The Best Man's Holiday Romance Read online

  Both sisters had the same dark brown eyes, except that Tasha didn’t wear as much makeup, so they seemed more...normal. While she wasn’t gorgeous like some of the actresses on television, she was pretty in a nice, wholesome way. Nothing particularly striking, but well-balanced.

  Most of all, she had a really nice smile, and it always felt sincere. When she smiled her whole face lit up and her eyes almost sparkled.

  Except this morning Tasha’s smile seemed uncharacteristically cheery, which meant he probably looked uncharacteristically crabby.

  “Come on in, Tasha,” he muttered, trying to sound gracious as he released the doorknob and stepped back.

  Her smiled wavered for a second, then returned.

  Tasha handed him a hot cup. “Double double. I remember how you take it. I hope you like blueberry muffins. That’s what I got for you.”

  “That’s perfect. Thanks,” he said as she walked past him.

  “I’ve never been to your place before. Where’s the kitchen?”

  He felt himself blush. He’d never been rude; his mother had raised him better than that. Yet today, his usual good manners had left him.

  Jeff pointed down the hall as he closed the door behind her. “That way. Sorry.”

  Once in the kitchen he pulled out a chair for her, then seated himself. After inhaling the aroma of the fresh muffins, Jeff’s stomach made an embarrassing gurgle. He looked down as he reached into the bag, then began to peel the paper off one of the muffins. “Sorry. I didn’t realize I was so hungry.”

  “No worries. I figure we have about twenty minutes before we need to go. Lots of time. Enjoy.”

  No awkward silence hung between them as they ate their impromptu breakfast because there was no silence. Tasha talked nonstop—something he’d never experienced with her before. Not that he had anything worthwhile to contribute. In a way, the distraction was good, because in order to pay attention he couldn’t wallow in his own misery.

  As soon as Tasha finished her last bite she checked her watch, pushed her chair out and stood. “Let’s go.” Without allowing him a chance to respond she turned and started toward the door, giving him no choice but to follow.

  She waited for him to lock the door, then headed for her car parked on the street, versus his car in the carport.

  It would be rude if he suggested they take his car after she’d made a point about saving him gas money, so he said nothing. After the service he would take her out for lunch, and he’d pick up the bill.

  Chapter 2

  As they headed for the church, Jeff turned to Tasha. “Now that we’re on the way, I’m thinking that neither of us is going to know anyone there. You said this place is going to be really small. How small?”

  “I’m not sure. The building isn’t large—it could probably seat about two hundred—but I’ve never been there for a service. From what Ashley said, I think there will be about a hundred people there this morning.”

  At his church, around seven hundred people attended the early and late services. In a group as small as this, it wouldn’t be possible to simply get lost in the crowd, because there would be no crowd. However, no one would ask about his upcoming ex-wedding.

  Monday he’d go back to work, where the first thing he’d do was cancel his vacation. Opening up that prime slot for someone else would raise questions about why he didn’t need it anymore, but staying home would remind him every day that he hadn’t flown off to the Bahamas in marital bliss. He didn’t want to wallow, so he was best off where he could be busy, and that was at work. He didn’t know what Heather wanted to do with the honeymoon package she’d booked and paid for, but told himself he didn’t care.

  Visions of the woman who would have been his wife and her married boyfriend danced through his mind. He didn’t know if that made him more angry or depressed, and it was an odd feeling.

  “Jeff? Are you okay?”

  Realizing he’d been staring at Tasha without really seeing her, he turned to look out the car window. “Sorry. I was just thinking about stuff I’ve got to cancel and see if I can get the deposits back. Heather booked the honeymoon, but everything else is on my credit card so it’s up to me to cancel it.”

  He wasn’t looking at Tasha, but he heard her sharp intake of breath. He looked left to right at the traffic, but didn’t see anything coming toward them out of control.

  He turned toward her. “What’s wrong?”

  “Heather will probably ask me to cancel all the honeymoon stuff. I’ll refuse, and then she’ll probably get all dramatic, hoping I cave.”

  That wouldn’t surprise him. “I know she got some pricey packages. I don’t know if she bought cancellation insurance.” He couldn’t remember what he’d paid cancellation fees for, but he supposed he’d find out the hard way. “We booked most of the wedding with my credit card, including the flowers.” He lowered his head and covered his face with his hands. “One at a time it didn’t seem like so much, but now that I think of it, there’s a lot of stuff that I’m going to be responsible to cancel. Everything except for the flights and hotel package and her dress. I should probably take tomorrow off, just to make all the phone calls.”

  “Most of the vendors will have voice mail. Start calling today and leave your email for them to contact you back.”

  “That’s probably a good idea.” He didn’t want to stay home tomorrow and stare at his walls. That would drive him crazy.

  Tasha flicked on the turn signal, and the car slowed. “Here we are.”

  As she turned into the lot Jeff mentally did a rough count on the number of cars, which indicated that there would probably be about a hundred people there, not including children.

  He checked the time. It was five minutes to the hour, so most people should be going in to secure a good seat. However, with a small number of people, there were bound to be a lot of empty seats, so no one would need to hurry.

  Once in the parking spot, Tasha turned off the car and grabbed her purse. Jeff sat back in the seat to wait, figuring she’d check her makeup in the rearview mirror and reapply her lipstick the way her sister always did.

  “What are you doing?” Tasha dropped her keys into her purse and pushed her door open. “We have to go. I hate walking in late.”

  Jeff opened his door at the same time as Tasha’s door closed behind her. She hadn’t even glanced in the mirror.

  He had to rush to catch up to her. She walked at a quick pace to the door, then slowed as they stepped inside.

  “This is...cozy...” he muttered as he looked around. The building was old and small and showed the wear of the combination of time and maintenance. Despite the time, people stood in small circles chatting and drinking coffee.

  A really tall young man broke away from the group nearest to the door and approached them, extending one hand with a church bulletin. “Welcome to Saint Nick’s. I’ve never seen you here before. I’m glad you could come.” He glanced around at everyone else standing around, and when no one moved, he looked back toward them. “Do you see anyone you know?”

  Tasha shook her head. “No, but we do know Dave and Ashley.”

  The man’s eyes widened “You know Dave?”

  Tasha smiled and nodded. “I’m good friends with Ashley, so naturally I know Dave, but I know Ashley better.”

  “Dave’s a great guy.” The man turned and looked at Jeff, as if waiting for him to say something great about Dave. Jeff had never met Dave, but he didn’t want to get into a discussion or make excuses. He just wanted to go into the sanctuary and sit down. Alone. Jeff nodded, pretty sure Dave had to be a great guy if he married Tasha’s best friend.

  “My name’s Cory. Let me show you in.”

  Jeff and Tasha followed Cory into the sanctuary and slid into a pew near the back. At one minute to the hour, everyone who had been stand
ing in the foyer yakking flooded in and found seats. The last person sat just as the worship leader and the band walked in.

  Jeff knew most of the songs, so he felt pretty comfortable with the worship. The only awkward thing was that instead of Heather, Tasha was beside him. Unlike Heather, Tasha belted out all the songs at a good volume, not caring that she missed a few notes. During one of the songs he thought he saw tears in her eyes, but the worship leader asked everyone to bow their heads in prayer before he could be sure. Instead of paying attention to Tasha, he listened to the worship leader’s prayer, and joined the congregation in a heartfelt “Amen” at the end.

  He settled in to listen to the pastor’s sermon, noting when the pastor asked the congregation to follow along as he read a Bible verse, about half of the people pulled out electronic devices, and half used an actual book.

  Tasha pulled a tablet out of her purse to follow along, while he had his Bible on his cell phone. Overall, the pastor was a good speaker and covered his subject matter well. Jeff was almost sorry when it was over, and wondered if maybe he’d come back.

  After the service was finished they made their way into the foyer. At the back a large coffee urn sat at the edge of a table, along with cups, condiments and a few boxes of doughnuts.

  He’d heard of such things at small churches, but never experienced it.

  Beside him, Tasha slowed her step. “Do you want to stay and visit with these people, or do you want to leave?”

  He hadn’t intended to do any more than listen to the sermon, but before he could open his mouth, Cory and a few more men approached them. “I hear you know Dave,” one of them said. “I heard Dave and Ashley got married last weekend.”

  Tasha nodded. “It was kind of fast, but they didn’t want to wait.”

  “I guess they’re on their honeymoon, because they’re not here.”

  Tasha smiled. “Ashley said they wanted to stay away from crowds, so they went camping in the mountains.”

  A slideshow of the pictures of the resort in the Bahamas he’d looked at with Heather flashed through his mind. Sandy beaches, young couples in bathing suits relaxing in the sunshine. Candlelight meals and drinks with pretty paper umbrellas on beachside patio tables. At night, lounging in the luxurious hotel pool, with fluffy plush towels and wraps neatly folded on lounge chairs for when they were done. That was a honeymoon. Not huddling around a fire in the middle of nowhere, fighting swarms of bugs until bedtime and then worrying if a raccoon was going to steal all the food in the middle of the night.

  Suddenly Jeff wanted to be away from this discussion of honeymoons and happily-ever-afters. While he was glad Tasha’s friend was having a good time, he didn’t want to be reminded of what had been stripped away from him.

  One of the men shrugged his shoulders. “I’ve never heard of anyone going camping for their honeymoon before. Especially since Ashley is freshly out of a cast.”

  Jeff doubted they planned to do much hiking on their honeymoon, but discretion made him hold his tongue.

  Tasha grinned. “Ashley and Dave like to take pictures of nature, so that’s what they’re doing.”

  “That sounds like a strange honeymoon,” another man said, “but if that’s what they want, good for them.”

  Jeff’s gut clenched. At least they were having a honeymoon. The cool weather would keep them close together, and maybe that was their plan all along.

  “They should be back tonight. I know she has to go to work tomorrow. She could only get a week off.”

  Jeff had booked three weeks off. Two for the honeymoon, and one week to get settled together.

  So much for that.

  Tasha looked at him, then back to Cory. “I’m really sorry, but we need to leave now. Maybe we’ll see you again next week.”

  He shook Cory’s hand. “Nice meeting you.”

  The second they were inside Tasha’s car, she said, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know anyone was going to corner me and ask about Ashley and Dave on their honeymoon.”

  “It’s okay. Let’s go...” He almost said home, but then remembered the mental promise he’d made—that he was going to take Tasha out for lunch in exchange for using her gas. She’d meant well trying to distract him from his troubles, so he couldn’t hold the conversation topic with strangers against her. Besides, he really didn’t want to go home to stare at the walls and think of what happened. The vision of Heather locked in the arms of another man was too close to recent memory. He would rather keep busy. Tomorrow, he would start to deal with it. “Let’s go out for lunch. My treat.”

  “Really? You don’t have to pay for me.”

  He’d always paid for Heather, but he wasn’t going to tell Tasha that. “I know I don’t have to. I’m going to because I want to. Pick your favorite place, and let’s go.”

  “I can’t argue with that. You’re on.”

  * * *

  Natasha drove out of the church parking lot, but she didn’t know where to go. When she’d arrived at Jeff’s door she could tell he was still shell-shocked. Taking him to the strange environment of a different church had helped pull him away from himself, at least for a little while. When people he didn’t know started talking about Ashley and Dave’s wedding, she realized she’d made a mistake, and made their escape as soon as she could.

  Being where something else could distract him was what he needed. Just the two of them in a private setting of a restaurant might make it too easy to talk about Heather, and she didn’t think he was ready for that quite yet.

  The next choice would be her apartment, because she knew she had enough food in the fridge to make a nice lunch. However, with that option came the chance that Heather would come home from wherever it was she’d gone, and that couldn’t happen. The next time she saw her sister, with or without Jeff, Natasha feared she might be tempted to scratch her sister’s eyes out, and that wasn’t a very Christian thing to do. Especially on a Sunday when she’d just been to church. Fortunately, the pastor’s theme hadn’t been forgiveness, but it was still something she needed to work on.

  They definitely couldn’t go to Jeff’s house, where reminders of his canceled wedding were strewn about. They needed to go to a place he’d never been, to make a complete break from his usual life. Tomorrow everything would hit him between the eyes, and there was nothing she could do about that. Right now, she wanted to take him away from his troubles.

  For today, she just wanted to be his friend because he needed one—his best friend, Luis, was away on his own honeymoon, and the rest of his friends were probably having a postparty meltdown.

  Actually, she didn’t want to be merely Jeff’s friend. Not long ago she’d wanted to be where Heather had been—at his side as his soul mate, and maybe one day his wife.

  Stopped at a red light and waiting for the turning arrow, she studied Jeff as discreetly as she could.

  She’d known him for a couple of years, and she’d probably loved him for half of that time.

  While he probably wasn’t the most handsome man in the universe, he was close—at least in her eyes. His strong chin matched his nose, which maybe was a little big, but it just made him that much more masculine. His dark brown hair was highlighted with a bit of copper from the summer sun, beginning to fade, but still striking, especially in combination with his dusty-blue eyes. When he smiled, the start of crow’s-feet appeared at the corners of his eyes, indicating that he smiled a lot. As a plumber he used a lot of heavy tools, so he was muscular, and even better, his muscles were natural from real work, not merely firm from working in the gym once a week. Slightly taller than average, he had big feet, which she often teased him about. He always laughed at her comments, showing those delightful little crow’s-feet, which made her fall in love with him a bit more every time.

  But of course he wasn’t laughing now.

  “I have an
idea,” she said as she made the left turn. “Instead of going to a restaurant, how would you like to get a couple of hot dogs and take a walk in the park? We can stop at 7-Eleven and buy a loaf of bread and feed the ducks that haven’t flown south.”

  He turned toward her and smiled—it was a smile, but a sad smile. It almost made her cry.

  “Most of our ducks have flown to California. What we’ll see is the nonmigratory species, and the ones that have flown south from Alaska. To them, Washington State is south. We’ll most likely see goldeneyes and mallards and wigeons, but if we’re lucky, maybe we’ll see some mergansers.”

  She smiled back. She had no idea he was a duck aficionado. “I think that’s a yes?”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “Sure. Are you dressed for a walk?”

  “Of course I am, or I wouldn’t have suggested it.” The second the words came out of her mouth, she realized why he’d asked. Even when wearing jeans, Heather always wore four-inch heels. If Natasha had been wearing such things to church, they would have needed to go home to change. Although, really, she didn’t own anything like that. She did a lot of standing and walking at work, and she refused to wear ridiculous heels.

  As well, because she’d planned to spend the day with Jeff she’d dressed comfortably, and that included her usual sensible footwear.

  She pulled into the nearest gas station with a convenience store, and Jeff ran in to get a loaf of bread. Except he came out with two iced drinks and a bag, which he held open for her to view the contents.

  “You’ve got not just the bread, but also two bags of chips, two sandwiches and two chocolate bars.”

  He nodded. “Now we can go straight to the park. I don’t have my camera—do you have yours?”

  “You know I do.” She always kept her small point-and-shoot and an extra battery in her purse so she could take hundreds of photos on a moment’s notice. Many people teased her about it, but she was the one everyone came to when they wanted a photo. “You can take pictures with your cell phone if you want.”