Page 14 of The Do Over
Bethany was by his side in a second, holding onto his arm.
“Why? You don’t want to spend some alone time with me? Your son is with the nanny and Andrew’s little sister is also a nanny, so she can do the boring job while we have some fun.”
Jack turned around, went to his room, and got in, not forgetting to lock the door behind him. Then he sat on the bed and ran his fingers through his hair, groaning in frustration. He couldn’t be with Bethany in the same house, not for a second longer. Thankfully, he had his phone in the room with him.
“Andrew,” he called his best friend. “Hey. How’s Sophie?”
His best friend sounded hesitant, taking a few seconds to reply.
“She’s fine. She went with the bridesmaids for dress fittings, which was why we had to send Bethany to you. I hope you don’t mind. I know you can’t do it alone and you seemed to get along better with Bethany, so this should be good, right?”
How could he mind, when explaining that he would rather leave with Sophie on his ass than hang around with Bethany, who was more likely to agree to everything he said, would make him sound inconsiderate?
“I don’t. I was only worried since I haven’t seen her in three days. Let me know if you need anything else while we’re picking up the supplies.”
“Have I told you that I’m glad you’re here?” Andrew said, just before Jack ended the call. I know you had a lot on your plate and you haven’t gone far since she died, but I’m happy you came. It means the world to me.”
It meant the world to Jack too. After college, he kept in touch with Andrew and his best friend was his best man when he wanted to get married. But when tragedy struck, when she died, he didn’t want to see anyone. Didn’t want to talk to anybody. So he cut the people around him off and concentrated on doing the best he could as a grieving husband and as a father.
When Andrew reached out to him and asked if he would attend his wedding, Aidan was his excuse. Not the reason why he didn’t want to go, but his excuse. The main reason was his fear of being around people again—because his wife had taken on the role of the social one after they got married.
“Thank you,” he replied, voice breaking. “Thank you.”
After the call ended, he straightened up himself and walked out of the room to see Bethany seated like she knew he was going to come back.
“Done getting dressed?”
He sighed.
“I’ll be ready in ten. You can wait outside.”
Then he turned around and walked back to his room.
•••
He should have tried doing it alone. He really should. Going out with Bethany turned out to be a trip that involved several stops and with every stop that they made, she held on to him that she did not have strength in her legs and proceeded to announce to the world that they were together.
Jack corrected her and whoever was around to listen over and over until he got tired and finally decided to let her be. They stopped to check out the lightning that was going to be at the venue, to figure out which glassware would be best for the guests and which tables would be good for the guests and for the couple.
The theme of the wedding, as Andrew had told him, was fairytale with vintage. He didn’t know what that meant, but he had been given a list of things to avoid, the ones that were somewhat okay, with a few that were green-lit.
And he barely managed to get anything done.
Bethany wanted to check out things that didn’t matter, things that she wanted to buy as souvenirs before the wedding ended, and…as she said Why not do a bit of window shopping?
He almost abandoned her as Sophie did to them, save for the fact that he knew she was going to throw s fit as soon as she was able to hitch a ride. When it was time to leave the last place, he vehemently refused her request to drive, told her to sit at the back, and tuned out her complaints until they were in front of Andrew’s parent's house.
It was good that he had no idea where she was staying or she would have asked him to drive her home.
“Andrew!”
She yelled when she saw the groom and Jack caught the panic in his friend’s eyes in time to put a stop to her sprinting. He held her wrist tight to make her stand still.
“Let me go,” Bethany protested, but Jack did not let her go until he saw Emily come out of the house. When she saw the fiancée, Bethany composed herself fairly enough to not launch herself at Andrew.
“Jack,” Emily greeted him with a smile. “Thanks for today. Sophie would have gone along but she had to go with the other bridesmaids for dress fittings. My fault,” she was sincerely apologetic, “because I could have had them do the fitting days ago.”
So Andrew wasn’t lying, Jack realized. He nodded. “No worries. Is she in? I can drive her home.”
