The Wedding Boyfriend, page 1
The Wedding Boyfriend
Christina Benjamin
Crown Atlantic Publishing
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.
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Copyright © 2018 by Christina Benjamin
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crown Atlantic Publishing
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Version 1.1
August 2018
Be the one who decided to go for it.
. . . the one who checks yes, rather than no.
. . . the one who dances poorly, rather than not at all.
. . . the one who shows their heart, rather than speaks it.
. . . the one who knows pain, rather than regret.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Also by Christina Benjamin
The Practice Boyfriend Info
The Almost Boyfriend Info
The Goodbye Boyfriend Info
The Holiday Boyfriend
The Stand-In Boyfriend Info
The Maybe Boyfriend Info
The Accidental Boyfriend Info
The Summer Boyfriend Info
About the Author
Prologue
The honor of your presence is requested at the marriage of
Isabelle Jade & Andrew Reed.
Please RSVP at your earliest convenience.
* * *
Sara stared at the RSVP card to her brother’s wedding. To bring a date or not to bring a date? That was the question. Should she be single and mingle, or tempt fate and hope she’d have a date?
The Plus One box silently mocked her. Drew’s wedding was more than six months away. Of course Sara was going, but how was she supposed to know if she was bringing a date, let alone who it would be this far in advance?
Well, to be fair, Sara knew who she wanted to bring. He was the guy she always wanted to date, but so far, in all the years she’d known Nick Atwood, Sara hadn’t worked up the courage to ask him out. Would six months really change that?
Sara looked at the wedding date again. It was next year—senior year. That meant it was her last chance to tell Nick how she felt. Do or die time, Sara. With a courageous breath, Sara quickly checked the ‘Attending, Plus One’ box, then stuffed the card back in the envelope and put it in the mailbox on her way out the door.
1
Sara
* * *
Who knew checking an innocent little ‘Plus One’ box could cause so much trouble? But nearly six months later, it was still haunting Sara. Especially today, since Drew was badgering her on the phone for details.
“Sara, I’m getting married in four weeks. We need an answer on who you’re bringing to the wedding so we can finish the seating chart,” Drew said.
“I don’t know who I’m bringing yet. Can’t you just leave me a blank guest card or something?” Sara asked.
Drew laughed. “Believe me, I asked the same thing, but apparently that’s not how it works. Izzi’s head nearly exploded when I said you didn’t know who your Plus One is. So, I need an answer ASAP or my fiancée might murder me before the wedding.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll work it out this week,” Sara replied.
“Thanks, sis. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Sara hung up her cell phone, tucking it in the pocket of her over-sized school cardigan before she noticed her younger sister, Katie, glaring at her.
“What?” Sara asked.
“Was that Drew?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Did he say you’re allowed to bring a date to the wedding?” Katie demanded.
“Yeah, so?”
Katie glared at Sara, her blue eyes narrowing, then she screamed. “Mom!”
Their mother came running into the kitchen nearly spilling her coffee on her pristine ivory pantsuit. “What?”
“You’re letting Sara bring a date to Drew’s wedding and I can’t bring my boyfriend?”
“Katie, you’re fifteen. You’re lucky your father and I are even allowing you to date. A full year sooner than your siblings I might add,” their mother replied, smoothing her brown hair. Not a lock was out of place. The action seemed more of a calming gesture than a necessary one.
“But that’s so unfair,” Katie whined. “Sara doesn’t even have a boyfriend. Why does she get to invite some random seat-filler?”
Their mother sighed and took another sip of her coffee turning her attention to the toaster where two bagels had just popped up. She put them on plates and handed them to the girls. Sara knew her mother was just stalling, probably secretly hoping for Katie’s tantrum to take a backseat to some new social media emergency.
It was a tactic their mother used often, though it was usually unsuccessful. Katie may be the youngest Reed, but she was the most stubborn. The girl was like a dog with a bone when she wanted something, and she’d been whining about wanting to bring Josh to their brother’s wedding ever since she found out about it.
And honestly, Katie had a point. It really wasn’t fair that Sara could bring a date when Katie couldn’t bring her boyfriend of nearly a year. Weddings were so romantic. They were a perfect date for a young couple in love, as opposed to the awkward random seat-filler date that Sara would most likely bring if she ever got the courage to ask anyone to go with her. She certainly wouldn’t be going with Nick. Not after making a complete fool of herself in front of him on the Fourth of July. The memory still stung, but Sara shook it away and focused on the drama currently unfolding in her kitchen.
Katie crossed her arms defiantly and glared at their mother across the kitchen island. “It’s not fair, Mom. If Sara gets to bring a date then so do I.”
Their mother looked up from the cream cheese she was busying herself with, scanning their faces. “Well, are you actually bringing someone, Sara?”
“I’d like to,” Sara replied.
“Who?” Katie demanded. “You’ve never even had a boyfriend.”
“I have too!”
“Nick doesn’t count,” Katie yelled. “He’s a boy and a friend, that’s not the same thing as a boyfriend. I swear to God, Mom, if you let Sara bring a random and I can’t bring Josh, I’ll never forgive you.”
“Girls, it’s way too early for all the dramatics,” their mother warned.
“But—”Katie started.
“What is all this yelling about?” their father interrupted.
He walked into the kitchen dressed for court, kissed their mother on the head and grabbed a cup of coffee as Katie launched into an explanation.
“Mom is letting Sara bring a date to Drew’s wedding and I was pointing out that I think it’s only fair that if Sara brings a date that I should be able to bring a date, too.”
“That sounds fair to me,” he said.
Their mother’s eyebrows shot up. “Warren!”
Katie looked between their parents like her head was on a swivel before exploding into a shriek of joy. “Omigod! Omigod! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Daddy!” She squealed as she ran around the kitchen hugging them both a million times.
Their mother finally sighed, defeated by Katie’s superior negotiation skills. Katie knew exactly how to play their father. Warren Reed was a judge and he always appreciated a good argument, which was something Katie had perfected over the years.
“Sorry, dear, I’ve got to run,” their father said, giving their mother a quick peck on the cheek before scurrying out the door.
“Come on,” Katie said, grabbing Sara’s hand and dragging her out of the kitchen. “We’re gonna be late for school.”
“But we still have a half hour before Nick picks us up.”
“Yeah, and I’m gonna need every second of it for my makeover.”
“Makeover? You look perfect.”
Katie rolled her eyes. “Duh! It’s not for me, dummy. It’s for you.”
“Me?”
“How else are we gonna get you a wedding date?”
* * *
Nick
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Nick pulled up to the Reeds’ house to pick up Sara and Katie like he always did on the first day of school—a tradition born of Nick being the first to get his driver’s license. He had their Starbucks order and cake pops resting in the center console of his silver Range Rover—Earl Grey tea for Sara, Vanilla Latte for Katie and a black coffee for himself. The only thing the three of them actually agreed on were the double chocolate chip cake pops, which is why there were three of them stuffed in the Starbucks bag next to the piping hot cups of caffeine.
Nick honked the horn once and took the lid off of his coffee. He was just about to take a sip when the girls came rushing out of the house. Katie looked like she always did, blonde hair perfectly curled, cheerleading uniform expertly styled, but Sara—Nick nearly spilled his coffee down his white school oxford when he saw her. Sara’s dark hair wasn’t pulled up in a messy bun like usual. It was down and styled in loose waves, and she was wearing bright red lipstick. Plus, her school uniform looked suspiciously like it might be Katie’s—meaning it was too tight and too short in all the right places.
Sara never dressed like that. She always wore her uniform skirt to her knees with some sort of patterned tights and a baggy school cardigan over her white oxford shirt. But today she’d traded her cardigan for a fitted school blazer and instead of tights she wore navy blue thigh-high socks that made her thin tan legs look like they went on for miles.
Nick suddenly found himself struggling to remember how to speak when Sara climbed into his SUV and settled her backpack between her knees. He swallowed thickly when she smiled at him, her brown eyes bright behind her black-framed glasses.
“Morning,” she said.
Nick just blinked at her, barely able to recognize his best friend in the girl who’d just climbed into his car.
“Are you okay?” Sara asked.
“Are you wearing makeup?”
“Yes, she is,” Katie chimed in. “Doesn’t she look beautiful?”
“She always looks beautiful,” Nick replied, momentarily forgetting he usually kept comments like that to himself.
Sara blushed and Nick quickly busied himself pulling out of their driveway.
“Ugh, why can’t you two just like each other?” Katie asked as she reached between the seats to grab her latte from the center console. “It would make my life soo much easier.”
Katie’s comment nearly made Nick spill his coffee for the second time. He put the cup down, resigned to giving up on his caffeine fix for now. When he looked back over at Sara, he couldn’t help notice the color in her cheeks, and it had nothing to do with the blush she was wearing.
Unfortunately, Katie noticed, too. “Wait . . . you guys don’t like, like each other, do you?”
“No!” they both said too quickly.
Nick glanced in the rearview to see Katie’s skepticism simmering. “What’s this all about?” he asked, gesturing to Sara’s appearance, hoping to steer the conversation elsewhere before Katie got too curious.
“I’m helping Sara get a date to Drew’s wedding so I can bring my boyfriend,” Katie replied proudly.
Nick cut his eyes to Sara for a moment. “You need a date?”
She sighed. “It appears so.”
“I can’t bring Josh if Sara doesn’t find a date!” Katie added.
“I love your brother, I’ll go with you,” Nick said, glancing at Sara again.
Before Sara could respond Katie butt in. “No, she needs a real date and we just established that you two are just friends, right?”
“Right!” They both exclaimed.
Nick gripped the steering wheel tighter, wishing, not for the first time, that it wasn’t true.
2
Sara
* * *
Well, senior year certainly wasn’t starting off how Sara had hoped. She’d been certain that the awkwardness between her and Nick would end with summer. She’d hoped the normalcy of their familiar high school routine would help return things to the way they’d always been before she’d stupidly gotten drunk and told Nick how she felt on the Fourth of July. But from the way she caught him gawking at her on the ride to school, it was obvious her hopes were as foolish as her heart.
If only she’d never found that bottle of champagne.
Sara had tried hopelessly to forget that night since the moment it happened, but her blunder on the Fourth of July seemed burned into her mind. It haunted her at inopportune times, like when her fingers brushed Nick’s reaching for their coffees, or when he licked his lips and Sara had an insatiable desire to kiss him.
It had been like that for a while for Sara. She’d been in love with Nick ever since she knew what romantic love was—which was quite early thanks to her obsession with Jane Austen novels.
Sara had wanted to be a writer for longer than she’d even been in love with Nick. For her tenth birthday, her parents bought her a collection of classics. She devoured them all, but the Jane Austen novels were her favorites. Sara instantly became a hopeless romantic after reading Pride and Prejudice.
There was just something so appealing about the idea of love and courtship in those provincial novels. Being the shy bookworm she was, the notion that two people could fall so deeply into love and profess their unyielding desire to spend an eternity together without so much as holding hands thoroughly appealed to her. Especially since Sara was in love with a boy entirely out of her league.
Nick Atwood was gorgeous, popular and rich. But those weren’t even the biggest obstacles. The major problem was Nick didn’t date. Which of course made every girl at Harbor Prep want to be the girl that made him break his rule.
Only Sara knew the real reason he didn’t date and she didn’t blame Nick one bit. He had the unfortunate luck of being born to two of the worst people Sara had ever met. Nick’s father was obscenely wealthy, which made him think he could get away with anything, including sleeping around and beating his wife and child. These actions drove Nick’s mother to seek love at the bottom of a bottle, which only made the cycle worse until they finally divorced. Of course they used Nick as a pawn in their bitter settlement. His mother made him testify in court against his own father.
It wasn’t any wonder Nick had trust issues and didn’t believe in the sanctity of love or marriage. He hadn’t had very good examples growing up. But even knowing all of this, Sara thought she would be the one to change his mind. After all, they’d grown up together, living on the same street, spending nearly every day together, sharing secrets and forging bonds. If Nick couldn’t trust her with his heart, who could he trust?
Sara should’ve known better. She’d read enough novels about unrequited love to know that not all love stories had happy endings. She’d just never expected hers and Nick’s wouldn’t. She hadn’t even gotten a love story—any chance they had at a romantic relationship came to a screeching halt before it even started thanks to her champagne catastrophe.
They’d been out on Nick’s boat watching the fireworks, as they did every Fourth of July. The only difference was this year Sara brought a bottle of champagne she’d found in a gift basket one of her mother’s clients sent to the house. Sara had already been planning to finally admit her feelings to Nick that night. It was the perfect setting; under a blanket of stars and fireworks. But Sara had been in that same scene for the past few summers and never worked up the nerve to say what was in her heart. So, she grabbed the bottle of champagne on her way out the door, thinking a little liquid courage couldn’t hurt. Boy was she wrong.
