Page 2 of The Wedding Driver
“Look. Trust me. I’ve taken care of everything. You and Lake are going to have a great wedding. I promise.”
“I know. I’m just being a nervous bride. I want everything to be perfect, especially since it’s not in New York City and the Grant’s family country club.”
“Oh. That’s what this is about.” Tonya tucked the cell under her ear as she took the mug of cocoa and mouthedTikito Foster.
He sat down in the recliner.
Tonya’s heart dropped to her pinky toe. He rarely shared the sofa, but she always hoped he would.
“Stop worrying about it. Lake didn’t want it there. His sister backed him up and both his parents eventually came on board,” Tonya said.
“It’s the eventually part that has me stressing.”
“Do you need to go?” Foster whispered as he set the popcorn bowl between them on the small end table.
“Where’s Lake?”
“He’s in the kitchen chatting with his parents and his sister. Twice the country club came up. I’d call Tayla, but Mom has her doing all sorts of shit.”
“Why don’t you meet me at my place in fifteen.”
“Are you sure?”
“I wouldn’t offer if I didn’t mean it.” Tonya sighed, setting her hot chocolate down. She stood. “I’m leaving in five.” She ended the call. “I’ll have to take a rain check.”
“I totally understand.” He took her by the hand and led her to the front door. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Why don’t we go together? You’ll need help with the boat.”
He lowered his chin. “You have bridesmaid things to do. I can handle this one on my own.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek. His warm, sweet lips lingered for a long, torturous moment.
She thought about grabbing his shoulders and kissing him, hard. However, she didn’t have the courage.
Tomorrow, when the mood was romantic and the time was right, she’d ask him out on a real date.
Shit. She was the queen of procrastination.
* * *
Foster took the plastic bags filled with food and water and made his way down one alleyway after the other, doing his best to put Tonya out of his mind.
For seven years he’d lived without sex and it hadn’t been that hard. Only, nothing was simple anymore when it came to Tonya. His feelings were all over the place and he couldn’t trust that he could keep a lid on his desires. He shouldn’t have invited her to stay earlier, so when she left, part of him had been relieved.
While the other part had been more than disappointed.
As long as he continued to keep Tonya in the friend zone, his life should continue on the same path. That’s the way he wanted it. Needed it. Complicating his relationship with Tonya would be disastrous. He couldn’t go down that road. Thinking about it hurt his soul in ways he couldn’t describe.
But mostly he didn’t want to hurt Tonya. The only problem was he could feel things shifting and her emotions were pulling him closer. If she acted on them, he had no idea if he could shut them down.
“Excuse me. Tony, right?” Foster approached a familiar man sitting on a couple of old milk crates.
“Foster.” Tony nodded. “How are you?” He smiled, showing off the eight teeth he had remaining.
“I’m doing good.” Foster handed Tony a bottle of water and a few food items. He glanced around. This was the group Victoria usually traveled with. They were a mixture of drunks, drug addicts, and a few good people down on their luck, trying to figure things out. They watched out for each other. Tony tried to keep an eye out for those selling themselves for drugs and booze, and Victoria fell into that category.
Foster didn’t know much about Tony, except other than smelling like a cheap bottle of wine most days, he seemed like the kind of man Foster might have liked in his past life.
“Have you seen Victoria lately?” Foster pointed to a spot where he noticed some of her things.
