Page 79 of Stolen Kisses
“Right.” Krista shared a look with Noah.
He’d seen the gifts she’d brought. She and Abby had made a trip to purchase lingerie and such for Grace. It was just the women who’d be gathering to watch that aspect of the party, and Grace’s mother was the only parent-figure in the group. Knowing Grace’s mother well, Krista had decided that Grace wouldn’t mind.
Noah had been in charge of the male gifts. He’d purchased some cigars for the men to enjoy while the women did their thing.
“You and Krista make a good team,” Sam said, nodding at them both. “I’m going out to get a few more tables and then the chairs.”
“I’ll help.” Noah followed him out to the bed of the truck. “So are you and Abby ever going to pretend to like each other again?” he asked, needing to think about someone else’s relationship problems other than his own.
Sam latched onto the metal tables. “She’s the one sending daggers from her eyes every time I walk into the room.”
“Have you even tried to apologize to her yet?”
“For being a good husband and making a good living?”
“For taking her for granted, working too much, and forgetting your anniversary three years in a row?” Noah took hold of the last two tables and they headed toward the building again.
“That’s not a reason to throw away a marriage. She’s the one who needs to apologize to me.”
Noah strained as he held on to the bulky tables. “For such a smart man, you’re an idiot.”
They stopped talking as they headed inside. The two women clammed up, too, but Krista’s cheeks were bright and rosy. Noah narrowed his gaze, wondering just what those two had been chattering about. Judging by the smiles on their faces, it’d been about him.
He put the tables down and gestured back toward the door. “I’ll just, uh, go get the chairs,” he said, walking fast to the exit.
“Yeah, me, too.” Sam followed him out.
“Well, if you’re not going to make up with Abby, why don’t you two just get a divorce?” Noah asked, returning to their conversation. “Then you both can move on.”
“Not a chance,” Sam said with finality. He cast Noah a look that said the discussion was over. And Noah understood. When a man loved a woman, he didn’t want to see her move on to someone else. Noah had hated seeing Krista dating Dr. Chandler Dale. It’d haunted his every thought a few weeks back. And now his thoughts were haunted by a broken piece of latex, and he felt like a jerk for being so freaked out about that. It didn’t change the way he felt about Krista. No, not even a little bit. It changed the way he felt about himself. About whether or not he felt worthy of her because if he were, he’d have held her afterward. He’d have told her it didn’t matter and that he was ready for whatever happened between them. Instead, he’d sent her home as quickly as possible and then paced a hole in his living room floor. He’d been standoffish since, making excuses for why they couldn’t be alone or have sex. Intentional or not, that was asshole behavior. He wasn’t worthy of her, but he wasn’t stepping aside, either. Call him a selfish bastard, but he and Sam were the same in this respect. When a man was taken with a woman the way they were with Krista and Abby, they stuck around, and tried like hell to be better.
—
Krista stood back and took in the scene that she and Noah had set up, along with the help of other friends and family. She was so excited she could hardly breathe. “Okay, everyone. They should be here any minute. Grace likes to arrive five minutes early everywhere she goes.”
Everyone who knew Grace well—which was everyone here—nodded. Krista had given everyone else an arrival time that was thirty minutes ahead of Grace and Jack’s just to make sure everything was in place when they got here expecting this just to be a simple Thanksgiving gathering of family and friends.
“Someone just drove up!” Noah’s cousin Emily announced excitedly as she peeked out the window. A hush fell over the room. Most of the people had been instructed to park down along the waterfront, so as not to tip Grace and Jack off when they pulled into the Sawyer Seafood parking lot.
Footsteps approached the front door from outside and Grace could be heard laughing, probably at something that Jack had said to her. The doorknob twisted and Krista’s breath caught in her throat. She was so excited to surprise her friend. Grace was still laughing as she stepped inside and froze at the crowd of onlookers. Her mouth dropped open, as did Jack’s.
“Surprise!” several people from the crowd cheered.
Grace looked around the room, her questioning gaze finally landing on Krista. “Did you do all this?”
“This is not a bachelor or bachelorette party,” Krista announced. “Thisis a Friends-and-family-giving, anti-bachelor-and-bachelorette party. Wow, that’s a mouthful.” Krista giggled and stepped over to give Grace and then Jack a hug.
“You and Noah duped us.” Jack pointed a finger at them. He was wearing a large grin, though. “That is serious couple stuff.”
Noah shook his head. “You’ve always been so easy to get one over on.” They hugged and then others in the crowd started pulling Grace and Jack in different directions.
“We don’t even get to sit together?” Grace balked, taking her seat when Krista finally directed her over.
“Nope. It’s the women on one side and the men on the other. We have serious pre- and post-wedding stuff to discuss.” Krista gently pushed her friend down in her chair at one end of the table. “No men allowed.”
“You shouldn’t have,” Grace said quietly. “You didn’t need to go through all this trouble—”
Krista held up a hand and cut her off. “Shush. You’re one of my best friends. I love you and you finding a happily-ever-after deserves to be celebrated.”
