Page 31 of The Work Wife

He picked up the bouquet of flowers he’d helped Cindy pick out and headed for the JP office.

As he went through the metal detectors, he saw Jamie waiting by the door, pacing and biting her lip. She was wearing the green dress, and the heels. Her hair was pulled up in a twist and she was wearing makeup.

She thought their wedding was makeup worthy. This was a big deal.

When she spotted him a huge smile came across her painted lips and he knew this was a good thing he was doing. Being married to Jamie would not be a hardship or an annoyance. It would be an adventure. And he could use a little adventure in his life right now.

“I was worried you weren’t coming,” she said as she came up to meet him.

He handed her the flowers and shook his head. “I’m not late. I’m right on time.”

“But you’re usually early, so right on time means you’re late.” She held the flowers up to her nose and sniffed. “Thank you for the flowers.”

“Do they make up for only being on time?”

“Yes.”

Cindy came in then, stomping her boots on the rug. One look at them had her beaming before she pointed and turned serious. “You’re not supposed to see your bride until she comes down the aisle. It’s bad luck.”

“I’m not worried about bad luck. I was worried about my groom making a run for it.”

Cindy made a noise of disbelief. “He wouldn’t leave you, Jamie. It’s obvious he loves you too much.”

Jamie laughed and looked him right in the eyes as she said, “Yes. So obvious.”

He refrained from making a face, though it was difficult. “Let’s go. Cindy has to get back to work.”

Cindy patted his shoulder and went into the room to take a seat near the front. Wes looked back toward the door. Hoping his brother was coming.

He couldn’t blame him for not coming. It wasn’t like Wes had given him time to make plans.

They’d always had a difficult relationship. The two of them together were great. But their parents were always working against them. Setting them up to be competitive. It was especially hard on Benji, being the younger child. It didn’t seem to matter what he did, he wasn’t good enough for them.

But he was good enough for Wes.

Then he came in. He watched Jamie’s look of surprise as Wes hugged his brother and turned to his bride.

“Hi, Jamie,” Benji greeted her, having met her just last week.

“Hi, Benji.” It took a second for Benji to look down to the bouquet in her hands and put it together.

“Wait. You’re the bride?”

“Yes. You remember Jamie,” Wes said, hoping to play it off as normal. It didn’t work.

Benji looked between them, probably waiting for one of them to say they were joking. When neither of them did, he pulled Wes away by the arm.

“Excuse us for a minute.” Benji released him when they were at the end of the hall. “What the hell is going on? I asked you if there was something going on between you and you said no. You said you were just friends.”

“Things change.”

“Since last week?”

It might have seemed a little fast. “Yes. Well. When you know, you know.”

“And you all of a sudden know?” Benji looked doubtful. “You gave me her phone number so I could ask her out.”

“And you didn’t call, so—”