Page 8 of The Do Over
Sophie shook her head to clear the thoughts. She shouldn’t be thinking about him in that way. She shouldn’t be thinking about Jack Williams in a way that made her imagine what it would feel like if he pressed her against the car and leaned close enough for her to feel his breath on her skin.
“He’s sending someone with a car,” Jack said, as she watched him walk back to her. “We have to wait for fifteen to twenty minutes.”
She nodded and went to sit inside the car. Jack came in minutes later, getting into the passenger seat. The silence in the car was thick and heavy, and Sophie avoided looking into the rearview mirror, knowing that there was a chance their eyes could meet.
After what felt like an eternity, the other car came and this time, she got the key from him—getting into the driver’s seat. Jack sat at the back and Sophie drove all the way, neither of them saying a single word.
They stopped at the first store and walked in. The owner was a woman Sophie knew when she was younger and she had already been informed by Andrew that his younger sister was coming down, so she took them to the room where she had the paper samples, with different colors and fonts.
“I’ll let you two make your choice,” she said, adding that they looked like a couple. Neither of them had any response to that, although Sophie could have sworn that a look of annoyance crossed Jack’s face.
There were papers in different colors, sizes, and textures laid out on the table.
“Emily’s favorite color is pink,” she immediately went for a pink paper that felt a little rough to the touch but was also thick enough that guests wouldn’t forget that they were holding it in their hands.
Jack went for one at the farthest end, which was the darkest shade of black available. “Andrew likes black. This would work.”
“You can’t have black as the color of a wedding program. And definitely not that shade,” she protested.
“Why not?”
“It’s a wedding, not a funeral. You need something that will inspire happiness, not a color that would have the guests wondering if they should have worn their mourning clothes,” Sophie explained. “Emily wouldn’t like it either and you’re supposed to be here for moral support, rather than contradicting my opinion.”
Jack made a tutting sound. “I believe I’m entitled to an opinion too, as the best man. The couple has to come to a compromise, no? That’s why they had us come here instead of asking the store lady to pick anything.”
As infuriating as he was, Jack had a point. The problem was, he was holding the wrong color and Sophie was all too eager to point it out. She folded her arms and stared at him.
“Andrew’s best color is blue, not black. And he certainly wouldn’t appreciate that shade, although I’m starting to think it’s your favorite color.”
“How do you know his favorite color is blue?”
“That’s the color of our house. My parents had it painted blue when they asked my brother what he would like it to be.”
“That doesn’t make it his best color. He could have said so because he knew your parents wouldn’t want their house painted black.”
Sophie rolled her eyes. “Have you not met Andrew? You give him an open check and he runs with it. He’s also told me severally that he likes blue the most, but here you are, the best man, still getting it wrong.”
“If your brother told you that he preferred the color blue over the others, it still doesn’t mean it’s his favorite color. You’ve never gone shopping with him. You’ve never watched him try to pick something that had different colors and seen him end up with black. Every. Single. Time.”
Sophie groaned inside, clenching her fists so she wasn’t going to give him a piece of her mind and end up not wanting to work with him, which would put a dent in Andrew’s and Emily’s wedding plans. What she did instead was get her phone out and place a call to her brother.
Who didn’t confirm or deny that his best color was either black or blue? All he said was that pink was the right color since it was Emily’s best color. It was half a victory, but it belonged to Sophie, so she had a smug smile on her face when she ended the call and looked at Jack.
“You’re here for moral support,” she reminded him. “You might as well do just that and not get in my way. Thank you.”
CHAPTER4
POOL PARTY, ANYONE?
Jack was seated awayfrom the other groomsmen and bridesmaids, who were gathered around a pool at a resort center that Andrew and Emily had taken the lot of them to, before driving off.
It was their idea of getting the bridesmaids and groomsmen to get along before the big rehearsals started, but from what Jack could see, they were getting to know themselves a little too well.
Some of them were in the pool—with at least two skinny dipping, while the others layed on lounge chairs and sipped from champagne glasses. He was close to the building where they were going to sleep for the night, but he was watching Aidan too.
Watching his son in an environment where everyone was drinking and getting drunk wasn’t ideal, but it had been Jack’s attempt to bail when he found out that Sophie would be tagging along.
The woman infuriated him to no end.
