“I forgot coffee,” I say, testing the waters.
“No problem, I’ve already started a pot.” She turns to me as I meet her in the kitchen. “Someone woke me very early and I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I got up and decided to wait for you.” She’s smiling, no doubt a lingering effect from our love making this morning and I hate that I have to break her heart right now.
“Babe, come here.” I hold my hand out to her. Her brows furrow the slightest bit, but she continues walking to me, and I meet her at the side of the island in our kitchen. Taking a deep breath, “I have some bad news.”
“What?” she asks tentatively, her eyes wide.
“The Holiday Star Inn. There was a fire there last night.” I swallow, shaking my head. “It’s gone. There’s nothing left.”
She’s watching me, no doubt trying to put it all together in her mind just like I did when Adam called. “A fire? But our wedding is a week away.”
I shake my head again. “It’s not going to happen there, honey. We can still get marr-“
“The whole place? It’s gone? Was anyone hurt? Stephan?” her voice is getting higher in pitch with each question.
My girl, always worried about someone else. I hold her close. “There was no one inside. They’re saying it was an electrical thing, but it raged quickly and engulfed the whole building.”
Just then Britt comes flying through the door. The girls’ eyes go wide as they telepathically communicate to each other. I let her go so Britt can come to her now.
“I can’t believe it! Bobby told me, then I saw it on the news. What are we going to do?”
I watch as Francesca’s hands start to shake, a tell of her anxiety. She’s been a nervous wreck for the last two weeks planning this and I know this could push her over the edge.
She slumps onto the stool at the island. “I don’t know. I have no idea, B.”
“Listen, we’ll fix it. We’ll just find another place and—”
“There’s nowhere that can host us in this short amount of time! I honestly have no idea how the Inn was doing it; they’re booked out for a year in advance.”
Now is definitely not the time to tell her, but when I found out they were booked, I paid double for our date, ensuring they could get it done and not say a word to my future wife. She would kill me if she knew I did that.
Britt flicks me a glance and I subtly shaky my head. Chess starts to cry, her shoulders slump and she’s shaking quietly, trying to hide her disappointment.
“Oh, Chessy, please don’t. I know you had your heart set on that place but don’t cry. We will figure something out.”
“I know, I know, but it was perfect,” she chokes out between cries.
There’s that word again.
“It was pretty perfect,” I say as both girls cut me a glare. “But do you know what’s better? I still have you. You still have me. And we’re still going to get married in a week.” I take a few steps closer to her.
“How? It’s seven days away!”
“Do you trust me?” A thought forming in my head, I quickly calculate whether I can make it work or not.
“With my life.”
“Then let me fix this, Francesca.” I cup her face with my two hands stroking her tears away with my thumbs. “I cannot watch you make yourself sick with stress over this one day anymore. You are going to be my wife and that is all that matters to me. Not colors, not flowers, not even a building. You and Me. Forever and a day. Deal?” I lean in and kiss her lips, coaxing the words from her.
“Deal,” she breathes out.
Part of my vows say we started our lives together on the football field, all those years ago. And that’s exactly where we’re going to start our married life, too.
seventeen
JACKSON
Six days until Wedding Day
