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I Got You, Babe
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Plan-it-to-death Serena Stafford believes that only her wildly impetuous sister could fall in love in three days. But Serena hasn't planned on her chemistry with best man Tom Erickson as they drive to her sister's Vegas wedding. A drive that takes three days... CHAPTER ONE When Serena Stafford heard her doorbell ring, followed by a flurry of knocks, followed by more frantic ringing and more knocks, she was sure that something had to be terribly wrong. Maybe her condo complex was on fire. Maybe EPA officials were canvassing the neighborhood, warning of a sudden biohazard. Maybe her pregnant next-door neighbor had gone into premature labor while her husband was out of town. Serena reached the door, looked out the peephole, and breathed a sigh of relief. It was only Chloe. Wait a minute. What was she saying? It was never "only Chloe." Since they'd been kids, disaster had followed her sister wherever she went. And as persistently as she was knocking right now, Serena had a feeling that news of a biohazard would be a relief compared to what she was getting ready to hear. She opened the door. "Chloe? What is it?" Her sister burst through the door, her short, spiky blond hair frozen in place even as the rest of her bounced with excitement. "The most wonderful thing has happened! You'll never guess what!" "What?" "I'm getting married!" Serena closed the door. She couldn't have heard what she thought she heard. Her sister was getting married? Again? "Hold on, Chloe. Last time I checked, you and David had broken up. And none too nicely." "Not David!" she said with a dismissive swipe of her hand. "His name is Bobby. Bobby Erickson. You remember. The blind date Kristi set me up with." "Chloe. That was only three days ago." Chloe gave her a big smile. "Yeah. I know." "He asked you to marry him?" "That's right." "And you said yes?" Chloe held up her palm. "Now, I know what you're thinking. But there's no doubt about it. Bobby's the one." "That's what you said the last two times!" Chloe rolled her eyes. "Will you stop being such a pessimist?" "I'm being a realist. You cannot fall in love in three days." "Sure you can. If you find the right man. And Bobby is the right man for me. I just know he is." "Sit down, Chloe." "But--" "Sit." Chloe sighed and sat down on the sofa, right on the edge of the cushion, which didn't surprise Serena at all. Chloe spent every waking moment poised on the edge of life, ready to shift directions the instant the next outrageous possibility caught her attention. Serena sat down beside her. Slowly. Reasonably. Trying to remain calm at the same time she was on the verge of locking her sister in a room until the urge to ruin her life went away. "What do you actually know about this guy?" Serena asked. "What kind of job does he have?" "Something with computers." "Does he make a decent living?" "He drives a nice car. Lives in a nice apartment. I saw it today." "How's his credit?" "He seems responsible enough." "Investments?" Chloe shrugged. Serena rubbed her temples. Okay. There was somebody out there for everybody, right? This guy had to be every bit as wild and impulsive as Chloe, so maybe it really was a match made in heaven. Though how the two of them would ever function in daily life, Serena didn't know. "And of course I want you to be my maid of honor," Chloe said. Oh, God. Not again. For Chloe's first wedding, they'd stood barefoot on a beach, heavy morning mist flattening Serena's hair as sand crabs crawled across her toes. During wedding number two, performed on the roof of a Phoenix skyscraper, a wild swirl of wind had blown Serena's dress right up over her head. One of Chloe's friends, a wild-eyed Woodstock throwback who Chloe swore really wasn't as crazy as he looked, had snapped a picture of Serena's backside in nothing but a pair of flesh-toned panties. She'd had to threaten him with legal action to get the picture back, which meant the guy really had been as crazy as he looked, which meant the Chloe really was a lousy judge of character. "So where are you planning to get married this time?" Serena asked. "Vegas. I've never tried that before. I found this really cute place on the Internet. Cupid's Little Chapel of Love." Serena winced. Just the thought of a tacky, hurry-up Vegas wedding made her crazy, and one taking place at Cupid's Little Chapel of Love had to be the worst of the worst. A wedding was the most wonderful day of a woman's life, a day that required months of planning after years of dreaming. But at least this time the ceremony would be indoors on ground level and she could probably wear shoes. "Have you set a date?" "Uh...yeah. August 22." Okay. That was good. A year from tomorrow. Maybe her sister was finally growing up. A year-long engagement would allow Chloe plenty of time to get to know her fiancé and, if need be, give Serena plenty of time to talk her out of getting married. "Okay," she told Chloe. "I'll be your maid of honor." "Oh! I knew I could count on you!" Chloe gave Serena a big hug, then leaned away. "Well, don't just sit there!" "What?" "Bobby's waiting in the car!" "What?" "It's only a six-hour drive. We'll be there before you know it." "But you said August 22. That's a year from--" Then the truth struck Serena, and she nearly choked. "No," she said, shaking her head wildly. "No way. You are not getting married tomorrow to a man you've known only three days!" Chloe's expression surged into pure rapture. "Come on, Serena! Don't you ever feel the rush? That overwhelming, beautiful, wild, exciting feeling of being in love and not wanting to spend one second without that person?" "That's lust, Chloe. Not love." "Whatever it is, it's the most wonderful feeling in the world. Someday you'll find just the right guy, and you'll know what I'm talking about. Sometimes lightning just...strikes." Lightning? That was what she intended to base a marriage on? Marriage was something that came about after a long enough engagement period to reveal the kind of compatibility that could sustain a relationship over a lifetime. It had nothing to do with a burst of electrical energy that rendered a person brainless. But if history was any indicator, telling Chloe that was an exercise in futility. "Have you at least considered having a real wedding?" Serena said. "You know--one you actually plan?" "Hey, I planned the last one!" "In a week." "Well, yeah..." "Which was longer than the marriage lasted." "Okay. That was a mistake. But this isn't. You'll see. I'm older now. Smarter." Older? Definitely. But smarter? Serena would have to take issue with that. "Have you considered just living with him?" "Come on. You know mom would freak out if I moved in with a guy." "And she's not going to freak about this?" "I think she's kind of used to it by now." "How long were you planning on being gone?" "We thought we'd drive six hours to Vegas, stay the night, get married, then drive back home tomorrow. That's all." "But you need a marriage license." "The marriage license bureau stays open until midnight. It's only four o'clock now, so there'll be plenty of time to get one as soon as we get to Vegas. Then we'll go to the chapel the next morning." Chloe took Serena's hands. "Please tell me you'll come. I wouldn't feel married unless you were my maid of honor." This was insane. The last thing Serena wanted to do was take a road trip to Vegas so she could watch her sister screw up her life one more time. After all, it was Saturday, and she had errands to run. Bills to pay. Her car's inspection sticker expired in eleven days, so the clock was ticking on that. She'd brought a briefcase full of work home from the bank. Those things were on her schedule, and they had to be done. But then again, if she didn't go, by this time tomorrow, Chloe would be married. If Serena took the trip with her from Tucson to Vegas, at least she'd have six hours to try to talk some sense into her. She let out a sigh of resignation. "Okay. Let me go pack a bag." "Oh, thank you!" Chloe said. "This is going to be such fun!" Fun. As if that was all one had to consider when one got married. Serena started for her bedroom. Chloe headed for the front door, then spun back around. "Oh! Serena! I almost forgot! There's one more thing--" "Not now, Chloe. I can take only so much good news at once." "But--" "Later. Tell me later." "Okay, then. I'll be outside. Hurry!" Serena went into her bedroom, where she packed a weekend's worth of necessities. She put her lights on a timer, watered her plants, made sure the back door was locked, grabbed her briefcase, then left the house. An SUV was parked at the curb. A man leaned against the fender, but it was hard to make out much about him when Chloe was attached to him from the lips down like a barnacle on the hull of a ship. Serena cleared her throat, and Chloe spun around. "Serena! This is Bobby. Bobby, my sister, Serena." "Serena," Bobby said. "Chloe has said such wonderful things about you. She said we just had to come by and bring you with us. Thanks so much for coming." Okay. At least he seemed like a nice guy. And if physical attraction were the only criterion, she could see why Chloe had fallen for him. He was tall and well-built, with a flashy smile and the kind of facial features rarely seen outside the pages of a fashion magazine. Of course, his shaggy hair, T-shirt, baggy denim shorts and flip-flops kind of blasted away at the GQ image. "Let me take your bag," Bobby said. He popped the trunk lid and tossed it inside, and then he and Chloe got into the front seat. Serena took her briefcase and slid into the backseat. But just as she was getting ready to close the door behind her, she came to a startling conclusion. The backseat was already occupied. "Serena," Chloe said, "this is Tom Erickson. Bobby's brother. He's going to be Bobby's best man. Tom, this is my sister, Serena." The man turned to face her, and she felt a start of surprise. This was Bobby's brother? Not that he wasn't a match for Bobby in the looks department. Sandy brown hair, green eyes, attractive features, nice build--in those ways he was almost a mirror of his brother. But unlike Bobby, he wore a neatly pressed polo shirt tucked into a nice pair of jeans, his hair was cut conservatively short, and he wore wire-rimmed glasses. Bobby was congenial and flamboyant--the kind of guy you'd see at a frat party, tapping a keg and chatting up sorority girls. Tom was the controlled, orderly, academic kind of guy the sorority girls passed right by in college, then got to their thirties and wish to God they'd married. He turned to Serena with a sharp, assessing gaze, then checked her out with a single up-and-down flick of those vibrant green eyes. Serena's heart started to pound. She'd never had much interest in tapping kegs, but she'd always had that thirty-something mentality, even when she was in college. He folded his arms across his chest, cocked his head slightly, and the faintest of smiles played across his lips. "Hello, Serena. I had no idea I was going to be sharing a backseat." Serena turned to look at her sister. "Neither did I." "Well," Chloe said a little sheepishly, "I did tell you there was one more thing." Serena couldn't believe this. This whole situation was completely insane. Unfortunately, though, by the time she opened her mouth to have another word with Chloe, Bobby had already pounced on the lull in the conversation to engage her in a lip lock that Serena would have needed a crowbar to pry her loose from. With a sigh of resignation, Serena shut the door and buckled herself in. If she went along with this now, at least she had the next six hours to talk her sister out of this insanity. If she didn't, in six hours, her sister would be married and that would be that. A few seconds later the lovebirds came up for air. Bobby started the car and hit the gas, and the road trip from hell had begun. Home | Books | About Jane | FAQ | Fun Stuff | Contact
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April 2004
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