Hitched (Promise Harbor Wedding) - By Erin Nicholas Page 0,5

hoping it was true. “We’re getting married. That’s a huge deal. It’s natural to think about your past relationships. I’ll bet Josh is thinking about Devon.”

Devon Grant was Josh’s most serious ex. He’d been completely in love with her. If she had been willing to move to Promise Harbor, he’d be married to her right now. For sure.

Devon and Allie had been as close as sisters at one time. In fact, Devon had met Josh through Allie. Allie had been thrilled that her two best friends had fallen in love.

And then real life and obligations and divergent paths had come between Josh and Devon too.

She didn’t know every detail about their breakup. Josh hadn’t wanted to talk about it, and Allie and Devon had drifted apart when things had gotten bad with her mom and things had gotten bad with Gavin…and things had just gotten bad.

In the end, it seemed to Allie that she and Josh just weren’t destined for true love forever.

So they had each other. As always. It seemed fitting in many ways that they would end up together. She couldn’t remember a Christmas dinner or a birthday celebration without him. So why wouldn’t she agree to spend those events with him for the rest of her life?

They were…comfortable. They could completely be themselves. There were no secrets. They loved each other. Maybe not madly and passionately, but they had each other’s backs. That was more than a lot of couples could say.

“Even if he is, he’s probably not announcing it to the bar. You need to take it down a notch,” Crystal said with a frown. “Let’s go dance.”

Allie went along, mostly because Crystal was still holding on to her and Allie wasn’t sure she could stay upright on her own. She drank more of the beer and liked that it was more bitter than the blow job or the pink stuff. She was feeling a little bitter herself.

She drank again, swaying to yet another love song. This one was “Amazed”, by Lonestar. Her bridesmaids were just going down the list of the sappiest love songs of all time. But she found herself singing along. And thinking of Gavin. They’d danced to this song.

They’d gone to high school together. They’d graduated in the same class and had known each other. The harbor wasn’t big enough to not know everyone in your graduating class. They’d even flirted.

He and Jason Simpson had sat behind her and Devon in chemistry senior year. He’d cut in on her date at the homecoming dance and at prom. Every weekend from January until May he’d asked her to a party. She’d always said no.

But he’d never asked her out on a real date. Which was fine. She would have said no to that too. He was a bad boy, a rebel. She was a good girl who followed all the rules. He dated casually, if at all, and was just out for a good time. She dated nice boys, one at a time, and never did more than French kiss.

It was so cliché—the good girl fascinated by the bad boy—it was pathetic.

Then they’d gone away to college and hadn’t seen each other again.

Until that party their senior year of college.

She’d been in love with him since then. She was now twenty-eight. That party had been just before she turned twenty-two.

Pathetic.

She tipped the beer bottle up, but found it was empty. How had that happened?

Suddenly the music died, there were shouts, then she could have sworn she heard, “Move. Police,” followed by a loud crash.

“Oh my god!” Bernie gasped. “Jackson Knight just hit Hayley Stone.”

Oh, that was just perfect. Allie felt her head throb. The best man in her wedding tomorrow had just hit a police officer. That was fantastic.

“What do you mean he hit her?” Crystal demanded.

“He was swinging at someone else but she stepped in. And she cuffed him,” Bernice said with delight.

Crystal went up on tiptoe, trying to peer over the crowd. “Man, I’d love to have Jackson Knight in handcuffs and at my mercy for an hour.”

“People are gonna be so pissed.” Bernie’s eyes were practically sparkling with the juicy news. “Jackson Knight is like a god.”

“But he hit a cop,” Crystal said. “She has to take him in.”

Allie straightened. Hey, wait a minute…

“Take him in where?” she asked.

Crystal rolled her eyes. “Jail. Duh. You can’t hit a cop.”

“Jail?” Allie repeated. “The best man at my wedding tomorrow is going to jail?”

Hey. Maybe that was fantastic. They couldn’t get married