Fool for You by Kelly Elliott

Emmerson

DECEMBER IN TEXAS could be tricky. It could be forty degrees out or eighty. It just so happened that the next few days were going to be beautiful. Springlike temperatures in the low- to mid-seventies. The perfect weather for a December wedding.

I stood in the barn and looked up at the rafters as Landon, Noah, and my father all hung large swaths of white fabric across the beams to soften the rustic look.

Emmit was on a forklift attaching chandeliers down the middle of the barn, while Addie stood underneath, barking up at him to move left or right. I was positive Emmit was going to drop one of them at any moment if Addie said to “go one inch more to the left” one more time.

Hailey walked up and stood next to me, her arms crossed over her chest. “I finished with the lanterns for the tables. I think the flowers with the flameless candles inside are going to look so cute.”

Amy approached and stood in front of us, her camera practically in our faces. She was filming all the behind the scenes before the wedding and the wedding itself.

“I think so too,” I said, smiling at Amy and taking a step back. I really needed to have a talk with her about personal space while filming.

“Did you call the bakery?” Amy asked, motioning for Hailey to step away, which only made her move closer. Amy had gone with me and Landon to another cake tasting a few weeks back, when the bakery I had originally hired to do our cakes had to cancel. The owner had fallen, breaking both of her legs, and then the assistant baker tripping over the owner and broke her arm. It was terrible, but it also led me to a new in-home baker another client of mine had once used.

When I’d called the new baker and told her my situation, she immediately asked if we could please have someone film the cake tasting so that I could be focused and able to help Landon if he threw up again. Amy jumped at the chance. Since then, she’s been editing my videos and doing all the wedding prep filming, while also blogging about her own upcoming wedding to Noah. He’d asked her to marry him on her birthday, which happened to be October thirty-first.

It had also allowed me to see how much of a natural Amy was at wedding planning. So three days ago I’d asked if she wanted to come on as my partner, since I was getting more work than I could handle and was having to turn people away.

Amy, of course, said yes. She quit her job and had already jumped in to help with three clients of mine who had already fallen in love with her.

“Amy, please get that camera out of my face, or I will trip on the way down the aisle of your wedding,” Hailey threatened.

Laughing, Amy said, “No, you won’t, because a certain doctor will be attending.”

I turned and looked at Hailey. “What doctor? Wait, what have I missed?”

The camera was still rolling, I noted—and so did Hailey. “I swear to God, if you don’t edit that out…”

Dropping the camera and smiling, Amy said, “I promise I will. You haven’t told her yet?”

“Told me what?” I demanded, stomping my foot and throwing my hands up in the air like a two-year-old.

Hailey’s cheeks turned a slight shade of pink as she looked down at the barn floor. “It’s nothing.”

Clearly, Amy was impatient. “Ha! Hailey met Jack, Noah’s friend, during happy hour at the bed and breakfast. They literally ran into each other. Hailey was walking into the main living room with wine, and he was walking out. Wine spilled all over them both.”

I shook my head in confusion. “Why was Jack at the bed and breakfast?”

“His house flooded, so he’s staying there.”

“He’s still staying there?” I gasped with excitement.

“Yep!” Amy said, popping her P.

“We should invite him to the wedding then!” I said as I clapped my hands.

Hailey let out a noise that sounded like a warning growl. “No, I don’t think we should invite him.”

“Invite who to what?” Noah asked from behind us.

“Jack,” Amy said, rushing over to give my brother a hug and a kiss.

“Jack?” Noah asked, a look of total confusion moving over his face. “Why in the world would we invite Jack? He hardly knows Landon or Emme.”

“Yes, but look at how talking about him makes Hailey get all flustered,” I teased.

Hailey balled her hands into fists. “I am not flustered! And Jack does not make me hot and bothered or ready to burst into flames every time he looks at me!”

As Hailey was talking, the exact man we were discussing walked into the barn behind her. I motioned with my hand for her to stop talking, but she was on a roll.

“And just because I haven’t had sex in months, and Jack looks like a man who can make a woman scream in pure pleasure…”

“Oh, dear,” Amy whispered, and I silently prayed for a bolt of lightning to strike and stop Hailey from speaking.

Noah cleared his throat. “Um, Hail?”

“It does not mean I want him to do that to me. Would I like it? Sure! Who wouldn’t want a hot man to walk up and pull you into his arms and kiss the living shit out of you? I mean…hello! Sign me the fuck up for that shit!”

“Hailey!” we all shouted.

Noah scrubbed his hand over his face and groaned. “Stop talking, for the love of God!”

Amy brought her hands to her mouth in an attempt to hide either horror or laughter. I wasn’t sure which. I was pretty sure my mouth was down to the floor of the barn.

Hailey suddenly turned white as a ghost, realization hitting her like a Mack truck. “He’s standing behind me, isn’t he?”

We all nodded.

She closed her eyes and whispered, “Shit.”

The next thing we knew, Jack walked up to Hailey, turned her around, dipped her, and kissed the living shit out of her.

“Why is Jack kissing my sister?” Landon asked, coming up next to me.

Emmit glared down at Jack and Hailey as he got off the forklift. “What in the hell is going on?”

“It’s too hard to explain, Dad,” Landon stated.

“He’s…he’s…” Emmit stuttered, pointing at the still-kissing couple. Then he stared over at Landon.

Landon placed his hand on his father’s shoulder. “Let it go, Dad. Trust me.”

Jack finally pulled Hailey up and stepped away. Amy had to reach out to stop Hailey from swaying and falling over.

“Wow, that was some kiss!” Amy said as she tried not to giggle, and failed.

“So, Jack…Landon and I are getting married in two days, and you are totally welcome to come,” I said with a smile.

“I think Hailey needs a plus-one still,” Noah added with a cheeky grin.

Jack cleared his throat and those dark meadow-green eyes of his landed back on Hailey. “I would be honored to be Hailey’s plus-one.”

Landon clapped his hands. “Then that’s all settled. Since the decorating is done, I would like to take my wife home.”

Jack looked from me to Landon. “Wait. I thought you were getting married in two days?”

I laughed. “We eloped five months ago. This is just the fake wedding we planned when we really weren’t engaged, but then we got married and made it a real wedding.”

Jack’s eyes widened.

“Don’t worry, I’ll explain it all to you tonight when you take me out to dinner,” Hailey said, wrapping her arm around Jack’s and leading him out of the barn—and away from Emmit, who was still glaring at them.

“Why can’t any of our kids do things the normal way?” my father asked as he came and joined the group.

Emmit sighed before he responded, “Because they’re our kids.”

Daddy chuckled. “Touché.”

My mother clutched my hands in hers and gave me the brightest smile I had ever seen. “Emmerson, why in the world are your hands shaking? You’re already married to the man!”

I chuckled slightly as I rapidly blinked my eyes and stared at my reflection in the mirror.

Hailey walked up and put both hands on my exposed shoulders. “You look so beautiful, Emme. Landon is going to shit his pants when he sees you.”

Addie sighed from behind me, where she was adjusting my train. “Hailey Lewis. Just once, do you think you could say one sentence without swearing?”

With a roll of her eyes, Hailey replied, “Hell no, Mom.”

I laughed and focused back on myself in the mirror. My blonde hair was pulled back into some sort of twisted ponytail that Hailey had been working on perfecting for weeks. Loose curls hung down to my exposed shoulders, with some framing my face.

My white and silver mermaid dress hugged my curves in all the right ways and led to a stunning array of tulle ruffles that flowed out into a train. I wore a simple silver necklace with a teardrop pearl and matching earrings that were a gift from Aunt Autumn and Uncle Jack.

“Sit down and I’ll put your shoes on,” my mother said, motioning for me to sit on the bed.

Carefully taking a seat, I held out my foot and she slipped the silver shoes on and buckled the faux diamond buckle. She repeated the process with my other foot as I tried to control my pounding heart.

A light knock sounded on the door, and we all turned to see Aunt Autumn peeking in. She gasped when she saw me and then covered her mouth to hide her sobs. “You…you…look so beautiful, Emmerson!”

“Thank you, Aunt Autumn. The necklace and earrings are perfect.”

She nodded and walked into the room holding a small blue box. “This is from Landon. I gave him your gift a few minutes ago, but told him not to open it until the photographer came in to take pictures.”

I giggled as I took the gift from her. “Thank you.”

“Open it! I’m dying to see what he got you!”

Ignoring the fact that my hands were still shaking like a leaf, I opened the box…and almost started crying the moment I looked inside.

“A rock?” Hailey asked in disbelief. “That cheap bastard. It’s not even a gemstone!”

I brought my hand up to my mouth as I tried not to bawl like a baby.

“Your makeup! Oh, sweetheart, no, don’t cry!” Hailey spun around to face the makeup artist who was still in the room. “Tell me you used waterproof mascara.”

Lori looked offended. “Please, this isn’t my first rodeo.”

After all my years of planning weddings, I knew that the one person who stuck by the bride until she was off down the aisle was the makeup artist. And Lori was one of the best. Before I even knew if my fake engagement was going to turn into a real one, I had booked her.

Don’t judge. She booked up fast.

“Emmerson, what in the world is the meaning behind the rock?” my mother asked.

It had to be that moment for my father to knock and walk into the room. He took one look at me crying and started to turn back around. “I’m going to kick his ass!”

“Malcolm Wallace, you will do no such thing!” my mother scolded, grabbing his arm. “Those are happy tears—can’t you see her smiling?”

My father tilted his head and studied me. “All I see is my daughter crying and sitting in a wedding dress, looking like the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen.”

Another sob slipped free, and Addie hit my dad on the shoulder. “Don’t make her cry more!”

Daddy looked like he didn’t know up from down at that point. With a sigh of frustration, he asked, “Okay, is someone going to tell me why she’s crying…happy…tears?”

“When I was around ten or eleven, I found this rock.” I held it up for everyone to see. “I told Landon I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen and that it had special powers. I told him he needed to keep it in a safe place, and someday, he had to give it to the one person he loved more than anything on the planet.” Tears started to fall down my face again, and Lori whipped out her makeup bag and moved into position. The moment I got my shit together, she would be there to touch up my makeup.

“And he gave it to you,” Hailey whispered as I heard her voice crack. When I looked over at her, I saw her quickly wipe a tear away.

“Oh my, Addie, you raised a romantic man,” my mother said, practically melting into a chair.

Addie sniffled and used a tissue to dab at her own tears.

“Okay, as much as I don’t want to admit this, that was a very romantic gesture on the boy’s part,” my dad added. “If I’m having to let some other man take you from me, Landon is the one man I will gladly let love you.”

“Oh, Daddy.” I threw my arms around him. “I really do love him with all of my heart.”

My father patted my back lightly. “I know you do, sweet pea. You always have.”

When we broke apart, my father pointed to everyone in the room. “If one of you tells Emmit I said that about his son, I swear I’ll deny it!”