Just like the fortune teller had predicted.
“In a week or two, maybe Garrett and I will have you both over for dinner.”
“Listen to you, Blair Hansen-Lowry,” Megan gushed. “Dinner parties with other couples? Marriage definitely agrees with you.”
The normally hard-assed Blair actually blushed. “Now that Garrett has moved to Kansas City and we’re starting our own practice . . .” Her blush deepened. “I just never expected to be so happy.” Then a mock scowl crossed her face. “If you ever repeat that to anyone, I’ll deny it.”
Megan gave her a teasing grin, but she knew better than to make a big deal of their friend’s uncharacteristic sentimentality. “Just think. When Josh and I move into our house in Lee’s Summit next month, all six of us can hang out together. It’ll be like old times.”
Libby had to admit, Blair looked happier than she had since high school. The curse had changed her life—and Megan’s—for the better.
So what in the hell was Libby doing wrong? Staring down at her bare left finger, she tried to keep from wringing her hands. Because she’d never planned to walk down the aisle toward him, she’d refused to let Mitch buy her an engagement ring. She’d bought two cheap wedding bands at a superstore to avoid suspicion. The best man now had them in his pocket.
The door to their room opened, and Josh McMillan, Megan’s husband of five months, poked his head in the room. “Hey, girls.”
Megan glanced up in surprise. “Josh, what are you doing here? Why aren’t you seated?”
Libby looked at him with a hopeful expression. Since Mitch had a tendency to tune out anything that wasn’t directly related to the Arkansas Razorbacks or the high school football team he coached and the school where he taught phys. ed., Libby had put Josh in charge of making sure the groom’s side of things ran smoothly. Perhaps this was what she’d been waiting for. Josh walked through the threshold and shut the door behind him.
“Libs, I have some bad news.”
“Mitch didn’t show?” She tried to keep the excitement out of her voice.
His eyes widened, then he shook his head. “What? No. Nothing like that. Mitch is in the church office watching the Arkansas football game.”
Figured. “Then what’s the bad news?”
He grimaced, casting a glance at Megan, then back at Libby. “I’m sure you’re wondering why we haven’t started yet . . .”
“You mean it’s not because Mitch doesn’t want to miss the end of the game?” Libby asked wryly.
“Not entirely.” He looked concerned. “It’s because we’ve been waiting on one of the groomsmen to arrive.”
There were only two groomsmen, and she could account for the best man, having seen Mitch’s cousin only a few hours earlier. That left one person. Josh’s brother. “Is Noah’s plane late?”
“Not exactly…”
She waited for him to continue, trying not to get upset until she had all the facts.
“He’s not coming at all.”
The blood rushed from her head. “What? Why not?”
“Libs, I don’t know. He said something about Donna needing him this weekend.”
His girlfriend of four weeks?
Back in June, Libby and Noah had become instant friends in the lead-up to Megan and Josh’s circus of a wedding, and the two had schemed to make sure the new couple’s marriage was legit. Their friendship had grown closer over the following months, and Noah had quickly replaced Libby’s two best friends as her closest confidant.
Noah was a notorious womanizer and Libby was known for her serial dating. Their relationship confounded everyone they knew. It was so unlike them, but then, maybe that was why it worked. It had only seemed natural to include Noah in the wedding party. After all, Mitch hadn’t minded.
But he’d suddenly decided not to come? Just on a whim?
What the actual hell?
Josh gave her a sympathetic look. “Libby, I’m sorry. I warned you he could be . . . unreliable.”
It was true. But Libby had never seen that side of Noah. Somehow she’d thought their friendship had changed him. It had definitely changed her.
Libby put a hand on her hip and narrowed her eyes at the innocent McMillan brother. “Let me get this straight. He agreed to be in my wedding, then he decided not to come because his girlfriend of four weeks has something she wants him to do?”
In a show of solidarity, Megan crossed the room to her husband and placed a hand on his arm. “Josh has told me stories of Noah’s epic fails in the past, but he hasn’t acted like this since I’ve known him. And he’s taken on so much responsibility with the merger of Dad’s company with Josh and Noah’s . . . Josh really did think he had changed.”
Libby wiped at the tear falling down her cheek. This wedding might not be real, but Noah still should have been here for her. The amount of grief she felt over his absence caught her by surprise.
But what did it matter if they were short a groomsman? The wedding wasn’t going to take place anyway. After all, there was no way that the curse would strike for both Megan and Blair and miss her. Her knight in shining armor—her one true love, her soul mate—would show up at any minute to sweep her off her feet and marry her before her birthday on Tuesday.
Only she had no earthly idea who he might be. The only thing she knew was what the lines on her palm told her—he was creative and would shower her with the love she’d longed for her entire life.
A cold sweat broke out on her forehead. What if this didn’t work?
“What do you want to do?” Blair asked, her jaw set. She’d barely tolerated Noah in the past, so these shenanigans weren’t bound to make her any fonder of him.
One hundred people were sitting in that church, waiting for her to walk down the aisle.
What the hell was she going to do?
Faith. Libby just needed more faith. She’d had enough faith for Megan and Blair when their lives and weddings had begun to fall apart. Since they hadn’t seemed to understand what was really going on, Libby had needed to have enough faith for all three of them.
She gave them a dazzling smile. “Go ahead with the wedding, of course.”
“What about the missing groomsman?” Megan asked.
Libby shrugged. She refused to show her friends how upset she was that Noah wasn’t there. “Have Josh stand in for him.” She gave him a pointed glance, disappointment seeping into her voice. “Haven’t you spent most of your adult life cleaning up his messes? What’s one more?”
“Oh, Libby.” Megan threw her arms around her friend. “I’m so sorry.”
Libby pulled loose. “I’m okay. I should have known better. I just thought he was beyond this sort of thing.”
“We all did.”
“Does that mean you’re ready?” Blair asked, holding out Libby’s wildflower bouquet.
“I guess.”
Her response drew worried glances from her friends, but she was too busy trying to figure out what she would do if the curse didn’t work.
No. No. No. Stop thinking like that. She just had to believe.
Libby reached for the bouquet and took a deep breath. When she released it, serenity washed through her. This was going to work.