“Very funny,” she chuckled, but it wasn’t her genuine laugh—the one that made him feel good inside just from hearing it. “You’ll be one of the groomsmen.”
“Does Mitch know about this?”
“He thinks it’s a great idea.”
That didn’t surprise him. Mitch was one of the most laid back, albeit clueless, guys he had ever met.
“So? Will you?”
“Sure.” Not that he ever expected the wedding to take place. Libby had stepped up twice to keep her friends from making mistakes with their marriages. They owed her big time, and surely they would see what he did—that while Mitch was a good guy, he wasn’t the type who could snare Libby’s heart.
Only it didn’t happen that way.
When Noah brought it up to Josh at the office a week later, Josh played it off. “Megan and Libby had a good heart-to-heart talk, and Megan thinks Libby’s happy.”
Noah frowned. “She’s taking Libby’s two years of acting in college into account, right?”
Josh had looked up from his computer. “Why would she pretend to be happy? Especially when she was so adamant about making sure Megan and Blair made the right choices.”
Noah shook his head. “I’ve heard her mention something about getting married before her thirtieth birthday. Her birthday is next month. Maybe she’s feeling the pressure.”
“Libby? Feeling social pressure? Not likely.” Josh laughed. “If anything, it’s that stupid curse nonsense.”
Noah perked up. “What curse nonsense?”
Josh shrugged. “Megan mentioned it right after our wedding. Something about Libby believing all three of them were cursed to have disastrous weddings.”
“What does that have to do with her getting married before her birthday?”
He gave Noah an ornery grin. “I confess, my attention was on other things when Megan told me, so a lot of the details escaped me.”
Noah cringed. “TMI, dude.”
“Really? This from the king of TMI? How many of your exploits have I been forced to hear about?”
“That was different. Megan’s my sister-in-law.”
Josh gave him a look of surprise, then continued. “Like I said, I don’t remember a lot of the details, but I do know Libby totally believes in it.”
Noah sucked in a breath, trying to quell his brewing nausea. “I don’t know, Josh. I have a really bad feeling about this.”
Josh’s gaze narrowed. “Maybe you need to take a good look at why you have that feeling.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Maybe you need to examine your own life.”
Here he was trying to save his friend from making the biggest mistake of her life and Josh was using it as yet another opportunity to point out what a screw-up he was. He started to walk away, but Josh called after him.
“How’s the Abrahams account coming?”
So Josh really didn’t trust him. Noah stopped in his tracks and turned to face his brother. “Great. I have a meeting with Scott next week.”
“You’re sure you’ve got this? I know you went to college with him, but I can help if you need me to intervene.”
Noah tried to stifle his irritation. He couldn’t really blame Josh for being cautious. After all, he had spent the better part of a decade trying to do as little as possible. Still, it sucked to be treated like a preschooler, even if he deserved it. “I think we’re good.”
Josh lowered his voice. “Look, Noah. We need that account. Bad. You know that, right?”
“I know.”
“If you get into any trouble, you’ll let me know?”
“Sure,” he said, still distracted by Libby and her engagement.
That night he went out with a couple of friends and met Donna at a bar. She was with several friends who joined his group. While it wasn’t exactly unusual that he went home with her, he surprised himself by asking for her number and telling her he wanted to see her again.
In a way, Josh was right. Libby’s impending marriage had made him realize how empty his life was. Now that she was preparing for her wedding—or more likely because of their disagreement—she no longer called him as frequently, which made him acutely aware that once she was married, he would hear from her even less. Her absence left an ache in his soul, and his typical one-night stands weren’t going to fill it. Donna was conventionally pretty and model-thin—the polar opposite of Libby’s exotic beauty and hourglass figure. And while Donna was a little clueless about some things, she was actually a nice woman he could take home to meet his mother.
Everyone who knew him was shocked that he’d kept a woman in his life for more than a few weeks, and while he wasn’t as over-the-moon happy as Josh, he was trying to be content. For the first time in a long while, he felt like maybe he could stop blustering and be happy. But that wasn’t entirely true. Libby was the one who’d made him feel that way, not Donna.
Maybe it just took time.
As Libby’s wedding drew closer, Noah became more and more anxious, and Donna became more and more of a bitch over his friendship with Libby.
Noah was supposed to fly out two days before the wedding, but Scott Abrahams was a hard man to pin down. He’d postponed their meeting until Friday afternoon, forcing Noah to move his flight to the day of the wedding. But five minutes before they were supposed to meet, Abrahams called to cancel.
“Noah, you know I like your plans, but I’m meeting with someone else next week. I’ll be honest—I’ll probably sign with them.”
Noah’s stomach dropped. “Scott, I’d be more than happy to go over the schematics with you over drinks.”
“I trust your schematics, and I know we go way back, but I think I can get a better deal. No hard feelings. It’s just business.”
He hung up before Noah could press him for more details.
Noah felt like he was going to be sick. How was he going to explain this to Josh? His brother was definitely going to blame him for losing the job. He considered waiting until after the wedding to tell him, but that’s what the old Noah would do. The new Noah was taking charge. He called his brother before he could change his mind.
“That was fast,” Josh said.
“There’s a reason.”
“He didn’t sign.” Josh’s voice was flat.
“He canceled the meeting.”
“What happened?”
The accusation in Josh’s voice stiffened Noah’s back. “Why does it sound like you think I fucked this up?”
“Well, did you?”
“What the hell, Josh? You know I’ve been busting my ass to get this deal.” Still, some inner voice taunted him. You must have fucked it up. You know Josh would have closed the deal without a problem.
That voice only pissed him off more.
Josh groaned in frustration. “I knew I should have sat in on some of the meetings.”
Noah’s irritation only grew. “You don’t think I can handle a meeting?”
“I’m sure you can when drinks are involved.”
“So now you’re accusing me of being a drunk and a slacker.”
“You have to admit, you’ve fit both descriptions in the past.”