Darn good cake. Not as good as pie though.
“I’ll pick the song,” Anna said.
If that gleam in her eye didn’t scare the S-O-B, he had no business calling himself a man. “Save my mints, okay?” She said. She pecked Jackson on the cheek.
The captain’s cheeks sprouted thunderclouds. Jackson swallowed a grin. “Yes, ma’am.”
The DJ broke into the music. “All y’all ready for a bouquet toss?”
Something passed between Anna and the captain. A flock of bow-headed bridesmaids and an army of normal-dressed single women rushed the dance floor. So did a couple of ladies who looked fit to take on Mamie and her friends at the bowling alley. Anna’s shoulders drooped like they were being tugged down from hell. She flicked a glance at Cheri. “I’m going to go freshen up.”
“I’ll join you.”
The captain reached out to Anna. She cut him off with a look hot enough to slice frozen butter. He shifted into an at-ease stance. “I’ll wait here.”
Anna and Cheri waded into the crowd. A bunch of women flashing rings gathered around the dance floor. Kaci peered around, then pointed to the four flower girls. They squealed and ran to join the single women.
“You sleeping with my wife?” the captain asked Jackson.
Jackson held his gaze for what felt like a good five minutes longer than necessary before he answered. “Your momma raise you to talk like that?”
He let that hang between them while he watched for the girls. Anna and Cheri got caught in the throng of men waiting for the garter toss, slowing down to weave between the crowds.
The DJ started his countdown. Kaci did a mock toss-back on three. Then two. Anna and Cheri paused between thecrowd wanting the bouquet and the crowd waiting to see who caught it.
Then Jackson realized Kaci’s bouquet wasn’t made out of flowers.
He shot out of his chair. “Stop!” The DJ reached one. Kaci squeezed her eyes shut and flung the lollipops, and Jackson muttered something his own momma would’ve preferred he didn’t say in polite company.
The bouquet sailed over the single ladies who rose and jumped and crashed into each other with all the grace of Auburn fans doing the wave, but the bouquet kept on flying over all of them.
The men all skittered back, leaving a clear view of where the bouquet was headed.
“Anna!” Jackson hollered. “Duck!”
In the span of two heartbeats, she twisted her shoulders toward him, then back toward the bouquet. Her shriek split the air. The crowd gasped. Her knees bent. She flung her arms up, but it was too late.
The glob of lollipops smacked her upside the head.
She teetered. In the span of his next two heartbeats, Jackson made a whole host of promises to God if she’d be okay.
It took him an eternity too long to get to her through the crowd. Somebody had shoved a chair beneath her. Cheri was talking to her. Jackson squatted in front of her. “Anna Grace? You okay?”
She blinked at him, eyes not quite focused. A red welt was already forming on her temple. He brushed his thumb over it, then down her soft cheek. “Anna Grace?”
She blinked a couple more times, her chest evening out into a more normal rhythm. Finally, she looked straight into his eyes. “I need some Windex,” she said.
He crushed her against him, breathing in the soft scent of her shampoo. “You got it, darlin’.”
“Jesus, Anna, are you all right?” Her ex elbowed in.
“I got this one.” Cheri stood and faced the captain. “You sitthere and work on feeling better.”
“Oh, Lordy, sugar.” Kaci finally made it through the crowd herself. Lance was right behind her.
Anna pushed herself straight, then blinked at the bouquet in her hands. “Shit.”
“We’ll strap that to a firecracker too,” Kaci said. “You okay? I’m so sorry. I practiced and everything, but then the flowers got all messed up, and somebody handed that to me, and my momma’s driving me so nuts I wasn’t thinking.”
