Goody Two Shoes (Invertary 2)

“Any worries about your future at all?” Josh eyed his friend. Mitch shrugged. “You wouldn’t let me organise a bachelor party. I’m trying to be a good best man here.”

Josh looked at the ceiling of the church, asking quietly for patience. “I am absolutely convinced I’m doing the right thing. Is that what you want to hear?”

“Fine.” Mitch sighed. “Ten minutes to showtime. You’d better give me the rings.”

Everything within Josh stilled.

Mitch sucked in a breath. “Seriously, tell me you have the rings.”

Josh smiled nervously.

“Holy crap, you didn’t even order the damn things, did you?” Mitch’s voice was gaining volume.

“Shh!” Josh hissed. “And stop cursing. We’re in a church and I’d rather not get struck by lightning on my wedding day.”

“You’re gonna get struck with a lot more than that if you don’t have a ring when Caroline gets here. She is going to be seriously pissed. It was your one job. How could you forget your one job?”

“It wasn’t one job. I organised the honeymoon.”

“Technically your PA organised the honeymoon. You spent all of twenty seconds on the phone telling her where you want to go.”

He had a point. “What are we going to do?”

Mitch cast a glance at the altar. “Pray?”

“Yeah, smartass, apart from that?”

“We have to borrow some. Come on, let’s talk to your parents.”

They strode over to Josh’s parents with smiles plastered to their faces. No need for anyone to suspect a problem.

“We need to borrow your rings,” Josh whispered.

His mum stared at him for a minute before swatting him on the arm. Hard. “You forgot the rings? How could you forget the rings? Send someone to the castle for them. We’ll wait. It shouldn’t take long.”

Josh looked at his shoes. “I forgot to buy them. I need to borrow yours.”

His mum looked like she wanted to hit him again. His dad stopped her, but started laughing at the same time, which didn’t help.

“You can’t borrow mine,” his mum hissed. “I haven’t been able to get them off for years.”

“And I don’t have one.” His dad wiggled his bare ring finger. “Never did like rings.”

Josh eyed his parents. They were very cosy. His father had his arm wrapped around his mom’s shoulders. He pointed at them. “Is this for show or is the divorce off?”

“It’s off.” His dad looked pretty pleased with himself.

His mother scowled up at him. “No it isn’t. I’m keeping it in reserve in case you slack off and go back to your boring old ways.”

“We’ll talk about this later, woman.” He gave her a look that made his mum blush.

“I like our talks,” she said coyly.

His father grinned, and Josh had a sudden urge to vomit.

Lake stepped into Josh’s peripheral vision. “Caroline has arrived. Time to take your position.”

Josh shared a look with Mitch. “I am so screwed. Can you even get married without rings?”