Read The Bridesmaid for Free Online

it, and how gorgeous you are going to be.”
    That seemed to appease Lisa. “You’re right. It is going to be beautiful, isn’t it? And I am going to be gorgeous. Did you just love the centerpieces? I can’t wait to see you in that dress, Kate.”
    Kate rolled her eyes heavenward.
    “Just be careful with it. That taffeta really wrinkles.”
    “I know,” Kate said patiently.
    “So when is your flight out?”
    “Ah…” Kate quickly debated telling Lisa the truth. She rubbed the nape of her neck. “I’m not sure yet. They are rerouting a lot of people. But I’ll let you know. So listen, I have to run—”
    “I just hope you get out before the air traffic controller strike, because that is the last thing I need to deal with,” Lisa said. “I cannot be without my maid of honor. I’d just as soon reschedule.”
    Lord. “You won’t have to do that,” Kate said as confidently as she could manage. “Do you still have that spa package I gave you? Did you schedule that massage?”
    “No. But that is a great idea,” Lisa said absently. “Yeah, I think I’ll do that.”
    “Great. So listen, I better see about this flight. I’ll call you later?”
    She said good-bye and looked at Joe.
    “See about what flight?”
    “Trust me, it was the right thing to do,” Kate said with a flick of her wrist. “Why are guys so damned insensitive?”
    “Why are women so damned sensitive?” he easily countered. “What is it now?”
    “Kiefer—that’s my cousin’s fiancé—is not helping,” Kate said, and related the story of Lisa and Kiefer to Joe, from how long they’d been together, to Kiefer’s grand proposal with Christmas lights and a high school chorus, to the last-minute wedding jitters and unwillingness to help.
    Joe listened with a frown of concentration. When she’d finished, he said, “Wow.”
    “I know, right?” Kate said. “He’s really being a jerk.”
    “I was thinking she was the jerk,” Joe said.
    Kate blinked. “ Lisa? Lisa is doing everything!”
    “And that’s your problem right there,” Joe said. “She’s so caught up in this wedding and it being perfect that she isn’t letting him do anything. He doesn’t have any ownership in it. It’s like he’s been cut out.”
    “That’s what I think—he’s being childish.”
    “I didn’t say that,” Joe said. “I think he’s just being a guy.”
    “A guy,” she repeated with a bit of derision in her voice.
    “Yes. A guy ,” he repeated firmly.
    “So… you don’t think he’s having second thoughts?”
    “Nah,” Joe scoffed. “First of all, he wouldn’t have asked her to marry him if he didn’t love her. Second, he is doing what he thinks he should be doing—giving her everything he thinks she wants. If he didn’t want in, he would say so.”
    That almost made sense to Kate. “You sound like you’ve been down this path before.”
    “Me?” He laughed. “Hardly. But my brother has. Twice to be exact, and both women were totally eaten up with the wedding instead of the marriage.”
    Kate scarcely heard the last bit. She was focused on the hardly. “Why do you say it that way?” she asked him.
    “Say what?”
    “ Hardly . You said hardly, like it was so out of the realm of possibility for you. Are you opposed to marriage?”
    He gave her a bemused smile. “How on earth did you get that from what I just said? I’m not opposed to marriage. I don’t think it’s for me, but I’m not opposed to it.”
    “Why not?” she asked curiously. It was funny, but she’d had the same feeling about herself.
    “I don’t know,” he said with a shrug. “I guess I’ve just never felt like I wanted to spend the rest of my waking days with one person.”
    “A guy like you?” she asked disbelievingly. She would think he’d have his pick of women.
    “Who, an IT nerd?” he asked with a chuckle.
    “No. A handsome man. A gentleman. I would think you had lots of girlfriends.”
    “Handsome, huh?” He grinned. “Yeah,