I prayed for something to keep me busy, and Ginny’s mother came to the rescue. Claiming exhaustion, she washed her hands of all menial tasks related to her daughter’s wedding and handed them off, rather unceremoniously, to me.
She sat by me and barked out orders while I called the catering company, the photographer, the florist, and the reverend, who begrudgingly agreed to let Ginny and Dave make up their missed marriage class. He made a rude remark about how Logan and Gigi don’t seem to need as much hand-holding as Ginny and Dave do.
I don’t know why everybody’s comparing them. Of course Logan and Gigi have no problems—they don’t know each other well enough yet to see past the very outermost layer.
Ginny cups her belly as we cross the street and head toward The Cowherd. “I’m starting to show more. I’m nearly four months along. Dave wants to find out the sex of the baby as soon as we can, but I don’t.”
“I wonder if the baby will be a closet rock star like its mama,” I tease her. “You always loved to play that pink guitar you had as a kid. Maybe Dave can give you one for a wedding present.”
“Please. He’d pick up like some dumb pair of earrings I’ll never wear. He never did get my taste.”
“He did always pull an F in the gift department.” I pause. “So why don’tyoubuy a guitar? Like a wedding present to yourself.”
“I’m considering that actually. Dave would hate it, of course. And he’d hate me going out to play after work. He likes me home to cook him dinner.” Ginny sighs loudly. “Oh, whatever. Maybe you’re not supposed to be best friends with your husband. Dave and I are certainly not best…” She trails off suddenly and stares across the street intently.
“What is it?”
She smiles wider than I’ve seen her do in forever and waves her arm in the air. “It’s Nickel! He sees me. Oh gosh, he’s going to come over here. Oh God.”
I stare at her flushed face and bright eyes. “Ginny, who are you—”
Ginny starts explaining rapidly. “He’s about to cross the street. I met Nickel when Mama and I were tasting cakes. He was our server, and he’s a country singer, so I was going to ask his band to play at our wedding instead of those cousins of ours Mama insisted on hiring. I can’t wait to tell him about the guitars I’ve been looking at. He said his Martin is the best, and he even said if I buy one we could play together sometime.”
“So wait, do you…”
I don’t have time to finish my sentence because a curly-haired blond guy is now standing shyly in front of us. He’s scrawny and could use a shave, but he’s cute. Ginny cute. But not like Dave. More like his distant cousin. Distant in the way monkeys could be distantly related to ants.
Ohh.Ginny’s abrupt good mood, her big smile, her unexpected wedding entertainer switch. This Nickel thing must be one of those situations she made me promise to stop her from—a hormonal-induced crush.
As Ginny and Nickel gaze at each other longingly and I wonder how in the world I’m supposed to tear them apart, she introduces me to him, and he offers to accompany us to The Cowherd.
The three of us walk in silence, for the next three blocks, until Ginny looks down at Jamie’s commitment ring on my finger.
“Macey, are you gonna take Jamie as your date to our wedding?”
I suppose Jamie would be willing, but considering I don’t know that I’d notice if he were run over by a car or not, I’m not sure it’s a good idea.
But Jamie’s new to Darcy, and I’m sure he’d appreciate meeting some more people in town.
I shrug. “Not sure. I thought I had to bring a date because of the whole Logan situation, but now I’m thinking I may just go solo anyway.”
“Speaking of Logan,” Ginny says as we reach The Cowherd and I unlock the door. “I never mentioned this before, but where in the world did he get the money for that rock?”
“Savings?” I open the wooden door and usher Ginny and Nickel in ahead of me. “I don’t know.”
Mr. Wild barely pays his sons minimum wage, but I guess Logan put most of it away.
“I heard about the huge ring.” Nickel grins. “I’ve got three sisters. They’re all jealous.”
I smile. “Tell them real life is never what it looks like on the outside. I’ve been married to Logan Wild, and it’s not all a fairy tale.”
“Logan sure spent a lot of money on a piece of jewelry Gigi will probably replace in a year with an upgrade.” Ginny walks over to the bar and takes a seat on a stool. “That’s what the rich do, you know.”
I step behind the counter. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely sure,” she says, not sounding quite as sure as she did a second ago. “I read it somewhere—in a magazine, I think.”
Nickel takes a seat next to Ginny and smiles at her like she’s the most interesting person in the universe.
