Page 81 of The Wedding Toast
He was surprised how much that seemed to mean to his brother.
“That’d be awesome to have them there with me.I mean, of course I’m going to ask Elena and Walt to come, but it’s not like I can ask Ria to be there for me, can I?She’s the mother of the bride.”
Bentley smiled at him.“I think if you asked her, she’d decide there had to be an intermission during the ceremony so that she could switch at half time and spend the second half of it sitting on your side.She loves you guys, she always has.”
Slade laughed.“I was thinking about that – when you and Tori get married, we might have to arrange all the seats in just one big block instead of two separate ones.We all belong to you both.”
“It’s true,” said Jacob.“And by the time everyone’s married I think we’ll all be officially related in one way or another.”
Slade handed him a fresh mug of coffee, and he raised it to them.“I’m happy to be joining Becca’s family today, but I want to thank you guys for always being my family.”
“Aww,” Slade winked at him as he imitated Becca.Xander threw a napkin at him as he laughed and said, “I had no choice, remember.”And Bentley held his gaze and nodded as they all raised their mugs.
~ ~ ~
“Do you want to go downstairs yet?”asked Callie
Becca shook her head.“Soon.I want to see Mom and Dad and at least spend a little time with the family, but I don’t want to go yet.”
She went to stand in front of the windows and looked back at the bed.Most Saturday mornings she and Jacob drank their coffee in bed looking out at this view.It was beautiful – the vines and the rolling hills and …
“Are you okay?”Callie asked.
“I’m so freaking happy, Callie.I’m almost scared that you’re going to wake me up soon, and we’ll be seven years old again and I’ll discover that this was only a dream.”She swallowed.“That Jacob was only a dream.”
Callie came to stand beside her.“Don’t go upsetting yourself!It’s not a dream.It’s real, Jacob’s real, the way he loves you is so real it melts even my heart.”
“Aww.You make it sound like you’re cynical about love or something.”
Callie shrugged.“Not cynical, just realistic.It’s not on my priority list, that’s all.”
Becca raised her eyebrows.“Could you be persuaded if the right guy came along?”
Callie nodded slowly.“Maybe.”She narrowed her eyes.“But I know what you’re thinking – you mean Ollie.And yes, he’s hot, and he seems like a great guy.But he’s not the right guy.”
“Aww, why not?”
Callie laughed.“Don’t sound so disappointed.He’s just … he lives here in Napa for one thing.Even if we wanted to go on a date, we’d have to meet in the middle somewhere, and that’s not exactly—”
“No,” Becca interrupted.“You wouldn’t have to do that.He could—”
Callie held her hand up.“I know he’s a pilot, but it’s not like he could come flying up there whenever he wanted to see me, is it?And can we drop it for today at least?This is your wedding day.If you still want to bug me about Ollie by the time you come back from your honeymoon, then we’ll talk about it.”She waggled her eyebrows.“I’m not denying he’s hot.But today is all about you.Okay?”
Becca wanted to protest.Yes, it was her wedding day, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t talk about Ollie as a possible interest for Callie.And she really wanted to make her friend understand that if he wanted to fly up there to see her Ollie could take his plane and go any time he wanted – every day if he wanted to.
Callie smiled.“I’m going down to get us some coffee.Do you want me to bring anything else back up?”
Becca had to laugh.“Have you forgotten what my mom’s like?She’ll send you back up with more food than we could eat in a week and want the empty plates back for washing in half an hour.”
Callie laughed with her.“I love your folks; they’re awesome.And I don’t want to hog all your morning.You’ll want some time with them, too.”
Becca nodded.“I will, thanks.But first breakfast.”
After Callie had gone, she went and sat back down on the bed.Leaning back against the headboard, the way she and Jacob did most Saturday mornings, she smiled out at the sight of the vineyards marching away across rolling hills, all the way to the horizon.Jacob had woken up to that beautiful view for most of his life.She hugged herself, happy in the knowledge that she’d be waking up beside him for the rest of hers.
She reached for her phone from the nightstand, but her attention was caught by the two bright blue velvet boxes instead.The first one held the earrings he’d given her when they said goodnight.The second was the long slim box that had been sitting on her pillow when she came out of the bathroom after getting ready for bed.She’d looked around eagerly, thinking that he must have changed his mind and decided to spend the night here after all.
Instead, she’d found Callie standing in the doorway.“Sorry, I can see that you thought he put that there – that he was here.He isn’t – he asked me to do it last thing before you went to bed.”
