to stand by it. I have to fight for it. Fight for her. Because I know without a doubt we belong together. I knew she was special when I met her, but I felt it when we really got to know each other five years ago. I knew then if I ever had another chance, I would take it.
The chance is now.
“I do,” I breathe the words effortlessly.
A slow smile spreads across her face. “I do too.”
“Save the I dos for up here,” Pastor Murphy warns.
“Okay. It’s all you.” I scoot over and let her fill out her part. She begins typing, and I take a moment to soak in my surroundings. This can’t be what she wanted. Not like this. “You know, if this is really what you want, we can go back home, date, and have a real wedding.”
“Weston!” Gracie gasps. “Are you getting cold feet?”
“No…I want to give you everything you deserve.”
“All I need is you.” She hits enter. “You and your sexy ass in the Bahamas.” She beams as she heads back up to the trailer.
“We’re ready. Marry us.”
“Come on up here.” Pastor Murphy motions for us to use the ladder.
“I’ve got you.” I hold her steady while she takes the rusty stairs one at a time and I follow.
“Take your positions.” He points to two X’s taped to the bed of the trailer.
We stand there for what seems like forever holding hands listening to Pastor Murphy talking about two souls being joined for eternity. Something about a special connection and nurturing it.
“Get to the good stuff,” Gracie cuts in, and the crowd erupts in cheers.
“All right, to the vows.” Pastor Murphy raises a brow. “Did you want to wing it or go the more traditional route?”
“Wing it,” we say in unison.
“Perfect. Weston, you may go first.”
“Okay.” I breathe in before bringing her hand up to my lips and placing a tender kiss on the inside of her wrist. Now is the time for me to lay it on the line. “Gracie Marie Matthews.” Her eyes go wide. “I may have just found out your middle name while filling out those forms, but when you walked back into my life today, I knew—”
“Was it the wedding dress?” Gracie joked.
“Maybe a little.” I winked. “I knew I wanted to be the man who made you forget everything. Today has been one of the greatest of my life. Being with you made me realize I don’t want to go another day without you. Gracie Marie, I promise you, if you marry me, I will stay. I will stay as long as you will have me and even after that. No matter what happens, I’m not giving up on us. I’m going to be the guy who stays and brings you coffee every morning because I love you.
“Oh, Weston…” Gracie’s eyes begin to water, “I felt it too. When I saw you walk out of that elevators, I was a goner.”
“Was it because I was shirtless?”
“Maybe a little.” She sighs. “Okay, maybe a lot, but still, it didn’t change the fact that I have loved you since the moment I met you. At fourteen, that was kind of weird.”
“Fourteen?” I mouth.
She shrugs.
“You may not have known I had a secret crush on you all these years, but I have. Even when I dated your brother…” Gracie turns to the audience. “Plot twist.”
They laugh.
“There’s something about you that draws me in. You’re like a sweater that’s unraveling and I want to pull the string a little harder. I know that sounds really odd, but it’s true. Everyone here knows once you pull on a thread, it’s hard to stop. It’s satisfying.”
“You’re a mess.”
“I am, but I want to be your mess. I love that you get my crazy and accept me for everything I am. I feel like I’ve waited five years for you to kiss me. It’s just a shame I had to con you into marrying me to finally get it.” Gracie blushes as she realizes what she just said. “Weston, I promise to love you, adore you, support you, have a lot of sex with you, make babies with you. I promise I will never forget you…forget us.”
“That was beautiful.” Pastor Murphy motions for us to grab the rings.
“Oh yeah.” Digging into my pocket, I pull out the candy and unwrap them both before sticking the plastic back into my pocket. “Which one do you want?” I hold the pink and green one up.
“Pink.”
“Perfect.” I hand her the green one.
“Gracie, will you take this ring as a token of my love for you?”
“I do.”
“Weston…” Gracie takes my hand and slides the green sucker onto my ring finger, “will you take this ring as a token of my love for you?”
“I do.”
“Wonderful!” Pastor Murphy claps. “It’s my privilege, as a minister and by the authority given to me by the State of Nevada, I pronounce you husband and wife. Weston, you may kiss your wife.”
“About time.” I crash my lips down on hers to memorize this feeling, her taste, everything that makes up Gracie Marie Moore, my wife. Twirling, sucking, teasing, I take what I want in a kiss that is long overdue.
“I hate to interrupt.” Pastor Murphy cuts our kiss short. “But I need you to sign these papers before midnight or this whole shindig isn’t legal and the trip to Bahamas goes bye-bye.”
“Let’s do this.” I hold my wife’s hand in the air. “You ready, Mrs. Moore?”
“Always, Mr. Moore.”
We walk over to the table where there’s a wedding certificate laying awaiting our signatures. “How did you do that?”
“I know people.” He winks. “You’re not backing out, are you?”
“Not a chance.”
“Good.”
Pastor Murphy pulls a couple audience members to sign as our witnesses then hands us our certificate and trip vouchers before sending us on our way.
“I can’t believe we’re married.” Gracie holds up our hands, admiring our candy rings, and then licks mine. “Mmm.”
“You’re not going to regret this in the morning, are you?”
“Not a chance. I may be a little tipsy—”
“A little?” I question.
“Okay, a lot, but there’s no way I’m going to forget this. If I do, you aren’t doing your job.” She leans down and grabs my face, laying on a kiss sure to sober us both up.
“Time to make this official.” I walk us down the sidewalk to where Sully is parked.
“Hey, look at that.” Gracie points to a little rodent dancing around to Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise.” “He’s wearing a red hoodie and gold chain.”
“Only in Vegas.”
We start to walk by when Gracie reaches into her fanny pack and pulls out a twenty, tossing it in there with the other bills.
“Good job, buddy,” Gracie coos as she notices the sign. “Gangsta Greg, the hip-hop ferret. What a fitting name.”
“We better go.” I tug her along.
“Bye, Greg.” Gracie waves as we make our way down the sidewalk.
“I kind of want a ferret now.”
“Not all of them are like that. He’s been trained.”
“You fucking idiot!” Someone yells, and we both turn around. “Dance, you idiot. Dance.” The trainer pulls out a small whip.
“Oh, hell no.” Gracie drops my hand and takes off for the ferret.
“Shit.” I run after her. Before I know what’s happening, she tosses a wad of money at the guy, stuffs Greg in her fanny pack, and takes off running toward me.
“Weston—run!”
I wait for her to catch up before sprint toward the limo. Sully already has the door open, and we slide in.
We both sit there for a moment before Gracie unzips her fanny pack and pulls out the rodent. “Westin, meet Gangsta Greg…Moore.”
“No. No. No.” I shake my head. “We can’t keep him.”
“I thought you wanted kids?” Gracie teases.
“I do, and I thought tonight we could practice.”
“Do you hear that, Greg?” Gracie whispers. “You may want to cover your eyes.”
“We can’t keep him,” I remind her.
“We’ll see.”
Truth of the matter is we don’t have to see. Whatever Gracie wants she gets as long as it doesn’t come with an order of protection or an arrest warrant. Which if we don’t return him I’m willing to bet we will have both.
Until then we are The Moore’s and I’m going to fight like hell to make sure she doesn’t forget it.