My mouth drops open and I swing my head back to Carson, who is now chuckling and shaking his head. “You knew before we made that bet, didn’t you?”
He nods, still laughing. “You owe me ten bucks.”
I narrow my eyes at him, making him laugh even more. I swivel my head back to Jared. “Did you get them fixed? Or did you buy new pants?”
He looks from me to Carson, his eyes clouded with confusion. “We lucked out and the Dirty Hookers were meeting on Mrs. Woodcock’s front porch when we went by.” He turns and flips up his suit jacket, showing me where the seat of his pants has been repaired with a multicolored, knitted yarn patch. “They whipped up this patch and stitched it on while I waited in their bathroom.”
I snort a laugh. Only in Tuft Swallow will a rogue knitting group come to your rescue when you least expect it.
“Oh, and they wanted me to ask if they should bring anything to the reception later? I told them we had it covered, but you know how Mrs. Woodcock gets.”
“I told her to bring wine,” Nick says. “I had to say something to get us out of there.”
I nod. “Good thinking. You’d have never made it on time if you hadn’t come up with something. Besides, with my entire family coming, we could always use more wine.”
Nick grimaces, no doubt remembering the time my family came to help my Nonna get settled into her new home at Spring Chickens, and he tried to have a friendly drink with my mother and my aunts.
Did you know a hangover can last for three days? Yeah, I didn’t know either until that day. And Nick didn’t come close to drinking as much as my family did. I’m surprised he drank at all in front of the boys, to tell the truth. But after the celebration, both Carson and Jared expressed surprise that people can have a few drinks without going to excess. They’d only ever been exposed to problem drinking in the past, and I think it did some good to see responsible drinking in action. I imagine it feels different when you see adults having a couple glasses of wine while enjoying each other’s company than it does to see them drink to get drunk and pass out.
I turn to Carson, remembering what Jared just admitted. “That sounds to me like he’s wearing the same pants, not new pants. Looks like you owe me ten bucks.”
“Hmmm,” he says, rubbing his chin. “But he was practicing high kicks like I guessed, so I think this might still be my win.”
Jared cocks an eyebrow at Carson. “You watched me do it, bro. I told you Nick was coming with me to get it fixed.”
“So, is everyone here?” Nick asks, changing the subject when he sees my mouth drop.
That little shit, Carson. I can’t believe he tried to hustle me.
I stuff down my irritation. It was a little funny, I suppose. “Yeah, I think so,” I say. “I haven’t peeked inside to check, but I know my family was planning on arriving early to get the best seats. They didn’t trust there would be room for everyone.”
He nods, his eyes getting misty. Uh oh. He can’t cry. If he cries, then I’ll cry, then we’ll both look like defective tomatoes which will make for terrible pictures. And I want so many pictures to remember this day.
“Guys?” I say, getting Jared and Carson’s attention in the nick of time. They looked to be five seconds away from engaging in a wrestling match to settle their budding argument. “Can you head inside and make sure everyone is ready? I need to talk to Nick for a second, and then we’ll get started.”
The boys quickly disengage. Carson grumbles an “okay” before heading into the courtroom, but Jared stops in front of me. He throws his arms around me and squeezes until my own eyes get misty with emotion.
“This is the best day ever,” he whispers before letting me go and following Carson into the courtroom.
“Damn it,” I whisper, fanning at my tear-filled eyes with my hands. “I can’t cry again today.”
Nick nods his agreement. “I know. Do you know how hard it was to fight back my tears while the Dirty Hookers were patching up Jared’s pants?”
I choke out a laugh. “Why would he do that?”
Nick shakes his head, chuckling. “It’s Jared. His reasons are his own.”
“And that patch?” I snort another laugh. “It’s huge. Why didn’t you go get new pants?“
His shoulders shake with laughter as he wraps his arms around me. “Jared said no. He said he couldn’t bear to hurt their feelings after they jumped into action to help him out. He knows every person in that knitting group will be at our reception later, and he’d feel terrible if they thought he didn’t like their patch job.”
I relax into Nick’s embrace, our laughter dying down as we enjoy the comfort of each other’s arms before heading into the courtroom ourselves to start the ceremony.
“Are you ready for this?” he asks, dropping a kiss on my forehead before stepping back. “It’s not too late to turn back.”
“Are you kidding me? There’s no way I’d turn back now. Of course, we’re going through with this. It took way too long to admit it, but there’s nothing I want more.”
His grin lights up his entire face. “I know exactly what you mean, Tina. Let’s get in there.” Nick holds his arm up and I wrap my hand around his elbow, tucking in close to him.
