Chapter 7
Travis
My eyes meet hers, and my heart fucking soars. Everything I was feeling on the way here is gone with one look at her. I can’t help but put my head back to laugh at the irony of what today is. My fucking wedding day, and she walks into the church. "Of course, you would be behind the bar." I sit on one of the stools by the bar and look over at Bennett, who just gives me a chin up. I’m sure he’s dying to ask me all the questions, but he’s giving me a chance to catch my bearings.
"I figured this is the only place where I could help." I can smell her from this side of the bar, and it takes me back to all those times we would go to the bar, and I would sit on a stool, and she would stand between my legs. My mind goes back to one of the last times it happened.
Sitting on a stool when she walked in, her eyes scanned the room before she found me. She smiled and then made her way through the crowd of people. I turned on the stool as she placed her bag in the middle of the feet of the stool. "Hi." I smiled at her, and she leaned in and kissed my lips.
My hands went straight to her hips, and she turned and looked at the bar. "What are we having?" she said and placed her back to my front, and that is where she stood all night long. One hand on my leg while she talked to people, with one of my hands on her hip. I would lean in and bury my face in her neck, and I felt at peace.
I hear whispers all around me, and I’m back to my wedding venue. I watch Harlow as she walks down the bar. Now grabbing a glass, she walks over and takes the bottle of scotch down, fills it two fingers in, and puts it in front of me.
I shake my head because she knows me, also because how fucking crazy is it that she’s here. I grab the glass and down it in one shot. The burning follows all the way to my stomach. "Another one?" she asks, and I nod my head, knowing that shit is going to hit the fan in a matter of minutes.
She leans over and pours another two fingers, and I smile at her and take the glass, laughing at the irony of this. I down it again and then look over at Bennett, who just stands there waiting for whatever I am going to say. "Wedding is off," I say to him, and he just puts his hand in front of his mouth. I don’t look at Harlow, I can’t, and when I get up, my sisters are at my side. I hold up my hand to stop them from talking and walk over to the stage.
I grab the microphone and turn it on. I tap it once to see if there is a sound that comes on. I look out at the people who have gathered now and see Jake, Frankie, and Chris standing by the door, and they just chin up to me. I look over toward my mother, who looks like she’s about to storm the stage as she stands with my sisters. "Testing, one two three," I say as my voice fills the venue. "Hi, everyone." I lift my hand awkwardly. "First off, I’d like to thank you all for coming," I say, looking around and seeing that Jennifer’s parents aren’t here. No doubt they took off with Jackie to see her. "I want to thank my sisters for everything they did to make this day special." I look over to them and know that they are all standing together now, glaring at me for something that they will be sure to tell me as soon as I step down. "With that said," I continue. "We have to announce that the wedding is off." There are gasps all over the room, especially from my mother, who is now glaring at me also. "Thank you to everyone for coming out, and I invite you to make full use of the bar." I point over to the bar where the guys have now made their way, along with Rachel, Victoria, and Lydia. "And if I’m not mistaken, there is also some food coming." I look at my sisters. "I hope." I turn the mic off and walk down the steps, and my sisters are the first ones to pounce on me.
Shelby says, looking around, "Um, where is Jennifer?"
"At the hospital," I state, and I try to walk past her and toward the bar because something tells me I should have another drink. It might not be a great idea given that people will want to try to talk to me, but whatever.
"So, is this wedding postponed?" Clarabella is the one with the big enough balls to ask me.
"No," I confirm, shaking my head. "Definitely canceled." I look up at the ceiling and can feel the pounding headache coming on. Or maybe it’s the booze.
"Fuck," Presley curses. "Incoming." She tries to give me a warning, but it’s not enough time when my mother steps in front of them.
"Excuse me," she says, looking around to see if there is anyone within earshot so she knows whether or not she can curse me out or not. Luckily for everyone, they are too busy whispering to each other, no doubt making up different stories. "Where is Jennifer?" She doesn’t even give me time to answer. "Can we not get the minister and get married at the hospital?" She looks around, searching for the minister.
"Um, the minister never showed," Shelby says, and I can’t help but laugh. If there were ever signs to say not to get married, this was the signs of all signs.
"Of course." I shake my head. "I want to know what did go right?"
"It’s fine," Clarabella says. "I’m ordained, so I would have been able to jump in."
"Well, then good thing it’s not happening," I say, and I try to walk away from them, but I can’t move.
"Just a minute, young man," my mother says, and my sisters laugh and then stop when my mother gives them that look.
"Young man?" Shelby is the one who can’t keep her face straight. "He’s almost thirty. We have to drop the young."
"Why aren’t you going back to the hospital with her?" My mother asks the question indirectly. She cocks one hip and waits for my answer.
"Because, Mom, we broke up," I explain, and Bennett shows up out of nowhere.
"Sorry to interrupt," he says, handing me a glass with scotch in it. "Thought you might need this." He looks around at the group. "To help with this." His hand does a circle of the group. "I’ll have another brought to you right away."
"More than you can ever know," I mumble and finish off the drink. He turns and walks away, going back to the bar. "Bottom line is it’s over and…" I don’t know what else I was going to say. The burning of my stomach is now replaced with warm heat. "Turns out she didn’t want to get married." I leave out the part that she didn’t want to marry me and that she was in love with Jackie. That’s not for me to share.
"I’ll get the guests taken care of," Shelby announces.
"I’ll check with the kitchen and have the food come out in bite sizes instead of plated," Clarabella says.
"I’ll check with the music and see if we can get it going," Presley adds.
The three of them go in different directions, and it’s just my mother and me. "Are you okay?" she asks, her voice soft.
"Actually." I look down at the empty glass in my hand. "I am." I look over, seeing that most people have stayed. "Better now than later, right?"
"She wasn’t the one," my mother says now, and I look at her and see her dabbing the corners of her eyes. "When it’s the right one, you’ll know." My mother looks over at the bar. "Maybe the right one was at the wrong time."
I look over at the bar. "Or maybe she was the right one all along, and I was stupid and scared she wouldn’t pick me."
"Only one way to find out." She comes to me and kisses my cheek. "Truth be told, you might still be stupid and scared."
"Not sure about scared," I joke with her. "Definitely still stupid." I look back over at Harlow and see her moving behind the bar as if she does this all the time. I wonder how she’s been. I wonder if she is happy. I wonder so many fucking things, and all I can do is stand here staring at her. But there is no mistaking that she still takes my breath away and makes me feel things I thought were gone forever.
"I’m proud of you." She cups my cheek. "Now, I shall go and mingle."
She walks away from me, and I have to say that that went better than I could ever imagine it going, like tenfold. I walk toward the bar and see my college friends all huddled on one side. I get closer, and the guys look up at me, and one of them just hands me their drink, and I take it without caring what it is. "Well, this is nice," I say, and I laugh.
"Listen, if you wanted to see us so bad," Frankie starts, taking a pull of his beer. "All you had to do was ask. You didn’t have to go out of your way and pretend to get married."
I throw my head back, and I laugh at him. "Guilty," I say, taking a gulp of the drink. I look to the side and see ten people now running in, all wearing black with white dress shirts. Two guys come over and walk behind the bar.
"I think this means I’m fired," Harlow declares and walks over to the sink to wash her hands. I follow her every move. I don’t think it sank in that she’s really here. She walks over to Bennett now. "Good job," she says, holding up her hand for him to give her a high five. "But I still won."
"I didn’t know where any of the bottles were," he whines to her retreating back. "We should have a rematch."
She shakes her head and walks out from behind the bar. Rachel whispers something into her ear, and she smiles and nods her head. "Okay, people," Jake says. "We know the drill." He looks over at the bartender. "We will take nine shots of tequila." The bartender nods at him and pours nine shots, and then he looks at all of us. "It’s time to play monkey business."
Everyone now groans and then laughs. "Got to bring it back old-school," I say, looking over at Harlow, who made up the game.
"If there is ever a time for monkey business," Harlow says and turns to hand me a shot. I laugh because she always had a way to make me feel better. If I had a crappy day at school, she would order my favorite food. If I got a bad result back, she would turn off all the lights in the room, and we would play touchy-feely, as she called it, trying to find each other. That’s Harlow, that is who she is. That is who I pushed away and forced myself to believe that I did it so she didn’t have to choose me over her family. I pushed her away because I was scared that she would sacrifice everything that she wanted for me, and then she would end up resenting me. I pushed her away, scared that in the end, she wouldn’t pick me. "It’s definitely now. Who wants to start?"