Body and Soul (Twist of Fate 3)

He hugged me again, and I caught sight of Jake over the man’s shoulder. He was beaming with pride, and I rolled my eyes at him to cover up the fact my heart was going to overflow or downright explode any minute.

Thankfully, it was getting colder out and most of the food trucks and vendor stalls were closing up shop already. The day had flown by, and I was eager to get home and check on Zoey before spending the rest of the evening sacked out in front of the fire. Jake put his arm around me and tucked me into his side.

“Excuse us, Frank. It’s time to get this guy home before he turns into an Ozsicle. Tell Melanie Merry Christmas and be sure to tell Josh what a great job he did in the pageant.”

Once we said goodbye to all the people we knew on the way back to the truck, the day’s excitement caught up to me. As badly as I wanted to ask Jake about the incident earlier in the day, I was too out of it to bring it up, and when Jake poured me into the passenger seat, I was out cold before the engine even turned over.

The next day was Bennett and Xander’s wedding, and the day after that was Christmas. Time was racing ahead at Mach speed, and with every day that passed, I felt my priorities begin to shift. On the one hand, my feelings for Jake were spinning out of my control. But on the other, I finally began to pull together a picture of what I really wanted my life to be. For once, I wasn’t sure that life was in New York City.

Chapter 24

Jake

“Outside? Really?” I asked as I glanced between the window and Xander. “It’s like twenty degrees out there, and there’s gotta be close to a foot of snow on the ground. In what universe does it make sense to get married outside?”

“The friends one,” Xander said nonchalantly as he adjusted his burgundy bowtie in a small mirror.

“Um, what?” I asked, completely lost. “What do your friends have to do with it?”

“Not our friends, Friends. You know, the TV show?”

“Okay, yeah, I’ve seen it.”

“Five minutes, people!” Lucky suddenly yelled from somewhere down the hall. We were in a small sitting room at the back of the lodge. Most of the guests were still milling about inside the large sunroom, but Xander and I were waiting in the room around the corner. Lucky appeared a moment later wearing a white parka over a sharp-looking black wool suit. I noticed the scarf Oz had made him tucked carefully around his neck. But what really caught my attention was the headset he had–the kind singers wore when they wanted to keep their hands free. “Five minutes,” he said sharply as he pointed at Xander.

“Got it,” Xander said, barely stifling a smile.

“And don’t dally on your way out there. We’ve got ten minutes for this thing and not a minute more. And we both know how you and B like to talk all that lovey-dovey shit… um, stuff,” Lucky announced, then he was gone.

I laughed and said, “I get it. He’s Monica Geller. You’re taking a page from Phoebe’s wedding when there was a blizzard and instead of cancelling, they got married in the streets of New York.”

Xander nodded. “Bennett and I were binge watching the show a couple weeks back while we were deciding where exactly to say our vows. That episode came on, and we just knew.”

“So, are you the bride or groom?” I asked.

Xander shoved me lightly.

“Two minutes!” Lucky shouted. The second he rounded the corner, Xander and I both gave him a thumbs-up and he nodded in satisfaction.

“Guests are going out the door,” Lucky said into his microphone as he marked something off on his clipboard.

“Who’s he talking to?” I asked.

“Not a clue,” Xander responded. “The damn thing could be unplugged for all I know.”

“I can’t believe you made your seventeen-year-old kid play the part of Monica Geller,” I groused.

Xander hesitated, then glanced at me. “Okay, confession time. He’s never seen the show. All that” –he waved his hand in Lucky’s direction– “that’s all him.”

“Oh,” I murmured, because what else could I say? Congratulations on your tyrant of a wedding planner?

“I know,” Xander said, but the smile that spread across his features couldn’t be denied. He was loving every second of this. “So what about you?”

“What about me?”

“Where would you do it if, say, you and… someone… were getting married?”

“Subtle,” I said snidely as I straightened my jacket.

“Just a question,” Xander observed.

“Uh-huh, sure it is.”

Even though I had no intention of answering Xander, mostly because I knew there would be no wedding bells in my future with Oz, the seed had been planted, and as Lucky reappeared, I was already trying to figure out my theoretical proposal.