As if Megan were a heat-seeking missile, she instantly spotted her mother in the back of the store. Kevin and Noah were with her, and they looked like two bucks ready to butt antlers. Apparently Kevin held the same animosity for both of the brothers McMillan. But Noah was holding his own. Megan figured Noah was the type of guy who could be dropped into a camp of cannibalistic pygmies and come out of the incident revered as a god.
Her mother gave her a disapproving frown as she approached. “Megan, I’m glad to see that you could manage enough responsibility to bring Josh to pick up his tux for your wedding tomorrow.” She puckered her mouth. “Let’s hope you can show up for your own wedding. I didn’t spend fifty-six thousand dollars just to throw it all away.”
Fifty-six thousand dollars? It had snowballed even more than Megan had realized. Her irritation grew, heat burning her cheeks. Josh had more important things to attend to than this sham wedding, and she was through with pretending. “Miss my wedding? Funny you should mention it, Mother—”
Josh’s hand tightened, snugging her firm against his side. “Megan wouldn’t dream of missing the wedding. Isn’t that right, Meggie?”
“Meggie?” Kevin snorted. “She lets you call her that? She tried to beat the shit out of me every time I said it.”
“Tried,” Megan sneered, lifting an eyebrow. “You still can’t admit that I beat you up almost every time!”
“I didn’t fight that hard, Meggie,” Kevin said. “You’re a girl, in case you haven’t noticed.”
“I can still take you, Kevio!”
Noah watched their exchange with an amused grin. “Kevio?”
Megan’s mother rolled her eyes, clearly irritated. “Kevin always attracted a lot of interest from girls in high school and had quite a few girlfriends. Megan compared him to Fabio one day, then started calling him Kevio.” She shot them both a reprimanding look. “You two are too old to be bickering like children.” She turned her back to them in dismissal of the subject. “Now we need to pick out a tux for Noah. He has to match because he’s going to be in the wedding.”
Ignoring her mother, Megan stuck her tongue out at her brother, and he flipped her off. It was a shame that Gram had nodded off. She loved when Megan and Kevin pushed Knickers’ buttons.
Josh’s arm was still around her waist, and she was surprised when his chest shook from a suppressed chuckle.
“How is Noah going to be in the wedding?” Megan asked her mother. “I thought you had the bridesmaids-to-groomsmen ratio perfectly figured out.”
“I’m making your cousin Vince an usher now.”
Noah shifted his weight. “I’m good with just sitting in the audience.”
“I was tempted,” Megan’s mother said, giving her attention to a shoe display. “Especially since Josh’s side is shockingly bare. But I think it’s more important to have his brother standing beside him. Oh, here’s the salesperson now.”
A man emerged from the back room holding a black tuxedo.
Noah grimaced, clearly not impressed.
“I think this will fit you,” the man said, handing the suit to Josh’s brother. “I have the groom’s tux out already.” He eyed Josh up and down. “Are you the groom?”
Josh hesitated before nodding. “Yeah.”
Megan tried to hide her surprise that Jay hadn’t canceled his order. That type of slip-up was totally out of character. Still, she wasn’t sure what good it did them. Josh was taller and broader than Jay, so there was no way the tux was going to fit him. She supposed it didn’t really matter since he wasn’t going to wear it anyway.
Unfortunately, the salesman shook his head. “They must have really screwed up your measurements in Seattle. I’m not sure the tux I pulled is going to fit you.”
Megan’s mother jolted. “What are you talking about?”
“I can tell the pants aren’t long enough, and I don’t think the jacket will fit his broad shoulders.”
“Please tell me you have something that will fit.”
The man looked worried. “It’s June, Mrs. Vandemeer. We were lucky to have a tux for the groom’s brother. I’ll check, but I can’t make any promises.”
“You better take care of this, or heads will roll!” her mother shouted.
Gram jerked upright in her chair. “We’re having dinner rolls?” she asked, looking excited. “I’m hungry.”
Kevin laughed, not a friendly sound, and his gaze landed squarely on Josh. “No one’s head is going to roll . . . yet.”
The clerk still looked nervous. “I also pulled the tux for the bride’s brother.” He turned to Kevin. “If you could go back and try it on to make sure it fits. Especially after this . . . situation.” He nodded to Noah. “You can go back with him to try yours on, too.”
Noah looked even less thrilled than the other men did.
The clerk turned to Josh. “I’ll need to re-measure you to see what we have.” He grabbed the tape measure and quickly took Josh’s measurements. “They were definitely off,” he said quietly. “As I suspected, the tux we have won’t fit.”
“How could you people be so incompetent?” Knickers’ voice took an icy tone. “It’s such a simple thing. You just write down numbers.”
The anxious clerk started to twitch, and guilt ate at Megan’s resolve. The poor man had Jay’s measurements, not Josh’s. And he was right. Josh was taller and broader than her ex-fiancé. There was no way the tux would fit. “Mom. Stop. It’s not his fault the measurements are wrong.”
She put her hand on her hip. “What on earth does that mean?”
Megan started to answer, but Josh’s grip tightened on her side, and he cleared his throat. “Mrs. Vandemeer, what she means is that we suspect the salesperson in Seattle was dyslexic.”
“What?” she asked in disbelief. “Why on earth would they put a dyslexic person in charge of taking measurements?”
“That’s what I said,” Josh said in exasperation. “In fact, I told Megan I didn’t trust him, but she insisted I was overreacting.” He looked down at Megan, his mouth pinched in disapproval.
Megan gasped in surprise. What on earth was he doing throwing her under the bus like that? Then she realized he was paving the way for their breakup. The thought made her heart beat faster, but in a way that was strangely close to panic.
Still, if Josh expected her mother to take her side, he was wrong. “Josh, I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that math isn’t Megan’s strong suit.”
His arm stiffened and Megan was sure he was going to say something, but the clerk emerged from the back. “Good news, Mrs. Vandemeer! We have a tuxedo that will fit him.”
She held her hand to her chest, fingering the pearls at the base of her throat. “Thank goodness.”
“We’ll need you to try it on to make sure it fits.”
Josh snuck a glance at Megan. For the first time since they’d started this charade, he looked uncertain.
Fear twisted in her stomach. Was he going to break up with her now? She knew it had to be done, but even after what she’d said in the parking lot, she wasn’t ready to let him go yet. She lifted up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss. “I want to see you wearing it.”