Wind Chime Wedding (A Wind Chime Novel Book 2) (29 page)

“I had to make a few calls last night, but it made a huge difference to have everyone there.”

Annie nodded, putting another dish away. “I was surprised to see Colin there.”

Becca picked up the spoon Annie had given her, stirring the tea so she wouldn’t clench her hands together in her lap, so she wouldn’t let the rush of nerves at the mere mention of his name give her away. “Me, too.”

Annie wasn’t fooled. She continued to watch her closely. “I didn’t realize he knew Luke that well.”

“He doesn’t.”

Annie put away a few more dishes, letting the silence stretch out. “Then why did he come?”

Becca poked at a clove floating beside one of the ice cubes with the tip of the spoon. “I don’t know.”

“Becca?” Annie said gently.

Becca glanced up.

“I saw the way you looked at him today.” Annie’s green eyes were filled with compassion and understanding. “And the way he looked at you. There wasn’t a person in that room who couldn’t see the chemistry between you.”

Becca swallowed. What could she say? There was no denying it.

“Did something happen?” Annie asked. There was no judgment in her voice, no accusation in her eyes. It was a simple question.

Becca’s hand curled around the glass as the memory of their kiss from the night before swam back. “I’m attracted to Colin,” she said, letting the words out in a rush.

As soon as they left her mouth, she regretted them. She shouldn’t be saying things like that out loud, not when she was still wearing Tom’s ring, not until she’d made a decision about what to do.

Desperate to backtrack, she struggled to come up with an excuse for what she’d just said. She thought about what Grace had said out on the deck at Rusty’s on Tuesday—that even if she were engaged, she’d have to be blind not to notice Colin. “Who isn’t, though, right?”

“I’m not.”

Becca glanced up. Her friend was dead serious. “Well,” she said, attempting a breezy smile. “You have Will.”

“And you have Tom,” Annie said quietly.

Becca pulled in a breath.

“What’s going on, Becca?”

“Nothing.”
Everything.
A flutter of panic tapped at the base of her throat. She looked away. Part of her wanted to tell Annie. Part of her wanted to open the floodgates and let it all out. Wouldn’t it be better if she told someone? If she got an outside perspective? But as badly as she wanted to tell someone, she didn’t know if she was ready to admit it yet, not out loud. As soon as she said the words out loud, she would have to face them. She would have to face the truth—that she wasn’t sure if she wanted to marry Tom anymore.

“Are you having second thoughts?” Annie asked gently.

The fluttering in the back of her throat turned into a lump. She took a sip of sugary tea, trying to force it back, but the cold drink did nothing to soothe the dryness in her throat, or the emptiness in the pit of her stomach whenever she thought about her upcoming wedding.

Becca set down the glass, looking away. She couldn’t meet Annie’s eyes as she shook her head, as she tried to pretend everything was fine. After all this time, after everything she’d invested in her relationship with Tom, she was two weeks away from finally getting everything she’d ever wanted. Tom had even agreed to start trying for a baby on their honeymoon. Now,
she
was the one who wanted to pull the plug?

How could she throw away everything they’d built over the past fifteen years for a man she barely knew? She didn’t even know if Colin felt the same way about her. She knew he was attracted to her. She knew he wanted her physically. But what if that was all he wanted?

She had no interest in flings or meaningless sex. She wanted marriage. Children. Family.

She wanted commitment.

A man who kissed like Colin could make a woman think about doing crazy things, things she would never have imagined doing before he’d come into her life, like calling off the wedding she’d been planning for years, to a man she’d been with since she was a teenager.

What if what she was feeling for Colin
wasn’t
love? What if it was lust? What if she didn’t know the difference because she’d never been this attracted to someone before?

“I’m just nervous,” Becca lied, tracing a groove in the worn wooden counters with her thumb. “You’ll probably feel the same way right before you and Will get married.” She glanced up, grasping onto the opportunity to change the subject. “Speaking of… Have you two gotten any closer to setting a date?”

Annie said nothing, continuing to study her for several more moments. Becca could tell she wanted to say something else, but couldn’t decide whether or not it was her place. Finally deciding to let it go, Annie reached for the cluster of utensils in the drying rack, and started putting them away in a drawer at the far end of the counter. “Actually, no,” she said. “Neither of us can afford a wedding right now.”

“Oh,” Becca said, immediately feeling badly for asking. She should have known better. With Annie just getting the café off the ground and Will funneling most of his savings into the veterans’ center and the brand new wing at the inn, it was no wonder they couldn’t afford a wedding right now. Having just gone through the process of planning one of her own, she knew how quickly the costs could add up.

Annie shrugged, as if it weren’t that big of a deal. “To be honest, I would be perfectly happy to go to the courthouse. We almost did back in February, over Valentine’s Day, when Will was home visiting. But when we told Della, she burst into tears.”

Becca took another sip of iced tea, relieved that the discussion about weddings had shifted to Annie and Will and away from her and Tom. “I can imagine.”

“She said she’d been dreaming about our wedding ever since we got engaged, that she’d pictured a beautiful sunset ceremony at the inn and a big party afterwards with everyone on the island. She said she’d already planned out the whole menu and had over a dozen cake recipes picked out for me to taste.” Annie shook her head, blowing out a breath. “I understand where she’s coming from, but a big wedding just feels like taking on a whole lot of work for everyone else.” Her eyes widened when she realized what she’d said. “Sorry, I didn’t mean…”

“It’s okay,” Becca said, her gaze drifting down to her engagement ring. She knew exactly how Annie felt. She had never wanted a big wedding either. She had never wanted all this stress. But, at the same time, she agreed with Della. The thought of Will and Annie going to the courthouse seemed so unromantic. Didn’t they want a different memory to hold onto, if not for themselves, at least for Taylor? “Wouldn’t you rather do something small on the island? Even if it was just here, in the backyard of the café, with a few close friends?”

“Of course,” Annie said, a little wistfully, as she walked back over to the spot across from Becca at the counter. “But how would I decide who to invite? If Will and I got married on the island, everyone would want to come. We wouldn’t be able to do something small.”

Taking the dishrag off her shoulder, Annie draped it over the faucet. “I’m not going to pretend that I haven’t had a vision of what my dream wedding would be like since I was a little girl. But I guess I have a more realistic view of what really matters now, as opposed to what society expects me to do. I’m not a traditionalist. I got pregnant at seventeen. I’ve done everything backwards. Before Will came along, it was just me and Taylor for a long time, and I was okay with that.”

Leaning her forearms on the counter, Annie gazed back out the window. “What matters now is that Taylor is taken care of. Since the day she was born, I have worried about what would happen to her if something happened to me. I know I don’t have to worry about that anymore. I have Will now. I have Della. I have Joe. I have the Hadleys. But I want to make it official. Taylor belongs on this island and she belongs with Will. I want to make sure she would be able to stay here, with him, if anything ever happened to me.”

Becca took in the circles under Annie’s eyes, the already pale complexion that had lost even more color from worrying about Taylor’s school situation this week. Becca had wanted to be a mother her whole life, but she had never really known the kind of worry Annie lived with every day—the constant worry every mother lived with. She wished she hadn’t added to it this week. She wished she could do something to lift a little of the burden. “Maybe when Will gets back and you’re both settled, we could plan a little ceremony with a few people and a dinner back here where Della can cook as much as she wants and everyone’s invited. I’d be happy to help. I’m sure we could come up with a way to give you what you want without breaking your budget.”

“I’d like that,” Annie said, smiling. “But right now, let’s focus on yours. What’s the final count on the guest list.”

“One hundred and seventy three.”

Annie gaped at her. “I thought you were capping it at a hundred and fifty?”

“I was,” Becca said, rubbing a hand over her eyes. “It’s gotten completely out of control.”

“Where are they all staying?”

“I rented houses for a lot of them on the island. Some of them are staying in hotels or B&Bs in St. Michaels.”

“How many are staying at the inn?”

“Twenty,” Becca said. “As long as it’s ready by then. If not, I’ll have to figure something else out.”

“Are all three guest cottages booked?”

Becca nodded.

“Even the one Colin’s been staying in?”

“No,” Becca said. “I mean, I saved that one for Colin…and whoever he’s bringing.”

Annie looked up. “Colin’s coming?”

“Yes.”

“And he’s bringing someone?”

Becca nodded. “That’s what he said.”

“Huh,” Annie said.

“What?” Becca prodded, thinking about how she’d had to remind him the other night about his RSVP, how long it had taken him to finally commit. “Are you surprised he said yes?”

“Well…” Annie hesitated. She picked up the towel again, wiping at a few nonexistent crumbs on the counter. “I don’t think Colin’s a big fan of weddings these days.”

Becca frowned. Despite whatever else had been growing between them over the past week, he’d been incredibly generous in accommodating her wedding, with all the guests and the issues with the construction. She hadn’t felt like it had been a burden, even once. “Why not?”

Annie set down the towel, taking a deep breath. “I thought you knew.”

“Knew what?”

“Colin was engaged not too long ago.”

“Engaged?” Becca echoed, stunned. “When?”

“Before he came back from Afghanistan,” Annie said. “He was supposed to get married in San Diego last summer. Will was going to be his Best Man.”

“But…” Becca trailed off, trying to wrap her head around it. “I don’t understand. What happened? Did he call it off?”

“No,” Annie said, shaking her head. “She did.”

Becca’s eyes widened. “I can’t believe anyone would break off an engagement to Colin. He’s…”
perfect
, she almost said, before she caught herself. Before she realized how easily the word could have slipped out of her mouth.

Annie lowered her voice when the door to the café opened downstairs and they heard Taylor and Ryan walk inside. “Will told me this in confidence, so please don’t spread it around.”

“Of course,” Becca said. “But…what happened? Why did she call it off?”

“She gave him his ring back when she came to visit him at Walter Reed, when he was still in bed recovering from the surgery.” Annie said. “She said she couldn’t marry an amputee.”

E
ngaged?
Walking away from the café half an hour later, Becca’s head was still spinning over what Annie had told her. How could she not have known that Colin had been engaged? It wasn’t like asking someone to spend the rest of her life with you was a small thing. And if it had only been a year since she’d broken up with him—had left him because he’d lost a leg fighting for his country—then the wound must still be fresh.

She gazed down at the sidewalk, at where a cluster of dandelion was breaking through a crack in the cement. No wonder he’d reacted so strongly when she’d seen his prosthesis for the first time. No wonder he’d gotten so angry when she’d stared. He must have thought she was turned off by it, like his fiancée had been. Nothing could have been farther from the truth.