Fool for You (Southern Bride 7)

Emmerson nodded. “I agree. It could take us a few months, maybe longer, to get pregnant.”

“The more sex the better, if you ask me.”

I heard the sound of the front door bell, putting all conversations of baby sex on hold.

“Go,” Emmerson said. “I’ll let myself out and meet you at home.”

I took a look at myself in the mirror and then headed to the door of my office. Before I opened it, I turned back and said, “Be naked and ready! I should be home in an hour.”

Emmerson

DECEMBER IN TEXAS could be tricky. It could be forty degrees out or eighty. It just so happened that the next few days were going to be beautiful. Springlike temperatures in the low- to mid-seventies. The perfect weather for a December wedding.

I stood in the barn and looked up at the rafters as Landon, Noah, and my father all hung large swaths of white fabric across the beams to soften the rustic look.

Emmit was on a forklift attaching chandeliers down the middle of the barn, while Addie stood underneath, barking up at him to move left or right. I was positive Emmit was going to drop one of them at any moment if Addie said to “go one inch more to the left” one more time.

Hailey walked up and stood next to me, her arms crossed over her chest. “I finished with the lanterns for the tables. I think the flowers with the flameless candles inside are going to look so cute.”

Amy approached and stood in front of us, her camera practically in our faces. She was filming all the behind the scenes before the wedding and the wedding itself.

“I think so too,” I said, smiling at Amy and taking a step back. I really needed to have a talk with her about personal space while filming.

“Did you call the bakery?” Amy asked, motioning for Hailey to step away, which only made her move closer. Amy had gone with me and Landon to another cake tasting a few weeks back, when the bakery I had originally hired to do our cakes had to cancel. The owner had fallen, breaking both of her legs, and then the assistant baker tripping over the owner and broke her arm. It was terrible, but it also led me to a new in-home baker another client of mine had once used.

When I’d called the new baker and told her my situation, she immediately asked if we could please have someone film the cake tasting so that I could be focused and able to help Landon if he threw up again. Amy jumped at the chance. Since then, she’s been editing my videos and doing all the wedding prep filming, while also blogging about her own upcoming wedding to Noah. He’d asked her to marry him on her birthday, which happened to be October thirty-first.

It had also allowed me to see how much of a natural Amy was at wedding planning. So three days ago I’d asked if she wanted to come on as my partner, since I was getting more work than I could handle and was having to turn people away.

Amy, of course, said yes. She quit her job and had already jumped in to help with three clients of mine who had already fallen in love with her.

“Amy, please get that camera out of my face, or I will trip on the way down the aisle of your wedding,” Hailey threatened.

Laughing, Amy said, “No, you won’t, because a certain doctor will be attending.”

I turned and looked at Hailey. “What doctor? Wait, what have I missed?”

The camera was still rolling, I noted—and so did Hailey. “I swear to God, if you don’t edit that out…”

Dropping the camera and smiling, Amy said, “I promise I will. You haven’t told her yet?”

“Told me what?” I demanded, stomping my foot and throwing my hands up in the air like a two-year-old.

Hailey’s cheeks turned a slight shade of pink as she looked down at the barn floor. “It’s nothing.”

Clearly, Amy was impatient. “Ha! Hailey met Jack, Noah’s friend, during happy hour at the bed and breakfast. They literally ran into each other. Hailey was walking into the main living room with wine, and he was walking out. Wine spilled all over them both.”

I shook my head in confusion. “Why was Jack at the bed and breakfast?”

“His house flooded, so he’s staying there.”

“He’s still staying there?” I gasped with excitement.

“Yep!” Amy said, popping her P.

“We should invite him to the wedding then!” I said as I clapped my hands.

Hailey let out a noise that sounded like a warning growl. “No, I don’t think we should invite him.”

“Invite who to what?” Noah asked from behind us.

“Jack,” Amy said, rushing over to give my brother a hug and a kiss.

“Jack?” Noah asked, a look of total confusion moving over his face. “Why in the world would we invite Jack? He hardly knows Landon or Emme.”