Free Three Girls And A Wedding by Rachel Schurig

had to say about his
fiancée.”
    Jason was silent for a moment. I
had a feeling he would desperately have liked to punch Matt in the face, but he
thought better of it and instead turned and walked to his car without a word.
    I stood there for a moment,
watching him, before turning to Matt.
    “Hey, thanks. I appreciate that.”
    Matt shrugged. “No big deal. I
can’t stand that smarmy bastard.”
    I smiled. “How did you know?”
    “Know what?”
    “Know the office nickname for
Jason?”
    Matt chuckled softly. “Lucky
guess.”
    He was standing very close to
me—in the darkness, I could barely see him, but I could sense his
presence, large and warm. I felt my heartbeat pick up a notch.
    “Is that really what you think
about weddings?” I asked, curious.
    “What? That they’re superficial and
a waste of money?”
    “Yeah, that.”
    Matt nodded. “Yup, pretty much. I
mean, no offense or anything.”
    I shrugged. “None taken. But you’re
wrong, you know.”
    “Am I?” Matt shifted slightly, and
I could see his face more clearly in the moonlight. “Somehow I doubt that.”
    “I bet I could prove it to you,” I
murmured. Crap. My voice had dropped a fraction and I’m sure my body language
was just screaming for him to take me right there. When had I started flirting
with this guy?
    Matt looked at me appraisingly. I
felt my heartbeat quicken even more. But then that look of dismissal crossed
his face, the same one he had given me earlier in the limo.
    “Not very likely. Goodnight.”
    Before I could say a word, he had
turned and walked toward his truck, his shape almost immediately disappearing
in the darkness.

 
     
    Chapter Eleven

 
    “This is boring ,” Annie said for the tenth time that afternoon as she,
Ginny, Josh, Danny, and I tramped around yet another field, another potential
site for the wedding. It was sunny today, hot and humid, and this was the fifth
seemingly identical field we had looked at.
    “No, Annie, listening to you whine
like a five-year-old is what’s boring,” I snapped.
    Annie and Ginny both looked at me,
surprised at my outburst.
    “Sorry,” I sighed.
    I was so tired today, had been
tired for weeks now. I was getting more and more overwhelmed with the work
involved in planning Kiki’s event. It wasn’t just the wedding that I had to
worry about; we were also hired to plan the shower, the rehearsal dinner, the
welcome dinner for out of town guests, and the engagement party, which was fast
approaching.
    Jason had been a complete ass to me
at the office ever since the venue fiasco, hoisting more and more of the grunt
work off on me. I was determined not to let him break me, determined to impress
everyone with my dedication and ability. I was working late, working weekends,
spending time outside of work with Kiki whenever she wanted to chat. It was
exhausting.
    Add to that the work I was doing
for Ginny and Josh, and I was starting to feel pretty ragged. Don’t get me
wrong, I was thrilled to be helping them, and Ginny’s happiness was my top
priority, but it was all starting to get overwhelming.
    “She has a point,” Ginny sighed.
“This is pretty boring.”
    “And hot,” Josh muttered, shifting
Danny in his arms.
    “And hot,” Ginny agreed. “Maybe
this wasn’t such a great idea after all.”
    I felt a flash of irritation at
her, and tried to tamp it down. This is what I had been telling her for weeks.
A bohemian, natural, outdoor wedding was fine and good in theory, but in
practice it involved dusty fields, unpredictable weather, no facilities…the
list went on.
    “Plus, I have to pee,” Annie said.
“Where exactly were you planning on having your guests do that, Gin?”
    “You’d have to rent porta -johns,” I said, wiping sweat off my forehead. “You’d
also have to rent a tent, in case it rains—which, you know, isn’t like
completely outside the realm of possibilities for late October.”
    I knew I sounded irritated and
short, but I couldn’t