one
. . .
“Jon will lose his actual shit”
Drew
JULY SIXTEENTH
If my husbanddoesn’t get his ass downstairs in the next thirty seconds, I’m going to light a fire beneath it.
What part of ‘one p.m. sharp’ did he fail to understand? He’s supposed to be a math graduate and good with numbers.
“Do you want me to head up there and get him?” June Jones, my sister-in-law and consequently my husband, Will Jones’s sister, tips her chin at the elevators. “I’m in the mood to kick someone’s ass.”
The elevator pings and the doors open, but Will doesn’t materialize.
The next sound to leave my throat wouldn’t be out of place in an episode ofCriminal Minds—the things I will do to my spouse—and not of a sexual nature—if he’s late for his mom and dad’s renewal ceremony which is being held on a date that is especially important to the Jones’, July sixteenth.
I check my watch and glance at June. “He’s running five minutes behind schedule. Let’s give him another two minutes and then we’ll both go and retrieve him.”
June looks perplexed, twisting a lock of wavy dark hair around her finger as she stands next to me wearing a floor-length silky black gown. She inherited her hair color from her dad, Jensen, and her stunning features from her mom, Kate.
And yeah, black isn’t exactly conventional when it comes to renewal ceremonies, but there’s nothing standard about the Jones family.
“Why is my brother still getting ready? He’s had all morning.” June asks a fair question.
One minute until I’m hauling his sorry ass down here.
“Oh, he’s been wearing his tux for the past hour,” I confirm. “He told me that he’d misplaced something and would be right back.” I roll my eyes. “That was ten minutes ago.”
June winces. “I hope it’s not the rings.”
My eyes snap from my watch to June. “Huh? I thought you were taking care of the rings?”
Her reply is interrupted by a jingle of Justin Timberlake’s “Sexyback,” the latest ringtone Will has set to his caller ID in my cell.
I open my purse and grab my phone.
“So there’s a problem.”
I close my eyes and pretend—for a blissful second—he didn’t just say that.
“If said problem is ring related then I’m leaving Banff and heading back to the US where it’s safe. Your mother will go nuclear if you’ve lost her eternity ring?—”
“It’s not Mom I’m worried about,” Will cuts me off, “Jon will lose his actual shit.”
“It’s true,” June adds, leaning her head toward my phone so she can hear Will. Her satisfied smirk reveals that she’s reveling in her twin brother’s pain.
It wouldn’t be the first time. June has spent the past twenty-four years winding the hell out of him, although we all know thatthey’d stop the world turning for each other if circumstances called for it.
“If anything gets in the way of Jon Morgan’s finely tuned plans then the fallout will not be pretty. Morgan’s Magical Marriages, LLC has a five-star rating online and losing the rings at the eleventh hour is definitely a one-star performance,” June points out. “Seriously, Jon might be an NHL Hall of Famer and my dad’s former teammate, but there are no friend passes here today. Mom made it clear when she hired Jon that there were to be no fuck ups.”
“Fuck. I should’ve let you look after the rings, June.” Will breathes down the phone, his voice growing increasingly frantic. You wouldn’t believe my husband is a pro hockey player and was awarded the most valuable player on his team, The Seattle Rogues, after only two seasons playing in the NHL.
Incompetent doesn’t cover it right now.
“You can’t find them, can you?” I sound incredulous because I am.
