The Best Man (Jasper Falls 2)

“I’m fine, Mum,” Ryan said, pouring a cup of coffee. “Everything’s handled. Hey, Pat.”

“Hey, man.” As soon as Pat returned home, his mother threw a fit and had been lecturing him ever since. Another reason why he might take that bookstore rather than wait for something better to come along.

“Now, I’ll have to make a hundred calls to tell everyone you’re not lying in a ditch somewhere.”

He rolled his eyes. When she said she involved half the town in a search party, that really meant she called the aunts and they asked his fifty cousins if anyone had seen him. “Just call Aunt Maureen and tell her I’m home now.” The woman could spread news faster than wildfire.

“That’s not the point! Where were you? I called Josephine, and she was rather short with me.”

He could imagine. She was another one he needed to talk to. He wished he could be a fly on the wall in her house, because Julie was likely speaking to her right now. “Don’t bring Jo into this.”

“Why not? She’s your fiancée.”

“About that—”

“Rosemarie!” His father called from the front door. “Who the hell left these boxes all over the front porch? It stinks to high heaven out here!”

His mother rushed to the front door and unleashed a string of vulgar profanity. “I told them to deliver to the tavern. The house was the billing address, not the shipping address! Ryan, Patrick, go get the truck. We have a hundred pounds of fish to move.”

Pat frowned. “Fish?”

His brother cursed and dumped his coffee. “Great.”

The fish was salmon, and it was for the wedding. Apparently it was supposed to go to O’Malley’s, where the reception would be held, after a ceremony at the lake on McCullough Mountain.

“Ry, you should ask for a refund. By the time we get this loaded and unloaded, it will have been baking in the sun for over an hour. The guests will get sick.”

“Oh, this is the last time I take advice from Colleen.” His mother was already dialing, but he knew she wasn’t calling the distributor. “Your back-alley fish dealer has my whole street stinking like a medieval brothel on an August day, Colleen!”

Aunt Colleen’s voice shrilled on the other end. His mother took the call inside, blaming her sister for the mix-up in true family fashion, where they never let anyone off the hook without a little culpability.

He looked at Ryan who seemed overly stressed compared to his calm demeanor ten minutes ago. “Should we load this up?”

“It’s all gotta go in the trash. We’ll never get it on ice in time.” He flipped open a cardboard lid and drew back. The stink of bad fish wafted through the air and was already permeating the paper packaging.

“Let’s take it to the landfill. We can’t put it in the dumpster. It’ll have the whole town reeking tomorrow for the wedding.”

The morning was spoiled by transporting rotting fish across town and trying to find a replacement dish for the guests within twenty-four hours. Luckily, Maggie used to work at Restaurant Supply, and they had enough meat on hand for Ryan to improvise.

“So, how was it?” Ryan asked on their trek back across town to drop off the meat order.

Pat didn’t need his brother to specify that he was asking about Julie. “Did you ever imagine something perfect, like absolutely perfect, and the reality is so much better it makes the fantasy look flat and pale in hindsight?”

Ryan grinned and raised a brow as he turned onto Main Street. “That good?”

“Better.”

He parked at the back of O’Malley’s. “So, what now?”

A knot formed in Pat’s gut. “I don’t know. She’s gotta straighten some stuff out and get settled. I want to go pack up her belongings in Maryland for her so it’s done, but I can’t. This is something she has to see through for herself.”

“That sucks. She was with him for a long time. It has to be complicated as hell to break up a long relationship like that.”

“I wouldn’t know.”

Ryan chuckled. “Me neither.” He shut off the car and they waited in the AC before stepping into the hot summer air. “Do you think we’re lucky? I mean, I always thought I was cursed because my entire dating life was a revolving door of fix ups, one night stands, and shitty blind dates. But then I found Maggie and it just feels different. Permanent. I can’t imagine ever being with someone else.”

Pat envied his brother but also felt incredibly happy for him. “I think that makes you the luckiest man in the world.”

He gave him a knowing look. “You’re lucky too, Pat. I’ve got a good feeling about this Julie thing. Not sure how you’re going to explain it to the town when everyone thinks you’re engaged to her sister, but it’ll all work out.” He cracked the door and hopped out.