Operation Bailey Wedding

Rome

The food delivery truck pulls up out back of Terra and Mare, and they pull out the ramp on the back.

Colin steps up to help our delivery guy get all the food I need for the rehearsal dinner into the restaurant.

I hear her before I see her. “Check out this pretty girl,” Harley walks in with Calista trailing behind. She’s wearing her flower girl dress and has a huge smile on her face.

Dion is strapped to Harley’s chest in one of those fabric wraps. I’m still not sure I trust that thing.

Calista twirls in a circle to showcase her puffy white dress.

“You look beautiful.” I bend down to hold my hand out for her. We do a short dance until I pick her up and circle her around. “Will you save the first dance for me?”

“Nope.” She presses her lips together.

With age two came an attitude, and now that she’s a few months off three, it’s even worse. I’m trying to adjust to this new personality. Harley says she’s testing limits, and she’d be right.

“Who gets the first dance then?” I ask.

“I wanna dance with Holly.”

I nod, looking over to Harley. She shrugs, a smile teasing her lips while her hands run down Dion’s small body.

“I get it. The bride.”

“Yep.” She nods enthusiastically.

“We went to Holly’s final dress fitting yesterday… someone has the wedding bug,” Harley fills me in on where this obsession was created.

“And that’s why you’re wearing your flower girl dress?”

A loud bang from the truck shocks her, and she jolts in my arms.

“We’re only wearing it on a short walk and then taking it off because we don’t want to get it dirty.” Harley eyes Calista, which means there was a long talk and heavy negotiations on that decision.

“You know Mommy’s going to be a bride,” Calista says.

Harley shakes her head at me. We discuss this daily. She’s not ready to leave Dion, and he’s not ready to fly. We want to elope with just the four of us.

We’ll give it a few months, and then I’ll make the reservations. She wants a beach wedding, and what Harley wants, Harley gets.

“Let’s go get you a dress,” I say to her.

Harley laughs and shakes her head. “I don’t need a dress.” She steps up and puts her arm on our daughter’s back.

I bend down and kiss Dion’s small head sprinkled with light brown hair.

“You’d be pretty.”

“Mommy’s pretty no matter what she’s wearing,” Calista says.

“Even if it’s nothing,” I say and grin.

Harley smacks me, probably because she knows our daughter is in a copycat stage.

“Come on, Calista. Let’s let Daddy work.”

I put Calista down on the ground and she takes Harley’s hand. “I just have to get this order in and then I’ll be up.” I kiss her on the lips.

“I’m going to try to lay down after our walk if I can get them both down for a nap.”

I let my lips linger over hers. “Is that an invitation?”

“It hasn’t been six weeks yet.”

“I can’t work with these limitations. It kind of makes me not want to get you pregnant again.”

She laughs and her lips brush along mine. “That’s not to say there aren’t other things I can do.” She lets her hand trail down my chest.

I glance over and find Calista playing twenty questions with Colin about what’s in the boxes, so I reach out and slyly grab her ass.

“Nah, it’s not much fun if I can’t get you off.” I squeeze her ass cheek.

“Spoken like a true Prince Charming.”

With one more peck, we disengage and as always when she’s not at my side, I miss her.

“Come on, Calista. Let’s go.” She waves her over and Calista skips to me, hugs me and then takes Harley’s hand.

I walk them both out through the kitchen and dining area to the front door of the restaurant.

We say our goodbyes and I watch my entire life walk down Main Street for a walk, wishing I could join them. A warm sensation warms in my heart.

My love for them is so strong and so pure it’s almost scary sometimes.

With a smile, I turn to make my way back into the kitchen.

“What time do you start serving?” Liam’s hand lands on my shoulder and his gravelly voice sounds in my ear.

“I’m just shut down between lunch and dinner. What’s up?” I study my best friend for a second. He looks like shit.

“Your sister is driving me crazy. Did you know she has a specific way she likes the dishes placed in the dishwasher? As if it makes a difference.”

I laugh. “All right, for you, I’m open.”

I poke my head into the back and check with Colin that he has it handled. I really need to give him a raise, so he never leaves me.

Walking over to the bar area, I join Liam where he sits on one of the bar stools. “Hard stuff or beer?”

“Beer. I have a client coming to the shop in an hour.”

I nod. “So it’s been rough, has it? You know my sister… she’s anal and compulsive and sometimes bitchy.”

He takes a long pull of his beer after I pass it to him. “Her and Denver are complete opposites. I’m constantly picking up after him and she still finds a way to criticize my way of organizing shit.”

“I have no idea why you agreed to either of them living with you in the first place.” I rest my back along the bar and cross my arms.

Liam’s been my best friend since grade school. There are few things I don’t know about him. But I do know that I’ve never quite understood him and Savannah.

When we were young, I took it as the older sister crush thing. Sav is four years older than us, so at thirteen, she was seventeen and a senior in high school.

No one has to figure out why I’d catch him looking at her.

As we’ve gotten older, I’ve tried to ignore the lingering gazes. How he can always tell me where to find her in a crowded room and sometimes who she’s talking to.

He tracks her movements and watches her. Yet he still razzes her for a reaction like we used to do at twelve. I thought it was a horrible idea that she move in with him—even temporarily.

No way do I want to lose my best friend because he wants to nail my sister.

“I didn’t have a choice.

“Your grandma said it was a good idea and everyone knows you can’t, and shouldn’t, tell grandma Dori she’s wrong.” He takes another pull on his beer, his eyes everywhere but on me.

“How much longer until her place is all fixed?”

“Insurance is still dicking her around.”

“As long as that’s the only thing dicking her.” I level my gaze on him and he tries to give me a look of complete disgust, like ‘as if’ but then his gaze drops to the bar top and I can tell it’s an act.

I cringe. They’re either going to kill each other or fuck each other before this is over and either way, I lose my best friend.

I hope like hell Denver can intervene before either happens. If only I could get one of them to date someone else.

It sucks to think about needing them apart, but Savannah and Liam could never be a forever thing. They’re too different, too opposite.

Savannah appreciates sophistication and Liam likes his girls… Well, I guess I don’t really know his type at all.

He usually just likes them willing and able and beyond that, I haven’t seen consistency on his part. Which means he’s great as a friend, not so much as a potential suitor for my sister.

“Then I guess you should live and breathe the business until she leaves. I’d take her in if I could.”

He finishes his beer. “It makes the most sense that she’s at my place... I have so much extra room. It’s just... hard to live with her.”

I don’t ask what’s so hard. Is it only her nit-picky nature or did he catch her coming out of the shower? Ew... I can’t believe that thought just crossed my mind.

But if my inkling is true, it has to be hell on him being in such close proximity every day.

“I better get going.” He stands from the bar stool.

I watch him for a minute. The long face and deep-set eyes from lack of sleep.

“Anything else you want to talk about?” I ask before he has a chance to leave.

He stops at the door, turns my way. I know my best friend, and the look on his face is tortured, even if he’s trying not to show it.

Savannah’s the one thing he can’t be straight up honest with me about.

“Nah. Thanks for the beer.” He pushes the door open and leaves Terra and Mare no different than when he showed up.

He’ll talk when he’s ready to admit it to himself. Liam doesn’t give one shit what anyone thinks. He goes after what he wants without apology. I can’t imagine Savannah would be any different.

But if he thinks he’s going to touch one hair on my sister’s head before talking to me first, he’s got another think coming.